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What are my chances?

  • Great!

    Votes: 12 8.8%
  • Good, but some areas could be improved

    Votes: 28 20.6%
  • You're a pretty average candidate, so it could go either way

    Votes: 21 15.4%
  • Not great, but there's room for improvement

    Votes: 7 5.1%
  • Have you considered under water basket weaving?

    Votes: 68 50.0%

  • Total voters
    136
Status
Not open for further replies.
25 years old, female, California resident, first time applicant. Non-traditional.

Degree: B.A. Psychology
School: UCLA
Cumulative GPA: 3.45-3.5ish (I took classes from multiple schools and haven’t had the chance to fully calculate this yet but that’s a pretty good estimate of what I believe it should be)
Last 45 GPA: 3.73
Science GPA: 3.51


GRE:
Scheduled to take on July 15

Veterinary Experience (~3200 hours)
-2200 hours working as a vet tech at a SA hospital. Duties include pulling blood/urine, running lab work, monitoring anesthesia, placing catheters, etc.
-1000 hours working as a kennel assistant at an SA, avian/exotic specialty hospital.

Animal Experience
- 50 hours volunteering at local shelter where I helped walk/bathe dogs and socialize cats.
- 80 hours animal handling/restraint class where we worked with equine, food animals, and avians. At the end of the semester they let us draw blood on sheep (which I thought was super cool at the time haha)
- Years of owning my own pets and pet sitting for family members and friends.

Non-Animal Work Experience
-Research assistant working with autistic children
-HR Assistant
-Manager of a coffee/tea shop

Honors/Awards:
- President’s list multiple semesters
- Awarded a STEM scholarship

Letters of Recommendation (4 total):
- Two from the SA vets that I am currently working as a tech for
- Office manager at the same SA hospital
- Ochem professor


Schools applying to: Western, Washington, Illinois, Louisiana, Tufts, Ross, St. George, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Midwestern

I know, I know, that’s a lot of schools. But I really don’t want to apply a second time around so I figure I cast out a large net. I don’t qualify to apply to UC Davis (my IS) because some of the pre-reqs they require it to be taken at a 4 year institution and I took all my pre-reqs at a community college. With that said, I don’t have much of a preference in terms of location and money since I will most likely be going out of state and be paying out of state tuition.

I come here, however, to ask you fellow good people if there are any schools you think would be an out of reach for me? As well as what schools I might have a fair chance at. I guess it all depends on what I score on my GREs but other than that this is pretty much it for my stats. I still need to take Ochem 2, biochem, and public speaking in the fall semester so hopefully I can do well in those and boost my GPA. Thank you to anyone who has read this far and can give me any advice :)

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Last edited:
Schools applying to: Western, Washington, Illinois, Louisiana, Tufts, Ross, St. George, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Midwestern


You look decent for Illinois, especially if you can emphasize your diversity of experiences in the essays. Colorado may be a stretch, but they like upward tends for sure. Oregon seems like a definite stretch to me considering they accept so few OOS students; same for LSU.
 
22 years old, female, Indiana resident, first-time applicant
Applying to Purdue (not applying to more in the first cycle due to not taking the GRE yet)
In the future, I'm thinking about applying to Illinois, NC State, Wisconsin, Florida, and Missouri.

Degree: B.S. in Biology at Purdue (sat. campus)
Minor in Anthropology
Cumulative GPA: 3.86
Last 45 GPA: 3.94
Science GPA: 3.77

GRE: not required at Purdue; will be taking for 2nd application cycle


Veterinary Experience [700 hours]:
~500 Internship at SA Vet Clinic
~200 Job Shadowing at Mixed Vet Clinic (mostly large animals/small ruminants)


Research Experience [480 hours]:
~480 Research on novel protein from Mycobacterial tuberculosis to determine molecular properties and antibiotic resistance capabilities *awarded 2nd place for research at state-wide conference


Animal Experience [1290 hours]:
~340 Animal Caretaker for Lab Animals at a Med. School (mice/rats)
~570 Seasonal Animal Interpreter at Local Zoo
~250 Animal Interpreter at Zoo (same job, rehired under different leadership)
~100 Raising Layers (beginning/managing own business)
~20 Learning basic horse care/riding experience
~10 Volunteer at Humane Society

Leadership/extracurricular:
VP for Local Chapter of the American Society for Microbiology (Founding Member)
Publicity Chair/Executive Board Member/Presidential Member of the NSLS
Chemistry Club
Pre-vet/Agriculture Club
Officer in S.A.D.D (HS)
Spanish Club (HS, including cultural immersion trip to Puerto Rico)
Academic Superbowl Competitor (HS, team leader, part of the interdisciplinary team)
Key Club (HS)
Art Club (HS)
Girl Scout
Traveling is a huge passion of mine that I hope to take with me to the Vet world
Writing (Novels, Screenplays, Poems)
Baking
Biking/Running/Kayaking/Canoeing (considering doing a triathlon in May 2018)


Work Experience [3324 hours]:
~3000 Cashier/Food Prep
~260 TA for Introductory Biology Course (2 semesters)
~64 Tutor for Chemistry/Biology


Honors/Awards:
2nd Place, Undergraduate Research Poster Conference (IBASM)
Graduation with Distinction in Biology
Chancellor’s Distinguished Scholarship
Twenty-First Century Scholarship
E. R. S. Scholarship
G. J. Scholarship
Valedictorian (HS)
Dean’s List (8 semesters)
Semester’s Honors List (7 semesters)
CPR Certified
Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society
Beta Beta Beta Biological Honors Society
Phi Etta Sigma Honors Society
National Honors Society (HS)
National Junior Honors Society (MS)
People-to-People Student Ambassador
Best Book Cover (HS, using Photoshop design elements)


Community Service [160 hours]:
~80 Volunteer at Various Food Banks
~64 Volunteer Tutor for Biology/Chemistry/Mathematics (HS)
~10 Volunteer at Childcare Centers (HS)
~7 Volunteer with The BIG EVENT


Letters of Recommendation:
SA Veterinarian
SA Surgery Veterinarian
Physics Professor
Research Advisor
Mixed Animal Veterinarian (maybe)


Notes: So, I decided a bit later than most that Veterinary work was my passion. For most of my life, I have been committed to medicine in some capacity, but I gravitated towards human medicine until my senior year of Undergrad. I’m not really expecting to get in on the first round because of this, but I was kind of curious of my chances. My vet experience has only been in the last 10 months or so, so I’ve been focusing on those hours.


And a question: would you include rescuing/caring for animals from severe/abusive situations as animal experience? Growing up, my family took in and cared for animals from difficult situations. We were not “official” fosters and we take care of these animals for the rest of their lives, but it is a serious time commitment. This included six stray cats, two dogs from abusive homes (including one with two bullets next to her heart), a dog that was geriatric and in need of a home, and recently a puppy that had bladder stones which was going to be euthanized otherwise due to not having an owner.


I was thinking about maybe putting this down as extracurriculars/hobbies? Animal experience? Honestly, I’m not sure if I should bother with it, but it has been a large factor in my decision to pursue this field.
 
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22 years old, female, Indiana resident, first-time applicant
Applying to Purdue (not applying to more in the first cycle due to not taking the GRE yet)
In the future, I'm thinking about applying to Illinois, NC State, Wisconsin, Florida, and Missouri.

Degree: B.S. in Biology at Purdue (sat. campus)
Minor in Anthropology
Cumulative GPA: 3.86
Last 45 GPA: 3.94
Science GPA: 3.77

GRE: not required at Purdue; will be taking for 2nd application cycle


Veterinary Experience [700 hours]:
~500 Internship at SA Vet Clinic
~200 Job Shadowing at Mixed Vet Clinic (mostly large animals/small ruminants)


Research Experience [480 hours]:
~480 Research on novel protein from Mycobacterial tuberculosis to determine molecular properties and antibiotic resistance capabilities *awarded 2nd place for research at state-wide conference


Animal Experience [1290 hours]:
~340 Animal Caretaker for Lab Animals at a Med. School (mice/rats)
~570 Seasonal Animal Interpreter at Local Zoo
~250 Animal Interpreter at Zoo (same job, rehired under different leadership)
~100 Raising Layers (beginning/managing own business)
~20 Learning basic horse care/riding experience
~10 Volunteer at Humane Society

Leadership/extracurricular:
VP for Local Chapter of the American Society for Microbiology (Founding Member)
Publicity Chair/Executive Board Member/Presidential Member of the NSLS
Chemistry Club
Pre-vet/Agriculture Club
Officer in S.A.D.D (HS)
Spanish Club (HS, including cultural immersion trip to Puerto Rico)
Academic Superbowl Competitor (HS, team leader, part of the interdisciplinary team)
Key Club (HS)
Art Club (HS)
Girl Scout
Traveling is a huge passion of mine that I hope to take with me to the Vet world
Writing (Novels, Screenplays, Poems)
Baking
Biking/Running/Kayaking/Canoeing (considering doing a triathlon in May 2018)


Work Experience [3324 hours]:
~3000 Cashier/Food Prep
~260 TA for Introductory Biology Course (2 semesters)
~64 Tutor for Chemistry/Biology


Honors/Awards:
2nd Place, Undergraduate Research Poster Conference (IBASM)
Graduation with Distinction in Biology
Chancellor’s Distinguished Scholarship
Twenty-First Century Scholarship
E. R. S. Scholarship
G. J. Scholarship
Valedictorian (HS)
Dean’s List (8 semesters)
Semester’s Honors List (7 semesters)
CPR Certified
Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society
Beta Beta Beta Biological Honors Society
Phi Etta Sigma Honors Society
National Honors Society (HS)
National Junior Honors Society (MS)
People-to-People Student Ambassador
Best Book Cover (HS, using Photoshop design elements)


Community Service [160 hours]:
~80 Volunteer at Various Food Banks
~64 Volunteer Tutor for Biology/Chemistry/Mathematics (HS)
~10 Volunteer at Childcare Centers (HS)
~7 Volunteer with The BIG EVENT


Letters of Recommendation:
SA Veterinarian
SA Surgery Veterinarian
Physics Professor
Research Advisor
Mixed Animal Veterinarian (maybe)


Notes: So, I decided a bit later than most that Veterinary work was my passion. For most of my life, I have been committed to medicine in some capacity, but I gravitated towards human medicine until my senior year of Undergrad. I’m not really expecting to get in on the first round because of this, but I was kind of curious of my chances. My vet experience has only been in the last 10 months or so, so I’ve been focusing on those hours.


