High GPA, low experience!

[lilygarcia2000]

This is my first time posting here so any advice or tips would be awesome!! Pretty much any time I am on my laptop I am doing some type of research pertaining to vet school so I cannot believe I did not find this forum sooner! Anyways I am in my junior year of college and intend to apply to vet school during the 2021-2022 cycle. I have a solid GPA and some good references for LORs, but I do not have extensive animal/veterinary experience. I still have time to gain more experience, but I wanted to post this to see what others think I could work on!


I am planning to apply to: NCSU, UGA, UPENN, CSU, TENNESSE

Current stats
Cumulative GPA: 3.952
Last 45: 3.952
Science GPA: 3.952
Prerequisite GPA: 3.883

GRE:

I am planning to take it this year!

Resident: South Carolina

Vet Hours:
150 hours- shadowing at a small animal hospital

150 hours- shadowing an equine veterinarian

Hoping to complete at least 150 hours in an urgent vet clinic, 200 hours at a wildlife rehabilitation center, and potentially more hours at the small animal hospital (depending on COVID)

Animal Hours:
100 hours- pet sitting

120 hours- basic care of exotic animals at technical education center while completing veterinary science program

20 hours- dog grooming at technical education center while completing veterinary science program

50 hours- volunteering at animal shelter

(200 hours- pet ownership)

Research:

Completed a research project for a biology class in which I examined liver enzymes (ALP, AST, ALT, GGT) to determine if they could be used as biomarkers for canine obesity

I am in the process of starting a research project with a professor which will be something in the realm of pedagogy/anatomy and physiology. Hopefully, I will be able to start the project this coming spring!

I am also potentially going to TA for microbiology this spring as well as immunology my senior year.

I am also being considered to join the microbiology research team this coming spring

I am also intending to apply for an REU for next summer so potentially could have 400 more hours of research (again depending on COVID)

Non-Vet related employment:

Hostess (1 year)

Crew Member at a poke restaurant (6 months)

Server (4 months)

I just started working as a personal shopper at Harris Teeter



Volunteer

Assistant softball coach at Irmo Little League



Extracurriculars
Founder & President of pre-veterinary club

Winthrop University Ambassador

Tri-Beta

Alpha Lambda Delta

Biology freshman symposium mentor

National Society for Leadership and Success

Phi Kappa Phi

Honors Program



Awards/Scholarships
Dean's List – 2 semesters
Presidents list- 2 semesters
J. A. Knox Scholarship

Dr E Cooper Bell Scholarship



Letters of Recommendation:

-1 from a small animal veterinarian

-1 from a professor who knows me very well and have had 4 classes with

-1 from equine veterinarian

-1 from the professor who I intend to do research under

Degrees at time of application
None, will have B.S in Biology in May 2022



Other Factors:

First generation college student

Interested in Ph.D./DVM dual degree program

Interested in teaching at the university level while doing research

Interested in shelter medicine

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[Georgethecat]

Your gpa's are great. It's hard to know what schools will do for the next cycle regarding the GRE, so it's good that you are being proactive and preparing anyway. For this cycle, UGA and UPenn still required the GRE. For this cycle, NC State and Tenn waived the GRE. CSU does not require the GRE.

Hoping others with DVM/PhD experience will chime in, but I'd be hesitant at this point to focus your application on the PhD portion since you have limited research experience. Not sure the class project will technically count as research since it was part of a class. Hopefully the planned research opportunities will be able to happen and that will put you in a better place to make sure that's something you really want to do.

If your planned shadowing experiences with the urgent care, wildlife rehab and small animal hospital happen then you should be just fine for vet experience hours. 650 + hours in diversified veterinary fields is a decent number, especially given the pandemic.

As a SC resident, your two contract schools are UGA and Miss St. Is there a reason you aren't considering Miss St? From a cost perspective at current COA levels:
UGA ($169k)
Miss St ($193k)
NC State ($203k)
Tenn ($318k)
CSU ($326k)
UPenn ($376k)

I'd seriously suggest focusing on your contract schools and NC State. The extra price tag for Tenn, CSU and UPenn is a LOT of money.

Overall, you are a well rounded applicant that stands a good chance Best of luck to you!

 

[supershorty]

Your gpa's are great. It's hard to know what schools will do for the next cycle regarding the GRE, so it's good that you are being proactive and preparing anyway. For this cycle, UGA and UPenn still required the GRE. For this cycle, NC State and Tenn waived the GRE. CSU does not require the GRE.

Hoping others with DVM/PhD experience will chime in, but I'd be hesitant at this point to focus your application on the PhD portion since you have limited research experience. Not sure the class project will technically count as research since it was part of a class. Hopefully the planned research opportunities will be able to happen and that will put you in a better place to make sure that's something you really want to do.

