Perceptions of veterinary admissions committee members of undergraduate credits earned from community colleges or online compared to traditional 4-year institutions.

Veterinary admission committees are asked to create and implement a fair, reliable, and valid system to select the candidates most likely to succeed in veterinary school from a large pool of applicants. Although numerous studies have explored grade point average (GPA) as a predictive value of later academic success, there has been little attention paid to how and where an applicant acquires his/her undergraduate coursework. Quality of academic program is an important component of applicant files, and it is suggested that the source of a candidate's coursework might influence admissions committee decisions, perhaps even outside of the committee's immediate awareness. Options for undergraduate education include taking classes at a traditional four-year institution, a community college, or online. This study provides an overview of the current state of online courses and community colleges in the US as a foundation to explore the views of veterinary admissions committee members pertaining to coursework completed at traditional residential 4-year schools or at community colleges and whether they are delivered on campus or online (at either type of institution). Survey participants reported a pattern of preference for traditional four-year residential coursework compared to online or community college courses. These results are interesting given the exponential growth of students taking online courses and data showing community colleges are providing a successful gateway to obtaining a four-year degree. This also points to the need for admission committees to discuss potential biases since the information about type of school and/or course may not be consistently available for all applicants. Finally, at a time when admitting a diverse class of students is a goal of many programs, it is of special concern that there are potential biases against courses taken online or from community colleges - venues that tend to draw a more diverse population than traditional 4-year universities.

Information prescriptions: A tool for veterinary practices.

The Internet has become a major source of health information and has the potential to offer many benefits for both human and animal health. In order for impact to be positive, however, it is critical that users be able to access reliable, trustworthy information. Although more pet owners are using the Internet to research animal health information than ever before, there remains limited research surrounding their online activities or the ability to influence owners' online search behaviors. The current study was designed to assess the online behaviors and perceptions of pet owners after receiving either general or topic-specific information prescriptions as part of their veterinary appointment. Results indicate that nearly 60% of clients accessed the suggested websites and nearly all of these clients reported positive feelings about this addition to their veterinary services. These results suggest that offering information prescriptions to clients can facilitate better online searches by clients and positively impact both animal health and client satisfaction.