And a question: would you include rescuing/caring for animals from severe/abusive situations as animal experience? Growing up, my family took in and cared for animals from difficult situations. We were not “official” fosters and we take care of these animals for the rest of their lives, but it is a serious time commitment. This included six stray cats, two dogs from abusive homes (including one with two bullets next to her heart), a dog that was geriatric and in need of a home, and recently a puppy that had bladder stones which was going to be euthanized otherwise due to not having an owner.


I was thinking about maybe putting this down as extracurriculars/hobbies? Animal experience? Honestly, I’m not sure if I should bother with it, but it has been a large factor in my decision to pursue this field.

I am not familiar with Purdue, but I think your stats are good for just about any school. 700 hours isn't that low, and you have diversity in both vet and animal experience. I think your GPAs make up for being a little below average in hours, and research is certainly a plus!

I believe @cheathac is starting vet school at Purdue and has some similar experiences (lab animal medicine and research) so maybe she can chime in.

I wouldn't worry much about switching to vet med. It's not uncommon, and you've had almost a year of experience. Especially if you're interested in pursuing research or lab animal medicine, I think the change from human medicine/research is a natural one. (If you're interested in something else, that's fine too!)

Any experience with animals that is not research and was not supervised by a vet is animal experience. So yes, that is animal experience. I would group everything together as one experience- don't make a separate one for each animal. Pet ownership is animal experience although some schools don't consider it and you should be very conservative with estimating hours. Since you weren't adopting them out or working with an organization, it sounds to me like you're describing pet ownership. You can certainly describe the care you gave them in the VMCAS description. Lots of vets/pre-vets/vet students get their pets from difficult situations :)
 
25 years old, female, California resident, first time applicant. Non-traditional.

Degree: B.A. Psychology
School: UCLA
Cumulative GPA: 3.45-3.5ish (I took classes from multiple schools and haven’t had the chance to fully calculate this yet but that’s a pretty good estimate of what I believe it should be)
Last 45 GPA: 3.73
Science GPA: 3.51


GRE:
Scheduled to take on July 15

Veterinary Experience (~3200 hours)
-2200 hours working as a vet tech at a SA hospital. Duties include pulling blood/urine, running lab work, monitoring anesthesia, placing catheters, etc.
-1000 hours working as a kennel assistant at an SA, avian/exotic specialty hospital.

Animal Experience
- 50 hours volunteering at local shelter where I helped walk/bathe dogs and socialize cats.
- 80 hours animal handling/restraint class where we worked with equine, food animals, and avians. At the end of the semester they let us draw blood on sheep (which I thought was super cool at the time haha)
- Years of owning my own pets and pet sitting for family members and friends.

Non-Animal Work Experience
-Research assistant working with autistic children
-HR Assistant
-Manager of a coffee/tea shop

Honors/Awards:
- President’s list multiple semesters
- Awarded a STEM scholarship

Letters of Recommendation (4 total):
- Two from the SA vets that I am currently working as a tech for
- Office manager at the same SA hospital
- Ochem professor


Schools applying to: Western, Washington, Illinois, Louisiana, Tufts, Ross, St. George, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Midwestern

I know, I know, that’s a lot of schools. But I really don’t want to apply a second time around so I figure I cast out a large net. I don’t qualify to apply to UC Davis (my IS) because some of the pre-reqs they require it to be taken at a 4 year institution and I took all my pre-reqs at a community college. With that said, I don’t have much of a preference in terms of location and money since I will most likely be going out of state and be paying out of state tuition.

I come here, however, to ask you fellow good people if there are any schools you think would be an out of reach for me? As well as what schools I might have a fair chance at. I guess it all depends on what I score on my GREs but other than that this is pretty much it for my stats. I still need to take Ochem 2, biochem, and public speaking in the fall semester so hopefully I can do well in those and boost my GPA. Thank you to anyone who has read this far and can give me any advice :)

That is a lot of schools. Before applying, make sure that you can pay all the VMCAS fees and supplemental fees (plus fees for transcripts and GRE scores), have time to fill out all those supplementals, and would be able to attend interviews- they can overlap, and not every school is flexible about that. Also make sure that for each school, if you were accepted to that school and that school only, that you would attend without hesitation (as opposed to being tempted to apply elsewhere the next year).

With that said, I don’t have much of a preference in terms of location and money since I will most likely be going out of state and be paying out of state tuition.

I see this sometimes, and I don't understand it at all. If you are likely to be going out of state, that should make you even more concerned about tuition costs. Some of your schools let you get IS tuition after the first year and some are insanely expensive for all four years. I encourage you to consider tuition and cost of living some more, as well as how you'll pay back loans, especially if repayment options are cut as they're expected to be. No one wants to apply more than once, but it's often the smarter thing to do in the long run. (Note that I said often- there are certainly exceptions.)

On the topic of money, depending on how many classes you're missing, it may be cheaper to retake some pre-reqs and apply to UC Davis next year (or even this year- you don't have to have them all completed when you apply). That could boost your GPA and make you more competitive elsewhere, too. Again, I realize this may not be an option but I think it's something to consider.

As for where you're applying, @batsenecal gave you some good advice. Definitely look up average stats on schools' sites and see how you compare and how many OOS students they take. I would recommend only applying to a few schools where your stats are significantly below the OOS average, and I think it makes sense to only apply to Ross or SGU, not both.
 
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22 years old, female, Indiana resident, first-time applicant
Applying to Purdue (not applying to more in the first cycle due to not taking the GRE yet)
In the future, I'm thinking about applying to Illinois, NC State, Wisconsin, Florida, and Missouri.

Degree: B.S. in Biology at Purdue (sat. campus)
Minor in Anthropology
Cumulative GPA: 3.86
Last 45 GPA: 3.94
Science GPA: 3.77

GRE: not required at Purdue; will be taking for 2nd application cycle


Veterinary Experience [700 hours]:
~500 Internship at SA Vet Clinic
~200 Job Shadowing at Mixed Vet Clinic (mostly large animals/small ruminants)


Research Experience [480 hours]:
~480 Research on novel protein from Mycobacterial tuberculosis to determine molecular properties and antibiotic resistance capabilities *awarded 2nd place for research at state-wide conference


Animal Experience [1290 hours]:
~340 Animal Caretaker for Lab Animals at a Med. School (mice/rats)
~570 Seasonal Animal Interpreter at Local Zoo
~250 Animal Interpreter at Zoo (same job, rehired under different leadership)
~100 Raising Layers (beginning/managing own business)
~20 Learning basic horse care/riding experience
~10 Volunteer at Humane Society

Leadership/extracurricular:
VP for Local Chapter of the American Society for Microbiology (Founding Member)
Publicity Chair/Executive Board Member/Presidential Member of the NSLS
Chemistry Club
Pre-vet/Agriculture Club
Officer in S.A.D.D (HS)
Spanish Club (HS, including cultural immersion trip to Puerto Rico)
Academic Superbowl Competitor (HS, team leader, part of the interdisciplinary team)
Key Club (HS)
Art Club (HS)
Girl Scout
Traveling is a huge passion of mine that I hope to take with me to the Vet world
Writing (Novels, Screenplays, Poems)
Baking
Biking/Running/Kayaking/Canoeing (considering doing a triathlon in May 2018)


Work Experience [3324 hours]:
~3000 Cashier/Food Prep
~260 TA for Introductory Biology Course (2 semesters)
~64 Tutor for Chemistry/Biology


Honors/Awards:
2nd Place, Undergraduate Research Poster Conference (IBASM)
Graduation with Distinction in Biology
Chancellor’s Distinguished Scholarship
Twenty-First Century Scholarship
E. R. S. Scholarship
G. J. Scholarship
Valedictorian (HS)
Dean’s List (8 semesters)
Semester’s Honors List (7 semesters)
CPR Certified
Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society
Beta Beta Beta Biological Honors Society
Phi Etta Sigma Honors Society
National Honors Society (HS)
National Junior Honors Society (MS)
People-to-People Student Ambassador
Best Book Cover (HS, using Photoshop design elements)


Community Service [160 hours]:
~80 Volunteer at Various Food Banks
~64 Volunteer Tutor for Biology/Chemistry/Mathematics (HS)
~10 Volunteer at Childcare Centers (HS)
~7 Volunteer with The BIG EVENT


Letters of Recommendation:
SA Veterinarian
SA Surgery Veterinarian
Physics Professor
Research Advisor
Mixed Animal Veterinarian (maybe)


Notes: So, I decided a bit later than most that Veterinary work was my passion. For most of my life, I have been committed to medicine in some capacity, but I gravitated towards human medicine until my senior year of Undergrad. I’m not really expecting to get in on the first round because of this, but I was kind of curious of my chances. My vet experience has only been in the last 10 months or so, so I’ve been focusing on those hours.


And a question: would you include rescuing/caring for animals from severe/abusive situations as animal experience? Growing up, my family took in and cared for animals from difficult situations. We were not “official” fosters and we take care of these animals for the rest of their lives, but it is a serious time commitment. This included six stray cats, two dogs from abusive homes (including one with two bullets next to her heart), a dog that was geriatric and in need of a home, and recently a puppy that had bladder stones which was going to be euthanized otherwise due to not having an owner.


I was thinking about maybe putting this down as extracurriculars/hobbies? Animal experience? Honestly, I’m not sure if I should bother with it, but it has been a large factor in my decision to pursue this field.
Your stats look good! I *think* Michigan State and Virgina-Maryland are not requiring the GRE as well this year so if you are looking to only apply to schools that don't require it you may also want to look into those. I agree with @TrashPanda... @cheathac would be a great person to ask advice since she recently applied :)
 
Your stats look good! I *think* Michigan State and Virgina-Maryland are not requiring the GRE as well this year so if you are looking to only apply to schools that don't require it you may also want to look into those. I agree with @TrashPanda... @cheathac would be a great person to ask advice since she recently applied :)

You're right on the GRE not being required for Michigan State and VA-MD this year. VA-MD also looks at anyone with 300+ experience hours equally, so with your GPA's I think you'd be competitive applying there.
 
