I am so happy to finally post here. I just heard back from my last school. So I couldn't have done this without this forum and this amazing community. This thread gave me so much help last year when I was applying, and I hope my stats will help someone this coming cycle.
Here goes my anonymity...
1st time applicant, 22, female, NJ resident (OOS
everywhere )
Applied: 15 schools; Auburn, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, North Carolina, Penn, Ohio, Washington, Wisconsin, Tufts, VMRCVM, Louisiana
Rejected: Colorado, NCSU, Penn, Washington
Interviewed: Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Tufts, Auburn (declined), Illinois (declined), Minnesota (declined), VMRCVM (declined)
Waitlisted: Louisiana (pre-interview), Wisconsin (no interview), Florida (post-interview)
Accepted: Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Tufts
Attending: Ohio State
Academics
-B.S. in biology (conc. marine/environmental) w/ minors in chemistry and psychology from small private school in NJ (aka, not Rutgers. Lol)
cGPA: 3.76 from undergrad, 3.74 included some college courses taken in high school
sGPA: 3.5-3.8 depending on the school (won't even consider Auburn's horrendous method of calculating sGPA using organic and physics. Hehe)
Last 45: 3.75-3.9 (yay Kansas!)
GRE: 1300 cumulative, 740 Q, 560 V, 4.0 AW (only took 1 time, used Kaplan's online prep course halfheartedly)
Other stuff: had 4 W's on my app (3 explained away due to illness, 1 during a summer. It was a science course that I later retook). Had one D+ (retook and got an A-. I was asked about this only in my Kansas interview, and they must have been okay with my answer because they accepted me!). Had 2 C+ in science courses. I had a 4.0 my first 2 semesters, went slightly down to a bad-ish semester my junior year when taking 20 credits, and then went back up to straight A's my senior year. I think this
definitely helped my case, and it is one of the reasons that I put off applying a year and took a gap year.)
Awards/Honors:
-highest GPA award first semester (4.0/4.0)
-graduated magna cum laude
-graduate of honors school
-departmental honors in biology
-marine biology achievement award (marine biology major or conc. graduating w/ highest GPA)
-best undergrad talk (oral pres. at regional conference)
-jane freed award (best undergrad thesis proposal for my research--came w/ a $1000 check
)
-dean's award of excellence (3rd place on poster presentation at school research conference)
-couple of school-specific scholarships
-academic scholarship from school (merit-based)
-bunch of honor societies that have no purpose
: alpha epsilon delta, omicron delta kappa, psi chi, beta beta beta
-dean's list a bunch of times
Veterinary Experience
-10 hours equine (shadow)
-910 hours vet tech overnight ER at 100+ doctor GP, specialty, and ER SA private practice (also saw some exotics and wildlife)
-98 hours pre-vet externship at same practice (shadowed in GP, specialty and ER departments)
-90 hours shadowing/assisting vet behaviorist (residency trained, but not board-certified. This was so valuable. All 90 hours was just me, the vet, and the client. Learned a
ton about the profession)
-210 hours shelter med (volunteer)
-180 hours shadowing/basic assisting (drawing up vaccines, cleaning, simple restraint, some new puppy visits, etc.)
(Thought my lack of LA hours would really hurt me, but not so much. I made sure to explain at my interviews and in my essays my breadth of experience, even if most of it was technically small animal (shelter vs. huge specialty/referral hospital vs. smaller private practice)
Animal Experience
-30 hours volunteer local CART
-150 hours petsitting (exotics + dogs + cats + medical fosters for SPCA kittens)
-50 hours wildlife rehab (sub-permittee)
-60 hours conference presentations (research, around 12 or so that I listed)
-1000 hours independent research (some for credit, some paid, culminated in thesis. I put this under animal experience because it was under a PhD and involved animals (fish to be exact) based on VMCAS' new rules for this past cycle. Nearly every interview asked about my research experience, so I feel like it was a huge bonus to my application.)
-1800 hours adoption counselor at shelter
-200 hours general volunteer at shelter (dog walking, behavior mod, cat socialization, events, etc.)
-14 hours animal-related seminars
-200 hours employee at aquarium (grossly underestimated. I didn't keep track of these hours so I thought it was better to be safe.)
Other Employment:
-designed and implemented science curriculum at local preschool; editorial, clerical, and secretarial tasks
-peer mentor for school of science
-TA'd freshman biology lab for one semester
-camp counselor way back when
Extracurriculars
-I was a leader in college. Founded a few campus groups (Roots and Shoots chapter, student-faculty teamed sustainability council), held leadership positions in others, and organized campus events frequently. (If anyone wants specifics, feel free to PM.)
-Theater performance, dance and voice classes for a long time
-for high school, the only thing I really listed was Friendship Club (helping special needs peers 1-2x/week. I used this as the basis for my Tufts essay, and I think it turned out really well--they also mentioned it during my interview.)
Stuff that I think helped me stand out and would recommend to anyone looking to boost their application: Strong upward trend in GPA. RESEARCH experience!
Personal statement: I talked about the differences between shelter medicine and private practice and one instance of what happened when my two worlds crashed together. I also had a paragraph about my research experience in there and what a valuable experience it was for me and how it will help me be a better veterinarian.
LORs:
1. Shelter vet
2. Vet behaviorist
3. Adoption manager at shelter
4. PhD professor. She was my academic adviser and my research mentor. Also had her for a couple of courses. This was probably my strongest letter. I have the most amazing relationship with this woman and hope I will find such a great mentor in vet school.
5. Committee letter from my pre-health committee (some schools wouldn't accept it, but I sent it along anyways).
I decided on vet school relatively late (around beginning of junior year, I think) so I spent the last couple of years playing catch up. Please feel free to PM if you have any specific questions.
And here's some
to SDN.
NStarz signing out...
. If you would like to read it, I will send it to you!
