Graduated March 2016 with a low gpa. Trying to figure out what steps to take next.

[jucho893]

Hello everyone,

I have a extremely low undergrad GPA with a Biology BS degree. I was going through some severe mental issues that had not be diagnosed until after I graduated. I have taken steps to have a healthier mind and would like to go to veterinary school now.

I've researched on google and I've read many times that I should take advanced courses and ace them to show the college admissions that I am able to do well in upper division classes. My only question is what is the best way to do this?

Would I go to a community college and take upper division courses?

If anyone has advice/suggestions for me I'd appreciate it so much!


Thanks!

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[MAD MIKE O7]

Hey there! I also had a rough undergrad and I'm applying for my second time. My recommendation to you would be;
1.) Take upper level courses to improve your overall and last 45 hour gpa (bonus if they are science). Look into what different school look for. For instance, Iowa and Minnesota both look at your 45 hour and prerequisite science courses for their admissions.

2.) Study hard and take the GRE. Having a strong GRE score can help somewhat to offset your lower gpa.

3.) GET EXPERIENCE! Volunteer and veterinary supervised experience go a long way and can help you to stand out if you have more than most of the other applicants.

4.) Make sure you have good LOR's (Letters of Reference) from licensed vets.

5.) Take your time when writing your essays on your application. Triple check for any errors, have several qualified people read it and give feedback.

Hope some of this advice helps, it's a tough field to get into but if you're dedicated you'll get to where you want to be.

Best of luck!

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[Lupin21]

Upper division by nature means a four year institution, so sadly community college is not the place you can achieve that.

 

[LetItSnow]

Upper division by nature means a four year institution, so sadly community college is not the place you can achieve that.

I see this stated time and time again, yet, I did all of my courses at a community college.

 

[Lupin21]

I see this stated time and time again, yet, I did all of my courses at a community college.

Upper division though, as OP specifically stated, means beyond sophomore grade, which requires 4 year. That isn't to say some schools took sophomore based classes as their pre-reqs.

 

[MAD MIKE O7]

Upper division though, as OP specifically stated, means beyond sophomore grade, which requires 4 year. That isn't to say some schools took sophomore based classes as their pre-reqs.

Upper level courses are 3000-4000 level courses... Meaning sophmore and above.

My community college is 4 years so they do offer upper level courses.

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[jucho893]

Hey there! I also had a rough undergrad and I'm applying for my second time. My recommendation to you would be;
1.) Take upper level courses to improve your overall and last 45 hour gpa (bonus if they are science). Look into what different school look for. For instance, Iowa and Minnesota both look at your 45 hour and prerequisite science courses for their admissions.

2.) Study hard and take the GRE. Having a strong GRE score can help somewhat to offset your lower gpa.

3.) GET EXPERIENCE! Volunteer and veterinary supervised experience go a long way and can help you to stand out if you have more than most of the other applicants.

4.) Make sure you have good LOR's (Letters of Reference) from licensed vets.

5.) Take your time when writing your essays on your application. Triple check for any errors, have several qualified people read it and give feedback.

Hope some of this advice helps, it's a tough field to get into but if you're dedicated you'll get to where you want to be.

Best of luck!

Thank you for your response!

Do you mind telling me what your living situation is like? For example did/do you work full-time? How do you fit in the time and energy for volunteering/working at an animal hospital? Were the weekends enough?

 

[Lupin21]

Upper level courses are 3000-4000 level courses... Meaning sophmore and above.

My community college is 4 years so they do offer upper level courses.

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Have they changed the meaning of community college then? Community college is a 2 year meant to complete freshman and sophomore classes. So I suppose you can say you are a 4 year community college, but it is bending the term from what it was originally. BTW, I am all for community college for sure, as I completed most of my prereqs that way as well, but OK still required the 4 year upper division tag for certain ones.

 

[jucho893]

Upper level courses are 3000-4000 level courses... Meaning sophmore and above.

My community college is 4 years so they do offer upper level courses.

So it is possible to take upper division courses that Vet schools will accept? I am in California and would like to stay in California so my options are Western U and Davis. Western U is the more realistic choice...

 

[Lupin21]

So it is possible to take upper division courses that Vet schools will accept? I am in California and would like to stay in California so my options are Western U and Davis. Western U is the most realistic school I should apply to.

The question is are you looking to retake prereqs, or are you wanting to take more science classes that boost your GPA? Davis was great about taking their prereqs from Pierce College, which is fantastic. However Pierce was getting pretty crowded even when I was there 6 years ago, so I can just imagine it now. haha

 

[MAD MIKE O7]

Have they changed the meaning of community college then? Community college is a 2 year meant to complete freshman and sophomore classes. So I suppose you can say you are a 4 year community college, but it is bending the term from what it was originally. BTW, I am all for community college for sure, as I completed most of my prereqs that way as well, but OK still required the 4 year upper division tag for certain ones.

Most community colleges still only offer 2 year degrees but an increasing number are offering specific 4 year degrees. I believe the community college for my county offers 3 different bachelor's degrees, a BS in nursing, a bachelor's of applied science, and a bachelor's of applied technology.

