Profile of a successful applicant:

Veterinary School Application Advising Ad
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
wildfocus said:
great job! and congrats! but your gpa probably doesn't instill a sense that it can be done for most folks!! you look like you were an acceptance from the start!!! 🙂
Click to expand...

thanks! and yeah, i meant for the GRE thing, and only applying to one school.
 
So now that I've heard from all of the schools, I decided I would post on here.

1st time applicant
California resident
Animal Science major
GPA: 3.86
Science GPA: 3.93ish, I guess it depends on how you calculate it/ for what school...

Work: small animal 1500 (abt 1.5-2 yrs)
large animal I don't remember the number of hours but I've been working with horses and cattle for about 15 years
GRE : V: 550 Q: 730 Analytical: 5.0
Worked part time in hospital and restaurant through school

I wasn't involved in ANY school activities (except one year of intramural softball) because between work and school there was no time

Schools applied to: UCDavis, Western, Washington, Wisconsin, Oregon, Kansas, Colorado

Accepted: Oregon, Kansas, Colorado

Interview offered: Kansas, Washington (declined), Western (declined), UCDavis (declined)

Didn't hear from but I'm assuming I didn't get in since calls were made a few days ago: Wisconsin

So for those of you out there with your nose in a book worried that you might not get in because you didn't have time to get involved in any clubs... there's hope yet!
 
Overall GPA: 3.94
Science GPA: 3.96
Last 45 hours: 3.96
Vet school prereqs: 4.0
GRE: 740 Quant, 600 Verbal, 5.0 Analytical

First time applicant, CA resident
Applied to: UC Davis, Oregon, CSU, WSU, Penn, Tufts
Rejected: Penn, CSU, Oregon
Accepted: WSU, Tufts, DAVIS!!!

Undergrad: A.S. Biology, B.S. in chemistry (graduating in June)

Experience: 2+ years small animal hospital, summer wildlife work, 120 hours equine, 1/2 a quarter of research (non-animal related)
 
mtrl1 said:
Overall GPA: 3.94
Science GPA: 3.96
Last 45 hours: 3.96
Vet school prereqs: 4.0
GRE: 740 Quant, 600 Verbal, 5.0 Analytical

First time applicant, CA resident
Applied to: UC Davis, Oregon, CSU, WSU, Penn, Tufts
Rejected: Penn, CSU
Accepted: WSU, Tufts, won't hear from Davis until later, but I had a great interview

Undergrad: A.S. Biology, B.S. in chemistry (graduating in June)

Experience: 2+ years small animal hospital, summer wildlife work, 120 hours equine, 1/2 a quarter of research (non-animal related)
Click to expand...

So, I'm curious... with your acceptance to Tufts, WSU, and most likely Davis as well, should the wait-listers at Davis, WSU or Tufts get their hopes up??? 😀

Congratulations on your excellent achievements...you have much to be proud of!!
 
WSU is my third choice...and it's going to be a tough decision between Tufts and Davis. But I can't worry about it until I've been accepted to Davis and have that decision to make...don't want to count my chickens.
WSU is a great school, don't get me wrong, but I didn't feel that it was the right fit for me.
 
GPA: 3.87
GRE: 750 Verbal, 650 Quant, 5.5 Analytical (it may be unusual to have quant lower than verbal by this much?)
Degree: will have a BS in Animal Science/Chem minor in May.

Experience: 1200+ hours working at a corporate small animal clinic (vet assistant, receptionist and kenneler by turns),
70 hours observing at private SA clinics.
25 hours horse riding lessons, 25 hours volunteer animal care.
500 hours working on a dairy farm.
These aren't really that large but the dairy hours probably helped.

Honors track (research thesis in progress), National Merit finalist.

I squeaked through with a B in Biochem.

Other work experience has included tutoring and independent contracting in web application graphics.

Rejected at Cornell of course, accepted at MSU as of today. Haven't heard from Wisconsin so that's probably a rejection. First application cycle.

I don't have 4.0's in any category--science, prereqs, etc.
 
