A determined pre-vet...please help

[Booter008]

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Hello SDN vets,

A friend of mine desperately wants to attend veterinarian school in the US. She asked me for advice since I'm on SDN a lot...but unfortunately only know how the medical process works. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

We are both graduates from a Big 10 university (cough cough...a good vet school university in Indiana). Anyway, from what I've heard pre-vets have to put in numerous hours of animal experience as well as volunteer work. She has done all of this work well above the required level, and this is where her problem lies. Her GPA is only about a 2.98 / 4.00 and she has needed to retake many important science courses. She is taking her GRE in late August of this year. It shouldn't be too much of a problem since she has studied all summer.

She told me that her GPA is way too low to be considered for admission anywhere in the US and that Caribbean schools scare her because of security issues on the island...any truth to this?

Sorry this is getting long. My question is this: I know there are special programs for premeds who need extra work after undergrad to boost chances of being accepted...are there any programs like this for prevets? The only one I found was Drexel in PA. Any opinions on this program?

What should I tell her to do? She has not applied anywhere yet because of her GPA.

Once again, thank you.

 

[Emio]

a thread regarding last year's applicants' experience and hours: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=359074&highlight=successful+applicant

a thread regarding the Drexel program: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=426419
(ok that was less informative than i was hoping)

doing a search will bring up plenty of threads on the Caribbean schools; there are several members here that are starting their first years there. from what i've gathered, there is truth to the safety concern on some of the islands; it also seems that other islands are much safer to say the least.

some schools have a minimum GPA requirement before they'll even look at the application. tell her not to apply to those schools. if she can do extraordinarily well on the GRE, that will make up slightly for hte less than 3.0 GPA, but she will undoubtedly need high quantity as well as high quality hours of experiences and stellar recommendations. as far as programs for boosting chances... i don't know of any offhand other than the drexel program. lots of people choose to do post-bac work to raise the GPA a little.

hopefully that was a little helpful, and best of luck to her! 🙂

 

[thelarson]

My first thought: why doesn't your friend join SDN and get all her questions answered by searching around, instead of having you do it for her?

 

[Booter008]

Thank you Emio for your help. Much appreciated and I'll pass it along to her. Any more helpful advice out there?

 

[dyachei]

Thank you Emio for your help. Much appreciated and I'll pass it along to her. Any more helpful advice out there?

Has she already retaken the classes? Is her GPA factoring in the classes she had to retake in a negative way (like if she retook it to get a better grade, are both grades in that GPA)? I would think that she would probably want to look into schools that take the newest grade for the pre-reqs instead of averaging the two grades. Your friend might also want to talk to your school about what they would want if your friend were to apply there and how your friend might increase the chance of getting in.

 

[Booter008]

Has she already retaken the classes? Is her GPA factoring in the classes she had to retake in a negative way (like if she retook it to get a better grade, are both grades in that GPA)? I would think that she would probably want to look into schools that take the newest grade for the pre-reqs instead of averaging the two grades. Your friend might also want to talk to your school about what they would want if your friend were to apply there and how your friend might increase the chance of getting in.

The GPA of 2.98 is after she has retaken her classes. Our school drops the previous grade and just counts the latest. Thank you for the advice.

Anyone know of other programs beside Drexel for prevets?

 

[ri23]

There are a lot of post-bacc programs in vet public health and other areas that may interest her. As for her GPA, I'm not for certain on this, but some schools may see it as even lower. Even though your undergrad institution drops the lowest grade, many times (I know with med schools) they will calculate both grades into the GPA so it is fair for those who don't go to undergrad institutions that drop the lowest grade.

 

[Booter008]

Bump.

Thanks for the information. Any more advice out there?

 

[JIKJen124]

Suggest that your friend arrange an appointment with someone in the admissions department at her "target" (i.e. probably instate school). Have her bring all of her stuff (list of experiences, transcripts, GRE, etc). Sitting down with them and hearing first hand what they have to say and there thoughts on what she should do to improve her application for their school might be the most beneficial thing to do.