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Shelter Medicine Distance Education

College of Veterinary Medicine

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Graduate Certificate

Please complete all four steps to complete your application to the online graduate certificate program in Veterinary Medical Sciences with a concentration in Shelter Medicine.

Contact us with any questions!

Step One: Mandatory Department Form
Step Two: Certificate Application
Step Three: Official Transcripts
Step Four: TOEFL

Step One: Mandatory Department Application

Applications and all application materials must be received by the final application deadline for the semester you are applying to.

Please contact masters@dce.ufl.edu with any questions regarding the application or related procedures.

Please fill out the form below if you are interested in applying to the University of Florida for a Graduate Certificate in Shelter Medicine.

Step Two:  Certificate Application

When completing and submitting the application, please note the following important information for each section of the application:

Getting Started

  • Keep the username and password that you create in order to log in and edit your application before submission.

Submitting the Online Application

Personal Information

  • Provide all of the requested Personal Information.
  • International Applicants:
    • You must enter your Surname and Given name in the Passport Name section even if you do not have a passport.
    • If you are a permanent resident alien and/or reside in the United States, you must provide your resident alien number and upload a copy of your permanent resident alien card directly to the application.

Conduct Disclosure

  • Accurately answer and report all information in the Conduct Disclosure section.

Application Information & Program of Study

Follow the instructions below to make the correct selections for the degree you are applying for:

  • In the Location dropdown, select Distance Education.
  • In the Program of Study section, click or search College of Veterinary Medicine. From the expanded selection, choose:
    • Veterinary Medical Sciences
  • Choose the term you are applying for from the dropdown. Applicants applying for Summer admission must select Summer A/C.
  • Review your selection in the Program Display and verify that it is correct before moving to the next application step. If you need to amend your selection, choose Re-Select Program.
  • Fill out the Additional Information section with the following:
    • Under Concentration, choose the dropdown option Shelter Medicine
    • Leave the Program Specialization field blank
    • In the Department Contact Name field, type DCE DESC Admissions Team

Academic Background

  • Report your Undergraduate Major.
  • Enter all of the colleges or universities you have attended. Accurately report the degree, and degree date, you earned.
    • Upload your unofficial transcripts for each school, if you have them.
    • Note that your application will not be reviewed for an admission decision until your official transcripts are received (instructions for sending official transcripts are on Step Three).
  • The upper-division GPA must be reported on the UF Graduate Application. Use the instructions on the application, and this worksheet, to calculate and accurately report your upper-division GPA.

Activities

  • Report past and/or planned activities in this section, including pertinent work experience.

Residency Information

  • Enter your residency information. The residency of our students has no bearing on tuition cost for our program, but this information is required by the University of Florida.
  • If you are a non-Florida resident, check the appropriate box.
  • If you are a Florida resident, fully complete the Residency Information section, including the numbers and original issue dates for two of the following three identifying documents. Documents may be directly uploaded to the application:
    • Driver’s License
    • Vehicle Registration
    • Voter Registration

Application Fee

  • The $37 application fee must be paid with the submission of the online application in order for the application to be submitted.

Additional Information

  • Add @ufl.edu to your ‘safe list’ on your email account. If you receive any emails from UF regarding your application, you must respond

Go to Graduate Certificate Application

Step Three: Official Transcripts

Domestic Applicant Transcript Requirement

All students must have official, sealed transcripts sent to the Office of Admission for all college coursework completed. The transcripts sent should correlate to the schools listed on your application (Step 2).

Former University of Florida (UF) students who haven’t attended any school after UF do not need to request transcripts.

If you have not yet completed your bachelor’s degree, only send a transcript once it reflects that your degree has been conferred. This transcript must be received by UF by the final application deadline for the semester you are applying to. Transcripts that confer the degree must be received before any decision can be made on an application.

Domestic transcripts can be sent via post or electronically. Request official, original transcripts from every school that you reported on the UF Graduate Application in Step 2.

Send transcripts via post to the following address:

University of Florida
Office of Admissions
201 Criser Hall – PO Box 114000
Gainesville, FL 32611-4000

Send electronic transcripts directly FROM the institution TO the UF Office of Admissions at gradpro@admissions.ufl.edu.

The institution must use one of the following verified companies to submit transcripts or the transcripts cannot be considered valid and official:

Parchment, Faster, National Student Clearinghouse, Transcripts Plus, Credential Solutions, or E-script/Scrip-Safe.

If one of these companies cannot be used transcripts must be sent via post.

International Applicant Transcript Requirement

Transcript/Mark Sheet and Diploma/Degree Certificate

Graduate applicants must submit an official, original document in the native language of each transcript/mark sheet and diploma/degree certificate from each university or college attended. If the native language for the documents is not English, certified, exact literal English translations are required. The English translation may come from your university or may be completed by a certified translator. Original documents are strongly preferred.

Applicants can use one of these options listed below to send their official transcripts

  1. We can accept the WES ICAP evaluation. We cannot accept the WES evaluation report or any other evaluations from other credential services.
  2. Attested copies of official transcripts, diploma, and translations attested by the university in sealed and stamped envelopes (the sealed envelope needs to be signed across with university seal)
  3. Official documents sent directly to us with the checklist

For applicants that do not need any of their documents returned, use the following instructions.

All academic credentials sent using these instructions become the property of the university. They will not be returned to you or forwarded to a third party. Credentials of applicants who do not enroll will be destroyed.

Request official, original transcripts from every school that you reported on the UF Graduate Application in Step 2 and have them sent to the following address.

University of Florida
Office of Admissions
201 Criser Hall – PO Box 114000
Gainesville, FL 32611-4000

For applicants who need any of their documents returned, use the following instructions.

We must have your original diploma verifying that the degrees reported were earned. Your transcript/mark sheet and diploma/degree certificate with English translations (if the native language is not English) should be assembled by you and sent to the address below in one package. If you would like your transcript/mark sheet and diploma/degree certificate returned to you, you must provide a return shipping label and return packaging in the package that you send. You must also include this checklist, filled out, in the package that you send containing your documents.

We keep your documents locked and safe until after your application materials are processed and an application decision can be made. Once the documents are reviewed, we will send them back to you via the label and packaging that you provide.  While the University of Florida handles all documents with care, we are not responsible for documents that are lost or damaged in the mail.

Packages that include documents to be returned must be sent to:

University of Florida
Maples Center for Forensic Medicine
Attn: Dr. Jason Byrd
4800 SW 35th Drive
Gainesville FL – 32608

Step Four: TOEFL

The English Language Skill Requirement

If your native language is not English, or if you graduated with a bachelor’s degree from a non-English speaking country, you will need to take and submit your TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or other Graduate Council approved English language skills test scores.

Non-English speaking countries are those which are not included in the Graduate School’s list of English speaking countries.

Having the TOEFL or English Language Test sent to the University of Florida

All applicants must have ETS (Educational Testing Service) send their official TOEFL test scores directly to the UF Office of Admissions at code 5812. No department code should be selected.

  • Only official, sealed scores, direct from ETS, are acceptable. Self-reported scores, unsealed copies of score reports or photocopies of score reports cannot be accepted as official final documents.

Minimum TOEFL Scores Required

To be considered for the master’s degree, the applicant must score the following on the TOEFL:

TOEFL Exam Type Required Score
Paper-based 550
Computer-based 213
Internet 80