BIF dates

[wildlife]

Just wondering if anyone has any clarification regarding some technicalities for the BIF form. When filling out dates for your veterinary experience, animal experience etc. it doesn't give you an option to say "May 5th, 2012-present." In order to show that you are still working there, should you leave the end date blank or fill in today's date or...?? Any help would be appreciated.

[dreizehn]

Practically speaking, I would say it doesn't really matter so long as you choose a reasonable date. So, what's "reasonable" (in my opinion at least)?

• March 1, 2013: the date the BIF is due so, technically, the last possible date it could be used to evaluate you on without making assumptions for the future.
  
  
• Date on Which You Submit the Form: the last day you can technically claim, since otherwise you are making assumptions for the future, no matter how solid they may seem.
  
  
• An Expected Future End-Date: for instance if a position ends at a certain date, or you are planning to stop at a certain date.
  
  
• Any Other Date You Personally Consider Reasonable: You have your reasons, and so long as they are defensible, go with it.

Now, I'm going to hijack this post a bit because I don't think it can be said enough that, though a very important part of the application process for many reasons, the animal experience and vet experience are just used as flags in this process. It doesn't come down to a magic number of hours or placements; per the OVC admissions page (www.ovc.uoguelph.ca/future/dvm/admissions/academic/#Calculation), that doesn't even come into your ranking, as it is purely off your academics (grades, MCAT), then an interview added on top if you reach that stage. The experience sections are really just an attempt to flag out people who are coming in with very minimal exposure and experiences. What they are ideally looking for is a balance of meaningful experiences at a number of positions. They want to know you have put yourself out there to truly explore the possibilities available in the veterinary profession, and are going into this well aware of what you are getting yourself into. With this in mind, the exact dates you choose on the BIF are by far NOT a very important thing. For instance, one could easily get more out of spending a week/month closely shadowing an engaging vet, than a couple years spent cleaning cages at a shelter while occasionally watching the vet do something. While both would be claimed as "veterinary experience," the admissions people are not by default going to be more impressed by the longer stint simply because it was longer, if the experience gained was less meaningful. Saying you've worked someplace 2 weeks, 6 months, 4 years, whatever, is not what is going to impress them; they are looking at the experience as a whole (i.e., all those other fields to be filled in, and I would say especially the section where you get to describe your responsibilities and experience at the position). So as I said, practically speaking, so long as the date you chose is reasonable, I really don't think the specifics matter.


That last bit was kind of a ramble, so here's a giraffe sleeping:

[Bif dates]

Thanks so much for your detailed and quick reply! I went with the "March 1st, 2013" option