Are Vet Reapplicants at a Disadvantage?

[Lucy410]

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I'm a nontraditional applicant in my mid-late twenties. I'm in the penultimate stages of my post-bacc program and preparing to finally apply this cycle (woohoo!). My situation is a bit unique in that I can only really consider vet schools in areas where my husband could find work in his field since his salary is going to be funding my tuition. There are about 3-4 vet schools that are both a great fit for me and fall within these parameters, and about 3-4 more that could work, but aren't ideal for our situation.

Our current plan is for me to apply to only those 3-4 "ideal" vet schools (one of which is my IS) this cycle. They're very good schools and I will likely be a strong candidate, but not a shoo-in. If I don't get into any of those I will reapply to the full cadre of 7-8 the following year. My rationale is that if I only got into one of those "less ideal" (for us) schools this cycle, I wouldn't want to decline an offer in order to be able to reapply to my top choices.

From past threads this doesn't seem to be a terribly uncommon strategy, but I'm worried about shooting myself in the foot by putting myself in a situation where I may very well need to reapply. Waiting another year would be ok for us, and I would use the intervening year to continue to strengthen my application, but my pre-health advisor (who, FWIW, advises pre-meds 90% of the time) is of the opinion that reapplicants are at a serious disadvantage and my application strategy should be "one-and-done." Is that really true for vet applicants? Is mine a shoddy strategy?

Thanks for your feedback!

 

[twelvetigers]

Apply to as many as you want to apply to - I can see the benefit of 'one-and-done'. But... be 100% sure to not apply to a school that you would not attend if it were the only place you were accepted. Give it lots of consideration. And if you had to apply again, well... you can. Have a good back-up plan in place for that.

 

[KCgophervet]

I'm a nontraditional applicant in my mid-late twenties. I'm in the penultimate stages of my post-bacc program and preparing to finally apply this cycle (woohoo!). My situation is a bit unique in that I can only really consider vet schools in areas where my husband could find work in his field since his salary is going to be funding my tuition. There are about 3-4 vet schools that are both a great fit for me and fall within these parameters, and about 3-4 more that could work, but aren't ideal for our situation.

Our current plan is for me to apply to only those 3-4 "ideal" vet schools (one of which is my IS) this cycle. They're very good schools and I will likely be a strong candidate, but not a shoo-in. If I don't get into any of those I will reapply to the full cadre of 7-8 the following year. My rationale is that if I only got into one of those "less ideal" (for us) schools this cycle, I wouldn't want to decline an offer in order to be able to reapply to my top choices.

From past threads this doesn't seem to be a terribly uncommon strategy, but I'm worried about shooting myself in the foot by putting myself in a situation where I may very well need to reapply. Waiting another year would be ok for us, and I would use the intervening year to continue to strengthen my application, but my pre-health advisor (who, FWIW, advises pre-meds 90% of the time) is of the opinion that reapplicants are at a serious disadvantage and my application strategy should be "one-and-done." Is that really true for vet applicants? Is mine a shoddy strategy?

Thanks for your feedback!

Your adviser, no offense to them, doesn't know what they're talking about. The only reason reapplicants would be at a disadvantage is if they 1) do nothing to strengthen their application in the intervening year, 2) lose good recommendation letter writers, and really those are the only 2 I can come up with. It's pretty common for people to not get in on their first year applying, and I think your strategy is fine. I would advise you to just make sure you're looking at tuition and pre-reqs for the schools you're applying to. It would suck to be banking on a school only to find out you didn't take the speech class they required and have your application thrown out.

 

[twelvetigers]

Also, re: the thread title... no. No disadvantage. Just more time and money for the applicant to apply again.

 

[KCgophervet]

Yes 100% what TT said. Don't waste time and money applying to a school you wouldn't attend if they were the only one you were accepted to.

 

[Cephal0pod]

It's actually not uncommon at all for vet school applicants to apply more than once. No real disadvantage, except maybe those inconveniences mentioned above.

A friend of mine who is reapplying this year had his interviewers specifically bring up how he was one of few re-applicants who requested a file review at that school last year, then clearly used that feedback to improve himself. They spoke very positively of that. I believe that was one of the schools he ended up getting accepted to.

I also wholeheartedly concur with the don't-apply-anywhere-you-wouldn't-actually-attend-if-accepted sentiment.

Best wishes!

