Student Guide
How your VetMatch account works

A plain-language walkthrough of your profile, how applications work, resumes, references, the participation agreement, and reviews — everything that happens between creating your account and finishing an externship.

Your Profile

When you created your account, you gave VetMatch the basics clinics use to get a first sense of who you are: your name and contact info, your school and current year, and any specialty interests you selected (like Small Animal, Equine, or Emergency & Critical Care).

None of this is locked in. You can update your name, phone number, school, year, interests, or resume at any time from your dashboard — clinics only ever see the current version, never a snapshot from when you signed up.

Tip: Your phone number is only shared with a clinic once they accept your application — it's kept private before that.

How Applications Work

Every application has two parts. First, an optional cover letter — a short note about why you're interested in that specific opportunity. Second, a set of screening questions the clinic wrote themselves. These are different for every posting, so read them carefully. A few examples of what you might see:

Short answer
"What draws you to large animal medicine?"
Paragraph
"Describe a case you found challenging and what you learned."
Yes / No
"Are you comfortable with large-breed handling?"
Multiple choice
"Which shift best fits your schedule?"
Before you can submit any application, you'll need to have signed the Participation Agreement (see below) — and some postings won't let you apply until you have at least one completed reference on file.

Once you've applied

Your application moves through a simple status pipeline, visible on your dashboard the whole way:

Pending → Interview → Offer Received → Confirmed

A clinic can move you to Interview and send time slots for you to pick from, extend an Offer (which needs your response), or mark you Not Selected at any stage. If you're offered a spot and accept, your status becomes Confirmed and your start date is locked in.

Your Resume

A resume isn't required to create an account, but it's the first thing most clinics look at when your application lands in their queue — we strongly recommend uploading one before you start applying, even a simple one.

Accepted formats: PDF, DOC, DOCX, ODT, or RTF, up to 5MB. You can upload one during signup, or add or replace it anytime from your dashboard profile — the newest version is what clinics see on every future application.

References, Explained

A reference is someone who can speak to your clinical skills and work ethic — a supervisor, mentor, or professor who's worked with you directly. VetMatch handles the whole request for you; you never have to chase anyone down for an email.

1
You enter their info — name, email, and how you know them — from the References tab on your dashboard.
2
We email them automatically with a link to a short form. They don't need a VetMatch account to fill it out.
3
They respond either by rating you on a few short categories (professionalism, clinical skills, communication, teamwork, initiative) or by uploading a written letter instead.
4
You see the status update on your dashboard — pending, completed, or declined — for every request you've sent.
5
References persist in your VetMatch account and are automatically sent to clinics that require them with your application. Deactivate or delete references to keep them from being sent.

You can request references at any point, not just when a posting requires them — it's worth having a couple completed before you start applying, since some clinics won't consider an application without them.

You can also choose to waive your right to view a reference's response when you request it, which some providers prefer since it signals the feedback is candid and unedited.

The Participation Agreement

Before your first application can go through, you'll be asked to sign VetMatch's Participation Agreement. In plain terms: VetMatch is the platform that connects you with clinics, but the clinic runs the actual externship — so the agreement covers things like assumption of risk, liability, and your responsibility for your own health and safety while on-site. It's a standard part of joining any externship marketplace, not busywork specific to you.

You only need to sign it once. If you're under 18, a parent or legal guardian will need to co-sign alongside you. You can review and sign it from your dashboard whenever you're ready — you'll be prompted automatically the first time you try to submit an application if you haven't yet.

Leaving Reviews

Once an externship is marked complete, you'll be able to tell VetMatch, the practice, and future students how it went. There are two separate ways to do this:

Public Review
  • 1–5 star rating & a written review
  • Shown on the clinic's public profile to help other students choose
  • Briefly reviewed by VetMatch before it goes live
  • You can edit it for 48 hours after posting
Private Feedback
  • Rate specific categories: supervision, learning opportunities, workload fairness, facilities, staff culture
  • Goes straight to the clinic — never posted publicly
  • Always anonymous — the clinic never sees your name attached
  • A good place for honest, constructive notes

Both are entirely optional, but they're genuinely useful — public reviews help the next student pick a great clinic, and private feedback gives the clinic a real signal on how to run a better program.

Getting Help

If anything on this page doesn't match what you're seeing, or something's not working as expected, reach out and we'll sort it out.

Go to Dashboard → Contact Support