PiddlingFish said:
I think posting in here may give some people with low GPAs like myself hope.

majors: BS in Animal Science and BS in Poultry Science (graduating this May)

Overall GPA: 3.223 (127 GPA hours)
Last 45 GPA: 3.7
Science GPA: low 3.0
GRE: 800Q, 540V, 5.0A

Animal Experience: countless hours with horses growing up, worked with wallabies in Australia for six months, took care of tigers and other large (and small) carnivores at a carnivore rescue near town for six months, lots of farm and poultry experience through my majors

Vet Experience: Worked with small animal vet for 6 years throughout high school and start of college, worked with dairy vet for a couple days, worked with a poultry vet in a necropsy lab and out in the field

Recommendations: One from the small animal vet, one from the department head of Poultry Science (I had just gotten an A+ in their course) and one from a poultry vet from NCSU's vet school who I had just had a course with

Other Activities: Played on NCSU's Ultimate Frisbee team througout college(10 hours a week at least of practice and tournaments out of state most weekends)

This is the first time I applied.

UCDavis: rejected
UPenn: accepted
LSU: ??
NCSU: ??


I had a 2.5 GPA going into my junior year, but worked my butt off to make it up to a 3.2. I took 20 hours over last summer session and got >4.0 GPA. My advisor for Animal Science never thought I would get into vet school. I got a D in OChem 1 and failed OChem 2 the first time I took them, but went back and made an A+ and B+ the second time.
Click to expand...

When did you retake Orgo 1 and 2? Also, would it be possible for you to put me in contact with the person in poultry science you worked with at NCSU? I've gone to college out of state, but if I'm not accepted plan on moving back to NC (where I am a resident) and working there and hopefully getting in there next year. Any help would be great!
 
So considering the last note that was just written, I may get the same response (about the GPA), but until I finally got my acceptance letter from MN today (after 3 rejection letters in a row), it made me really nervous to read this thread because of everyone with 1000s of hours of vet experience. So anyways, as I'm THRILLED to actually be able to post on this thread:

GPA: 4.0 capped on a +/- grading scale (both general and science)

GRE: Verbal: 610
Quant.: 800
Writing: 6.0

Research Experience: 9 months in a research lab working with Black Widows (and running my own experiment for my Honors Thesis)

Sounds decent, until:vet experience: I have worked/volunteered at a vet's office for 8 summers: 5 as a kennel assistant (which some have said don't count as vet experience), 1 as a grooming assistant and 2 shadowing vets and techs. Through the shadowing experience I had about 325 hours, and if the other summers were added in it'd be right around 1000 (but again, many have mentioned that kennel assistant work doesn't "count" as much). No formal large animal experience, although I do own a horse. In case you can't tell, I was DEFINITELY concerned about my experience after reading the posts on this thread (i.e. people who have worked for clinics for 4 years now, not summers, but years).

So for all my fellow people concerned about number of hours of experience, it can be done!!!!
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Serendipity4 said:
So considering the last note that was just written, I may get the same response (about the GPA), but until I finally got my acceptance letter from MN today (after 3 rejection letters in a row), it made me really nervous to read this thread because of everyone with 1000s of hours of vet experience. So anyways, as I'm THRILLED to actually be able to post on this thread:

GPA: 4.0 capped on a +/- grading scale (both general and science)

GRE: Verbal: 610
Quant.: 800
Writing: 6.0

Research Experience: 9 months in a research lab working with Black Widows (and running my own experiment for my Honors Thesis)

Sounds decent, until:vet experience: I have worked/volunteered at a vet's office for 8 summers: 5 as a kennel assistant (which some have said don't count as vet experience), 1 as a grooming assistant and 2 shadowing vets and techs. Through the shadowing experience I had about 325 hours, and if the other summers were added in it'd be right around 1000 (but again, many have mentioned that kennel assistant work doesn't "count" as much). No formal large animal experience, although I do own a horse. In case you can't tell, I was DEFINITELY concerned about my experience after reading the posts on this thread (i.e. people who have worked for clinics for 4 years now, not summers, but years).

So for all my fellow people concerned about number of hours of experience, it can be done!!!!
Click to expand...