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22 years old, female, Indiana resident, first-time applicant
Applying to Purdue (not applying to more in the first cycle due to not taking the GRE yet)
In the future, I'm thinking about applying to Illinois, NC State, Wisconsin, Florida, and Missouri.

Degree: B.S. in Biology at Purdue (sat. campus)
Minor in Anthropology
Cumulative GPA: 3.86
Last 45 GPA: 3.94
Science GPA: 3.77

GRE: not required at Purdue; will be taking for 2nd application cycle


Veterinary Experience [700 hours]:
~500 Internship at SA Vet Clinic
~200 Job Shadowing at Mixed Vet Clinic (mostly large animals/small ruminants)


Research Experience [480 hours]:
~480 Research on novel protein from Mycobacterial tuberculosis to determine molecular properties and antibiotic resistance capabilities *awarded 2nd place for research at state-wide conference


Animal Experience [1290 hours]:
~340 Animal Caretaker for Lab Animals at a Med. School (mice/rats)
~570 Seasonal Animal Interpreter at Local Zoo
~250 Animal Interpreter at Zoo (same job, rehired under different leadership)
~100 Raising Layers (beginning/managing own business)
~20 Learning basic horse care/riding experience
~10 Volunteer at Humane Society

Leadership/extracurricular:
VP for Local Chapter of the American Society for Microbiology (Founding Member)
Publicity Chair/Executive Board Member/Presidential Member of the NSLS
Chemistry Club
Pre-vet/Agriculture Club
Officer in S.A.D.D (HS)
Spanish Club (HS, including cultural immersion trip to Puerto Rico)
Academic Superbowl Competitor (HS, team leader, part of the interdisciplinary team)
Key Club (HS)
Art Club (HS)
Girl Scout
Traveling is a huge passion of mine that I hope to take with me to the Vet world
Writing (Novels, Screenplays, Poems)
Baking
Biking/Running/Kayaking/Canoeing (considering doing a triathlon in May 2018)


Work Experience [3324 hours]:
~3000 Cashier/Food Prep
~260 TA for Introductory Biology Course (2 semesters)
~64 Tutor for Chemistry/Biology


Honors/Awards:
2nd Place, Undergraduate Research Poster Conference (IBASM)
Graduation with Distinction in Biology
Chancellor’s Distinguished Scholarship
Twenty-First Century Scholarship
E. R. S. Scholarship
G. J. Scholarship
Valedictorian (HS)
Dean’s List (8 semesters)
Semester’s Honors List (7 semesters)
CPR Certified
Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society
Beta Beta Beta Biological Honors Society
Phi Etta Sigma Honors Society
National Honors Society (HS)
National Junior Honors Society (MS)
People-to-People Student Ambassador
Best Book Cover (HS, using Photoshop design elements)


Community Service [160 hours]:
~80 Volunteer at Various Food Banks
~64 Volunteer Tutor for Biology/Chemistry/Mathematics (HS)
~10 Volunteer at Childcare Centers (HS)
~7 Volunteer with The BIG EVENT


Letters of Recommendation:
SA Veterinarian
SA Surgery Veterinarian
Physics Professor
Research Advisor
Mixed Animal Veterinarian (maybe)


Notes: So, I decided a bit later than most that Veterinary work was my passion. For most of my life, I have been committed to medicine in some capacity, but I gravitated towards human medicine until my senior year of Undergrad. I’m not really expecting to get in on the first round because of this, but I was kind of curious of my chances. My vet experience has only been in the last 10 months or so, so I’ve been focusing on those hours.


And a question: would you include rescuing/caring for animals from severe/abusive situations as animal experience? Growing up, my family took in and cared for animals from difficult situations. We were not “official” fosters and we take care of these animals for the rest of their lives, but it is a serious time commitment. This included six stray cats, two dogs from abusive homes (including one with two bullets next to her heart), a dog that was geriatric and in need of a home, and recently a puppy that had bladder stones which was going to be euthanized otherwise due to not having an owner.


I was thinking about maybe putting this down as extracurriculars/hobbies? Animal experience? Honestly, I’m not sure if I should bother with it, but it has been a large factor in my decision to pursue this field.

I am not familiar with Purdue, but I think your stats are good for just about any school. 700 hours isn't that low, and you have diversity in both vet and animal experience. I think your GPAs make up for being a little below average in hours, and research is certainly a plus!

I believe @cheathac is starting vet school at Purdue and has some similar experiences (lab animal medicine and research) so maybe she can chime in.

I wouldn't worry much about switching to vet med. It's not uncommon, and you've had almost a year of experience. Especially if you're interested in pursuing research or lab animal medicine, I think the change from human medicine/research is a natural one. (If you're interested in something else, that's fine too!)

Any experience with animals that is not research and was not supervised by a vet is animal experience. So yes, that is animal experience. I would group everything together as one experience- don't make a separate one for each animal. Pet ownership is animal experience although some schools don't consider it and you should be very conservative with estimating hours. Since you weren't adopting them out or working with an organization, it sounds to me like you're describing pet ownership. You can certainly describe the care you gave them in the VMCAS description. Lots of vets/pre-vets/vet students get their pets from difficult situations :)


Thanks for the tag. Yes I am starting vet school at Purdue in the fall! Your GPA is fine. Since Purdue doesn't require the GRE I wouldn't worry about it too much, but you are applying to other schools so I would study and do the best you can to shoot for near 160V and 160Q. I was accepted to Missouri as well and only had like a 150V and a 154Q. GRE at Mizzou only accounts for like 4% but I think NC State and Wisconsin look at it more heavily. Your vet experience is a bit low to me. I know that Purdue likes breadth and depth. They want experiences over a few areas of vet med. You have small and large which is good... maybe try to get some more in another category like exotics or specialty medicine? Maybe get some more in large animal? Look at the successful applicant thread too.. there's not a special formula for how many hours you need. All of your other experiences/hours look good to me. As far as the abused animal experience... I would count that as animal experience if you were giving the animals meds (not just feeding/watering). I wouldn't worry about switching so late, just try and get as many hours and variety as you can. If you have any questions about Purdue specifically, you can pm me. I went to Purdue for undergrad as well.
 
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I am in a pickle right now. What is better for getting into vet school. I graduated with a 3.45 cumulative GPA with a 3.75 last 45 gpa and a 3.2 science GPA. Should I do post-bacc classes to raise this, or should I go into the one-year masters programs at Tufts, CSU, or Midwestern?
 
I am in a pickle right now. What is better for getting into vet school. I graduated with a 3.45 cumulative GPA with a 3.75 last 45 gpa and a 3.2 science GPA. Should I do post-bacc classes to raise this, or should I go into the one-year masters programs at Tufts, CSU, or Midwestern?

You should check out the What Are My Chances thread at the top and give us a bit more detail about what your application looks like (there's a general format people follow). It's pretty hard giving you advice with only three parts of your application.
 
Hey! I'm not 100% sure this is the right place to ask this, but i figured it wouldn't hurt!
I'm on the hunt for somewhere to shadow/intern either now, or preferably through the fall semester! I'm an undergrad at Georgia, so I was hoping to get involved in the teaching hospital in some way, as a I know a lot of other pre-vets here are. The problem is I'm not sure how to do this, or what department I should be involved in (there are so many...). When I stumble upon a vet on their website who I'd be really interested in shadowing at some point, I seem to have difficulties finding any contact info for them? I currently am an employee of the vet school, but through a diagnostic lab, so it's not exactly vet experience (although we are supervised by a vet so maybe it is.... not sure...). Any advice from pre-vets who also live in the same city as the vet school?

Also does anyone think it's worthwhile to try to form other pre-vet contacts? (like the pre-vet club, or the agriculture sorority- which from what ive heard is like 80% just pre-vet kids). Just a thought haha.

Thanks!
 
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Hey! I'm not 100% sure this is the right place to ask this, but i figured it wouldn't hurt!
I'm on the hunt for somewhere to shadow/intern either now, or preferably through the fall semester! I'm an undergrad at Georgia, so I was hoping to get involved in the teaching hospital in some way, as a I know a lot of other pre-vets here are. The problem is I'm not sure how to do this, or what department I should be involved in (there are so many...). When I stumble upon a vet on their website who I'd be really interested in shadowing at some point, I seem to have difficulties findign any contact info for them? I currently am an employee of the vet school, but through a diagnostic lab, so it's not exactly vet experience (although we are supervised by a vet so maybe it is.... not sure...). Any advice from pre-vets who also live in the same city as the vet school?

Also does anymore think it's worthwhile to try to form other pre-vet contacts? (like the pre-vet club, or the agriculture sorority- which from what ive heard is like 80% just pre-vet kids). Just a thought haha.

Thanks!
I don't live in a state with a vet school but if you want to find a place to shadow at, your best bet is going in or calling them and asking to speak with the hospital manager. All of the places I've shadowed at have had me go through the hospital administrator/manager (whatever they call the position at that specific hospital). Most places are more than willing to accommodate you if you talk to this person.
 
Hey! I'm not 100% sure this is the right place to ask this, but i figured it wouldn't hurt!
I'm on the hunt for somewhere to shadow/intern either now, or preferably through the fall semester! I'm an undergrad at Georgia, so I was hoping to get involved in the teaching hospital in some way, as a I know a lot of other pre-vets here are. The problem is I'm not sure how to do this, or what department I should be involved in (there are so many...). When I stumble upon a vet on their website who I'd be really interested in shadowing at some point, I seem to have difficulties findign any contact info for them? I currently am an employee of the vet school, but through a diagnostic lab, so it's not exactly vet experience (although we are supervised by a vet so maybe it is.... not sure...). Any advice from pre-vets who also live in the same city as the vet school?