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[MAD MIKE O7]

Thank you for your response!

Do you mind telling me what your living situation is like? For example did/do you work full-time? How do you fit in the time and energy for volunteering/working at an animal hospital? Were the weekends enough?

I work full time as a veterinary technician currently and live at home with my dad so that I can save up some money. I haven't done volunteer work since I was working on my undergrad (graduated last December) I was working about 25-30 hours a week, volunteering with a feral cat rescue, running a animal medicine club (president) and taking 14-17 hours a semester for the last two years of my degree. I scheduled my classes as early as I could so that I could work in the afternoons. I worked 3 weekdays and every weekend/holiday.

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[jucho893]

The question is are you looking to retake prereqs, or are you wanting to take more science classes that boost your GPA? Davis was great about taking their prereqs from Pierce College, which is fantastic. However Pierce was getting pretty crowded even when I was there 6 years ago, so I can just imagine it now. haha

I have taken all the pre-requisites. I'm looking to boost my GPA and seeking the best route to take to achieve that. =)

 

[jucho893]

I work full time as a veterinary technician currently and live at home with my dad so that I can save up some money. I haven't done volunteer work since I was working on my undergrad (graduated last December) I was working about 25-30 hours a week, volunteering with a feral cat rescue, running a animal medicine club (president) and taking 14-17 hours a semester for the last two years of my degree. I scheduled my classes as early as I could so that I could work in the afternoons. I worked 3 weekdays and every weekend/holiday.

Did you go to school for vet tech? I know that takes two years.

 

[Lupin21]

I have taken all the pre-requisites. I'm looking to boost my GPA and seeking the best route to take to achieve that. =)

Gotcha. It will definitely depend on what schools are around and what you are willing to spend there. Davis was always great at responding to people and giving them advice, so you might shoot them an email after this cycle is over and see what they have to say to help you. I have no knowledge of Western, but will warn you to take a deep look at the financial bankruptcy that is vet med and especially going to a private school

 

[MAD MIKE O7]

Did you go to school for vet tech? I know that takes two years.

Luckily I live in Texas so being a licenced vet tech isn't required if you can find someone to train you (which isn't easy!) I worked as a kennel tech for a year and a half and I have been a vet tech for a year as of next week.

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[jucho893]

Gotcha. It will definitely depend on what schools are around and what you are willing to spend there. Davis was always great at responding to people and giving them advice, so you might shoot them an email after this cycle is over and see what they have to say to help you. I have no knowledge of Western, but will warn you to take a deep look at the financial bankruptcy that is vet med and especially going to a private school

Thanks for your input! I just e-mailed Davis's admissions.

 

[jucho893]

Luckily I live in Texas so being a licenced vet tech isn't required if you can find someone to train you (which isn't easy!) I worked as a kennel tech for a year and a half and I have been a vet tech for a year as of next week.

Thank you for all your responses Mike. =)

 

[Lupin21]

Thanks for your input! I just e-mailed Davis's admissions.

Depending then, you might be waiting a long spell for a reply since they are in the middle of admission season. lol

 

[MAD MIKE O7]

Thank you for all your responses Mike. =)

It's no problem at all.

If you have any other questions you can shoot me a message and I'll try my best to help out. Best of luck!

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[PippyPony]

In case you're looking for more suggestions on where to take classes, I took almost all of my pre-reqs through UC Berkeley Extension. UCLA also offers some, so that could work depending on where you're located in CA.

The in-person lab classes are held at various community colleges throughout the bay area, but they're technically through UC Berkeley Extension so you kind of have a little bit of the Berkeley "oomph" behind it on a transcript, even if schools know it's the extension school.

Disclaimer: didn't apply to Davis or Western though so I don't know what they would accept.

 

[LetItSnow]

Upper division though, as OP specifically stated, means beyond sophomore grade, which requires 4 year. That isn't to say some schools took sophomore based classes as their pre-reqs.

*shrug*

That's all fine, but I did all my science pre-reqs at a community college, including the "upper division" science classes.

All I'm saying is that the blanket "community colleges don't offer upper division classes" just isn't true. I'm sure they all don't, but I'm just as sure that some do.

The reason I always bring this up when someone throws out the myth about community colleges not doing upper division classes is purely because of the whole debt issue. A few of my classes were taught by the same teacher that taught at UMN using her same book and her same labs and her same lectures and her same homework and her same exams .... all for the same amount of credits and half the cost.

So if that type of thing is available to someone, it is totally worth looking into, and I think people should know that it might be available to them.

 

[LetItSnow]

Have they changed the meaning of community college then? Community college is a 2 year meant to complete freshman and sophomore classes. So I suppose you can say you are a 4 year community college, but it is bending the term from what it was originally. BTW, I am all for community college for sure, as I completed most of my prereqs that way as well, but OK still required the 4 year upper division tag for certain ones.

Probably the definition has shifted and whatnot. And some community colleges are offering 4-yr degrees in conjunction with 4-yr schools, to make it more confusing.

My only point is that it's no longer accurate to assume "community college" == "two-yr program" == "lower level classes".

That definitely may still be true at a given CC, but it's just as possible that it's not true.

