Application Process

In order to gain admission to the Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine, prospective applicants must demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge base of professional, personal, and academic development in pursuit of an education and career in the field of veterinary medicine.

Because there are more qualified applicants than space permits each year, applicants are selected from a variety of factors, including their academic grade point average, animal and veterinary experience, letters of recommendation, essays, leasdership, and interviews.

Admissions Timeline:

· Mid-May to Mid-September: Applicants complete and submit all materials required for VMCAS and LMU-CVM Supplemental applications. All deadlines correspond with VMCAS deadlines, and admission applications are processed as they are received.

· September to October: Applications are verified and interview invitations extended.

· May to Mid-September: CASPer assessment exams are open; the final date for taking the exam will be September 15^th in alignment with the VMCAS deadline.

· October to January: Interviews occur. Interview plans will be communicated to applicants by email. Interviews may be altered from traditional procedure during the COVID pandemic.

· Mid-December: Early acceptance offers are extended.

· January: Acceptance offers continue. Official transcripts for Fall semester are due for submission to the admissions office by January 31st.

· After the conclusion of interviews, official correspondence is distributed notifying all candidates of one of the following:

o Acceptance Offer

o Placement on Waitlist

o Declined admission for this application cycle

· February to March: Counseling for unsuccessful applicants with the Director of Admissions available.

· April 15: Decisions pertaining to acceptance offers are due to the respective institutions.

· June 30: Official transcripts for Spring semester are due for submission to the admissions office.

Below you will find the application materials required for the LMU-CVM Class of 2025. Prior to applying, we highly encourage all applicants to review the requirements to be considered for admission.

Required Application Materials

Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS)

LMU-CVM uses the Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS) to make the application process smooth for applicants. VMCAS is a centralized application service that processes and verifies application materials.

The deadline is September 15, 2020 at 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time. Your application must be completed in its entirety with all required documentation submitted to VMCAS by September 15, 2020. We highly encourage all applicants to apply early in the admissions cycle to avoid online transmission congestion. Applications not considered complete and verified by VMCAS will not be considered for admission.

Other Materials

Transcripts

As part of your VMCAS application, you must submit transcripts for all courses completed through Summer 2020 directly to VMCAS. Read more about the VMCAS transcript verification process here. Do not send these transcripts directly to LMU-CVM. If you are taking classes during the 2019-2020 school year:

Fall 2020 transcripts are due to LMU-CVM no later than January 31, 2021

Winter/Spring 2021 transcripts are due no later than June 30, 2021

Transcripts sent by applicants will not be accepted. Official Fall/Spring transcripts can be mailed to:

LMU-CVM Office of Veterinary Admissions
6965 Cumberland Gap Parkway
Harrogate, TN 37752

or electronically to veterinaryadmissions@lmunet.edu. In order to be considered official, transcripts must be sent directly from the college/university to LMU.

Letters of Recommendation

Letters of Recommendation or evaluations are an important part of the selection process and should be completed by individuals other than family members who have known the applicant for an extended period of time. The applicants are strongly encouraged to read the questions that are asked on the evaluation form and select as evaluators those individuals who can provide the most thorough answers to the questions. At least one evaluation must be completed by a veterinarian with whom the applicant has worked. The veterinarian should address what the applicant did while working for them. They should also honestly evaluate the applicant’s strengths and weaknesses.

As part of your VMCAS application, you are required to submit electronic Letters of Recommendation (eLORs). LMU-CVM requires at least 3 letters of recommendation:

1 letter from a college professor
1 letter from a veterinarian
1 letter from a previous or current employer

Specific details on the eLOR process can be found on the VMCAS website. Letters of Recommendation must be submitted through your VMCAS application. Letters sent directly to LMU-CVM will be not accepted.

Failure to provide a Letter of Recommendation from a veterinarian or a PhD research supervisor in a veterinary-related field will result in applications being disqualified from full review.

Applicant Review Process

Curious to know what happens with your application after it has been submitted? The process below describes how applicants are reviewed and considered for admission into the LMU-CVM Class of 2025.

STEP 1: APPLICATIONS RECEIVED & EVALUATED FOR COMPLETENESS

As application materials are received and processed by the Student Services and Admissions Office, applicants will receive a confirmation email.

