High GPA, High vet experience, 2nd time applicant HELP

[LaineyLou]

Hi everyone, I am 22 yo and am applying to veterinary school for the second time. I graduated a semester early and applied to Michigan State, Purdue and Midwestern. I was accepted to Midwestern but couldn't attend due to cost of tuition, interviewed but not accepted to Purdue (my interview went like garbage!) and was not interviewed at Michigan state my IS school.

Colleges I'm Applying To
Michigan State (IS), Missouri, Purdue, Iowa, Georgia, Wisconsin and CSU (Just decided to apply here)

Cumulative GPA: 3.84
Science GPA: 3.85 ish
Last 45: 3.946

Degrees achieved
Bachelor of Science in Biology

GRE results: Pending.... Horrible at standardized tests, I think I'm getting worse the more I spend on prep courses. Practice test was around 300 total but I cannot find exact numbers.

Veterinary Experience: 2800 ish total
2500 Hours veterinary companion animals: 900 as and ER VA, the rest as a Michigan Humane Society VA, and VA at 2 small practices.
300 with wildlife at various places
10 with horses (the plan was to do more over the summer however COVID ruined that)

Animal Experience 1700 ish total - not including all my personal pets
200 ish with wildlife at various places (have worked with wide variety of animals including avian, deer, reptiles, amphibians, skunks, rabbits, chinchillas, rats, ferrets, goats, snakes etc)
300ish through Pre-Vet Club (childrens museum teaching kids about reptiles, safety with dogs workshop for children, microchipping pets for shelters etc)
1200 ish odd jobs, pet sitting, fostering, training, bathing and clipping nails/cleaning ears etc


Awards/scholarships:
Graduated magna cum laude in 7 semesters
Deans list for 6 semesters
High grades scholarship


Extracurriculars:
Pre-Vet Club (secretary 3 years, treasurer 1 semester, VP 1 semester)
Therapeutic riding for kids with special needs ( 1 summer)
National Honorary Music Fraternity (Service based fraternity dedicated to promoting music) ( VP 1 year, Secretary 1 year, Chapter maintenance head 3 years, Fundraising and finance head 1 year)


Employment:
Veterinary clinic in upper peninsula: VA for 2.5 years
Medical Microbiology : Lab prep tech for 1 year
Veterinary clinic in hometown: VA for 1 summer
Michigan Humane Society: Veterinary intern for 1 summer
Animal Hospital: ER VA 6 months- still working
Odd jobs at peoples houses

Summarize any concerns you have
So many schools take more 1st year applicants than second year applicants, Im afraid I have no choice. Vet med is about the only thing I have ever done. All my hobbies and free time revolve around making myself a better candidate for vet school and I DO NOT want to be a VA forever.

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[DrinkWater95]

Hi everyone, I am 22 yo and am applying to veterinary school for the second time. I graduated a semester early and applied to Michigan State, Purdue and Midwestern. I was accepted to Midwestern but couldn't attend due to cost of tuition, interviewed but not accepted to Purdue (my interview went like garbage!) and was not interviewed at Michigan state my IS school.

Colleges I'm Applying To
Michigan State (IS), Missouri, Purdue, Iowa, Georgia and Wisconsin

Cumulative GPA: 3.84
Science GPA: 3.85 ish
Last 45: 3.946

Degrees achieved
Bachelor of Science in Biology

GRE results: Pending.... Horrible at standardized tests, I think I'm getting worse the more I spend on prep courses. Practice test was around 300 total but I cannot find exact numbers.

