almost 40...applying this year...lifetime of experience....need advice

[horsegal805]

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I am a non-traditional pre-vet student. I am 39 and will be applying this year. My main frustration is how to document a lifetime of experince. I have a tremendous equine and livestock background, having worked with livestock and horses my entire life. Additionally, I have been an equine tech for over 10 years. But I have some small animal expereince and currently, am employed as a tech at a zoo.

I am starting to compose my personal statement and was wondering if I should just focus on my livestock and equine expereince, since that is my main area of interest if I were to get accepted to vet school. Or would talking about my zoo experiences help? I have several drafts of my PS but just need some advice! Thanks!

 

[cowgirla]

I am a non-traditional pre-vet student. I am 39 and will be applying this year. My main frustration is how to document a lifetime of experince. I have a tremendous equine and livestock background, having worked with livestock and horses my entire life. Additionally, I have been an equine tech for over 10 years. But I have some small animal expereince and currently, am employed as a tech at a zoo.

I am starting to compose my personal statement and was wondering if I should just focus on my livestock and equine expereince, since that is my main area of interest if I were to get accepted to vet school. Or would talking about my zoo experiences help? I have several drafts of my PS but just need some advice! Thanks!

You don't really need to focus on either experience-- the PS shouldn't be a reiteration of your resume/application. It should be about what has shaped you, what your motivation has been, and maybe more than anything, what you've learned from all your experiences (combined or individual). Pick the best ones (or the worst ones!), and worry more about what you learned than what you actually did with each species and you should be in good shape
Half of my PS wasn't about vet med or animals at all. Its a chance for you to show what makes you unique and what would make you a strong candidate.

 

[LetItSnow]

Half of my PS wasn't about vet med or animals at all. Its a chance for you to show what makes you unique and what would make you a strong candidate.

I applied at 40 as well, and my PS was exactly how cowgirla described it. Half of it had nothing at all to do with vet med or animals; I drew upon other experiences in life to document character traits that I felt were important.

You obviously have to tie it all in to vet med somehow, but if you just restate all of the things that you put in the Experiences section of the application, you've wasted an opportunity to really sell yourself with information they don't otherwise have.

You will want to say something about your goals in vet med. That would be a good time to point to your background as an element that shaped your aspirations.

 

[horsegal805]

Thank you both! I think I have a good idea now how I can revise my PS.

Letitsnow....Its nice to hear that there are other older students who persued vet school like you. Hearing form older students keeps me motivated.I put off going back to school for many years because my undergrad grades were not good, and I thought I as too old!! So Im forgetting about my age and just going for it. As a mature student, my grades are so much better!

This forum has helped a lot! Thanks everyone!

 

[VeganChick]

As a member of the over-40 club (well, currently 40) and in my second year of school, just wanted to wish you luck! And also say my PS was less about animal experience stuff and more about life experience stuff 🙂.

 

[horsegal805]

Thank you for wishing me luck! I hate that all these years I didnt go back to school because I thought I was too old (and I had a non-supportive, negative husband who I should have not let influence me....) BUT....I dont have the husband anymore and am just going for it!

Do you mind if I ask how many times you applied before you were accepted? Are there other older students in your class? Do you think that an older, well qualified applicant would have an equal opportunity to get accepted? Im just looking for some insight. Thanks!!

 

[LetItSnow]

Do you mind if I ask how many times you applied before you were accepted? Are there other older students in your class? Do you think that an older, well qualified applicant would have an equal opportunity to get accepted? Im just looking for some insight. Thanks!!

I applied twice. I made a number of total rookie mistakes on my application the first time around. Things like not saying much in the descriptive part of each experience (I said to myself, "Hell, they know what shadowing is. I don't need to spell it out."), not having a team of people to help with my personal statement, talking myself down (after I got rejected, the school pointed out that what I meant as modesty comes across as emphasizing a weakness), etc.

I walked out of my review with the admissions director doing a facepalm. Total idiot. But my vet hours were pretty weak, so maybe I couldn't have gotten in regardless. Hard to say.

Regarding age, all things being equal they aren't going to give deference to a 35 year old over a 25 year old, I think. So in that sense it's not an advantage. But I do think being older gives you an advantage in that you've had that much more time to gain some interesting life experiences, to develop discipline, to mature, etc.

I do think that you have at least an equal opportunity. I very much doubt you get *penalized* for being older, if that's what you're wondering.

 

[VeganChick]

I applied twice and got into Ross the second time around (my prereq GPA was really weak). There were a few older students in my class there. I did transfer to Tufts after my first year and there are also older students in my class here. I agree that being older is neither an advantage nor disadvantage in the application process.

 

[mas185]

Thank you for wishing me luck! I hate that all these years I didnt go back to school because I thought I was too old (and I had a non-supportive, negative husband who I should have not let influence me....) BUT....I dont have the husband anymore and am just going for it!

Do you mind if I ask how many times you applied before you were accepted? Are there other older students in your class? Do you think that an older, well qualified applicant would have an equal opportunity to get accepted? Im just looking for some insight. Thanks!!

Just wanted to add that there are a few schools (such as Tufts!) that really like more mature, 2nd career type applicants regardless of your stats! We have two woman in our class in Dublin that are in their late 30s and they're doing quite well. Good luck with your PS and apps 🙂

M.A.

 

[sawbone]

I am a non-traditional student; I applied last year at the age of 33. When I was growing up, I was completely focused on going to vet school, and had thousands of hours training guide dogs, riding horses, and working at a veterinary clinic as a nurse.