Your statistics are great, I'm extremely surprised that you got 3 rejection letters. Is there some caveat that you didn't mention? (junior college or something)
 
GPA: 3.52

I made the Dean's list every year of junior college - and I took 86 hours there. My GPA was consistently 3.8 up until 2 years ago or so..senioritis got ahold a lil early I'm afraid! Its also taken me 7 years to graduate in Animal Science degree, which I still won't complete now that I got accepted lol. My max course load I ever took/semester was 15 hours, but I worked throughout college.

GRE: 700 Quant / 550 Verbal. Analytical 4.5

1st time applicant

Recommendations: The Dept Head of the Physics Department (whoop that looked good!), and 2 from the vets I've been working for the past 3 years. For my A&M application (non-VMCAS) I also asked a Texas State Representative to write a letter (lol), in addition to my 3 letters of rec. They may have just tossed it, or it may have had some influence, I don't know. But since A&M is renowned for nepotism I was trying my hardest to get any edge in.

6,000 hours of veterinary experience (shadowing and working with small and equine). Shadowing off and on since I was 10. Working as a vet tech for 3 yrs. And even though I only volunteered for about 40 hrs with SPCA during Hurricane Katrina, every single interviewer asked me about that, and never any of the other stuff.
~10,000 hours of small and equine animal experience. Horse riding instructor, managed a horse boarding facility, Equine massage therapist, worked at the City shelter, worked with a Golden Retriever breeder.
Also participated on societies, volunteering, and mentoring. Notice I have zero research hours? Thats what I was most worried about.

Tips:
1. Its just never too early to start gaining animal/veterinary experience. Make every effort to get involved, reach out, network, do anything!
2. Don't listen to ANYONE that tries to tell you that getting into Vet school is "so hard, so competitive" - don't believe the hype that becomes a mythology! Remember how everyone told you OChem was "impossible"? Its the same thing. If you are stubborn and hard headed enough to stick to your aim, you will achieve your aim.

Good luck to everyone and cheers to the class of 2011! Congrats!! 👍
 
cyrille104 said:
Your statistics are great, I'm extremely surprised that you got 3 rejection letters. Is there some caveat that you didn't mention? (junior college or something)
Click to expand...
Thanks for saying that, Cyrille104 -- after the rejection letters I was definitely doubting myself! 🙂 And no, I went to a University all four years -- although it is Arizona State University and, love it though I do (and I do!), I would understand some thinking that a caveat.🙂 What I figure (aside from not realizing how truly difficult it is to get into vet school) is that the three I was rejected from were Cornell (#1 in the country, I'm out of state, obviously difficult to get into), UC Davis (really doesn't accept out of state students, and specifically tells you if you're out of state you should have AT LEAST 3500 hours of experience -- something I probably should have read before I spent the money to apply...) and CSU (had I done the WICHE program, I may have had a better chance there, but I didn't, so again I was applying as an out-of-state student).

But then again, these may have just been the justifications I was telling myself to make me feel better 🙂
 
Yay I can post here and toot my own horn!

GPA: 3.94
Science GPA: 3.93

GRE Verbal: 620
GRE Quant: 680
GRE Bio: 780

Animal experience: Raised on farm, so thousands of hours there, but technically only about 100 hours shadowing my local vet. When I began my pre-vet journey, my local vet told me not to worry about getting a job at a vet clinic for experience hours, just focus on my grades. I took his advice, but after joining this board and seeing applicants fail to get into schools with thousands of vet experience hours, I was really worried. Glad to see it's not impossible.
 
Emory23 said:
When did you retake Orgo 1 and 2? Also, would it be possible for you to put me in contact with the person in poultry science you worked with at NCSU? I've gone to college out of state, but if I'm not accepted plan on moving back to NC (where I am a resident) and working there and hopefully getting in there next year. Any help would be great!
Click to expand...

Hey! I retook both Orgos over the summer session.

Dr. Mike Williams was my advisor for the poultry program and a great guy.
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/poultry/staff.php?content=mike_williams&id=39

Good luck! Feel free to PM me with anymore questions. 🙂
 
well now that i've heard from just about everyone.....

