When Reality and Dreams meet....and don't get along

[Ashley*76]

Quick background info: I have always wanted to be a large animal veterinarian. always. Growing up my plan was to attend Auburn, naturally, because I lived in Alabama. Sophomore year of high school moved to KY, which is fine because they contract with Auburn and Tuskegee. Senior year I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks. Cool, whatever. My freshman year at WKU I had a 3.14 GPA. Sophomore year came crashing down violently and I dropped to 2.99. Now I'm a junior and part of me is beginning to wonder if my dreams can't happen. I will blame some of last year on losing a family member, lots of stress from being an officer on a collegiate team, and frequent travel, but I can't blame everything. I also was diagnosed with ADHD inattentive type this summer, and since starting my medicine and adding to some of my study habits I'm confident about this year. I completed an internship this summer at KESMARC, one of the best equine rehab centers in the world, plus shadowed at Hagyard Equine Institute, and shadowed at smaller clinics.

My top two picks are Auburn and then Tuskegee (KY partnership gives in state tuition), but after that my next ideal schools would be Oklahoma or Colorado.
Major: Agriculture, Animal Science concentration
Minor: Chemistry, Sustainability Studies
GPA current (junior): 2.99/3.0
GRE: unknown, but I had high scores on my ACT in high school, as well as SAT.
Vet hours: 600-800, not sure of exact amount.
Do I have a shot at getting in to Auburn at all? I'm hoping to get my GPA up to 3.4 or 3.5 by the time I graduate, but my adviser does not believe that's enough and he used to be on the board at Auburn. If not, are my other three options within reach? Also, does anyone else here have ADHD and have tips on how to succeed with it?

Sorry its long, but thanks for the help!

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[LetItSnow]

Try posting in the What Are My Chances thread ... it is a better place for this type of post.

Life and dreams rarely overlap 100% - you always have to make changes midstream. There's no reason for you to give up!

With regard to "I will blame some of last year on losing a family member, lots of stress from being an officer on a collegiate team, and frequent travel, but I can't blame everything".... I know what you mean, but in the end - you can't blame much of your grades on it. You get responsibility for your grades, no matter what. I mean ... frequent travel? Ok, well, maybe you should have cut back if it was taking away from studying. Stress from being an officer on a team? If it was impacting grades, you should have dropped the position or made changes to manage it. Those are your choices, not something that was forced on you, and so you are responsible for the results. Obviously, losing a family member is different - you didn't get to pick that, and the grieving process is tremendously disruptive, and everyone understands that.

In the end, you're going to need to show that you can cut it. It really is that simple. All the excuses in the world won't matter to an admissions team unless you can prove that a) those 'excuses' aren't factors anymore, and b) you can handle the academic load. They need some evidence. So getting your GPA up to a 3.4 or 3.5 would be awesome. And, moving your GPA up by that much in the last year, when you're typically taking more advanced classes, would say a lot. The average Auburn GPA was 3.59 in 2014. So getting yourself to 3.5? That gets you in the running. And Auburn calculates a ton of GPAs (total, two different science GPAs, and a last-60-credits GPA). You should be able to rock the last-60 credits if you start getting straight-As now.

Don't give up. Just manage the process - figure out what it will take to get your GPA back up, make a plan, stick to it.

 

[Bottle of Bear]

LIS covered it pretty well. Having been in your shoes regarding the GPA sophomore slump, albeit for vastly different reasons, my only suggestion is to get a handle on it for next year and don't let this past year define you. Schools understand that life happens, but you have to show them that it was a fluke and you're better than that. You know what you want, so you have to go get it. Give yourself an encouraging butt-slap like how athletes do. Raise your standards. Nut up or shut up. Eye of the tiger. You're the best around. Heart's on fire, strong desire.