Veterinary Experience: 2800 ish total
2500 Hours veterinary companion animals: 900 as and ER VA, the rest as a Michigan Humane Society VA, and VA at 2 small practices.
300 with wildlife at various places
10 with horses (the plan was to do more over the summer however COVID ruined that)

Animal Experience 1700 ish total - not including all my personal pets
200 ish with wildlife at various places (have worked with wide variety of animals including avian, deer, reptiles, amphibians, skunks, rabbits, chinchillas, rats, ferrets, goats, snakes etc)
300ish through Pre-Vet Club (childrens museum teaching kids about reptiles, safety with dogs workshop for children, microchipping pets for shelters etc)
1200 ish odd jobs, pet sitting, fostering, training, bathing and clipping nails/cleaning ears etc


Awards/scholarships:
Graduated magna cum laude in 7 semesters
Deans list for 6 semesters
High grades scholarship


Extracurriculars:
Pre-Vet Club (secretary 3 years, treasurer 1 semester, VP 1 semester)
Therapeutic riding for kids with special needs ( 1 summer)
National Honorary Music Fraternity (Service based fraternity dedicated to promoting music) ( VP 1 year, Secretary 1 year, Chapter maintenance head 3 years, Fundraising and finance head 1 year)


Employment:
Veterinary clinic in upper peninsula: VA for 2.5 years
Medical Microbiology : Lab prep tech for 1 year
Veterinary clinic in hometown: VA for 1 summer
Michigan Humane Society: Veterinary intern for 1 summer
Animal Hospital: ER VA 6 months- still working
Odd jobs at peoples houses

Summarize any concerns you have
So many schools take more 1st year applicants than second year applicants, Im afraid I have no choice. Vet med is about the only thing I have ever done. All my hobbies and free time revolve around making myself a better candidate for vet school and I DO NOT want to be a VA forever.

Your stats are pretty good so maybe it’s the soft skill that you have to consider. Only thing I would suggest is more experience with large animals and possibly research as well. It’s weird with Covid though, so I’m sure schools will be understanding of uneventful 2020 summers.

Did you do a file review for Purdue or Michigan after your rejections?

Have you had much feedback on your essays from friends/family?

How do your stats/experiences compare to the class stats of those accepted into your chosen schools? (If they accept high GRE scores and you think you did bad, I would reconsider applying). You want to apply to schools you have the best shot at getting into.

Do you have any non-vet related things that you can write or talk about? Admissions want to see that you can balance your time AND develop skills that can be transferable.
For example: I worked in a restaurant for 3.5 years and developed transferable skills of being able to work in a fast-paced environment and developed customer service skills. Additionally, I have hobbies and interests outside of the vet world (cooking, photography, snowboarding, jui jitsu, reading, gardening, etc). These hobbies serve as an outlet and help me keep my sanity when the vet side of my life gets crazy.

 

[LaineyLou]

Thanks for your response! I had research planned for May 2020 however with COVID it got cancelled and I wrote about that in the explanation statement and how I was planning on working with large animals this summer but couldn't due to COVID. Do you think that will kind of help me?

I got nothing from MSU but got feedback from Purdue that everything was good I just didn't make the cut, they had minimal feedback for me. I felt my interview could have gone much better, but next time I will be much better prepared. The person who gave me feedback gave me some advice on essays and I fixed them up like she suggested.

I rewrote some of my essays and took feedback from friends, other veterinarians, and people who have been accepted to vet school on the APVMA Facebook page. Hopefully now they are really strong.

I definitely put a lot of time and energy into my Fraternity I was in. It was a service based fraternity focusing on advancing music education and appreciation. I think that will go into one of my essays for UGA but its also listed in my experiences. Do you think I should add my hobbies to VMCAS, I enjoy fishing, camping, hiking and baking, but these aren't really activities I've been a part of an organization to do.

 

[DrinkWater95]

Thanks for your response! I had research planned for May 2020 however with COVID it got cancelled and I wrote about that in the explanation statement and how I was planning on working with large animals this summer but couldn't due to COVID. Do you think that will kind of help me?

I got nothing from MSU but got feedback from Purdue that everything was good I just didn't make the cut, they had minimal feedback for me. I felt my interview could have gone much better, but next time I will be much better prepared. The person who gave me feedback gave me some advice on essays and I fixed them up like she suggested.

I rewrote some of my essays and took feedback from friends, other veterinarians, and people who have been accepted to vet school on the APVMA Facebook page. Hopefully now they are really strong.