Overall GPA: 3.68
Science GPA: 3.7ish
Last 45 hours: 3.68 (at least i'm consistant!)
Vet school prereqs: 3.65
GRE: 710 Quant, 620 Verbal, 5.0 Analytical

about 2600 hours raising/showing a hobby goat/sheep farm, rode on my school's western team for 2 years, 1500 as a tech in a small animal hospital, 100 shadowing a LA vet, 160 in a wildlife clinic

First time applicant.

Applied to CSU, cornell, tufts, penn, purdue and WSU
Accepted to purdue and tufts
Offered interview at purdue, tufts, and WSU (declined)
never ended up hearing from penn (blah! to them)
rejected from cornell and csu

Undergrad: BS animal science from cornell
 
i don't know if i'd really describe myself as a "sucessful applicant" considering all my rejections. it's more like, it can happen...

GPA: 3.86
Science GPA: 3.89
GRE V: 590 Q: 630
B.S. in Animal Science
First time applicant

Small animal experience: 200 hours volunteering at shelter, 700 (at time of application) working in a vet tech position at an animal hospital
Large animal experience: none with a veterinarian, about 200 from my combined animal science classes in college (we had a farm at the university)

i applied to a LOT of schools...good thing!
rejected: csu, cornell, tufts, davis, wisconsin, oregon, minnesota, florida, missouri (interviewed), and i'm assuming Upenn though they haven't made it official
alternate: washington state (interviewed), illinois (interviewed)
accepted: Ross, Ohio State - will be attending OSU =)
 
First time applicant
Overal GPA 3.83
GRE Q: 780 GRE V: 500 GRE A 4.6

Undergrad at NCSU
BS in Biochemistry
BS in Biological Sciences

I was always worried about not having enough experience. I didn't really start getting focused veterinary experience until summer after my freshmen year. I had about 200 hrs from a rural mixed practice that I volunteered at, a year and a half of work from a kennel/grooming/rehab facility (I also worked as a vet assistant when they needed someone to fill in), 2 years at a small animal vet (still employed here), one summer at the NC State vet school helping out in radiation therapy, and last summer in the chemical tox dept at the vet school in research.

As far as animal experience, I also had a year's worth of volunteering at the SPCA once a week, pet sitting, and in highschool I volunteered with a lady that did therapeutic horseback riding.

Beyond animal stuff, I tutored, TAed for my biochem professor, and was active in the American Red Cross club on campus, a coed service fraternity, and my community orchestra.

Applied: Illinois, Auburn, Purdue, NCSU
Interviewed: Illinois, Auburn, Purdue
Alternate: Auburn
Accepted: Illinois, Purdue, NCSU

I will be attending NCSU in the fall. 🙂
 
Those of you with just a little bit of everything but not a whole lot of anything, take heart. I got only one rejection, got accepted at four schools, declined interviews at three, and was waitlisted at one. Here are the stats that I was so afraid to even think about until now:

GPA: 3.57
Science GPA: ~3.4
Last 45 GPA: ~3.4
GRE: Q720 V680 A6.0

Experience: B.S. in Organismic/Evolutionary Bio at a state university. Didn't even consider vet school until about 1.5 years ago. During college I did microevolution work (aka microbio techniques within a family of insects to tease out phylogenies) at a lab for about 2 years. I also held full time jobs the whole time, and I can't help but think that helped out my app (ie: knows how to work hard). After college, I worked on human leukemia research, followed by human infectious disease research, but with varied species as model systems. Also during this time, I became a certified positive reinforcment dog trainer (who knows...) and started shadowing ~10 hours a week mainly at one clinic. I attended a few vet conferences as well as Tufts' AVM. I work as an adoption counselor with a local rescue organization. I heartily think that what made my app stand out were my letters of rec and my personal statement. It's where you get to prove to them that people have a ton of faith in you already and that you have faith in your decision to be a vet.

PM me if you want some encouragement! You can totally get into vet school if you just work on your "whole package" piece by piece and if you don't let your faith in yourself and your decision to be a vet waver. 😀
 
wow. very impressed with everyone's stats...
my GPA ain't spectacular, but here's my info. hope this provides hope/encouragement to others, don't give up!