Also does anymore think it's worthwhile to try to form other pre-vet contacts? (like the pre-vet club, or the agriculture sorority- which from what ive heard is like 80% just pre-vet kids). Just a thought haha.

Thanks!

I haven't lived in a city with a vet school, but I'm 95% sure that the pre-vet club will be able to answer your questions or set you up with some other opportunities.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I don't live in a state with a vet school but if you want to find a place to shadow at, your best bet is going in or calling them and asking to speak with the hospital manager. All of the places I've shadowed at have had me go through the hospital administrator/manager (whatever they call the position at that specific hospital). Most places are more than willing to accommodate you if you talk to this person.

Thanks! I haven't tried asking for the hospital manager before- never been able to have much luck shadowing with private practices before so i had moved on to aiming for the teaching hospital, but maybe i shouldn't give up on the small clinics yet...
 
Hey everyone, I posted a while back but just have a few things to clarify now that I am in the application process. I have most of the schools I'm applying to figured out but am looking for some other recommendations. Specifically, I am looking for schools that are going to be as cheap as possible for me. I don't want to have $300k in debt, so I am doing everything I can to minimize that by choosing schools that are going to be financially sound investments. I've been looking into wiche, but that whole ordeal is one of the most confusing things I have seen. From my understanding, if you apply as a wiche applicant, you can be offered a position at a participating school conditional on your state giving out sufficient funding for you to get their support. If your state does not include your spot in the budget, then your admittance is then "downgraded" to nonresident/nonsponsored? If you get a conditional wiche acceptance at a particular school and you don't get wiche funding, can the school then withdraw your admission completely?
21 year old male, Arizona resident

Major: Veterinary Science
Minor: Spanish

Cum GPA: 3.505
Science GPA: 3.3
Last 45: 3.90

GRE:
Verbal: 159 (82nd percentile)
Quant: 155 (59th percentile)
Writing: 4.5 (82nd percentile)

Veterinary Experience:
- 225 hours spays, neuters, general exams with VIDA
-70 hours shadowing dog/cat practicioner
-30 hours shadowing emergency dog/cat/exotic doctors
- 40 hours calving, including helping in dystocias and preg checks.
- 10 hours general exams, teeth floating, handling, jugular venipuncture, nasolacrimal flushing in horses, abscess cleaning, and goat hoof trimming,

Animal Experience:
- 150+ hours adopting out dogs
- 70 hours mice, rat, and guinea pig necropsies, cardiocentesis, euthanasia.
- 50 hours at animal shelters
- 30 hours pig husbandry
Other Experience:
- 30 hours trimming rodent tissues for histopathology

Non Animal Related Work:
<1 year Cashier
1.5 years as animal pathology lab technician (most of the time not working directly with animals)
Owned an SEO business for a year
Miscellaneous work for amazon

LORs:
-Pre-vet professor
-Pathology supervisor (not veterinarian)
-Dog/cat clinician I shadow

Awards/recognition:
4 year undergrad scholarship
2 other college specific scholarships
Active member in pre-vet club
Active member in VIDA club
President of VIDA club
Active member in club that volunteers with animal shelters
IB diploma in high school
Deans list 3 semesters

Schools applying to in order of priority:
Highest priority
Mizzou- Dirt cheap cost of living, able to apply for instate after 1st year, and 2 years of clinical work = gold standard in my mind
Washington- Wiche and if I don't get that funding, I have the opportunity to apply for IS tuition. Also has a very cheap cost of living which is nice.
Ohio- Able to apply for instate tuition after 1st year
These are the schools which allow you to apply for instate residency after the first year. I am not eligible to apply for NC state or UC Davis.
Other schools
Texas A and M (low OOS tuition)- I know this one is a bit of a stretch for OOS but I think it's worth my time and money applying to.
Oregon- Similar story with Texas, very difficult to get into with such a small class size but does accept wiche.
Colorado- Another stretch school that is extremely expensive for OOS. I would only go here if I got wiche funding. Fort collins is amazing but not $150k+ more amazing than something which lets you get IS tuition.


Any other schools you might recommend I look into? I'm really trying not to have more than 150k in debt by the time I graduate from vet school. That amount is still much higher than I would like it to be, but is significantly more manageable than paying OOS tuition for all 4 years.
 
I've been looking into wiche, but that whole ordeal is one of the most confusing things I have seen. From my understanding, if you apply as a wiche applicant, you can be offered a position at a participating school conditional on your state giving out sufficient funding for you to get their support. If your state does not include your spot in the budget, then your admittance is then "downgraded" to nonresident/nonsponsored? If you get a conditional wiche acceptance at a particular school and you don't get wiche funding, can the school then withdraw your admission completely?

CSU, Oregon, and WSU will all offer you a non-resident position even if you don't get WICHE funding. So if you are accepted to those schools, you don't have to worry about losing your offer or anything--it just won't be with funding. UC Davis was a little different, but you don't have to worry about that since you aren't applying there.

I was an AZ WICHE applicant this last cycle so feel free to message me if you have any other questions! I also thought the whole thing was extremely confusing... haha
 
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Hey everyone, I posted a while back but just have a few things to clarify now that I am in the application process. I have most of the schools I'm applying to figured out but am looking for some other recommendations. Specifically, I am looking for schools that are going to be as cheap as possible for me. I don't want to have $300k in debt, so I am doing everything I can to minimize that by choosing schools that are going to be financially sound investments. I've been looking into wiche, but that whole ordeal is one of the most confusing things I have seen. From my understanding, if you apply as a wiche applicant, you can be offered a position at a participating school conditional on your state giving out sufficient funding for you to get their support. If your state does not include your spot in the budget, then your admittance is then "downgraded" to nonresident/nonsponsored? If you get a conditional wiche acceptance at a particular school and you don't get wiche funding, can the school then withdraw your admission completely?
21 year old male, Arizona resident

Major: Veterinary Science
Minor: Spanish

Cum GPA: 3.505
Science GPA: 3.3
Last 45: 3.90

GRE:
Verbal: 159 (82nd percentile)
Quant: 155 (59th percentile)
Writing: 4.5 (82nd percentile)

Veterinary Experience:
- 225 hours spays, neuters, general exams with VIDA
-70 hours shadowing dog/cat practicioner
-30 hours shadowing emergency dog/cat/exotic doctors
- 40 hours calving, including helping in dystocias and preg checks.
- 10 hours general exams, teeth floating, handling, jugular venipuncture, nasolacrimal flushing in horses, abscess cleaning, and goat hoof trimming,

Animal Experience:
- 150+ hours adopting out dogs
- 70 hours mice, rat, and guinea pig necropsies, cardiocentesis, euthanasia.
- 50 hours at animal shelters
- 30 hours pig husbandry
Other Experience:
- 30 hours trimming rodent tissues for histopathology

Non Animal Related Work:
<1 year Cashier
1.5 years as animal pathology lab technician (most of the time not working directly with animals)
Owned an SEO business for a year
Miscellaneous work for amazon

LORs:
-Pre-vet professor
-Pathology supervisor (not veterinarian)
-Dog/cat clinician I shadow

Awards/recognition:
4 year undergrad scholarship
2 other college specific scholarships
Active member in pre-vet club
Active member in VIDA club
President of VIDA club
Active member in club that volunteers with animal shelters
IB diploma in high school
Deans list 3 semesters

Schools applying to in order of priority:
Highest priority
Mizzou- Dirt cheap cost of living, able to apply for instate after 1st year, and 2 years of clinical work = gold standard in my mind
Washington- Wiche and if I don't get that funding, I have the opportunity to apply for IS tuition. Also has a very cheap cost of living which is nice.
Ohio- Able to apply for instate tuition after 1st year
These are the schools which allow you to apply for instate residency after the first year. I am not eligible to apply for NC state or UC Davis.
Other schools
Texas A and M (low OOS tuition)- I know this one is a bit of a stretch for OOS but I think it's worth my time and money applying to.
Oregon- Similar story with Texas, very difficult to get into with such a small class size but does accept wiche.
Colorado- Another stretch school that is extremely expensive for OOS. I would only go here if I got wiche funding. Fort collins is amazing but not $150k+ more amazing than something which lets you get IS tuition.


Any other schools you might recommend I look into? I'm really trying not to have more than 150k in debt by the time I graduate from vet school. That amount is still much higher than I would like it to be, but is significantly more manageable than paying OOS tuition for all 4 years.

Minnesota would look favorably at that last 45. You can get residency here after first year, it's kind of an involved process though. I haven't gone through it, but several of my classmates have and I believe they were all successful.
 
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Hey everyone, I posted a while back but just have a few things to clarify now that I am in the application process. I have most of the schools I'm applying to figured out but am looking for some other recommendations. Specifically, I am looking for schools that are going to be as cheap as possible for me. I don't want to have $300k in debt, so I am doing everything I can to minimize that by choosing schools that are going to be financially sound investments. I've been looking into wiche, but that whole ordeal is one of the most confusing things I have seen. From my understanding, if you apply as a wiche applicant, you can be offered a position at a participating school conditional on your state giving out sufficient funding for you to get their support. If your state does not include your spot in the budget, then your admittance is then "downgraded" to nonresident/nonsponsored? If you get a conditional wiche acceptance at a particular school and you don't get wiche funding, can the school then withdraw your admission completely?
21 year old male, Arizona resident

Major: Veterinary Science
Minor: Spanish

Cum GPA: 3.505
Science GPA: 3.3
Last 45: 3.90

GRE:
Verbal: 159 (82nd percentile)
Quant: 155 (59th percentile)
Writing: 4.5 (82nd percentile)

Veterinary Experience:
- 225 hours spays, neuters, general exams with VIDA
-70 hours shadowing dog/cat practicioner
-30 hours shadowing emergency dog/cat/exotic doctors
- 40 hours calving, including helping in dystocias and preg checks.
- 10 hours general exams, teeth floating, handling, jugular venipuncture, nasolacrimal flushing in horses, abscess cleaning, and goat hoof trimming,