(bolding mine)
I agree with much of what @Georgethecat said above so I'm not going to repeat it. I am pretty sure that the bolded part is correct - a research project that's part of a class generally does not, as far as I know, count toward research hours. It sounds like you have some other opportunities lined up though, and since you're not applying until the next cycle anyway, hopefully those will be able to come together for you.

I feel like @Lupin21 and I are the [pessimistic?] dual students (or alum, in their case) who actively encourage thinking about whether a dual program is really the best way to accomplish your career goals. While I feel my program is very supportive of dual students and my time has been pretty smooth sailing, I've said before that had I known that residency/PhDs were a thing, I'm not sure I would have applied for a dual program, and I still believe that. There's a big disconnect in stepping out of the DVM curriculum, doing an entire PhD, and then having to go back to finish the DVM after that. Some schools (like mine) also offer an option where you can do the PhD after completing the DVM (@WildZoo is doing this at their program), which I think is a more logical flow - but obviously there are pros and cons to doing the PhD at the end versus doing clinical rotations at the end.

I always ask potential dual applicants what it is that you want to do in the long term. Beyond vet school - what are your career goals? It's okay if you don't know yet, especially since you still have another year to get experience before you're applying, but it's a question that will come up a lot in dual program interviews. 8 years is a big undertaking, and you may be able to get where you want to go through other means. I think you might need to have more experience doing research outside of a classroom setting to really know if that's the route you want to pursue.

You're welcome to PM me if you have questions - I'm entering my 5th year of the dual program at Minnesota.

Edited to add that I'm not trying to be a downer - dual programs can be great and I've had an overall positive experience in mine! It's just a BIG undertaking and I really caution people to think about whether it's the best move for them!

 

[flockofdoves]

I am also applying in the 2021-22 cycle and hardcore feel what you said about constantly researching vet school admissions stuff.

 

[lilygarcia2000]

Your gpa's are great. It's hard to know what schools will do for the next cycle regarding the GRE, so it's good that you are being proactive and preparing anyway. For this cycle, UGA and UPenn still required the GRE. For this cycle, NC State and Tenn waived the GRE. CSU does not require the GRE.

Hoping others with DVM/PhD experience will chime in, but I'd be hesitant at this point to focus your application on the PhD portion since you have limited research experience. Not sure the class project will technically count as research since it was part of a class. Hopefully the planned research opportunities will be able to happen and that will put you in a better place to make sure that's something you really want to do.

If your planned shadowing experiences with the urgent care, wildlife rehab and small animal hospital happen then you should be just fine for vet experience hours. 650 + hours in diversified veterinary fields is a decent number, especially given the pandemic.

As a SC resident, your two contract schools are UGA and Miss St. Is there a reason you aren't considering Miss St? From a cost perspective at current COA levels:
UGA ($169k)
Miss St ($193k)
NC State ($203k)
Tenn ($318k)
CSU ($326k)
UPenn ($376k)

I'd seriously suggest focusing on your contract schools and NC State. The extra price tag for Tenn, CSU and UPenn is a LOT of money.

Overall, you are a well rounded applicant that stands a good chance Best of luck to you!

Thanks so much for reading my post and giving me feedback! I was supposed to start research in an immunology lab this fall with a professor that I am super close with but she didn't receive her grant which was a huge bummer. I'm already working with another professor to try and complete a project in the spring! The reason I have been researching and thinking about the dual program is that I want to eventually teach at a vet school. I know there are other ways to reaching my end goal it is just something I am keeping in mind while I try to obtain research experience. In terms of the schools, I am looking at I haven't put much research into Miss St. because I want to move farther north rather than south. When the time comes and I am trying to apply to as many schools as possible it will probably end up on my list I just haven't put lots of time into looking at the school yet! My dream school is NC state but I feel like I will have a hard time getting accepted there with being out of state.

 

[Georgethecat]

The course pre-req's for Miss St are very similar to those for UGA. No GRE is required for Miss State. Minor differences include a public speaking course (but can be fulfilled in other ways, see website for details) and microbiology is required (UGA requires 8 hours of upper level biology). If you meet the requirements, I'd give serious consideration to applying.

Totally understand wanting to move to a different part of the country, but coming out of vet school with as little debt as possible will give you more opportunities to be selective in what jobs you take or where you want to live. Any of the schools you've mentioned will provide you with the education to achieve your career goals.

Also check out the faculty bios at schools and academic areas you are interested in. A lot of people don't necessarily get their DVM and PhD from the same institution.