How many times should I apply before giving up?

[WildZoo]

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I know people who got in their first try and were all stars in school and I wouldn't trust them to treat a dead scorpion.

🤣

 

[LadyOtheFarm]

I went 10 years and 4 applications. I was an alternate one year and "guaranteed" admission twice.

At this point, I would have to redo all my pre-reqs, and take the GRE for the 3rd time, basically start from scratch and leave my family on hold for several more years of lost time and increased debt. As bad as I want it, and even with 2 practices that have offered to hire me instantly if I ever got through school... I can't make it worth it to go back and start from scratch.

I did go get a MS in Repro and am working as an embryologist for more than many of my recent grad vet friends are making. I get more time than I would have if I were to work as a vet, though I still work every day since I chose cattle over human. But I could swap and take an offer in a human clinic and work 4 days per week for even more money. All of this sounds great, but I will always be a little sad that I couldn't figure out how to get in.

Especially when every time I see a few of the vets I've worked for, they ask why I haven't announced my intentions to come work for them. How could the school's not have accepted me? I don't know. But I found a back up plan that will let my family be happy and hopefully, eventually, me too.

(And heck, one of my coworkers is a vet from Brazil and she chose this over clinical practice... hopefully that shows there is something to this)

 

[dyachei]

this comes across as you trying to get in just to get in, not because you want to pursue vet med. Like you're trying to prove something. It may not be what you mean, but yeah, maybe something to think about.

All of this sounds great, but I will always be a little sad that I couldn't figure out how to get in.

 

[LadyOtheFarm]

this comes across as you trying to get in just to get in, not because you want to pursue vet med. Like you're trying to prove something. It may not be what you mean, but yeah, maybe something to think about.

I've poured my heart out on here before about why I wanted to become a vet. I was trying to show that someone on here did give up. The benefits for my family had tipped the scale that way. Diving into all my reasons for wanting to be a vet, all the hopes and dreams I gave up on ever achieving (though my husband thinks he's kind when he says I can try again come retirement), the passions that I have cultivated from a young age and matured by wandering through 11 years as a vet tech in multiple fields, ... I don't need to drag those up and cry at work just so this one post out of many shows just how hard I worked to achieve my goals before giving up.
I just was trying to show that sometimes the scales do tip to a point where giving up is the right thing to do.

I'm not happy about it. But I'm working on that. Most of the time I enjoy my new career. I definitely enjoy time with my family and farm. I also should have time to start volunteering with the local vaccine clinic, TNR and rescue and get to keep using my small animal tech skills. I might go train techs at my old clinic in town how to handle birds and exotics and their anesthesia protocols. I already have plans to do repro work for a few vets in town, especially because I am apparently the only person around here that can AI a goat and will likely be starting my work into collecting and storing gametes and embryos from goats...

So I'm not going to be useless, nor out of the field entirely...

Sorry, you are getting the word vomit of me still working through this. I did not want to go to vet school just to say I got in. I had goals for a practice and I can't make them come true in the way I planned. It's a loss. I'm working through grieving. Sorry that didn't seem valid to you, but since so many people on here only stay if they succeeded, I was trying to express what it is like on the other side. Just like with a physical wound, you tend to downplay it while the hurt is still there. I'll be fine. "It's just a flesh wound."

 

[LadyOtheFarm]

Damn you tears. Better? More real for you even though I still avoid naming my monster mostly? Definitely avoiding crying at work now and getting funny looks.

Who I see myself as, what I have always imagined and spent about 25 years working toward will never be. Big loss. I don't think I can write anything on my cell phone that expresses that as clearly as I would like... but I'm still avoiding my monster.

 

[dyachei]

it wasn't meant to be taken that way. It was meant to show you that some of the wording gave me question and that it might be worth thinking about internally. It wasn't an insult to you or anything else.

I find that many people in this field only ever see themselves as "vet" "vet student" and "pre-vet". Whereas there's like so much more to you than your dreams, aspirations and career. Personality traits, other roles you hold (mother, wife, etc).

SO it's not an insult. Just the way you presented it made me comment.

 

[LadyOtheFarm]

it wasn't meant to be taken that way. It was meant to show you that some of the wording gave me question and that it might be worth thinking about internally. It wasn't an insult to you or anything else.

I find that many people in this field only ever see themselves as "vet" "vet student" and "pre-vet". Whereas there's like so much more to you than your dreams, aspirations and career. Personality traits, other roles you hold (mother, wife, etc).

SO it's not an insult. Just the way you presented it made me comment.

