WAMC? High GPA very low experience

[catechol]

Hello all, I was hoping for your honesty. I have been working on my vet school app and really realized how little experience I have. I concentrated on my GPA and settling in during my first quarter at UC Davis and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit in my second quarter, so I didn’t get many opportunities there. At community college I strongly regret not doing extracurriculars, but I had extreme social anxiety/undiagnosed autism. I was homeschooled K-12 (explains the social anxiety lol) so I’m not really even sure what I could put as high school extracurriculars.. Currently I am the practice manager of a small animal vet clinic, but I started working there straight out of undergrad so I don’t have much else. I graduated in 2021 but wasn't super set on vet school until earlier this year, so I wasn't serious about getting experience unfortunately.

I think my GPA is very competitive at least. My first pick is Davis so I am hoping you all think my GPA might be enough?? Also thinking of applying to Colorado, Illinois, Oregon and Washington.

All college GPA: 3.93
BS/Last 45 GPA: 3.96
Science GPA: 3.97

Veterinary/Animal Experience:
~3300 hrs as vet assistant turned practice manager at a small animal private practice

-Plus we have an orthopedic surgeon come in to do specialty surgeries so I have experience prepping for TPLO/pat lux/FHO etc​

~600 hrs paid pet-sitting, including exotics like rodents, birds and reptiles (should I include this??)

Volunteer Experience:
~200 hrs at a Humane Society during CC as a cat companion + in a kitten nursery
– 30 hrs COVID-19 Testing Booth at UC Davis

Research Experience:
- None thanks covid

Awards/scholarships:
- Dean’s list every quarter at UC Davis
- Dean’s permanent honor roll at JC
- UCD CBS Department citation for high GPA
- Graduated UCD magna cum laude

Employment:
- STEM tutor at UC Davis tutoring center during undergrad
- Practice manager at private vet practice
- Other customer service stuff idk if it’s even relevant?

LOR:
- DVM I work closely with every day. I’m basically his right-hand person and he trusts me with a lot, but he is not very good at writing in general
- Relief DVM I work with occasionally, but she is super caring and is trying hard to write me a good LOR
- RVT who is the director of operations for my corporate area (my boss), I think she can write a good LOR
- I could ask a couple STEM profs as I had great grades but it has been a while/was all virtual... There is also one English prof I was pretty close with who could potentially write a good LOR but idk if vet schools would like that since it’s not STEM

So I have 3 questions:

1. Do I have a fighting chance with the lack of diverse experience?
2. Should I use my boss’s LOR or try to get one from a professor? I am thinking that my grades show that I’m a good student though.
3. Would it be helpful to explain my underdeveloped education? Since I was basically “unschooled”, I was at community college for several years before transferring (so that I could actually learn things like math LOL) + is it worth it to mention the pandemic interrupting my 2 years at UCD?

Thanks for reading my long-winded post 😭

TLDR; I have a 3.96 GPA, ~3300 vet hours at a small animal practice, but no other animal experience, research, or extracurriculars.

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[matthirten13]

So I have 3 questions:

1. Do I have a fighting chance with the lack of diverse experience?
2. Should I use my boss’s LOR or try to get one from a professor? I am thinking that my grades show that I’m a good student though.
3. Would it be helpful to explain my underdeveloped education? Since I was basically “unschooled”, I was at community college for several years before transferring (so that I could actually learn things like math LOL) + is it worth it to mention the pandemic interrupting my 2 years at UCD?

1. I'm 99% certain you'll get an interview at Davis fwiw, your GPA for IS is more than enough. I'm honestly not too sure how well a high GPA but low experiences app goes at the other schools. I think your GPA and decent vet hours will get you a chance at most schools. But I'll be honest and say-- what you've listed above feels very generic and there aren't experiences shown above that make you stand out as a person to me. If you have any hobbies or such you spend a lot of time in, I would consider adding those as experiences. Or just anything you do in your free time that you were hesitant to add. I would look into applying where GPA matters the most. Ex. I might consider bopping Colorado for Wisconsin or something (But I don't think it'd be wrong to apply to both, depends how many apps you want to do).

2. Schools do like to see professor letters, regardless of your grades. And some schools even require them. However, in this case-- I would go for your boss rather than a professor unless required by a vet school. It sounds like you would not necessarily get a strong letter from any professor, and I don't think its worth the risk of a bad letter.

3. I'm not sure what you mean by underdeveloped education. But plenty of people go to CC before transferring, I don't think you necessarily need to focus on that. If I was you, I would use the statement to explain how the adjustment/undiagnosed autism made it hard to transition to both schooling and ECs. I personally don't think mentioning the pandemic will do that much, since it wasn't as if you were extremely involved and Covid halted it.

~600 hrs paid pet-sitting, including exotics like rodents, birds and reptiles (should I include this??)

Yes! Include it! Also think about other things you've done that you could potentially include. Doesn't have to be part of an official club or even with others. I think it'd be very helpful for your app to add any activity that would give the reader a better sense for you as a person.

 

[catechol]

1. I'm 99% certain you'll get an interview at Davis fwiw, your GPA for IS is more than enough. I'm honestly not too sure how well a high GPA but low experiences app goes at the other schools. I think your GPA and decent vet hours will get you a chance at most schools. But I'll be honest and say-- what you've listed above feels very generic and there aren't experiences shown above that make you stand out as a person to me. If you have any hobbies or such you spend a lot of time in, I would consider adding those as experiences. Or just anything you do in your free time that you were hesitant to add. I would look into applying where GPA matters the most. Ex. I might consider bopping Colorado for Wisconsin or something (But I don't think it'd be wrong to apply to both, depends how many apps you want to do).

2. Schools do like to see professor letters, regardless of your grades. And some schools even require them. However, in this case-- I would go for your boss rather than a professor unless required by a vet school. It sounds like you would not necessarily get a strong letter from any professor, and I don't think its worth the risk of a bad letter.

3. I'm not sure what you mean by underdeveloped education. But plenty of people go to CC before transferring, I don't think you necessarily need to focus on that. If I was you, I would use the statement to explain how the adjustment/undiagnosed autism made it hard to transition to both schooling and ECs. I personally don't think mentioning the pandemic will do that much, since it wasn't as if you were extremely involved and Covid halted it.


Yes! Include it! Also think about other things you've done that you could potentially include. Doesn't have to be part of an official club or even with others. I think it'd be very helpful for your app to add any activity that would give the reader a better sense for you as a person.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read through everything. You've made a lot of helpful points! I do see how it is a little boring and doesn't show personality. I definitely was unsure as to what should/could be included, and I will look over everything again with your critiques in mind. I really appreciate your honesty!

 

[matthirten13]

Thank you so much for taking the time to read through everything. You've made a lot of helpful points! I do see how it is a little boring and doesn't show personality. I definitely was unsure as to what should/could be included, and I will look over everything again with your critiques in mind. I really appreciate your honesty!

Good luck! Feel free to post here or DM me if you have any additional Qs you think I could help with