Career change- need some advice

[ADM1220]

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hey all! im new to posting here, but would love some feedback on my situation. brutal honesty is a good thing, so dont be shy.

i have an BS in marketing and management, worked for a couple years after graduation, then decided to follow my heart and aim for vet school. this semester i am taking organic chem/lab, physics/lab, ecology/lab, cell biology and immunology (18 credit hours). spring semester will be basically the same, except with genetics, and 2 upper level bio electives. i have A's in eco and immuno, and solid B's in the rest. in the fall i will take one more science elective and biochemistry and apply (took gen chem, microbio, etc last year).

i work 25 hours per week (on the books), plus i train horses (off the books) 5-10 hours a week. i have about 2500 hours of vet-supervised large animal experience. ill be working with this vet again over the summer (year #4) and i am working on small animal experience (about 100 hours thus far, more to come this summer).

will schools take into consideration that i worked while in school and took a killer course load? or would it look better if i didnt work and had a 4.0? i want to be a large animal vet, work in rural areas, food animal production, all that good stuff. 🙂 any advice/info/criticism is welcomed! thanks!

 

[canis13]

wow, you sound like you're going to be a very impressive applicant with that much large animal experience already. out of curiosity, what kinds of stuff are you getting to do with that vet?

i'm also in the same boat of deciding whether spending more time working (at a small animal clinic right now) or making sure that i have enough time to study. right now i'm about to scale back on my work hours, especially with the end of the semester coming up (and my job hired a full time vet assistant so i'm kinda off the hook as the stand-in employee). also i'm starting to realize that working so much has made me slack hardcore on my thesis, so i'm re-realizing that being a student needs to be my number one priority right now.
anyway, i guess if i had to try to answer your question, i think good grades comes across as more impressive than "decent grades but could've done even better if i weren't working almost full time". so if you don't absolutely need the money, and it's not a vet related job, not sure the benefit of continuing to work that many hours.

i'll be applying next fall too, so yeah, sounds like we're in similar places right now.

 

[shelterURIgirl]

Since vet school is so academically challenging, you need to be able to demonstrate that you can pass classes if you are taking 20 units of anatomy, p-chemistry, histology, radiology, cardiology etc. at once.

For example, some people can work 40 hours a week while taking 15 units and barely pass, and these same students may still not pass if they are working ZERO hours per week and taking 25 units.

Does that make sense?

The admissions committee cannot assume that the reason why you didn't get a 4.0 is because you were working a lot of hours while the 4.0 student next to you wasn't.

I worked VERY hard during my undergrad, and I was accepted after my THIRD time applying because my GPA was approx a 3.0. I had assumed that they would take the fact that I worked so many hours into consideration, but I was wrong. And now that I am in vet school, I understand why. Its easier for me to work 40 hours a week than it is for me to spend 40 hours a week studying. The reason why my grades suffered so much in undergrad had to do with other reasons and I think deep down the reason I chose to work so many hours was to give myself an excuse and justify my poor performance rather than face what my true academic problems were.

I know some schools will consider the amount of hours you work (like Colorado) but the majority wont. If you have to choose between GPA and work, choose GPA. If this message comes to you too late, as it did me, then figure out how you are going to show the admissions committee that you are academically capable of managing 20-25 units of insane curriculum without the cheese slipping off the cracker, so to speak.

Hope this helps.

 

[BlacKAT33]

I think you sound like a great applicant. Certain schools do take into account how much you worked/volunteered while you were in school. On their supplimentals they ask you to list how many hours of each. But even on the main website they ask you for the hours and whether it was paid or not. If you constantly get a mix of As/Bs I think you will be fine. You are already a unique candidate with your degree in marketing and managment (hopefully you got good grades there). Most schools aren't actually looking for a 4.0gpa, there are so many other categories that make up a good candidate. It will look much better with a 3.5 gpa and tons of animal/vet experience than a 4.0gpa and no experience. If you feel like your work hours actually ARE lowering your gpa then i would try to work less if possible. But otherwise, i think you are on a great track. Especially if you want to own your own company because that business degree will look great.

 

[sumstorm]

If you can get above a 3.5 while working, it might be ok, depending on the school and the rest of your application and the other applicants and the ad coms. In other words, no guarantee.

If you can't keep the GPA strong, then it isn't worth continueing to work with the coarse load, because the GPA will be an early step in evaluation. I worked 50+ hours throughout undergrad, and was accepted to med school in 2001 and vet school this year, both on my first applications. I had a 3.4 and was only accepted to one vet school. I do believe my recent semester of 4.0 while still working helped, but I think that the extreme work hours were considered for the 3.4 overall/science.

 

[ADM1220]

thanks for the advice! 🙂