GPA: 3.58
Science GPA: 3.31
Last 45: 3.43
GRE: V: 470 Q: 720 A: 4.5

First time applicant

Undergrad
Univ. of Texas at Austin
B.A. in Biology
Minor in Business Foundations

Officer of Pre-Vet Association at university for 3 years
500 hours as vet tech at Banfield
300 hours as zookeeper intern at Austin Zoo
3 weeks study abroad in South Africa (Wildlife Management)
~100 volunteering at SPCA, clinic, Humane Society, etc.
No large animal or research experience.

Applied: Texas A&M, Illinois, Kansas, Tufts, Western
Accepted: Texas A&M, Illinois, Western
Alternate: Kansas, Tufts
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Now that everything is all said and done I can post my stats. They're pretty humble compared to what other people have posted here, but they did the job...

(1st time applicant)

Age: 22
Undergraduate Institution: Northwestern University
Major: chemistry
Minor: environmental policy and culture
GPA: 3.50
Science GPA: ~3.4
Last 45 hour GPA: 3.50
GRE: 800Q 660V 5.0A

Vet/Animal Experience:
100 shelter
200 pet shop (don't remind me)
250 SA hospital (my only real vet experience)
400 zoo (husbandry, large african mammals)
800 research (independent, with cat, dog, and sheep ovaries, writing a thesis)

Other Medical Experience:
400 coroner
400 medical examiner intern

Extracurriculars:
Peer teacher (which led into senior peer teacher and then managing the whole program, which was a paid job)
Martial Arts instructor
Some other minor stuff

Recommendations:
1) SA vet that I worked with
2) Lead zookeeper
3) Research PI (also one of my bio pre-req professors)

Applied: Penn, Tufts, Illinois, CSU
Accepted: Penn, Tufts, Illinois
Rejected: CSU
Final Decision: Penn

What I think helped my application:
(reasoning in parentheses)
1) GRE (confirmed by Penn admissions staff)
2) Research experience (In the interviews I was asked extensively about my research more than anything else)
3) I think my essays were really good (confirmed by Tufts interviewer)
4) I interview well (notice the school that rejected me doesn't interview)
5) I have some human med experience to compare my vet med experience to and say for sure that I wanted vet med over human med (I was asked a surprising amount of questions about my medical examiner experience)
6) Quality of my undergraduate institution (confirmed by Penn admissions staff)
7) Chemistry is apparently a hard major (confirmed by Penn admissions staff)

What I think hurt my application:
(These were confirmed by CSU admissions staff)
1) GPA was a little low, and I got a C in quantum :barf:
2) Could have used more SA experience hours
 
cyrille104 said:
400 zoo (husbandry, large african mammals)
Click to expand...

AWESOME! i love the lion king, and everything african is so super cool! i'll have to hear more about it when i see you in the fall 😀
 
I'm so glad I can finally post on this thread!!! 😀


GPA: 3.94
Science GPA: 3.94
Last 45: 4.0
GRE: V: 450 Q: 560 A: 4.0 ( I believe this is right, not sure off top of my head! But it was something very close to that)

First time applicant

Undergrad
Mississippi Valley St. Univ.
B.S. in Biology
Minor in Chemistry

Officer of Natural Sciences club for year now
413 hours working with vet
60 hours working at humane society
102 hours research experience on summer internship

No large animal experience.

Applied: Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, Auburn, LSU
Interviews: Illinois, Tennessee, Auburn
Accepted: LSU😀
Alternate: Illinois

Still waiting to hear from Tennessee and Auburn
 
I'm so glad I can finally post on this thread!!! 😀


GPA: 3.94
Science GPA: 3.94
Last 45: 4.0
GRE: V: 450 Q: 560 A: 4.0 ( I believe this is right, not sure off top of my head! But it was something very close to that)

First time applicant

Undergrad
Mississippi Valley St. Univ.
B.S. in Biology
Minor in Chemistry

Officer of Natural Sciences club for year now
413 hours working with vet
60 hours working at humane society
102 hours research experience on summer internship

No large animal experience.