Animal Experience:
- 150+ hours adopting out dogs
- 70 hours mice, rat, and guinea pig necropsies, cardiocentesis, euthanasia.
- 50 hours at animal shelters
- 30 hours pig husbandry
Other Experience:
- 30 hours trimming rodent tissues for histopathology

Non Animal Related Work:
<1 year Cashier
1.5 years as animal pathology lab technician (most of the time not working directly with animals)
Owned an SEO business for a year
Miscellaneous work for amazon

LORs:
-Pre-vet professor
-Pathology supervisor (not veterinarian)
-Dog/cat clinician I shadow

Awards/recognition:
4 year undergrad scholarship
2 other college specific scholarships
Active member in pre-vet club
Active member in VIDA club
President of VIDA club
Active member in club that volunteers with animal shelters
IB diploma in high school
Deans list 3 semesters

Schools applying to in order of priority:
Highest priority
Mizzou- Dirt cheap cost of living, able to apply for instate after 1st year, and 2 years of clinical work = gold standard in my mind
Washington- Wiche and if I don't get that funding, I have the opportunity to apply for IS tuition. Also has a very cheap cost of living which is nice.
Ohio- Able to apply for instate tuition after 1st year
These are the schools which allow you to apply for instate residency after the first year. I am not eligible to apply for NC state or UC Davis.
Other schools
Texas A and M (low OOS tuition)- I know this one is a bit of a stretch for OOS but I think it's worth my time and money applying to.
Oregon- Similar story with Texas, very difficult to get into with such a small class size but does accept wiche.
Colorado- Another stretch school that is extremely expensive for OOS. I would only go here if I got wiche funding. Fort collins is amazing but not $150k+ more amazing than something which lets you get IS tuition.


Any other schools you might recommend I look into? I'm really trying not to have more than 150k in debt by the time I graduate from vet school. That amount is still much higher than I would like it to be, but is significantly more manageable than paying OOS tuition for all 4 years.

Out of those WICHE you mentioned, CSU will probably have the highest cost of living if your not granted a WICHE seat, so keep that in mind.
 
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Minnesota would look favorably at that last 45. You can get residency here after first year, it's kind of an involved process though. I haven't gone through it, but several of my classmates have and I believe they were all successful.
That's a school I didn't even realize allowed you to apply for instate! Thank you, I will take a look at the requirements today!
 
That's a school I didn't even realize allowed you to apply for instate! Thank you, I will take a look at the requirements today!

I would strongly recommend contacting the school to ask about the requirements, and also asking what percentage of OOS students successfully switch to IS tuition. From what I've heard (I don't go there, so take it with a grain of salt), most students are not able to switch, and unfortunately, their OOS tuition is one of the highest and even IS tuition is pretty expensive.
 
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Hi all! Long time stalker, first time poster. Just looking for general input, literally anything you say is more than appreciated!

25 years old (will be 26/27 when I apply) female, New York resident

Non traditional- went to one year of college after I graduated high school in 2009, had a lot of "fun" and then came home and worked full time for 5 years until I decided to take my education seriously, went back to school in 2014

Degree: will graduate next May with a BS in veterinary technology with a specialization in pre-veterinary medicine from a notoriously hard school/program
Cumulative GPA: 3.546
Last 45 GPA: n/a
Science GPA: ~3.53 (bio 1&2, chem 1&2, micro, physics 1)
----- [orgo 1 in progress, orgo 2, physics 2, genetics, and biochem up to come]

GRE: taking in August

Veterinary Experience
-veterinary assistant in emergency/referral hospital- about 1000 hours
-Veterinary assistant/technician- well over 5000 hours in small animal but mixed general practice
-Assistant in holistic small animal practice- 100 hours
-surgical technician for horse sx- 5 hours lol
-shadowing on barn calls- 100 hours

Animal Experience
- pet ownership- dog, exotics
- worked as a barn hand for a summer
- 4 years running own pet sitting business
-camp counselor at doggie day care
-1 year dog training at petco
-dog training/general volunteer at local shelter for like 10 years
-I'm sure there's much more but this is what comes to me first


Leadership/extracurricular:
- i think I was part of a rotary club once in high school
- gardening
-horseback riding
-reading
-mma
- Pre-Vet Club public relations officer (70 hours)
-I'm sure there's lots more I can put here but it's late and my brain hurts from orgoing all day

Non animal work experience
- law firm receptionist (400 hours)
---> every single job I've had out of high school has been with animals.....

Honors/Awards:
- im sure I'll graduate cum something but I don't even know what to put here ...

Community Service (~400? hours)
- Many various fundraisers for random rescues and shelters
-volunteer at church events
-soup kitchen

LORS
- from the sa dr I work for
-one or both advisors of my program
-one of the doctors from my emergency practice
- I don't know who else

Things: I have no idea how to get cool/interesting veterinary experience- I live in suburban New York and even in the closeish cities near me, they never let anyone shadow in the zoos/safaris/aquariums. I have almost all small animal experience with a sprinkle of exotics and equine
-if I'm applying to Cornell (for example), should I look for lors from graduates, even if they're not "big name" docs?
-I'm in the process of getting fear free certified and I'm going to be volunteering at some lost cost vax clinics that my hospital runs.

Schools that I plan to apply to:
Cornell
tufts
upenn
vamd
potentially nc if I get time to take nutrition online through Perdue
Ohio
Ross
Florida
Oregon<3333 (yeah it's a long shot)

GIVE ME YOUR INPUT! Thanks for reading!
 
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Hi all! Long time stalker, first time poster. Just looking for general input, literally anything you say is more than appreciated!

25 years old (will be 26/27 when I apply) female, New York resident

Non traditional- went to one year of college after I graduated high school in 2009, had a lot of "fun" and then came home and worked full time for 5 years until I decided to take my education seriously, went back to school in 2014

Degree: will graduate next May with a BS in veterinary technology with a specialization in pre-veterinary medicine from a notoriously hard school/program
Cumulative GPA: 3.546
Last 45 GPA: n/a
Science GPA: ~3.53 (bio 1&2, chem 1&2, micro, physics 1)
----- [orgo 1 in progress, orgo 2, physics 2, genetics, and biochem up to come]

GRE: taking in August

Veterinary Experience
-veterinary assistant in emergency/referral hospital- about 1000 hours
-Veterinary assistant/technician- well over 5000 hours in small animal but mixed general practice
-Assistant in holistic small animal practice- 100 hours
-surgical technician for horse sx- 5 hours lol
-shadowing on barn calls- 100 hours

Animal Experience
- pet ownership- dog, exotics
- worked as a barn hand for a summer
- 4 years running own pet sitting business
-camp counselor at doggie day care
-1 year dog training at petco
-dog training/general volunteer at local shelter for like 10 years
-I'm sure there's much more but this is what comes to me first


Leadership/extracurricular:
- i think I was part of a rotary club once in high school
- gardening
-horseback riding
-reading
-mma
- Pre-Vet Club public relations officer (70 hours)
-I'm sure there's lots more I can put here but it's late and my brain hurts from orgoing all day

Non animal work experience
- law firm receptionist (400 hours)
---> every single job I've had out of high school has been with animals.....

Honors/Awards:
- im sure I'll graduate cum something but I don't even know what to put here ...

Community Service (~400? hours)
- Many various fundraisers for random rescues and shelters
-volunteer at church events
-soup kitchen

LORS
- from the sa dr I work for
-one or both advisors of my program
-one of the doctors from my emergency practice
- I don't know who else

Things: I have no idea how to get cool/interesting veterinary experience- I live in suburban New York and even in the closeish cities near me, they never let anyone shadow in the zoos/safaris/aquariums. I have almost all small animal experience with a sprinkle of exotics and equine
-if I'm applying to Cornell (for example), should I look for lors from graduates, even if they're not "big name" docs?
-I'm in the process of getting fear free certified and I'm going to be volunteering at some lost cost vax clinics that my hospital runs.

Schools that I plan to apply to:
Cornell
tufts
upenn
vamd
potentially nc if I get time to take nutrition online through Perdue
Ohio
Ross
Florida
Oregon<3333 (yeah it's a long shot)

GIVE ME YOUR INPUT! Thanks for reading!

Are you including your "fun" year in your cumulative GPA? You will need to report every college class you've ever taken to VMCAS. A 3.55 GPA with 1,000+ hours is pretty good. If you apply broadly (and have good essays, LORs, and such), I'd expect you to get in somewhere. I probably wouldn't recommend applying to NCSU, especially if you need to take an extra class- they're insanely competitive OOS and seemed to only accept or waitlist applicants with near-perfect stats and experience this past cycle (and rejected a bunch of applicants like that, too). But their tuition is awfully reasonable, so you might decide it's still worth a try.

As for experience when living in a city, it's tough, but you have both small and large animal veterinary experience, which is great. I think your diversity right now is decent, but it can't hurt to try to get more. If you can't get veterinary experience, animal experience is still good. See if there are any volunteer positions at aquariums, zoos, wildlife clinics, or petting zoos.

As for LORs from grads, schools say it doesn't matter. It's most important that you fulfill that school's requirements (e.g., make sure you have the right number of vet or professors LORs) and that the LORs are from people who know you well and will recommend you highly.
 
22 years old, female, California resident & first time applicant.

Degree: BS in Animal Science 2018

Cumulative GPA: 3.433
Last 45 GPA: 3.613
Science GPA: 3.45

I will be taking the GRE in August! I'm aiming high.

Veterinary Experience:
• 253 hours from two small animal veterinary clinics (this number is increasing this summer)

Animal Experience:
• 1000+ Animal Rescue/Volunteering
• 264.5 various animal experience

Research Experience:
338 hours on 3 different research trials
  • 30 hours on a goat trial for animal welfare
  • 66 hours on a calf trial for animal welfare
  • 242 on a Dairy Cow Nutrition Trial (lead intern)

Leadership/extracurricular:
  • Pre-vet Club (1000+ hours), held multiple leadership positions, club member
  • 2nd Pre-vet club (~100 hours) - club member
  • Medical club (& trying to start up a medical vet clinic) - 200 hours
  • School Newspaper reporter - 130 hours
  • Diversity Leadership council, served on it for a year - 160 hours
  • Pre-health conference intern - 144 hours
  • Assistant to an advisor - 30 hours
  • Multiple Outside Clinics - 40 hours


Honors/Awards:
  • Deans List for three quarters (one when I had a head injury!)