After the September 15, 2020 deadline, incomplete applications will result in an automatic withdrawal from the admissions cycle.
Step 2: Primary application evaluation

The primary application evaluation will be completed prior to the interview and determines interview invitation. The primary evaluation is based on 750 points.

Academic Evaluation (500 points): Academic performance is heavily weighted because it is a predictor of academic success, as well as being a reflection of the applicant’s work ethic and determination—characteristics that are necessary to be a successful veterinarian.

Cumulative, Science, and last 45 hours GPA are weighted evenly and account for 500 points total.

Retakes will be averaged for GPA calculation.

CASPer Assessment (70 points): CASPer is an assessment that helps programs assess applicants for non-academic attributes. It allows applicants to demonstrate insight to their people skills before the holistic review and interview phase. For more information click here.

Application Evaluation (180 points): A quantitative evaluation of experience and mission fit will be completed to determine eligibility for interviews. Following the interview, a more qualitative approach will be taken, as explained below. A broad base of experiences exemplifies a well-rounded candidate.

Veterinary Experience: Veterinary experience includes any veterinary clinical, agribusiness, and health science experiences that took place under the supervision of a veterinarian. Research conducted under the supervision of a veterinarian should also be listed. Veterinary Experiences should be different from those entered for Animal and Employment experiences. It is strongly recommended that applicants pursue experiences with veterinarians in multiple areas of the profession, have a good understanding of the profession, the challenges faced by the profession and current issues affecting veterinary medicine. LMU-CVM does not have a minimum requirement for hours, but the average successful applicant has at least 500 high quality, varied hours.

All other experiences: Employment, Research, Extracurricular Activities, Animal Experiences and Volunteer/Community Enrichment. Animal experience includes farm and ranch experience, 4-H membership, animal training, or similar activities that were not under the supervision of a veterinarian. Experiences listed as Animal Experience should be different from those entered for Veterinary and Employment experiences. Simply caring for a pet should not be listed.

Mission Fit: The LMU-CVM seeks to uphold the University’s commitment to serving the Appalachian footprint, promoting diversity, and producing veterinarians likely to return to rural practice.

Interview invitations will be extended according to results from the Primary Application Evaluation.
Step 3: applicant Interviews

Applicants will be invited for an interview via email.

The goal of the interview is to get to know the applicant outside of the information provided in their application materials. The questions asked will reflect this goal and will focus on the applicant’s life experiences in reference to their integrity, resilience, maturity, knowledge of the veterinary profession, communication skills, ability to work as part of a team and other unique qualities that are important to the LMU-CVM and the profession as a whole.
step 4: secondary application evaluation

The secondary application evaluation will be completed after the interview. The secondary evaluation is based on 250 points.

Applicant Interview (80 points): The LMU-CVM Interview Committee makes extensive notes and assigns a numerical score to each interview. These notes and scores are then evaluated by the LMU-CVM Admissions Committee. The scores are factored in to the final score and notable comments from the interview committe are factored into the holistic score assigned to each applicant.

Application Evaluation (170 points): The LMU-CVM Admissions Committee faculty will complete a holistic review of the entire application including, but not limited to:

Leadership skills evidenced by participation in jobs, the military, athletics, student government or holding office in student clubs and organizations that foster development of communication, collaboration and adaptability.
Well-rounded life that demonstrates a judicious balance of academic achievement, community service, and personal interests.
Experience, knowledge and commitment to the veterinary profession.
Written communication skills as evaluated in essay questions
Letters of recommendation from a professor, veterinarian and employer.

The scores from this section will be added to the primary application evaluation score to provide an applicant index score of up to 1000 total points.
STEP 5: DECISIONS

The Admissions Committee makes admissions decisions based on the totality of the applicant’s file including the application review and interview evaluation.

While most admissions decisions will be sent out in March, in some instances applicants may hear from the LMU-CVM Admissions Committee earlier. The Admissions Committee decision will be one of the following:

Accepted: Per AAVMC policy, accepted applicants have until April 15 to notify schools of their admissions decision.

Waitlist: Competitive applicants not offered a seat will remain on the waitlist. Applicants on the waitlist may receive, upon availability, an offer of acceptance April to August.

Deny: Non-competitive applicants, based upon the total applicant pool, will be denied a seat.

The Dean will make final decisions as to those candidates offered admission based upon the recommendations from the Admissions Committee.