1st time applicant, okay GPA, traditional

[sofprevet]

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Hi guys,
I never really thought I was good enough for vet school and after going back and forth the past few years, I've finally decided to just apply. Am I crazy cause I know my GPA is lower.

Stats:
UC Davis Wildlife Conservation major
- Overall GPA: 3.55
- Science: 3.48
- Last 45: 3.58

Vet hours: ~2000
- 1600 at GP clinic, 2 of my LOR are from them (manager & vet)
- 470 other hours from 6 internships/study abroad

Animal hours: ~1500
- 450 with farm animals, professor that ran this is a LOR
- 210 at wildlife rehab
- 750 with horse therapy center
- 120 at zoo, study abroad

Research: 120
- 40 at farm job
- 80 as data intern

Non-vetmed: ~ 6500
- 1900 hours in food service jobs
- 3500 hours of high school and college club lacrosse (president of club for 2 years, coach wrote LOR)
- 1000 hours from girl scouts, art studio, vet club
- 100 volunteer hours from festival, lacrosse, art studio

How am I doing? I want to apply to Davis, Oregon, Colorado, and Washington. Ross and Minnesota are maybes. What are my chances?? And how can I improve my application? Thanks!

 

[vampyrica]

Is your IS Davis and Western? If so, you should apply to both as your IS gives you the highest chance of admittance. I think you have a pretty well rounded application! Your GPAs are the average for admittance, maybe just a tad lower, but still high enough for a decent shot. UC Davis & Western would be your best bets, CSU has holistic admissions but receive over 3,000 applications each year so your essays should be stellar, WSU is also holistic so again, focus on those essays. TBH I don't know too much about Oregon, but it seems you are above the 3.0 GPA requirement, so again, essays essays essays (and LOR as well!)

Minnesota has a high OOS avg GPA, and it hovers around a 3.7-3.8. I would speak directly with an adcom member there so review your app and discuss your chances. Ross would be up to you. Do you realistically see yourself moving there for school? Would you legitimately attend the program? If either of these answers are no, then do not apply. Only apply to schools you would be 1) wlling to move to and 2) you can afford. Being an OOS student post-BBB means atleast 100k in private loans to cover tuition and living expenses.

 

[dew5]

Your GPAs are average, although that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Some of the schools you are planning to apply to tend to be really competitive for OOS applicants. Oregon accepts a relatively small number of OOS students. Washington can be pretty competitive for OOS applicants because they allow for residency change after the first year. And as vampyrica already mentioned: Colorado has a reputation for receiving some of the highest number of applications overall while UMN has a high average OOS GPA that will likely exceed yours.

I'd also like to clarify that although WesternU is in CA, they do not give preference to CA residents (unlike UC Davis). On that same token, Davis can certainly be a toss-up, even for CA residents.

I would encourage you to expand your search into other OOS schools. Given your stats, you might have better odds applying to places that tend to accept an equal percentage of OOS compared to IS applicants.

 

[mw1356]

I would encourage you to expand your search into other OOS schools. Given your stats, you might have better odds applying to places that tend to accept an equal percentage of OOS compared to IS applicants.

I would think about applying to Ohio State! I think it’s about 60% IS : 40% OOS and I’m under the impression that admissions is fairly holistic - I think having a diversity of experiences will help you out. Tufts also accepts a lot of OOS students (i want to say ~50%?) but it’s on the more expensive side. tOSU will give you IS tuition after first year, which brings cost down in the long run, but first year itself is pretty expensive.