- Joined
- May 11, 2014
- Messages
- 42
- Reaction score
- 26
Hello there, and welcome to SDN!
Some things to put your mind at ease:
I personally think your academics (GPA and GRE) look awesome! I wouldn't worry too much about the 4.0 writing score, some schools even throw it out or put lower emphasis on it. Your other scores by and large make up for it as well.
Research is something that could boost your application if you have it, though I don't think it necessarily hurts you if you don't have it (especially since the rest of your application looks great).
I don't know... to me taking 6 years to graduate isn't a bad thing. Now if you took 6 years to graduate and had a 2.5 it might be different, but applicants are accepted with varying years taking them to graduate, so I don't think this will hurt you here.
Probably the biggest issue with your stats is a lack of diversity. Assuming the hours you have so far are high quality (ie, you've learned a lot and got to know the vet, etc.), since you already have a solid number of hours at two small animal clinics, and have the added bonus of one seeing exotics, I'd say the best thing you can do right now is to really up the number of hours at the equine place, or if that isn't possible, find another not small animal field to get some hours in. And make sure you have some solid eLoR writers lined up. And just an fyi, "mixed" generally refers to practices that see both large & small animals, not small animal & pocket pets... just want to make sure you use the appropriate terminology on your application.
Thank you for the warm welcome, and for your commentary! I'm not sure how forums really work, so I'm half tempted to reply to each individual reply to my post, but I don't want to spam either, so someone will have to let me know how this works.. haha.
So what I've gathered from the feedback thus far is that I am weak in diversity, degree of commitment, and extracurriculars..
Does it help that I worked most of my undegrad? For me, extracurriculars felt like more of a luxury that I tried to afford, but never kept up with consistently, especially when I worked and volunteered during the same time period.
I suppose it might be a good idea to address the commitment issue in an essay..
And upping the equine hours is doable, but not to the extent I have built in SA. I could get up to 100, give or take in the next three months. I was thinking about asking the doctor I work for if I could have a day off during the week to go volunteer, but the clinic has been bustling lately, so I almost feel guilty asking.. Never hurts to ask though, right?!
Thanks again everyone who has responded, it means a lot to me that you took the time to provide feedback to a stranger