Alright, as embarrassing as my stats are, I want to post them to give hope to all you out there without the best grades! It's possible!!
2nd time applicant, 22 year old red-haired female. Michigan and Tennessee resident (will explain), undergrad at Michigan State
1st Round
Applied: Michigan State
Waitlisted Michigan State
2nd Round
Applied: Michigan State, Auburn, Georgia, Virginia-Maryland, Tennessee, Iowa State, Minnesota, Mississippi, Illinois, Florida.
Rejected: Michigan State, Auburn, Georgia, Virginia-Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Illinois, Florida
Interviewed: Iowa State, Tennessee
Waitlisted: Iowa State
Accepted: Tennessee
So my parents moved to Tennessee in the summer between rounds and I was able to establish residency there, which is how I believe I got in. I am so so lucky that happened. Everything happens for a reason
Grades
Cumulative GPA: 3.54
Science GPA: 3.46
Last 45 Credit GPA: 3.65
GRE: I took it six times. everything from 940 to my best which was 1160.
Veterinary Experience.
200 hours straight shadowing hours with 5 different vets
20 hours of a high school vet program after school
Pre-vet symposium in 2010 which included various lectures and labs with DVMs at Purdue
Animal Experience
6 years equestrianism (hunter-jumper)
2000 hours in the kennel attached to a vet clinic, included medications, assisting techs and overnight observation of patients
40 hours in a zoo internship, about 10 hours of vet shadowing there. mostly animal care shadowing
20 hours cat sanctuary volunteer (i stopped due to persistent ringworm)
2 semesters of little international livestock show, dairy and beef
1 semester dog behavior internship at doggie day care
200 hours of subsequent hiring by doggie day care as a day care staff, learned TONS of dog behavior stuff which i used a lot in my iowa interview
LORS
DVM from vet clinic i've known for six years. great great woman
Undergraduate advisor whom i've very close with
Dog handler/trainer from doggie day care (boss)
I had another DVM the first round. It turns out she did not write me a flattering eLOR and then in mid-september of this cycle, emailed me that she didnt want to write me again and didnt know me well enough. I've known her for six years. It wasn't fun. luckily I called my boss from the dog center and she was more than willing. IMPORTANT: have people who will cheer for you to write the letter! dont settle, make sure they LOVE you!
Personal Statement
This cycle I had alot of fun with it. I'm a very creative writer and was all about english classes in high school. I made it more a narrative, novel-ish and fun to read. In my UT interview, one interviewer kept reading it and saying how much fun it was. I detailed my first experiences shadowing in surgery and passing out flat and how determined I am to keep going and try try again! (I've held flashlights for the vets in power-outages, driven 2 miles for 40 mins in a blizzard to shadow and yes eventually didn't keep passing out. it's that damn first cut)
Overall
I cannot stress how much determination has helped me. Its been a very rough road. I thought I was a shoo-in originally (i was naive) and was crushed when my best friend got in without me. We did everything together and I really have never been so close to someone before, she's like my other half (still is
) I also had both grandmothers pass away that semester, my parents move out of state, my boyfriend get a job out of state and my roommate ditch me so i've been living with a random girl from the internet who dropped out of college as soon as the lease was signed. I'm very glad to have this process over. I decided that I would do anything to be a vet so I applied to ten schools and never looked back. I took each rejection in stride and kept positive as possible. I'm thrilled to be going to UT. I never in a million years thought I'd be there but my parents moved, I got in-state and presto! Everything happens in a weird way and things will always work out if you try hard enough and keep an open mind.
THANKS SDN! I discovered you randomly through a classmate (Hi Allie!!) and it's been a life-source for this round. I wish I could tell all pre-vetters about this!! Good luck to all futuer applicants, look at my grades then see where I am (IN VET SCHOOL!!
) YOU CAN DO IT!! Don't give up!