Letters of Recommendation:
  • Research Principle Investigator
  • Master Adviser for my department
  • Small Animal Veterinarian at the clinic I work at
  • Another small animal veterinarian at the clinic I work at


Questions:
  • Davis is extremely competitive, but if they go holistic... do I stand a chance?
  • What schools allow you to switch to instate tuition after a year (or sooner!)?
  • Financially, is it cheaper to go abroad than stay in the states (OOS tuition)?
  • What schools might I be competitive at?
I'm a little late to the VMCAS game! I just started working on my app today. Mildly freaking out.

  • Davis is keeping their same admissions process this cycle, and I don't think they're planning on going more holistic in the future. But either way, one thing to keep in mind is that schools that are less numbers-based are still very competitive. They still like high stats and if you don't have high stats, you need to make up for that with extensive experience and in other ways (leadership, great LORs, etc.) Right now, your vet experience is very low. I can't tell what the rest of your application looks like from what you've written, but make sure you work on getting more hours (diverse hours!) and that you highlight everything in or out of vet med that makes you an outstanding candidate.
  • NC State, Ohio State, Washington State, Davis, and Missouri are the only schools that allow you to switch to IS tuition.
  • Unless you're a citizen of another country where you can get cheap or free tuition, it is generally cheaper in the US. Some of the UK schools are cheaper than the more expensive US schools. Other things to consider include cost of living, cost of flying back and forth between there and home, and exchange rates (the dollar is doing well now, but there's no guarantee it will continue to).
  • I don't know much about applicants applying with low numbers of vet hours, so it's tough to say where you'd be competitive. You can try searching through the Successful Applicants threads for people with similar stats and experience. Some schools' websites also mention minimum required and/or suggested hours. Davis is one of the few schools that doesn't care much about hours, so you have that going for you! If you can get your last 45 GPA up, I think you could be competitive for Davis especially since they don't look at cumulative GPA. As you probably know, once you're at the interview stage they throw out all academic criteria and select strictly based on the interview. Definitely work on keeping your grades up to improve your chances!
 
Does anyone know, does it look bad to take the GRE too many times? (Whatever "too many times" might be) I'm applying to grad school this fall and while I'm okay with my current scores, my quantitative is really close to the cut off of what schools say is competitive. I've taken it 4 times - twice before my first vet school application, twice more before my second. I want to take it again this summer, but will people look at it and think, "Wow, it took this girl that many tries to get a competitive score?"

I know much of this is just anxiety (and I'm laughing at myself more than taking this worry seriously), but I am curious whether 5 attempts is outrageous or not.
 
Does anyone know, does it look bad to take the GRE too many times? (Whatever "too many times" might be) I'm applying to grad school this fall and while I'm okay with my current scores, my quantitative is really close to the cut off of what schools say is competitive. I've taken it 4 times - twice before my first vet school application, twice more before my second. I want to take it again this summer, but will people look at it and think, "Wow, it took this girl that many tries to get a competitive score?"

I know much of this is just anxiety (and I'm laughing at myself more than taking this worry seriously), but I am curious whether 5 attempts is outrageous or not.
The way that my GRE teacher described it is that you should only retake the GRE if you can get a significantly higher score. If you're putting in hours a day until you take the test and are seeing significant improvements in your score on the practice tests, then it could be beneficial to retake. In the end though, an increase of only a few points in one section of the GRE isn't going to significantly impact your chances. After taking it that many times, it may just be more beneficial to spend the time you would've studied for it and put that into improving another aspect of your application. That's just my opinion as someone else who is currently applying, though.
 
Does anyone know, does it look bad to take the GRE too many times? (Whatever "too many times" might be) I'm applying to grad school this fall and while I'm okay with my current scores, my quantitative is really close to the cut off of what schools say is competitive. I've taken it 4 times - twice before my first vet school application, twice more before my second. I want to take it again this summer, but will people look at it and think, "Wow, it took this girl that many tries to get a competitive score?"

I know much of this is just anxiety (and I'm laughing at myself more than taking this worry seriously), but I am curious whether 5 attempts is outrageous or not.
Do they see how many times you take it? I thought that they only got sent the scores you choose to send? Like you can send the most current score or you can send all of em. At least that's what I was under the impression of how it worked.
 
Does anyone know, does it look bad to take the GRE too many times? (Whatever "too many times" might be) I'm applying to grad school this fall and while I'm okay with my current scores, my quantitative is really close to the cut off of what schools say is competitive. I've taken it 4 times - twice before my first vet school application, twice more before my second. I want to take it again this summer, but will people look at it and think, "Wow, it took this girl that many tries to get a competitive score?"

I know much of this is just anxiety (and I'm laughing at myself more than taking this worry seriously), but I am curious whether 5 attempts is outrageous or not.

Do they see how many times you take it? I thought that they only got sent the scores you choose to send? Like you can send the most current score or you can send all of em. At least that's what I was under the impression of how it worked.
From ets because I needed to know the official answer

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28 years old, Male, Florida Resident, first time applicant, non-traditional
Applying to UF, Minnesota, Michigan St, VMCVM, LSU, Midwestern, K-State, Iowa St, Wash St, UPenn
Interview offers: Midwestern Oct. 24th

Degree: B.S. in Finance at Florida Gulf Coast University
Cumulative GPA: not going to list here because most of the school that I am applying to do not use it in there selection criteria
Last 45 GPA: 3.81
Science GPA: 3.92

GRE: 150V/153Q/4

Veterinary Experience (5221 hours)
- 486 hours working as a veterinary technician at a general practice clinic (saw exotics/avian as well)
- 2040 hours working as a receptionist at a small animal specialty and 24 hour ER hospital
- 2580 hours working as a veterinary technician assistant at a small animal specialty and 24 hour ER hospital
- 150 hours shadowing/helping an equine veterinarian at an ambulatory equine practice
- 15 hours volunteering at a wildlife hospital at a conservancy

Animal Experience (155 hours)
- 100 hours of pet ownership (is this allowed? my french bulldog has to receive weekly allergy immunotherapy shots)
- 15 hours in a zoo commissary (volunteer)
- 20 hours with a parrot rescue (volunteer)
- 20 hours at a dog show (volunteer)

Leadership/extracurricular:
- 2 years of a historian of a medical club (founding officer)
- 2 years of Pre-Vet Society (general member)
- 2 years of volunteering during the summer for a CEO academy for high school students (40 hours)
- 30 hours volunteering for drug free collier (local drug prevention organization)

Work Experience
- 550 hours as a line cook (local restaurant)
- 836 hours as a line/prep cook (retirement community)
- 5920 hours as a front end supervisor/fax-n-pull associate (Sams Club)
- 600 hours as a dietary server (retirement community)
- 6880 hours as a bank teller (Regions Bank)
- 2120 hours as a licensed financial professional associate (Prudential Financial)
- 600 hours as a personal banker (Comerica Bank)

Honors/Awards:
- 4 x scholarship recipient
- Presidents list (2 Semesters)
- Summer Sales contest winner (Prudential)


Letters of Recommendation:
- Owner/ Board Certified Surgeon at Specialty/ER hospital
- Small Animal veterinarian from Specialty/ER hospital
- Veterinarian from a veterinary practice consulting company
- Equine Veterinarian
- Calculus Professor from FGCU
- Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship/Professor at FGCU

Keep in mind the school I am applying to put a lot of emphasis on last 45 and science GPA.

Thank you everyone in advance for your time. I look forward to hearing your comments.
 
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28 years old, Male, Florida Resident, first time applicant, non-traditional
Applying to UF, Minnesota, Michigan St, VMCVM, LSU, Midwestern, K-State, Iowa St, and Wash St

Degree: B.S. in Finance at Florida Gulf Coast University
Cumulative GPA: not going to list here because most of the school that I am applying to do not use it in there selection criteria
Last 45 GPA: 3.81
Science GPA: 3.92

GRE: 150V/153Q/still waiting on writing

Veterinary Experience (5221 hours)
- 486 hours working as a veterinary technician at a general practice clinic (saw exotics/avian as well)
- 2040 hours working as a receptionist at a small animal specialty and 24 hour ER hospital
- 2580 hours working as a veterinary technician assistant at a small animal specialty and 24 hour ER hospital
- 100 hours shadowing/helping an equine veterinarian at an ambulatory equine practice
- 15 hours volunteering at a wildlife hospital at a conservancy

Animal Experience (155 hours)
- 100 hours of pet ownership (is this allowed? my french bulldog has to receive weekly allergy immunotherapy shots)
- 15 hours in a zoo commissary (volunteer)
- 20 hours with a parrot rescue (volunteer)
- 20 hours at a dog show (volunteer)

Leadership/extracurricular:
- 2 years of a historian of a medical club (founding officer)
- 2 years of Pre-Vet Society (general member)
- 2 years of volunteering during the summer for a CEO academy for high school students (40 hours)
- 30 hours volunteering for drug free collier (local drug prevention organization)

Work Experience
- 550 hours as a line cook (local restaurant)
- 836 hours as a line/prep cook (retirement community)
- 5920 hours as a front end supervisor/fax-n-pull associate (Sams Club)
- 600 hours as a dietary server (retirement community)
- 6880 hours as a bank teller (Regions Bank)
- 2120 hours as a licensed financial professional associate (Prudential Financial)
- 600 hours as a personal banker (Comerica Bank)

Honors/Awards:
- 4 x scholarship recipient
- Presidents list (2 Semesters)
- Summer Sales contest winner (Prudential)


Letters of Recommendation:
- Owner/ Board Certified Surgeon at Specialty/ER hospital
- Small Animal veterinarian from Specialty/ER hospital
- Veterinarian from a veterinary practice consulting company
- Equine Veterinarian
- Calculus Professor from FGCU
- Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship/Professor at FGCU

My concerns/questions

1. I do not have any research experience to list on my application as of yet. Is this going to hurt my chances? Going to see if my Cell Biology professor will allow me to list the work we did in lab as research.

