Referee Assessments

[JDorothy]

Hello!

From OVC website: "The goal of having the veterinary references is to have those within the profession assess whether you are a suitable candidate to join that profession, therefore it is important that the referees understand what is required of veterinarians in a Canadian context."

I will be working closely with a veterinarian in South Africa for a month, and was considering (based on how well it all went) on asking them if they would mind providing one of my references. However, upon seeing this I am now having doubts on how valuable this would be.
I am extremely interested in exotics and will be working with various species of animals in various challenging contexts (both in the field and within a clinic environment) and so I don't see how this wouldn't be valuable for my application, but the "Canadian" part kind of stops me up. I would love for this possible connection to not be wasted from my application's perspective.

Any advice would be very much appreciated!

(and yes I understand I will be better able to evaluate this after the experience is complete, just wanted to hear another opinion!)

[vmurthy]

Hi there,

I just spoke with a classmate who confirmed he used an Italian vet as a reference, so you should be able to use the reference. However, as with all things, it is best to run this by the Admissions people.

On a side note, given your interest in exotics, it is great to hear you're making these connections- they will be invaluable to you once you're in vet school, since you'll rely on only these connections to get experience- the OVC doesnt have many exotics training opportunities. Given your interest, the connection will not be wasted, even if you end up not using the vet as a reference, or if you use them as a non-vet reference.

Cheers,
V

[JDorothy]

Thanks for the great response! I will definitely look more into this for clarification before deciding to use the reference or not. Good to know someone else has used an out of Canada reference before and it has worked out well for them.

[lowenger]

Hi Dorothy

Just make sure that you have experience within Canada with Canadian veterinarians. Your other reference should be from someone working in Canada.

[JDorothy]

Alright! I most certainly also have experience in Canada I can use as well. Thank you!

[sshatsky]

Hello!

I have a question about referees as well as I am having trouble deciding on the third one.

My language professor, who I have known for four years and knows me very well, would definitely be able to comment on my intellectual capacity, work ethic, and my overall integrity as a student.. however he wouldn't be able to comment on my ability to work with animals...

On the other hand I also managed at a boarding kennel and my boss there can also write a "glowing" eval AND would be able to comment on my ability to work with animals. However, I stopped working for him about 2 years ago, and only worked there for four months.

I can also choose a reference from a large animal volunteer opportunity, which may be important given my two vet referees are from small animal clinics...

ANY suggestions would be extremely helpful!

Thanks

[dreizehn]

Short Answer: Any of the three would likely be fine, though my personal choices, in descending order, would be as follows:

Why?

Honestly, so long as each can provide a very positive and supportive reference, any one of the three people you have mentioned would potentially be a good choice. In considering this, I would first look at what attributes the referees are being asked to assess:

• Intellectual capacity
  
• Leadership
  
• Ability to work with others
  
• Initiative/Originality
  
• Character and integrity
  
• Dependability and reliability
  
• Personal and social maturity
  
• Verbal skills
  
• Written skills
  
• Ability to analyse and solve problems
  
• Planning skills
  
• Acceptance of feedback and instruction
  
• Ability to learn from mistakes
  
• Emotional Intelligence
  
• Motivation for becoming a veterinarian
  
• Ability to work with animals
  
  Referees are also asked "how long" and "in what capacity" they have known the candidate, and write an additional supporting page noting "...any attributes or flaws which, in [their] opinion, make this applicant particularly suitable or unsuitable for a career in veterinary medicine."

As you can see, the vast majority of the reference is not directly related to veterinary or animal experience, but rather the wide array of other soft skills important to the profession.

For this reason, assuming from your description that you have developed more than simply the standard student-professor interaction, I personally would choose the language professor first, as I would think working closely and extensively with him over the past four years would mean he potentially has the best insight into many of the above soft skills. If your hesitancy about him being a referee is only because he wouldn't be able to comment on your animal experience, I would not be concerned. Your animal and veterinary experience is also assessed via their respective sections on the BIF, as well as by the assessments from your other two referees, both of whom are DVMs and likely in the best position to assess your "ability to work with animals." For example, I myself used two vets from an equine clinic, with my third reference being my Russian languages professor as, though she could not comment on my animal experience, I felt she had good insight into the other attributes on the reference sheet, and would provide an excellent reference overall. My only hesitancy in using a professor is for those who have not gone beyond simply the standard student-teacher classroom interaction.

I'm sure the boarding kennel boss would also make a fine reference. The only reason I ranked him lower was because the experience is a little older (around two years ago) and for a shorter period of time (only four months). Now, with that said, a lot can happen in four months, so he may be an excellent insight into all the above skills, I just wouldn't chose him solely because he could also check off the box for animal experience.

As for the "large animal volunteer opportunity," you didn't provide much detail so there's not much to go on, except that a prime factor for you seems to be that it would show experience with large animals since your other two referees are from small animal clinics. Again, I think your variety of animal experience (e.g., large, small, etc.) is primarily demonstrated in the animal and veterinary experience sections of the BIF dedicated to that purpose, so I don't think it's necessarily key to show that in the references section as well.

[dreizehn]

I think I'm going to refer back to my first statement that any of your potential referees would likely be a suitable choice for your third reference...

If you're planning on continuing to volunteer with the large animal experience for an extended period (i.e., by the time your reference would be due on March 1, it appears it would be over six months), and you have developed a "great relationship with the directors," who by then should also have a very solid grasp of your attributes as identified on the reference form, this could definitely be another good choice for a reference. Further, and as you have said, I can see how it could help to highlight a quality large animal experience, as well as your interest in welfare and rehabilitation. I think both your language professor and this large animal experience could be perfectly good choices for your third reference, and either will in all likelihood achieve essentially the same result. Ultimately, you yourself are the only one who knows all the details and intricacies of these two experiences and people, and, as such, are in the best position to make to final choice between the two.

Also, keep in mind that it's not always just the idea of "small animal versus large animal" experience that counts but, rather, the overall quality and variety of your experiences. The goal of the veterinary and animal experience is to get exposed to the wide variety of fields available in the veterinary profession (e.g., companion, food, equine, avian and exotic, wildlife, lab, etc.). Ideally one would have a quality mix in all fields but, realistically, I think most applicants have strong, quality experience in their primary field of interest, with a respectable amount of additional experience in the others. For example, coming into my application I myself had essentially zero food or lab animal experience, but did have very strong experience with equine, strong experience with companion, and at least some experience with the others. Conversely, I know others who had essentially zero large animal experience of any kind, but had exceedingly strong lab animal and/or companion/small animal experience. In any case though, do try to get as much experience as you can with as wide a variety of animals and fields as possible.

[sshatsky]

Great. Will have to think about it I guess.

Really appreciate your time.