No problem. I am aware of how many roles I fill and how confined a space this is to get things across. I was aiming for context. I can see that using a broader scope it is missing more than what I aimed for.

 

[PocketfulofSunshine]

No problem. I am aware of how many roles I fill and how confined a space this is to get things across. I was aiming for context. I can see that using a broader scope it is missing more than what I aimed for.

I really appreciate your candidness and emotion and I truly hope that you find happiness. I think it is nice to have a perspective like yours as terrible as your situation is. I sometimes feel like students that get in get this chip on their shoulder (and I don't mean this as an insult either, I am sure that I would have the same response) its hard work and everyone who gets in is in for a reason....for the most part....so they deserve to have that accomplishment. But I also understand the longing and the realization that how you have always imagined and defined yourself is not working out and its extremely heartbreaking. It is comparable to the feeling one would get if someone insults physical part of you that you cannot change. Your dreams become part of you and internally you know you would be successful but ultimately its the schools decision to give you the chance. So when you are rejected it is so much harder to build yourself back up.

 

[LadyOtheFarm]

I really appreciate your candidness and emotion and I truly hope that you find happiness. I think it is nice to have a perspective like yours as terrible as your situation is. I sometimes feel like students that get in get this chip on their shoulder (and I don't mean this as an insult either, I am sure that I would have the same response) its hard work and everyone who gets in is in for a reason....for the most part....so they deserve to have that accomplishment. But I also understand the longing and the realization that how you have always imagined and defined yourself is not working out and its extremely heartbreaking. It is comparable to the feeling one would get if someone insults physical part of you that you cannot change. Your dreams become part of you and internally you know you would be successful but ultimately its the schools decision to give you the chance. So when you are rejected it is so much harder to build yourself back up.

Thanks!

 

[rockatiel]

Damn you tears. Better? More real for you even though I still avoid naming my monster mostly? Definitely avoiding crying at work now and getting funny looks.

Who I see myself as, what I have always imagined and spent about 25 years working toward will never be. Big loss. I don't think I can write anything on my cell phone that expresses that as clearly as I would like... but I'm still avoiding my monster.

🙁 sorry. Hope you can figure out what is best for you in the end and find some happiness.

 

[LadyOtheFarm]

🙁 sorry. Hope you can figure out what is best for you in the end and find some happiness.

Oh, I'm working on it! 🙂 Some days are definitely better than others. And like I said, there are a lot of perks to this career. And I LOVE repro!

This is the better path for my family, and probably for me. I'm grieving the loss of the future I thought I had. It will make me sad for a long time. I mean, I still cry over the loss of my heart dog and while he was around for 11 years, he's been gone for almost 3. I've had this goal that I worked toward every day of the last 20+ years, that I devoted myself to and gave up huge chunks of my life for, (that I still have to pay for), and it's just gone.

I got a new puppy, and while he isn't anything near as wonderful as Toby, I'll love him. The job will be the same.


I just thought, since most people leave SDN when they give up, I could be the voice that actually had that answer of what it means to give up, to move on and why anyone would make that decision.

I did it because I love my family. They gave me enough of themselves, it's time I work for them.

 

[TerraVet]

I had a real "coming to Jesus" moment after I didn't get in my second time. Vet school wasn't my first attempt at establishing my career, it's actually my third (I initially wanted to do research in one field, then switched to a different field, then worked in vet med for 5 years after college and decided "game on!"). I can tell you what I did that helped: I took every science class I could that was online or weekends to raise my last 45 GPA to a 3.85. That, plus some amazing editorial help for my PS, got me in. But I've known people who have gotten in on their 4th try, and one guy who got in on either his 4th or 5th and ended up double-boarded. Stories like that gave me hope, though to be honest when I got in this year (third time) I was so shocked I thought it was a mistake. So when to give up depends on if this is plan A or plan H, if you see yourself doing something else and still feeling satisfied with a career, how much money/time/energy you're able or want to invest in reapplying, how much support you have emotionally/financially, and what your application weaknesses are.

 

[cbabs]

So I plan on reapplying for the second time in the 2017-2018 cycle. After applying the first time (2015-2016 cycle) I was told to retake any pre-read in which I got under a B. However, I have 7 classes in which this is the case. I was hoping I could receive some advise in which of these classes would look better to retake.

Intro Bio 2- C+ (horrible professor)
Calc- C
Orgo 1- C
Orgo 2- C+ (after retaking it after an F)
Biochem-C+
OChem Lab- C
Genetics- C- (retaken from a D)

Also, would you recommend retaking the classes at the school you graduated from? Thanks in advance!

