Interviews for Texas A&M’s Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Class of 2020 are just around the corner. We, the VetMed student ambassadors, are looking forward to meeting the applicants and giving tours of our veterinary school and hospitals. The interview is the last part of the veterinary school admission process and is worth 20 percent of the applicant’s final selection score. Texas A&M has multiple mini interviews (MMI), which is a different interview format than other veterinary schools. In a multiple mini interview, each interview is less than 10 minutes long, with different judges (veterinary school professors and practicing veterinarians) in each room. I remember being very nervous for the first mini interview room, but one of the advantages on MMI is that you get a fresh start in every room. Having gone through MMI for admission to the Class of 2018 and having helped talk to applicants for the Class of 2019, here is my advice for the applicants for the Class of 2020:
1) Get a good night’s sleep and eat breakfast/lunch before your interview. Interview day is a long process. The interview circuit takes about an hour to complete, and there is usually a one-hour orientation where they will answer any questions you have before you begin interviews. There are also optional tours that last an approximately an hour and a half (led by us!) and an optional evening barbeque hosted by the Texas Veterinary Medical Association with even more opportunities to talk to current students. You want to make sure that you are focused and full of energy for your entire interview day.
2) Plan to arrive early and pay for more parking time than you think you will need. Traffic in College Station should not be that bad this year as undergraduate students will not have started spring classes yet, but the Texas A&M campus can be tricky to navigate, so it is always best to add in a little extra travel time. Similarly, I recommend paying for more time than you think you will need when you park. You don’t want to worry about running out of parking time if your interview finishes a little late. The only thing you should have to worry about on interview day is your interview itself.
3) Smile and introduce yourself when you enter an interview room, and smile and thank the interviewers as you leave the room.It never hurts to be polite and professional. Briefly interacting with the interviewers also gives you a moment to collect your thoughts and relax before beginning to answer the room’s prompt.
4) Don’t worry if you feel that you did poorly in a mini interview. All of my classmates that I’ve talked to experienced at least one interview room where we felt that we could have answered the question better. Messing up a room does not mean that you will not be accepted to veterinary school! Just focus on interviewing well in as many of the mini interviews as you can.
Good luck to all of the veterinary school interview applicants. If you have any questions about our vet school, please contact us!
