Advice needed for improving GPA

[BananaWaffle]

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Hello! I am a newcomer to this site so please excuse my lack of navigating skills on this network.

I have a low and uncompetitive undergraduate GPA and would very much like to attend vet school. I would like advice on how to improve my chances assuming that my LORs, GRE, and experiences are of high value.
Should I obtain a masters and acquire a high GPA? Or take classes at a community college/local university? Is there a 1 yr program like they have for medical school to improve your GPA? Thank you for the advice and opinions!

 

[Cypress]

I also have a lower overall GPA....I have already applied once and didn't get in because of my overall GPA. You could take additional undergrad classes to raise your GPA but if they are easy classes that will reflect on your application and even if your GPA goes up it could be looked down upon that it was because of easy classes.

They also look at your core classes GPA so if this is strong, that will help. Some schools look at the last 45 credit hours - so if you did better during the last portion of undergrad then this will help as well.

Getting a masters degree is a good idea because your GPA will start over again. Any additional undergrad classes you take will just add to your current GPA - the fact is after you get to a certain number of credit hours - you just aren't going to change your GPA by much. I would say if you are dedicated - then getting a masters would be the best way to go.

I would also recommend contacting the schools you are interested in - most of them are very open with talking to you about your application strength and can give you suggestions on how you can improve.

I'm applying again this cycle - hopefully my last 2 semesters will have helped me enough to move forward in the process.

Good luck!

 

[nyanko]

Getting a masters degree is a good idea because your GPA will start over again. Any additional undergrad classes you take will just add to your current GPA - the fact is after you get to a certain number of credit hours - you just aren't going to change your GPA by much. I would say if you are dedicated - then getting a masters would be the best way to go.

Start over again? No...even with a graduate degree, your cumulative GPA will be figured the same for every school that I've seen that takes graduate coursework into account (and some don't!).

The type of Masters you should be looking at if that's your goal (remembering that your cumulative GPA will still be undergrad + grad combined) is probably one like the one at Colorado State that's coursework based and intensive. You could definitely take one of the post-bacc programs aimed at people trying for med school too, if there's one in your area and you can't move.

There's one thing you neglected to mention and still need to think about though. Why is your GPA low? Did you screw around at first and then buckle down later? Did you have trouble grasping the material even though you tried? Figure out where you went wrong before you figure out the next step, because if you go into a SMP or post-bacc and get an unimpressive GPA, you could be really screwing yourself over.

 

[BananaWaffle]

Start over again? No...even with a graduate degree, your cumulative GPA will be figured the same for every school that I've seen that takes graduate coursework into account (and some don't!).

The type of Masters you should be looking at if that's your goal (remembering that your cumulative GPA will still be undergrad + grad combined) is probably one like the one at Colorado State that's coursework based and intensive. You could definitely take one of the post-bacc programs aimed at people trying for med school too, if there's one in your area and you can't move.

There's one thing you neglected to mention and still need to think about though. Why is your GPA low? Did you screw around at first and then buckle down later? Did you have trouble grasping the material even though you tried? Figure out where you went wrong before you figure out the next step, because if you go into a SMP or post-bacc and get an unimpressive GPA, you could be really screwing yourself over.

Thanks for the advice.
Concerning my GPA, I screwed around my freshman year resulting in said low GPA. My sophomore year, my friend shared suicidal thoughts and I gave all my attention to her. Unfortunately, she committed suicide and I felt to blame because maybe I gave poor advice. Junior year, my 85 year old grandmother was in the hospital for 3 months from mulitple organ failure and got MRSA and pneumonia. I went to see her every weekend. She was on life support and as a family the decision was made to take her off. It took a toll on me. I was uninterested in studies and by the time I was ready to put forth my attention to academics it was already my last semester.

I don't know if the mentioned personal info is significant enough to put in a personal statement/other info essay since my grades did not significantly improve. I also feel like I'm making excuses. What do you think? I believe I have the capability to succeed but of course that is just personal opinion because I have no evidence of it.

 

[nyanko]

Yeah, I'd be more inclined to say that those things need to go into an explanation statement IF your grades had actually improved after them. I agree that it will be a tough sell if you haven't yet demonstrated that you can perform well in the absence of such extreme circumstances.

HOWEVER, if you CAN go take some upper division science courses and perform well in them now, my personal opinion is that it would definitely make your application more powerful to mention the sort of adverse situations you faced, how they affected you, how you coped and that you managed to recover.

 

[Cypress]

That seems crazy that they don't consider graduate work differently from undergrade. What schools don't take graduate coursework into account?

 

[LovingLife10]

"Yeah, I'd be more inclined to say that those things need to go into an explanation statement IF your grades had actually improved after them"

I agree with Nyanko. Put it in your explanation statement. A brief summary of what happened to you during that period of time.. but more importantly what you take responsibility for, what you learned as a result of it, and how since then you have improved.

I had a similar year after which my GPA was atrocious. I am going to put something in my explanation statement, and hope that they see that I have improved. I have also thought about a Masters program. Maybe Public Health? I'm going to worry about applying to those after I stop procrastinating and get my vet med apps in 🙂

The most important thing is to know that eventually YOU WILL GET THERE! It's hard to stay positive at times, but in retrospect you WILL get in to vet school, and 25 years down the road when you're practicing or what not, this will only be a small portion of your journey. Stick with it and good luck! 🙂

 

[BananaWaffle]

Thanks for the advice! I think the best plan for me is to get a masters or a post-bacc degree and do well to show that I overcame my situation and can do well in such classes. I appreciate the comments and help!

 

[JollyBlueJay4]

Hi Banana!

I had a slightly similar situation. I let my first breakup with a highschool sweetheart negatively affect my work my freshmen year and thus my GPA suffered. However, it didn't improve until my junior/senior year. After speaking with multiple people regarding this, I was advised not to mention this as a factor of my GPA drop. It was sort of a "making excuses syndrome" since my GPA wasn't acutely affected and immediately recovered. Plus, I was told it's always a good rule of thumb to steer clear from anything remotely negative in an application, PS, etc.

However, obviously your situations are much more severe than my own, and multiple at that. So maybe that would be beneficial to include somewhere?

In either case, I got accepted into a research assistantship at Purdue, am 1 year away from earning my MS, and applying to vet school for the first time. It's helped, with focus you can get straight A's (3.84 graduate GPA for me! Yippee!). If you need help figuring out what grad program you're interested in, let me know! Research is a fun world, but it's a very different beast from interests in veterinary education.