I don't know if it is true anymore, but some schools used to require certain classes from a school with a 4-yr program. As usual, it's all about doing your homework and matching up what is available to you with the requirements of the schools to which you plan to apply.

 

[Lupin21]

Probably the definition has shifted and whatnot. And some community colleges are offering 4-yr degrees in conjunction with 4-yr schools, to make it more confusing.

My only point is that it's no longer accurate to assume "community college" == "two-yr program" == "lower level classes".

That definitely may still be true at a given CC, but it's just as possible that it's not true.

I don't know if it is true anymore, but some schools used to require certain classes from a school with a 4-yr program. As usual, it's all about doing your homework and matching up what is available to you with the requirements of the schools to which you plan to apply.

Yeah, that was what I was getting at. The other thing here is that we are not talking about regular prereqs, OP was wanting further developed science courses, so that will also be tougher depending on her area to get those at a CC. That was why I went there in the first place. lol

 

[LetItSnow]

Yeah, that was what I was getting at. The other thing here is that we are not talking about regular prereqs, OP was wanting further developed science courses, so that will also be tougher depending on her area to get those at a CC. That was why I went there in the first place. lol

For sure. And I really don't know the answer to the whole "I've already done all the pre-reqs and my GPA sucks, so what should I do?" question.... I've never really known what the best approach is in that situation. Some people talk about doing a masters, but ... man ... 2 more yrs of expensive schooling on top of undergrad debt to pile on vet school debt. Honestly, I don't think that's worth it. But I don't know if there are better answers.

Schools that average the grades probably help. And definitely schools that do a "last-45 credit" (or similar) calculation would help. But.... it's just a hard row to hoe no matter what.

I mean, my GPA was like 1.5 or whatever after my undergrad years. But it was so long ago that I was fortunate - none of it counted. It's always amused me that for someone who failed out of undergrad 3 times UMN basically calculated me out as a 4.0 student for vet school admissions purposes. But arriving at that spot only happened because of the huge number of years between undergrad takes 1-3 and undergrad take 4.

 

[Lupin21]

For sure. And I really don't know the answer to the whole "I've already done all the pre-reqs and my GPA sucks, so what should I do?" question.... I've never really known what the best approach is in that situation. Some people talk about doing a masters, but ... man ... 2 more yrs of expensive schooling on top of undergrad debt to pile on vet school debt. Honestly, I don't think that's worth it. But I don't know if there are better answers.

Schools that average the grades probably help. And definitely schools that do a "last-45 credit" (or similar) calculation would help. But.... it's just a hard row to hoe no matter what.

I mean, my GPA was like 1.5 or whatever after my undergrad years. But it was so long ago that I was fortunate - none of it counted. It's always amused me that for someone who failed out of undergrad 3 times UMN basically calculated me out as a 4.0 student for vet school admissions purposes. But arriving at that spot only happened because of the huge number of years between undergrad takes 1-3 and undergrad take 4.

Agreed. I don't think I would be able to agree to a Masters for that price tag getting ever higher. That's why my advice was to see if Davis was able to offer their opinion on where she stands. I can't imagine going into more debt for a chance at collecting over $100,000 more. That is why I am even in OK in the first place instead of staying in CA. At least mine is staying ~$13o,o00 here.

 

[JustPaws]

*shrug*

That's all fine, but I did all my science pre-reqs at a community college, including the "upper division" science classes.

All I'm saying is that the blanket "community colleges don't offer upper division classes" just isn't true. I'm sure they all don't, but I'm just as sure that some do.

The reason I always bring this up when someone throws out the myth about community colleges not doing upper division classes is purely because of the whole debt issue. A few of my classes were taught by the same teacher that taught at UMN using her same book and her same labs and her same lectures and her same homework and her same exams .... all for the same amount of credits and half the cost.

So if that type of thing is available to someone, it is totally worth looking into, and I think people should know that it might be available to them.

I was also able to take almost all of my science pre-reqs at various community colleges. The only one I am having to take elsewhere is BioChem at UC Berkeley extension. I haven't gotten into vet school yet, but MSU's admin counselor specifically said I should save money this way.

 

[Lupin21]

I was also able to take almost all of my science pre-reqs at various community colleges. The only one I am having to take elsewhere is BioChem at UC Berkeley extension. I haven't gotten into vet school yet, but MSU's admin counselor specifically said I should save money this way.

Once again, just to be clear, I never said prereqs should not be done as much as possible, preferably all, at a CC. This person specifically is asking about additional upper division science classes as all prereqs have already been done. That is where my initial comments are coming from. As LIS alluded, most people find it easier to enroll in a Masters program to achieve this.

 

[that redhead]

4.) Make sure you have good LOR's (Letters of Reference) from licensed vets.

Just a minor detail, but you don't necessarily need a -licensed- vet. Many veterinarians that work outside of general practice do not maintain their state licensure if not necessary- lab animal, government, etc.

OP, have you taken all of the prerequisites yet? If so, I'd consider going back and retaking C's or worse and then adding in higher level science courses. Be sure to check which schools require certain courses to be done through a 4 year university versus community college.