2. I have low animal experience. Will this affect me? Should I list the reception experience as animal experience or just list it as vet experience? Not school will view it the same anyways.

3. My GRE is not terrible, however, it is not the best either. I do not see my self retaking it. Do you think my vet experience/last 45 and science GPAs/ rest of application will outweigh this?

Keep in mind the school I am applying to put a lot of emphasis on last 45 and science GPA.

Thank you everyone in advance for your time. I look forward to hearing your comments.

Your last 45 and science GPA look really good for MN. That GRE score is low, but not so low as to be tragic. I think you'd probably get an interview here, but schools that weight GRE heavier might look at that harsher.

With your first question - if you're referring to work done in a class, then that is not research experience and you shouldn't list it as such.
 
Your last 45 and science GPA look really good for MN. That GRE score is low, but not so low as to be tragic. I think you'd probably get an interview here, but schools that weight GRE heavier might look at that harsher.

With your first question - if you're referring to work done in a class, then that is not research experience and you shouldn't list it as such.

Thank you for your response. I know in the class profile range of GRE scores, I see some as low as 290, so I'm not to concerned just wanted some thoughts. Hopefully they do offer an interview. Minnesota is definitely towards the top of my list.
 
20 years old, will be 21 at time of application, female, Ohio Resident, second time applicant
Definitely applying: OSU and NCSU
Thinking of applying: Michigan State, UPenn, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Degree: B.S. in Zoology at The Ohio State University
Cumulative GPA: 3.56
Last 45 GPA: 3.85
Science GPA: 3.3

GRE: 156V/158Q/4.5

Veterinary Experience (~700 hours)
  • started as an ER Vet Assistant at OSU Veterinary Medical Center - Dublin in May and plan on continuing this through the next year
  • shadowed at several small animal, mixed, and exotics practices
  • shadowed at an equine vet
Animal Experience (~600 hours)
  • volunteered at humane society
  • volunteered at a therapeutic riding facility as a horse leader
  • dog-sitting
  • sat with dogs in the ICU at the OSU Vet Med Center
  • adult volunteer in animal contact areas at Columbus Zoo
Leadership/extracurricular:
  • President of Buckeye Optimist Club at Ohio State University
  • Secretary of Buckeye Optimist Club at Ohio State University
  • Treasurer of National Honor Society in High School
  • Treasurer of Junior Optimist Club in High School
  • member of Pre-Vet Club at OSU
  • thousands of volunteer hours from high school throughout college
Work Experience
  • Currently - Interim Education Program Coordinator at OSU Veterinary Medical Center. I deal mainly with the Residents and Interns.
  • all 3 years of college - Student Administrative Assistant at OSU Veterinary Medical Center
  • 6 months during college- Student Research Assistant at a molecular genetics research lab at OSU, taking care of zebrafish
  • 1 year in high school - Front Desk Assistant at a Physical Therapy business
  • several other small high school jobs
Honors/Awards:
  • graduated Cum Laude and with Honors in the Arts and Sciences from OSU
  • Dean's List 3 semesters
  • Honor Roll in high school
  • several scholarships in high school
  • scholarship from OSU all 3 years
  • accepted into OSU Honors Program
I graduated from college in 3 years. This did not leave much time for gaining experience, so I know my experience numbers are low. Last year, I only applied to OSU knowing my chances of getting in were slim. I got an interview, but didn't get in. My overall GPA when I applied the first time was a 3.43 so it increased a lot in the last year. My letters of recommendation are really strong, probably the strongest part of my application.

My questions are:

1. I'm still trying to decide which schools to apply to. Anybody have any idea what schools my stats look decent for?

2. What are my chances given my low experience numbers?

Thanks in advance for any help and for your time!
 
WSU already has all my scores, and I'm applying to one of their grad programs now. My other schools won't know, but WSU is my top choice and they definitely will.
It sounds like WSU has seen your other scores, but for anyone else with this same question I would definitely think about how many times you are going to take the GRE. Yes, it appears as though you can pick and choose which scores go to schools. However, I would send all scores if that is what is stated by the school (on the application or on their website, for example). I never dealt with this as I only took the GRE once, but it was definitely on my mind as there were schools that told me I must send all scores.
 
but it was definitely on my mind as there were schools that told me I must send all scores.
But how would they know you've taken it more than once if they've never received your scores before? There's nothing on your score report that says you've taken it multiple times, unless you choose to report more than one score. And it's not like transcripts where they can just go and look it up and make sure you're reporting everything.
 
But how would they know you've taken it more than once if they've never received your scores before? There's nothing on your score report that says you've taken it multiple times, unless you choose to report more than one score. And it's not like transcripts where they can just go and look it up and make sure you're reporting everything.
I was not going to risk taking the GRE a second time and getting a lower score and having it on my conscious that they asked for all scores and I only sent one. Sure, they probably would never have known. But if they asked for them I was not going to risk my application if I had chosen to taken it twice. That's why I thought long and hard about taking it twice (and chose to only take it once). And--you never know, maybe there is a way for the schools to know (even though it seems like they can't know from what you posted)... wasn't worth the risk to me.
 
I was not going to risk taking the GRE a second time and getting a lower score and having it on my conscious that they asked for all scores and I only sent one. Sure, they probably would never have known. But if they asked for them I was not going to risk my application if I had chosen to taken it twice. That's why I thought long and hard about taking it twice (and chose to only take it once). And--you never know, maybe there is a way for the schools to know (even though it seems like they can't know from what you posted)... wasn't worth the risk to me.
Were they super scoring and that's why they said "send all scores"?
 
Were they super scoring and that's why they said "send all scores"?
Some schools said why they required them and others didn't. Some superscored and some kept secret about what they were going to do with them. I think some were going to average them, too. I didn't inquire much further since I chose to take it only once.
 
20 years old, will be 21 at time of application, female, Ohio Resident, second time applicant
Definitely applying: OSU and NCSU
Thinking of applying: Michigan State, UPenn, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Degree: B.S. in Zoology at The Ohio State University
Cumulative GPA: 3.56
Last 45 GPA: 3.85
Science GPA: 3.3

GRE: 156V/158Q/4.5

Veterinary Experience (~700 hours)
  • started as an ER Vet Assistant at OSU Veterinary Medical Center - Dublin in May and plan on continuing this through the next year
  • shadowed at several small animal, mixed, and exotics practices
  • shadowed at an equine vet
Animal Experience (~600 hours)
  • volunteered at humane society
  • volunteered at a therapeutic riding facility as a horse leader
  • dog-sitting
  • sat with dogs in the ICU at the OSU Vet Med Center
  • adult volunteer in animal contact areas at Columbus Zoo
Leadership/extracurricular:
  • President of Buckeye Optimist Club at Ohio State University
  • Secretary of Buckeye Optimist Club at Ohio State University
  • Treasurer of National Honor Society in High School
  • Treasurer of Junior Optimist Club in High School
  • member of Pre-Vet Club at OSU
  • thousands of volunteer hours from high school throughout college
Work Experience
  • Currently - Interim Education Program Coordinator at OSU Veterinary Medical Center. I deal mainly with the Residents and Interns.
  • all 3 years of college - Student Administrative Assistant at OSU Veterinary Medical Center
  • 6 months during college- Student Research Assistant at a molecular genetics research lab at OSU, taking care of zebrafish
  • 1 year in high school - Front Desk Assistant at a Physical Therapy business
  • several other small high school jobs
Honors/Awards:
  • graduated Cum Laude and with Honors in the Arts and Sciences from OSU
  • Dean's List 3 semesters
  • Honor Roll in high school
  • several scholarships in high school
  • scholarship from OSU all 3 years
  • accepted into OSU Honors Program
I graduated from college in 3 years. This did not leave much time for gaining experience, so I know my experience numbers are low. Last year, I only applied to OSU knowing my chances of getting in were slim. I got an interview, but didn't get in. My overall GPA when I applied the first time was a 3.43 so it increased a lot in the last year. My letters of recommendation are really strong, probably the strongest part of my application.

My questions are:

1. I'm still trying to decide which schools to apply to. Anybody have any idea what schools my stats look decent for?

2. What are my chances given my low experience numbers?

Thanks in advance for any help and for your time!


You might want to calculate your NCSU required courses gpa. For non residents, your cumulative, last 45, and required courses gpa must all be 3.4 or higher. Otherwise your stats look pretty good. For hours, is 700 your current number of hours or what you estimate it to be by the end of the summer/when you submit your application? Either way 700 isn't a huge number, but it also isn't a ridiculously low number either. Try to get in as many hours this summer as possible and have a variety of hours for the different areas of vet med. Best of luck to you!
 
Does anyone know, does it look bad to take the GRE too many times? (Whatever "too many times" might be) I'm applying to grad school this fall and while I'm okay with my current scores, my quantitative is really close to the cut off of what schools say is competitive. I've taken it 4 times - twice before my first vet school application, twice more before my second. I want to take it again this summer, but will people look at it and think, "Wow, it took this girl that many tries to get a competitive score?"

I know much of this is just anxiety (and I'm laughing at myself more than taking this worry seriously), but I am curious whether 5 attempts is outrageous or not.
Different schools look at the GRE differently. Some only look at your highest score, some REALLY nice schools only look at your highest score for each section. I've not heard of a school that looked at ALL of your GRE scores, but it would be best to contact an admissions counselor at your school of interest and ask them directly.
 
Different schools look at the GRE differently. Some only look at your highest score, some REALLY nice schools only look at your highest score for each section. I've not heard of a school that looked at ALL of your GRE scores, but it would be best to contact an admissions counselor at your school of interest and ask them directly.
WSU only considers your highest scores (at least for vet admissions) which is why I sent them everything.
 
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23 year old (will be 24 when entering), Female, California resident
Non traditional, First generation, Mexican (Chicana), First time applicant
Applying to: UC Davis, Cornell, Missouri, UPenn, Western, and Ohio

A.A. in Mathematics and Science 2015
Will graduate from UC Davis with a B.S. in Animal Science in 2018.