I definitely put a lot of time and energy into my Fraternity I was in. It was a service based fraternity focusing on advancing music education and appreciation. I think that will go into one of my essays for UGA but its also listed in my experiences. Do you think I should add my hobbies to VMCAS, I enjoy fishing, camping, hiking and baking, but these aren't really activities I've been a part of an organization to do.

Hi! No worries.

You can’t know for sure, but I think schools will recognize how this year has been a challenging one for gaining experience. I’m sure the admissions will also recognize some people make take advantage of the situation and lie about intentions to do this or that. So I would be detailed and perhaps throw in a name of a person you were communicating with about the opportunity?

Did you ask MSU for feedback and they didn’t give any or did you not ask? I would try to set up some mock interviews with your academic advisor and see if they have more detailed feedback for you.

Good on you with the essays. I know it can be hard receiving feedback from multiple people and you can sometimes be pulled multiple directions. I personally only had my mother in law check mine out but she also writes grants for a living so she’s a really good writer lol.

I feel like I would try to throw in your Fraternity experience into one of your large essays that goes to all of the schools. I’m not sure what the prompts are this year, but it could set you out from others. I would expand on how that experience allowed to nurture your creative and empathetic side while making ties in the community etc etc.

As far as hobbies, I would include them as you see fit. For instance, there’s usually an essay about resilience or coping mechanisms. You can expand on how you use your hobbies as an outlet for when your stressed etc.

Hope this helps!

 

[Amanasoul]

I don't have a huge amount to add because others have already given such well thought out answers, but don't forget to check out Purdue's SDN interview and feedback page (I have no idea if it's helpful or not for schools other than Purdue, but for Purdue I do remember it being particularly useful). This is a great place to pull questions from and have people set up mock interviews with you

Good luck!

 

[LaineyLou]

Hi! No worries.

You can’t know for sure, but I think schools will recognize how this year has been a challenging one for gaining experience. I’m sure the admissions will also recognize some people make take advantage of the situation and lie about intentions to do this or that. So I would be detailed and perhaps throw in a name of a person you were communicating with about the opportunity?

Did you ask MSU for feedback and they didn’t give any or did you not ask? I would try to set up some mock interviews with your academic advisor and see if they have more detailed feedback for you.

Good on you with the essays. I know it can be hard receiving feedback from multiple people and you can sometimes be pulled multiple directions. I personally only had my mother in law check mine out but she also writes grants for a living so she’s a really good writer lol.

I feel like I would try to throw in your Fraternity experience into one of your large essays that goes to all of the schools. I’m not sure what the prompts are this year, but it could set you out from others. I would expand on how that experience allowed to nurture your creative and empathetic side while making ties in the community etc etc.

As far as hobbies, I would include them as you see fit. For instance, there’s usually an essay about resilience or coping mechanisms. You can expand on how you use your hobbies as an outlet for when your stressed etc.

Hope this helps!

MSU wouldn't give me any feedback. I emailed them that I was really interested in the school and wanted to know how I could improve because all of my stats and GPA exceeded their averages (other than having research experience). They replied back that " I needed to do some self reflection" to see where I could improve. The email had typos in it too which really frustrated me because the person who replied didn't even take the time to write me a professional response.

 

[LaineyLou]

I don't have a huge amount to add because others have already given such well thought out answers, but don't forget to check out Purdue's SDN interview and feedback page (I have no idea if it's helpful or not for schools other than Purdue, but for Purdue I do remember it being particularly useful). This is a great place to pull questions from and have people set up mock interviews with you

Good luck!

Thanks that looks like a great resource!

 

[DrinkWater95]

MSU wouldn't give me any feedback. I emailed them that I was really interested in the school and wanted to know how I could improve because all of my stats and GPA exceeded their averages (other than having research experience). They replied back that " I needed to do some self reflection" to see where I could improve. The email had typos in it too which really frustrated me because the person who replied didn't even take the time to write me a professional response.

Wow, that’s disappointing! Well I hope your tweaks this cycle will get you some more traction with your schools