Applied: Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, Auburn, LSU
Interviews: Illinois, Tennessee, Auburn
Accepted: LSU😀
Alternate: Illinois

Still waiting to hear from Tennessee and Auburn
 
Now that I've heard from all of the schools I applied to...although I don't know if I'd consider myself a "successful" applicant 😉

GPA: 3.3
Science GPA: 3.3
Last 45 hour GPA: 3.9
GRE: verbal 740 math 800
First time applicant
AB from Harvard, majored in history of science
New York resident

1200 hours experience working on at a livery yard
800 hours small animal veterinary experience

Rejected: Cornell, Georgia, Colorado, Va-MD, NCSU, UF
Accepted: UPenn, Edinburgh (although into their program for kids out of high school, heh)
Alternate: UW Madison
 
...who may be a little "different" and think you can't get in.

i did.

Undergrad Science GPA: 3.0
Overall Undergrad GPA: 2.99
Grad GPA: 3.88
Last 45 hour GPA: 3.88
GRE: verbal 600 math 570 analyt. 5.5

Second time applicant

BS Biology/MA English Kutztown University (organismal)
PhD English Purdue University

10,000 hours in a medical lab, doing tox/micro/histo/path work
500 hours small animal veterinary experience
200 hours wildlife experience
2,000 hours pet store
500 hours dog kennel

Coursework:
Purdue's first-year veterinary courses:
BMS 507 and 508 Princ. of Cell and Tissue Design I and II
BMS 513 Principles of Pharmacology
BMS 515 Veterinary Neuroscience

Teaching Experience: 6 years experience teaching at community colleges and universities

Member: WDA, IWRC

Attended: WDA Conference - Storrs, CT, 2006
IWRC Basic Wildlife Rehab Course - Murray, KY, 2006

Community Work:
Elected VP City Dog Park, 2007
Mentored Biology students at Purdue, 2006
Photographer for City Humane Society 2006
Volunteered Wildlife Rehab 2006

Rejected: Tufts, CSU, and Purdue (I found that one kind of funny)
Accepted: Western
On-hold: Kansas
 
Thanks for the nice jab at Edinburgh KittenKiller 👎
 
Im sorry, I loved edinburgh and would have loved to have gone, just that they didnt accept me into their 4 year program but rather their program for people without undergraduate degrees, and I couldnt afford an extra year worth of debt
 
woo hoo!

gpa:3.62
science gpa:3.73
last 2 years of school:4.0 (had to make up for messing up in school the first time around at 18)
gre: 710Q, 530V 5.5A (quite a spread, eh?)

bs in animal science from cal poly pomona

first time applying, california resident

absolutely 0 extracurriculars (i couldnt stomach the pre-vet meetings and spent my extra time volunteering or interning in various animal related positions)

experience:
3 years part time technician/technician assistant at 2 separate small animal emergency hospitals
2.5 years of hands on large animal classroom experience since we had animals on campus
~500 hours at a wildlife rehab center
~200 hours at a marine mammal care center
~100 hours as a foal team volunteer for an equine practice
~100 hours as an intern at a white sea bass fish hatchery
~100 hours at a nyc animal rescue group
no research experience

applied to : davis, wsu, csu, minnesota, illinois, edinburgh, glasgow, wisconsin
interviewed at: davis, wsu, minnesota, illinois and glasgow (yes i now officially hate airports)
rejected from edinburgh, colorado state and wsu (ate crap on the interview for a multitude of reasons and mostly just wasnt feeling pullman or the school)
alternate at wisconsin (#93 hahahahaah)
turned down illinois so far and will most likely turn down minnesota and glasgow to go to davis.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Adding to the wide variety of accepted applicants...so excited to be able to post on this thread.

Major: Biology with minors in Chemistry and French
Undergrad GPA: 3.85
Last 45: 3.9
Science: 3.77
GRE: 650 Q, 570 V, 5.0 A (never been great at these tests)

Ended my Ph.D. program in Genetics early to pursue my lifelong dream of going to vet school. 4.0 in that program though.