Cumulative GPA: ~ 3.73 (When including both community college and university)
Science GPA: ~ 3.72
Last 45 GPA: 3.64

GRE: Will be taking it in two weeks!

Veterinary Experience:

- Over 2,000 hours working as a veterinary technician at a cat only hospital
- 20 hours assisting with blood draws for our in-house vet at the boarding facility I worked at
- 15 hours (and continuing) working with a LA vet

Animal Experience:

- 2,000 hours working as a cat groomer and caretaker at a boarding facility
- 60 hours working as a calf feeder
- ~150 hours (and continuing) working with Nigerian Dwarf goats
- 8 hours delivering pet food to elderly and ill for PAWS LA
- 40 hours at a shelter
- 100 hours at a cat sanctuary
- 30 hours pet sitting a geriatric dog with degenerative myelopathy

Research:
- 48 hours working on a pig trial study

Extracurricular:

- Participating and fundraising in Out of Darkness walks helping spread awareness in mental health and suicide
- Tap Dancing

Work Experience:

- ~240 hours as an English and ESL tutor for my community college learning center
- 2 years as a waitress, cashier, cheese monger at a French restaurant
- 2 years as a pretzel maker at Wetzels Pretzels

Honors and Awards:

- Five semesters on Dean's Honors List at community college
- Alpha Gamma Sigma Honors Society
- Graduated with high honors at community college
- One quarter Dean's Honors List UC Davis
- University Honors Program at UC Davis for 1 year
- Lots of Scholarships

LOR:

- Pharmacology and Toxicology Professor DVM/PhD - Also a professor at UC Davis Vet School
- DVM and Feline Specialist at Cat hospital I work at
- Owner of Nigerian Dwarf Goat farm

I really want to get into Davis, but I know my last 45 might not be high enough!
 
You might want to calculate your NCSU required courses gpa. For non residents, your cumulative, last 45, and required courses gpa must all be 3.4 or higher. Otherwise your stats look pretty good. For hours, is 700 your current number of hours or what you estimate it to be by the end of the summer/when you submit your application? Either way 700 isn't a huge number, but it also isn't a ridiculously low number either. Try to get in as many hours this summer as possible and have a variety of hours for the different areas of vet med. Best of luck to you!
Thank you for your response! I started to calculate my NCSU required courses GPA and it is a bit difficult because I have not taken my OChem labs yet. It should be over a 3.4, but not by much. 700 hours is what it will be when I apply, I plan on gaining more hours over the next year though. I'm hoping to also get some LA hours in, since I am a bit lacking in those. I might have the opportunity to help out with a LA research project that one of our resident's are working on. Hopefully that will work out!
 
21 years old, Female, PA Resident, first time applicant
Applying to: UPenn and Minnesota
Possibly: Wisconsin, Iowa, Virginia-Maryland, Washington, Illinois
Degree: Expected Graduation Spring 2018 from Penn State with a Bachelors in Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
Cumulative GPA: 3.52
Upenn Pre-req GPA: 3.32

GRE: taking next month

Veterinary Experience (~375 hours)
~100 hours shadowing my dog/cat vet
~250 hours working in a TNVR program actively participating in the anesthetization, surgical prep, and recovery of cats and preparing surgical packs
~15 hours shadowing a mixed/exotics/wildlife clinic near my college
~1 hr participating in a necropsy of poultry at an animal diagnostic lab
~4 hours administering ultrasounds, vaccines, and physical exams to goats at APVMA 2017

Animal Experience (~250 hours)
- 100 hours of fostering (I fostered 3 rats and 2 guinea pigs for 15 weeks, and listed each day as an hour of experience)
- 150 hours volunteering at PAWS in Petsmart's cat adoption center

Leadership/extracurricular: (~100 hours)
-Volunteer Chair for Pre-Vet Club for a year
-Marched in New York City's LGBT Pride Parade for Ad Council's Love Has No Labels campaign

Work Experience (~2275 hours)
-800 hours working at a movie theater
-1150 hours working as a janitor at the YMCA (received first aid, cpr, and emergency oxygen certifications)
-325 hours working in an ice cream shop

Honors/Awards:
-A. Hartman Trustee Schp Ag - 1 year
-Dean's List (3 Semesters)
-Spirit of the Game (Ultimate Frisbee Tournament)

Letters of Recommendation:
- YMCA Employer
- PAWS Supervisor
- Avian Diseases Professor
- TNR Vet
- My pet's vet

My concerns/questions

1. I have no research experience
2. I was living between homes and working nearly 40 hours a week while taking 12-16 credits my soph year which resulted in me getting 3.0s and C's in general chemistry for two semesters and having little time to gain vet experience
 
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21 years old, Female, Wisconsin resident
Traditional, First generation, White, First time applicant
Applying to: Wisconsin and Iowa

Will be graduating the University of Wisconsin-Platteville with a B.S. in Animal Science with an emphasis in Pre-Veterinary Medicine in May 2018.
I'm primarily interested in food animal medicine.

Cumulative GPA: 3.495
Science GPA: ?? (Not sure how to calculate this, so any input or links would be helpful!)
Last 45 GPA: 3.43
Last 30 GPA: 3.56

GRE: Verbal: 152 (55th percentile), Quantitative: 153 (51st percentile), Analytical Writing: 4.5 (82nd percentile). I will be retaking this at the end of July.

Veterinary Experience (1,100+ hours):

- Almost 1,000 working as a kennel assistant and vet assistant at a small animal clinic.
- The remainder of the hours are a wide variety of food animal and equine hours spent shadowing a wide variety of veterinarians at 4+ different clinics/places.

Animal Experience (~ 800+ hours):

- Worked at a dog kennel in high school for about 3 years cleaning and supervising dogs in the courtyard. Was trusted with money, clients, and managing the business in the absence of the owner.
- Volunteered at therapeutic horsemanship center once a week for two summers during high school.
- Was a TA in high school AP Biology class where my job was to care for the animals of the room and Animal Facility. Also got to help students in their studies at the same time.
- Worked at a dairy farm during my sophomore year of undergrad, was responsible for feeding calves and milking ~60 cows in a stanchion barn.
- Got certified to do Artificial Insemination my junior year of undergrad through Accelerated Genetics, which involved hands-on practice with the cows.
- Did a small bit of horseback riding.
- I have quite a bit of hours accumulated pet sitting but wasn't sure if I should include it; the one I was going to include would be for my neighbor's cat that had a bunch of health issues I had to attend to, not healthy animals.

Extracurricular:

- Hobbies such as hunting, fishing, gardening (thinking of adding more since I am the outdoorsy type)
- Pre-Veterinary Club Member, VP (sophomore & junior year), and President (senior year)
- In high school, I was a mentor for a girl who was also interested in becoming a vet. Got her a job at the small animal clinic I worked at, where she realized being a vet wasn't for her and went to be a CVT instead.
- Alpha Zeta Member
- National Residence Hall Honorary Member
- Lots of volunteering and involvement through FFA in high school

Work Experience:

- Work at a flower shop in my hometown during school breaks.
- Worked as a Resident Assistant at my university at an agriculture-exclusive residence hall.
- Was hired and currently am the Senior Assistant at that same agriculture-exclusive residence hall.

Honors and Awards:

- 2 scholarships from high school, 2 scholarships from my university, 1 scholarship from an outside source.
- 5 awards from FFA in high school.
- 1 award from the Department of Residence Life at university.
- Artificial Insemination certification.
- Potential PADI scuba diving certification later this summer.

LOR:

- Animal Science Professor and my Advisor at my university
- Animal Science Professor, DVM, and Pre-Vet Club advisor at my university
- My Resident Director
- Animal Science Professor at my university
- DVM that I used to work for in high school

Concerns:
- I'd really like to get into Wisconsin, but my GPA and GRE scores are not all that competitive. I do have extenuating circumstances (family illness) that occurred during my sophomore year through fall of junior year that I've explained as the cause of those poor grades/scores. The improvement in my grades is noticeable after my family situation ended in the winter of my junior year, but I am still concerned since Wisconsin seems to take grades and the GRE pretty seriously.
- I have no research hours but I'm looking to get some this coming semester.

So...what do ya'll think? :) Thank you in advance for anyone that gives feedback, I really appreciate it!!
 
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Hello all! I am a pre vet student and I have one year left in undergrad. I have thousands of small animal hours ranging from some tech work in a day clinic and 6 months in ER, a year and a half in a shelter, and about to start volunteering for a year at the Shedd aquarium doing dishes husbandry. In the day clinic we also saw exotics and I am about to volunteer at a horse rescue for a week for large animal hours. I am planning on going into physical therapy/rehabilitation for small animals as I rescued a senior tri-pod pit bull that changed my entire life. I am wondering what else I should focus on to round out my application. Do I need more large animal hours even if I know that's not what I want to do? I don't know how to make my application stand out even more as I have a ton of experience, however my GPA is only a 3.2 but I should be able to raise it in the year I have left. Thanks for any input!
 
Hello all! I am a pre vet student and I have one year left in undergrad. I have thousands of small animal hours ranging from some tech work in a day clinic and 6 months in ER, a year and a half in a shelter, and about to start volunteering for a year at the Shedd aquarium doing dishes husbandry. In the day clinic we also saw exotics and I am about to volunteer at a horse rescue for a week for large animal hours. I am planning on going into physical therapy/rehabilitation for small animals as I rescued a senior tri-pod pit bull that changed my entire life. I am wondering what else I should focus on to round out my application. Do I need more large animal hours even if I know that's not what I want to do? I don't know how to make my application stand out even more as I have a ton of experience, however my GPA is only a 3.2 but I should be able to raise it in the year I have left. Thanks for any input!
Definitely meant fishes husbandry instead of dishes
 
I think the whole point of schools wanting to have you get diverse hours is that you dont really *KNOW* that you aren't interested in a field in veterinary medicine if you haven't gotten any experience in said field.

If possible for your area, I'd try to get some farm animal experience (usually even if you aren't interested in this, you will get a ton of hands-on experience that you probably can't get doing normal small animal shadowing). otherwise it sounds like you have some decently diverse experience as it is.
 
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