A bit off topic but on topic, with your GPA and hours it's not right that any school should reject you (I understand 900 isn't a lot for some schools but many listed that because of the recent pandemic they would have lowered hour expectations (I've seen some with 200 recommended)). I think pursuing that masters could be helpful especially if it's not expensive, I'm also still in the running for Ohio State (oos) so crossing my fingers with you. I wish there were more seats honestly especially considering how backed up all the vet clinics seem to be.
I doubt that the number of hours here is the issue. I'd encourage you to do file reviews if possible.
Are you planning to reapply this upcoming cycle if you don’t get in?
I did have my application looked over by my pre-vet advisor. She is an OSU alum and she volunteers each year to help with applications (reading essays, sitting for interviews, etc). She thought my application was stellar and is very... upset that I have received so many rejections thus far haha. We're both just hoping I get into OSU. She also is a part-time faculty at my university and I've been in and TAed for her classes so she knows of me as a student and as an employee. She was one of my letters of recommendation of course. I don't know to be honest. We're just going with my interests in vet med do not match the character profile of the schools I applied to.
What is your main career goal?
I have a variety of interests thus far that stem from my "atypical" animal interests. This was the focus of my personal statement. I've never had cats or dogs; I've always had exotic pets (rats, guinea pigs, lizards, turtles, all of the above really). My original interest in vet-med stemmed from realizing the lack of exotic veterinarians in my community. As I delved deeper into my undergraduate education I realized that I am fascinated with infectious diseases and I noted on a lot of my applications that asked for specific areas of interest that I like exotics, lab animal, and public health/epidemiology. Based on this I would say that the reason I am not getting accepted is because I have no experience in these fields aside from personal pet ownership and book learning in school. To be fair though, exotics aside, I do wonder how they would expect me to get epidemiology experience. I should have done undergraduate research, I suppose, but I go to a smaller university and the closest I would have gotten to that is organic or biochemistry research.
I assumed my unique interests would have set me apart from other applicants and helped me during the application cycle, not hurt me. Darn if only I really loved horses or cows since large animal/farm animal medicine is in dire need of more veterinarians :')
Definitely try to get experience in those areas!!! I also went to a small college and actually didn’t accumulate any of my experience from my 4 years while there. I’m a lab animal medicine girlie so I totally understand where you’re coming from but it’s hard for a school to see you’re dedicated to that profession if you don’t have experience in it, especially lab animal medicine where it’s completely different than a typical small animal clinic. A lot of colleges have research tech positions that could get your foot in the door with lab animals and research!
I totally see what you mean. I wish I knew more definitively what I wanted to do going into undergrad so I could have gotten more experience in those areas. I also wish COVID didn't define my first two years of university since most everything was online, including labs. This is why I assume that if I don't get in this cycle if I reapply after MVPH, especially from OSU, I should have a more successful second attempt. That is the hope, at least.
I apologize I did not mean for it to sound as if I was implying that it is "easier" to get into vet school by having an interest in high-demand areas (although now I see how insensitive I must have sounded, forgive me). I was just trying to voice my off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts regarding my weaknesses this cycle. I never thought before about how I might come off as trying to lie about being interested in what I am interested in. The schools that did have essays as part of their application allowed me to explain my interests, but not every school had essays (OSU did not, actually). I wish it was not so hard to get vet experience in these not-as-popular areas of vet med! A research position might be in my near future for sure.
I have the same stats as you and was rejected from the OOS school I applied to. I only applied to two schools and I'm waiting to hear from my IS sometime this week (probably today) and I'm so nervous. I know I'm very competitive like you but there's still that uncertainty! I don't have the most variation in my hours which is my concern. Good luck to you, I hope you get into your IS!!!
I also wish that it was easier to get experience in less popular areas of vetmed! I want to go into large animal/equine medicine but there isn't a single large animal vet for miles from me. It's a 2 hour drive there.
So true it just depends on where you live. I live in the suburbs but there is a lot of surrounding farmland so for me, it wasn't too challenging to get large animal/equine experience. I wonder if schools take the demographics info regarding where you live into consideration regarding your hours or if it's just for statistics purposes...
I don't think they do unfortunately. Too many applicants for that to matter I think
That too! Not a lot of vets even take in students. It really is rough out here 😅 Hopefully we won't have to worry about it 🤞
Rooting for you!
I am so sorry you had harsh feedback(was it from a school or someone else external?). And I know how that feels to be fighting against a lower GPA. I am on my 4th application cycle and have been working my butt off to try and make up for that fact on my applications. I have consistently been told by advisors/admissions/everything that I might need to look at something else, have a backup plan etc. and it hurts…I know how it feels to be sitting there going “I know I’m worth it, I’d be awesome in this field why can’t they just see that??!!”
thank you so much for this, it really, truly means a lot. <3
thank you so much. <3 this made me smile.
I totally understand what you’re feeling as I’ve felt it too. However, I have been rejected without an interview from 8 schools but then I was accepted to CSU. It truly only takes 1 school, so don’t get too discouraged!
I know it’s not the end of the world but it’s overall just such a bad feeling. Like you’re just going about your day and then bam - “dear…. We regret to inform you that…”
.
Just got another one from a school I was really hoping for…only LMU and ISU left as options now. I’m worried I made some grave error in representing myself as I really thought my app was competitive enough for an interview or two with schools that value experiences heavily out of 15. Trying to figure out how much I’m willing to take out in student loans to improve my GPA for next cycle. I’m doing my best to keep my head up but my confidence is seriously hurt.
Ayo drop the schools that like GPA over experience because I'm having the opposite problem over here :')
Definitely Minnesota, they screened me out for GPA without even looking at the rest of my app 🙃
Absolutely. So exhausting.
How do you know Minnesota screened you out with GPA, do they state it in the denial letter? Debating on applying to them next cycle if I don't get in this time.
They said so in the denial letter.
Minnesota is a complete wildcard for me because I found out after the fact they are super GPA heavy but somehow got an interview. From all the times I have applied it starting to feel more and more like a miracle/random chance as I go on... :| Then there were other schools I thought i would at least have somewhat a chance with because they seemed more holistic and nope.
Yeahhh not to throw too much shade at the process and come off bitter but it does feel pretty random for a lot of schools. All I can think of for MN is that there’s potentially a relatively high, undisclosed cutoff, then they value balanced applicants after that? I dunno. It would help if schools posted that kind of thing publicly.