 

[Bottle of Bear]

So I plan on reapplying for the second time in the 2017-2018 cycle. After applying the first time (2015-2016 cycle) I was told to retake any pre-read in which I got under a B. However, I have 7 classes in which this is the case. I was hoping I could receive some advise in which of these classes would look better to retake.

Intro Bio 2- C+ (horrible professor)
Calc- C
Orgo 1- C
Orgo 2- C+ (after retaking it after an F)
Biochem-C+
OChem Lab- C
Genetics- C- (retaken from a D)

Also, would you recommend retaking the classes at the school you graduated from? Thanks in advance!

Every pre-req under a B seems a bit unfair, I know a lot of us have been accepted/interviewed with Cs on transcripts. That being said, schools weigh different classes differently, and it's hard to know where they stand. I would look and see what the minimum acceptable grade is for each of those classes at the schools you're applying to and going from there. The only one that really srikes me is the Biochem one, and maybe redo at least one of the organic chem classes plus the lab.

It would be convenient for you to retake them at the school you graduated from as it's one fewer place to request transcripts from, but so long as the classes are at an accredited college you should be fine.

Also, just know that I'm no authority on this, just an anonymous bearverage. Best of luck!

 

[WildZoo]

So I plan on reapplying for the second time in the 2017-2018 cycle. After applying the first time (2015-2016 cycle) I was told to retake any pre-read in which I got under a B. However, I have 7 classes in which this is the case. I was hoping I could receive some advise in which of these classes would look better to retake.

Intro Bio 2- C+ (horrible professor)
Calc- C
Orgo 1- C
Orgo 2- C+ (after retaking it after an F)
Biochem-C+
OChem Lab- C
Genetics- C- (retaken from a D)

Also, would you recommend retaking the classes at the school you graduated from? Thanks in advance!

If you plan to reapply to the same school that gave you that advice, then your best shot is to do what they told you. When you retake classes, does that particular school do grade replacement or do they average them? If they average them that is more reason to retake more classes. From looking at it the most important one would probably be Genetics, since that's a C-. If they average grades I would also look at Ochem 2 again, since right now it is a C averaged with an F which is still a D. I would put Calc and Bio 2 lower on the priority list just because you've already got a C+ in Bio 2 and Calc probably isn't as important as upper level science courses. You could retake ochem 1 as well, and possibly the lab but that would depend on how many credits labs are at your school (at mine, labs are only 1 credit, so I wouldn't bother). Since Biochem is more upper level it might be a good idea to retake that one.

Again, if you can manage to retake all of them, go ahead and do that, and shoot for A's. But if you want to cut it down a bit I would do Genetics and the Ochem series, +/- Ochem lab and Biochem. Again, you want to be getting A's, otherwise the retake is a bit of a waste of time.

 

[DVMDream]

So I plan on reapplying for the second time in the 2017-2018 cycle. After applying the first time (2015-2016 cycle) I was told to retake any pre-read in which I got under a B. However, I have 7 classes in which this is the case. I was hoping I could receive some advise in which of these classes would look better to retake.

Intro Bio 2- C+ (horrible professor)
Calc- C
Orgo 1- C
Orgo 2- C+ (after retaking it after an F)
Biochem-C+
OChem Lab- C
Genetics- C- (retaken from a D)

Also, would you recommend retaking the classes at the school you graduated from? Thanks in advance!

So first thing, the horrible professor really isn't a reason for your grade. Yes, we've all had them before, but you can do things to work around that and get a decent grade. I'm saying this not to be mean but because if you are asked about a grade in an interview replying you had a bad professor is not a good answer.

I also think it needs to be addressed as to what are you going to do differently when you retake these courses? You've already repeated a couple and while you passed, that doesn't demonstrate that you can handle that course well. So, what is your plan going forward as far as studying and making sure you are going to kick ass in the classes you do retake? Are you prepared to change study habits, get a tutor, etc? There is no point in retaking if you are going to do the same things you've always done.

Hopefully this all makes some sense.

 

[cbabs]

So I have the opportunity to retake a higher level biochem class- take this one or retake the same one? I'm thinking it would look better to take the higher one.

 

[VetToBe585]

So I have the opportunity to retake a higher level biochem class- take this one or retake the same one? I'm thinking it would look better to take the higher one.

I would say only if you can get a good grade in it. Not worth the extra "higher level" if you get another C or whatever. Most schools don't take into account how high a level the biochem will be, just that you've taken it and they'll replace/average (whatever their policy is).