 

[Lucy410]

Thank you for your advice, everyone. My advisor's comments really threw me off balance, and to be honest, the thought of only applying to 3 or 4 schools is a bit scary to me. But I definitely agree that I shouldn't be applying to schools I wouldn't attend if admitted that cycle.

I would advise you to just make sure you're looking at tuition and pre-reqs for the schools you're applying to. It would suck to be banking on a school only to find out you didn't take the speech class they required and have your application thrown out.

Agreed! Thank you. I'm on it. 🙂

 

[BrownSwissCows]

As someone who got waitlisted at all 4 schools they applied to, I think I am actually at an advantage reapplying if it comes down to that. I have a much better idea of the admissions process as a whole. I have a much better idea about how the interviews go at the schools that did them, so I feel I could do better if I had to interview again. I'm also planning on getting file reviews, so I will have direct feedback from the school specifically about my application and where they would like to see improvement which gives me more direction than I had going in as a first time applicant.

If you can visit the schools before you apply, that would be a good idea. I had never been to 3/4 schools (still have not been to 1 of them) and I think that had a visited prior to applying, my choices may have been different. Travel costs associated with applying to 4 vs 8 schools might also be a factor for you, especially if the schools you are thinking of applying to do interviews.

 

[last_rnd]

Umm the person advising you...
Mm Kay?

I'm as non traditional as they come. It took 3 application cycles. Ultimately, every cycle I learned several things about the process and got better at it. The most important thing I learned was where to apply. The "ideal" school will not always bet the right "fit" and they won't tell you that either.

 

[genny]

Thank you for your advice, everyone. My advisor's comments really threw me off balance, and to be honest, the thought of only applying to 3 or 4 schools is a bit scary to me. But I definitely agree that I shouldn't be applying to schools I wouldn't attend if admitted that cycle.

I don't think 3 or 4 are too few. It gives you a better chance to make those few supplemental applications more powerful.

 

[Shrike Pilgrim]

My experience with undergrad advisors is that they rarely know what they're talking about when it comes to vet school admissions. And that includes those that primarily advise pre-vet students. A generic pre-health advisor is going to be even more confused because the application process for human med school is wildly different.

 

[JJ1019]

My advisor's comments really threw me off balance, and to be honest, the thought of only applying to 3 or 4 schools is a bit scary to me. But I definitely agree that I shouldn't be applying to schools I wouldn't attend if admitted that cycle.

I'm non-traditional. I applied to one school (IS). It's the only place I was willing to go straight out of the gates. If I get denied then I will re-assess some of the less desirable options.

 

[battie]

I just got accepted on my third try and I don't think the fact I was a reapplicant put me at a disadvantage at all.

 

[JakeDVM]

I am a very non-traditional student. I applied last year and didn't even get an invite to my IS. I was waitlisted at 2 other schools and accepted at another. The tuition at the OOS school where I was accepted was very high and after visiting the area I didn't feel comfortable moving there. I did the crazy thing and declined my acceptance! I spent the last year improving my application and I was ultimately accepted at my IS. I was brutally honest in my essays and interview. I am not sure if that would work for everyone but it did set me apart LOL

Moral of the story... do what feels right to you. Everything happens for a reason.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[s.tochastic]

I was lucky and got in on my first try. One of my LORs came from someone who has been on admissions boards in the past and she told me that for 1st time applicants, the school filters only on GPA/ GRE / PPI to offer interview, whereas re-applicants get a bit more consideration and have the rest of the application - Personal Statement and LORs evaluated. At least from what she told me ( and this is a few years out of date), re-applicants may actually have an advantage .

 

[LyraGardenia]

I just got accepted on my third try and I don't think the fact I was a reapplicant put me at a disadvantage at all.

Same. Granted, this was my first time applying to the school I was accepted to. My IS is the only school I applied to all three times, but they didn't even look at my app this time because one of my LORs didn't get submitted on time. 🙁 However, my scores on my second attempt applying there (Mizzou, their evaluation process is very numbers-based) were significantly better. I got a lot more vet experience in between my first and second applications, and did well in my last semester of undergrad (the first time I applied was fall of my senior year), so that helped. I was also more confident in my second interview because I knew what to expect, and I revised my PS for my second app. I was told in my second file review that if I got some LA experience, I would have a good chance at getting accepted there the next round. Unfortunately I never got to find out how true that was, but seriously, if you have to apply more than once, get file reviews and follow their suggestions!