Download a List of REAL Vet School Interview Questions

So you’ve got a vet school interview — congratulations! Now you’re probably wondering what questions you might be asked. To be honest, the questions a student is asked varies from school to school. Some schools like Western University of Health Sciences asks all students the same few questions as part of a behavioral interview while other schools such as UC Davis don’t have a set list of questions but there are common ones that come up. To help get you started — here’s a list of questions that I accumulated over time:

REAL Vet School Interview Questions (Download PDF)

1. Tell us a little about yourself
2. Why do you want to be a veterinarian?
3. What are your specific goals in veterinary medicine?
4. Why should I select you over other equally qualified applicants?
5. Do you think your grades are a good indication of your academic ability?
6. What are your plans if you do not get accepted?
7. Why did you apply to this particular school?
8. What do you intend to gain from a veterinary education?
9. What motivated you to pursue your career goals?
10. What do you consider to be your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
11. How would you describe yourself?
12. What aspects of your life’s experiences do you think make you a good candidate for vet school?
13. In what ways do you think you can make a contribution to veterinary medicine?
14. What two or three accomplishments have given you the most satisfaction? Why?
15. What college subjects did you like best/least? Why?
16. What have you learned from participation in extracurricular activities?
17. What do you do in your spare time?
18. Would you practice in the rural areas? Why?/why not?
19. What do you think are the most pressing issues in veterinary medicine today?
20. Explain the vaccination protocols used for cats at the clinic where you worked.
21. Why did you choose ______ major for undergrad?
22. Describe the most interesting/memorable case from your experience (at a small animal practice)?
23. Where do I see myself 5 years from now? Ten years from now?
24. How do you de-stress?
25. How would you want to be ranked in the class of ___ students? Are you competitive?
26. What have you been doing since you submitted your application?
27. What were the most rewarding and most difficult experiences you’ve had in vet med?
28. What are some of the qualities of a good Veterinarian?
29. Name a time when you had to overcome a particular challenge in your life.
30. Why don’t they do the genetic breed test on purebred dogs?
31. How long have you known you wanted to be a vet?
32. Do you have any pets?
33. How would I handle techs at the VMTH doing things differently than I am used to?
34. What would I do if I noticed a student cheating?
35. How do I feel about the first two years being primarily core classes?
36. How do you feel about animals being used in research?
37. Are you ready to handle vet school?
38. Tell us pro’s and con’s of all the areas of animal experience you have had.
39. Would you be interested in learning about food animal medicine?
40. How do you feel about acupuncture and alternative medicines?
41. Tell us about a time where you had to handle a difficult client
42. How will you avoid burnout?
43. What is the role of the veterinarian in society?
44. What makes you think you would be a good candidate for emergency or critical care?
45. What was my best and worst animal experience?
46. How do you feel about dog breed bans?
47. How will you adjust to being just one of many students again? (I’ve been out of school for a number of years)
48. If you were to get a dog, what kind would you get?
49. Would you implant ”neuticles” on a castrated dog?
50. How are you going to deal with industry values differing from what you value as a vet?
51. What will I do if I encounter difficulties in my studies?
52. What motivated you to switch careers?
53. Why should we select you over someone else?

And then…some of the dreaded ETHICAL questions…

1. How would I handle a client that did not want to euthanize their pet that was obviously suffering?
2. If some clients came in with a dog that had been hit by a car, but they had no money, what would you do? What would you say to them? They have really bad credit. The little girl is crying…
3. Hectic day in the clinic, two horses are crashing and you give one of them the wrong medication, which causes his death. What do you do?
4. Your bread-and-butter client wants you to inject alcohol into the tail of his horse. Would you do it?
5. Would you treat a sick, but illegally owned ferret?
6. What would you do if a client came into your office and told you that they were moving out of state and couldn’t take their cat so they wanted to euthanize the cat? ADOPTION IS NOT AN OPTION.
7. An ethical question involving what I would do as a zoological vet in response to a situation like the tiger escape at the San Francisco Zoo
8. Ethical question regarding euthanasia of a healthy animal. But what if a person who wants to euthanize his healthy dog doesn’t listen to any of your suggestions and says he will go shoot the dog unless you agree to euthanize?
9. An ethical question involving staff euthanizing the wrong animal.