Apply Smarter Archives - VIN Foundation

VIN Foundation | Supporting veterinarians to cultivate a healthy animal community | Blog | Aspiring Veterinarians Apply Smarter

April 9, 2018 In Apply Smarter, Veterinary resources, Veterinary school, Veterinary student debt By Tony Bartels, DVM, MBA

For the Aspiring Veterinarian — Apply Smarter!

Veterinary medicine is experiencing a student debt crisis. Yes, many higher education graduates experience loan repayment hardship; however the magnitude affecting recent veterinary graduates is unique. Every day I counsel pending and recent graduates through the Veterinary Information Network (VIN) and via VIN Foundation who report student debt balances in excess of $200,000, $300,000 and $400,000 with incomes between $70,000 and $90,000 depending on where they choose to live and what type of veterinary medicine they are pursuing.

January 30, 2018 In Apply Smarter, Veterinary resources, Veterinary school, Veterinary student debt, Veterinary students By Tony Bartels, DVM, MBA

Estimate Your Minimum Monthly Student Loan Payment

The recently updated 2018 Health and Human Services (HHS) poverty guidelines determine your minimum monthly student loan payment.

Poverty guidelines are used for many different U.S. government programs. One of the most important uses for veterinarians is the Discretionary Income calculation used to generate the minimum monthly student loan payment of federal income-driven repayment plans (IBR, PAYE, REPAYE). Income-driven student loan repayment plans are extremely helpful for those veterinary graduates with student loan balances greater than their annual incomes.

November 30, 2017 In Apply Smarter, Veterinary student debt, Veterinary students By Tony Bartels, DVM, MBA

My Student Loans

Getting to and through veterinary school takes a long time and a lot of education. Along the way, you can borrow a variety of loan types to finance your education resulting in a complex student loan portfolio. Before you can formulate a repayment plan, you need to understand your student loans. This short video tutorial will show you how to retrieve and upload your NSLDS file.

The VIN Foundation My Student Loans tool will help you make sense of your student loan portfolio. Using your National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) file, My Student Loans will organize your loans by type, date received, interest rate, principal, calculate a weighted average interest rate, and estimate your monthly interest accumulation. This information is crucial for helping you determine which repayment plans you can use.

VIN Foundation | Supporting veterinarians to cultivate a healthy animal community | Resources | Vet School Bound | Apply Smarter to veterinary school | veterinary school admission prerequisites

November 2, 2017 In Apply Smarter, Veterinary questions & answers, Veterinary resources, Veterinary school By VIN Foundation

Veterinary school class recommendations

Choosing a career is more complicated than deciding what to have for dinner or where to go on vacation. Whether you’ve just begun thinking about veterinary medicine as a career or it’s been a lifelong dream, you probably have some questions about how to get there and what you may have to give up along the way.

This post is part of our common questions about becoming a veterinarian and their answers section of our blog. Check out more under the veterinary questions and answers category. We also encourage you to add your own voice and send us your questions. Chances are, if you’re wondering about something, someone else is too.

QUESTION:

Hi, I’m starting community college next fall and I just wanted to know what classes do you guys recommend for me to take that will benefit me and my plan in becoming a veterinarian. My plan is to graduate high school this year and go to DVC then transfer to UC Davis for their veterinary medicine program. I want to be prepared as I can be!