Phi Beta Kappa, I was a T.A. for multiple classes in undergrad, served as interim Treasurer for Pre-Health club, and worked for a Hospice

Gained almost all my expereince in a 10 month, 80 hour/week period of time except for the research

Small animal- ~350hrs
Equine- ~500hrs
Wildlife- ~500hrs
Research (multiple labs, with multiple species) - ~7000hrs
Marine mammal- ~100hrs

Rode horses for 4 years in high school. Volunteered with a Siberian Husky rescue league.

Applied: NCSU, CSU, OK State, Kansas
Rejected: CSU
Alternate: Kansas
Accepted: NCSU, OK State

I didn't apply right out of college since I did not have any of the veterinary experience. I always knew I would one day go to vet school, but I talked myself into putting it off until after grad school because I didn't want to take time off school. I should have followed my dream int he beginning, but at least I am now!!!!! 😍

Good luck to you all applying for 2012!!:luck:
 
KittenKiller and Cyrille, I was feeling touchy that evening (you can relate no?), KK - sorry for the misunderstanding 🙂 I think I'm so used to hearing people freaking out about the "they come from high school" stuff that I automatically took it negatively, obviously not what you meant. 🙂
 
Since this was bumped and posted before I joined, here are my stats.

Overall GPA: 3.8
Top 10 institution GPA: 3.64 (Political Science Major; BA completed)
Top 100 institution GPA: 3.88 (Animal Science Major; Degree not completed)
GRE 780Q, 590V, 5A

In 2.5 years
Small animal 900 hours
Exotic Pet 100 hours
Equine 100 hours
Wildlife 125 hours
Food Animal 50 hours

Tennessee--accepted
Ohio State--accepted
Auburn--accepted
NCSU--waitlisted
Purdue--turned down interview
Illinois--rejected
 
My GPAs below are real, I’m posting to give hope to those who, like myself, never imagined they would be applying to vet school after graduating and therefore never strove for more than a “B” average! I worked myself to the ground the past few years to make up for those low GPAs, and even though my instate school refused to look beyond them, other schools gave me a chance =)


Undergraduate:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
BS Biology, May 2004 (missed my Chemistry minor because of one “C-“)

GPAs:
Overall - 3.15
Required Sciences - 3.06
Last 45 hours - 3.32

GRE:
Verbal – 610
Quantitative – 750
Writing – 6.0

Experience:
Research – two years in a cardiovascular research lab
Small Animal – one year as a vet tech
Exotic/Wildlife – one year as a vet tech

Volunteer:
One year at an animal shelter
Currently for a low income spay/neuter program

2nd time applying (1st time rejected from NCSU, Penn, VA-MD)

Applied:
NCSU (instate), Kansas, Mississippi, Illinois

Interviewed & Accepted:
Mississippi 😍 , Illinois

Rejected:
NCSU (instate)

Still have no clue:
Kansas
 
There's hope for those with low Gre scores :-D and with average gpa's :-D Good luck to those applying next year and congratulations to those that have been accepted ^_^

GPA: Overall3.52 (at time of application) Science: 3.60 Last 45: 3.5

GREs: Verbal 410, Quantitative 740, Writing 3.5 (thankfully not as much writing in science :-D)

Experience:
Did research for 2 years in Ruminant Nutrition Lab
Shelter Volunteer about a year
Volunteer at animal hospital ~500hrs
Only had about 2000 hours of animal experience at time of application

1st time applying

Applied to: Davis, Wisconsin, Cornell, Oregon, and Western
Interviewed: Davis and Western
Rejected: Wisconsin, Cornell, Oregon
Waitlisted: Davis
Accepted: Western
 
Hello there. Could you please share some of some cool internship ideas? I am currently finishing up my undergrad at UC Davis. I would love to find out about this. My name is Jennifer, by the way. 🙂


Pennymare said:
I highly recommend going to the AAVMC's website and individual colleges' websites. Talk to vets, advisors...just do your best.

While folks that post here have done outstanding jobs, it's isn't likely to be representative of all successful applicants. An applicant is more than some grade scores and an amount of experience hours. It's not easy to compare---'thousands of hours...' isn't very detailed; it could be 1,000 to anything like 10,000.

