Utah State Vet School Interview: Format, Dates and Scoring

What happens on the day

The interview is online. Utah State says all interviews are conducted in a virtual format.

• Virtual. You interview from home, not in Logan.
• Early to mid January. The How to Apply page lists January 2027 as the interview period, with exact dates to be announced.
• Invitations and status by email. Selected applicants first receive an invitation email from Kira Talent (two video responses and one essay response due within 7 days). Interview invitations then follow pre-interview rankings, and status updates are sent via email.
• Mission-aligned. The college looks for a growth mindset, professionalism and excellence.

How you get an interview

Applications that meet the GPA cutoffs are scored and ranked. Interview invitations go out based on those pre-interview rankings.

How offers are decided

After interviews, your interview score (15% of the total) is added to your pre-interview score. The Office of Veterinary Admissions then ranks applicants.

• Three outcomes. An offer of admission, a waitlist notice or a denial, sent by email.
• February to March 2027. Initial decisions are released.
• April 15, 2027. Accept by this date to hold your seat. You also complete a School of Graduate Studies application with a $55 fee.
• Residency is fixed. Your tuition status is set at the VMCAS deadline and cannot be appealed later in the program.

The program, requirements and dates

Utah State's DVM is the only veterinary program in Utah, a four-year program in Logan housed in the Thomas and Patricia Willis Veterinary Medical Education (VME) Building. Courses use a competency-based, two-phase approach aligned with American Veterinary Medical Association and American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges competencies, followed by fourth-year clinical rotations delivered in person in college-approved, private practice, regulatory and industry settings under trained preceptors and faculty oversight, with no teaching hospital on campus. A bachelor's degree is not required for admission, prerequisite courses do not have an expiration date, and the program does not admit transfer students from other DVM programs.

How to prepare

Prepare for questions about your VMCAS experiences and Utah State's mission: mixed-animal medicine for urban and rural communities across Utah and the Intermountain West, domestic and zoological species, and a growth mindset, professionalism, and excellence. Example answer, written by our team (the applicant is invented), on bridging a small-animal background to mixed-animal medicine: 'Most of my clinical experience has been in small-animal practice, where I learned low-stress handling and how to walk owners through treatment options. When I began shadowing a rural mixed-animal veterinarian on farm calls, I saw how herd health and preventive care affect an entire operation. I want to build that foundation across domestic and zoological species through community-based rotations so I can serve both companion-animal owners and livestock producers in the Intermountain West.'

• Show a growth mindset. Have two stories about a mistake or setback and what you changed afterward.
• Know the mission. Be ready to say why mixed-animal practice and rural or Intermountain West communities matter to you.
• Fill a large-animal gap. If most of your hours are with pets, know what you have done or will do to learn about livestock.
• Practice on camera. Record yourself answering on video so you get used to looking at the camera and keeping answers to about two minutes.

Practice questions

Questions in the style of a Interview (virtual) station, written for applicants to Utah State University College of Veterinary Medicine. They are practice questions, not the school's own. Open one for what a strong answer does.

Frequently asked questions