I applied to a 7 year accelerated program at Tufts when I was 17, and wore combat boots to my interview. Didn't get in that time.

In college, I became interested in biochemistry, and research, and changed directions. I spent the next 10+ years as a research scientist, studying proteins, developing drugs, getting a Master's degree, etc..

When I found myself applying last fall, I was stymied by all I could write about in my personal statement. I ended up describing my path, and how I was drawn back onto it, how I was reminded that nothing would do but to go to vet school, and how all of these experiences put me in a good position to do well.

It was, of course, somewhat a reiteration of my resume because it was important for me to show how I got here, and how lessons learned along my journey makes me a great candidate for vet school. But things that never showed up on my resume are what got me in. That is, describing the rehabilitation of my dog, Jack, who I rescued from the shelter with the worse case of mange they had ever seen, and describing waking before dawn to work intense life-or-death shifts at the ER / critical care hospital as the best time of my life, and emphasizing the specific things my critical care mentor has taught me.

Figure that they know something of your background when you write your PS. It is like a short story, starring you. 🙂

I only applied once, and only to my in-state school. My UG grades were pretty good (chemistry and biochemistry) and pretty bad (calculus). I went to a world-class institution for my Master's degree (left the Ph.D. program because I missed...as it turns out...veterinary medicine). My GRE scores were about average for the school I applied to.

In the end, I really feel as if my experience (not only in terms of work and education, but life) and maturity pulled me through.

Lots of luck to you!

 

[opheracco]

Awesome. A thread with a bunch of non-trads. I might as well ask you all what kinds of EC's you need? I have almost none, which is the main concern I have. I done a couple afternoons shadowing a dog/cat vet during surgeries, that's it. By the way, this opportunity is available for me whenever I want it!

My GPA is about 3.7 right now and I have 2 semesters left still to get into U of MN.

I've decided very recently to go with my true desire, working with animals. I've decided against Medical School, I just care about animals more.

I've wanted to be a vet since I was 12 and tried several times but never thought I could get through a college degree. I'm doing well now though.

So what should I do for EC's. They're going to want something, aren't they?

 

[twelvetigers]

They will want vet and animal experience, of course. As for anything else, community service and the like is nice, but not crucial. I would just plan on mentioning some hobbies or activities you enjoy, maybe a club you've been a member of?

Either way, don't sweat it too much - the vet and animal stuff will be the most important part.

 

[LetItSnow]

So what should I do for EC's. They're going to want something, aren't they?

By ECs, what exactly do you mean? From the sound of your post I can't quite tell (you said something like "I have a couple afternoons shadowing" in the context of EC, I thought, and I think most people here won't call that 'EC').

They will want you to have reasonably substantial veterinary experience. I can't remember what the 'average' is nowadays, but I applied with something like 400-500 hours of vet experience and felt like I was on the low end of typical applicants. That's distinct from animal experience, btw. I have no idea where the bottom boundary is for how much you need, from a practical perspective.

As far as true extracurricular activities ... it's not as important as vet/animal experience by a long shot, but I think it's a good opportunity for older applicants to set themselves apart from a more typical 22-year-old applicant. For example, it had nothing to do with animals, but I was able to document things like running a $1M/yr flying operation to support my assertion that I have some business experience. That's more difficult for a younger applicant.

Make sense?

 

[opheracco]

So what does my shadowing qualify as? I've been active on the Med School boards, they're not as exacting as you are, LetItSnow.

Specifically, what is Vet experience and what is Animal experience and does it matter if either of these are paid or unpaid?

Besides that, how many hours did either of you have in both of these categories and over what period of time did you gain the experience?

 

[dyachei]

So what does my shadowing qualify as? I've been active on the Med School boards, they're not as exacting as you are, LetItSnow.

Specifically, what is Vet experience and what is Animal experience and does it matter if either of these are paid or unpaid?

Besides that, how many hours did either of you have in both of these categories and over what period of time did you gain the experience?

Animal experience is not performed under a veterinarian and veterinary experience has a veterinarian in a supervisory role. It does not matter if these are paid or unpaid

 

[LetItSnow]

Besides that, how many hours did either of you have in both of these categories and over what period of time did you gain the experience?

To add to what Dyachei said... on the vet school application it will ask you for "Experiences" and the categories are (someone correct me if I'm wrong; I haven't looked at this year's app to see if it changed): Veterinary, Animal, Employment, Honors, and Community Activity. I think it's safe to presume the first two categories matter more than the latter three.

Your shadowing - if it was a vet you shadowed - counts as veterinary. If I understand the current language correctly, animal-related activity supervised by a vet (paid or unpaid) counts as "veterinary." If you hang out on SDN, you'll find recurring debates/questions/arguments/etc about what constitutes animal experience versus vet experience, but at the moment the key distinguishing factor appears to be whether the activity was supervised by a vet. It gets more complicated if you're doing research, but the application itself contains guidelines.

Since you asked, I pulled up my copy of my app.... I had 416 hours of veterinary experience (half shadowing, half canine rehab volunteer) and 1216 hours of animal experience. But, 900 of those 1200 hours were 'junk' hours of animal ownership and sporting (the remaining 300 or so were more reasonable, mostly working on a dairy farm), so I would think I got very little, if any, credit for them. I believe the general consensus here on SDN is not to include those hours. I think you should include them, but I believe I am in a very small minority, so take that particular piece of advice with a large grain of salt. My personal take on it is that you lose nothing by adding them. Anyway, I accumulated my vet experience over two years while doing the science pre-reqs. The animal experience I mostly already had, although I did add some wildlife rehabilitation.