My main point for future applicants is that you can't compare straight up to someone else's records.....for all you know, they could be older and already have a done a Masters, grew up on a horse farm with 30 broodmares, or had another career. Try your hardest to make yourself into a well balanced, stable, educated person and apply. Be willing to apply again too, because it's a crazy competitive process. But have confidence!!! 🙂 You try to do your best, so be proud of it. 🙂 If you want some good internship ideas, then maybe I could hook you up.

I've given up trying to understand vet schools...their behavior boggles my mind :scared:
Click to expand...
 
Jennifer Mac said:
Hello there. Could you please share some of some cool internship ideas? I am currently finishing up my undergrad at UC Davis. I would love to find out about this. My name is Jennifer, by the way. 🙂
Click to expand...

I doubt Pennymare is around anymore. Her last post was from 2007. 🙁
 
Hey could you guys post how many credits you took your last few semesters and what type of classes...
 
krupajl said:
Hey could you guys post how many credits you took your last few semesters and what type of classes...
Click to expand...

That was something that worried me a little bit, because I had one 16 hour semester but all the rest were sub 15. I know schools like to see heavier workloads, but I think it's okay to do less, as long as your GPA is high. Take what you need for your major/what interests you, though some upper level bio courses would be good too.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Moonpaw said:
Could I also request successful applicants to list whether or not they just came out of college, and if they didn't, then also say how long they've been out and what they have been doing in the meantime? It's a little nerve wracking to see people with these thousands of hours of vet/animal experience, until I learn that they've been out of college for some time (any amount of time).
Click to expand...

I graduated in December of 2010 and then did an internship at Disney's Animal Kingdom (40 hrs a week under the supervision of a PhD) for 6 months and I currently work (and had been for 18 months) full time as a lab animal tech when I applied. I had a decent number of hours before then as well but this def helped. I also think that it wasnt just the hours that helped me but the uniqueness of the experiences. Working in zoo research and with lab animals really helped me stand out. The two interviews I had asked me about this. It also helped me really figure out what I wanted to do in vet med...which is the WHOLE point of experiences, that you learn abuot the profession. We can get caught up in the hours but in reality the intention is not that you learn vet medicine (thats what 4 years of school are for) but that you get a basic undersanding of the field and figure out how you fit into it. 🙂 Sometimes taking a break between undergrad can be that path for you, some people are ready fresh out of undergrad. All depends on the person.
 
alonepear said:
My GPAs below are real, I'm posting to give hope to those who, like myself, never imagined they would be applying to vet school after graduating and therefore never strove for more than a "B" average! I worked myself to the ground the past few years to make up for those low GPAs, and even though my instate school refused to look beyond them, other schools gave me a chance =)


Undergraduate:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
BS Biology, May 2004 (missed my Chemistry minor because of one "C-")

GPAs:
Overall - 3.15
Required Sciences - 3.06
Last 45 hours - 3.32

GRE:
Verbal – 610
Quantitative – 750
Writing – 6.0

Experience:
Research – two years in a cardiovascular research lab
Small Animal – one year as a vet tech
Exotic/Wildlife – one year as a vet tech

Volunteer:
One year at an animal shelter
Currently for a low income spay/neuter program

2nd time applying (1st time rejected from NCSU, Penn, VA-MD)

Applied:
NCSU (instate), Kansas, Mississippi, Illinois

Interviewed & Accepted:
Mississippi 😍 , Illinois

Rejected:
NCSU (instate)

Still have no clue:
Kansas
Click to expand...

Good to see! I am in NC and my GPA is right around yours and I graduated in '05 with my first degree. Good to know there is more people out there getting accepted with "low" GPAs 🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Pip74
Successful Applicants C/O 2030
2
Replies
51
Views
18K
Lili_Fae
Lili_Fae
W
Is it inappropriate to ask to read successful applicant's personal statements?
Replies
7
Views
859
Minnerbelle
Minnerbelle
vampyrica
Successful Applicants C/O 2029
2 3 4
Replies
192
Views
79K
supershorty
supershorty
renacuaja
Successful Applicants c/o 2028
2
Replies
80
Views
63K
indysadventures
indysadventures
C
Out of state success
Replies
6
Views
3K
juggling-zebra0831
J
Top Bottom