Masters or post bacc?

[Ōkami-sama]

I’m unsure of what is the correct route for me to take if I want to get into vet school... I graduated from undergrad in 2018 with a low overall gpa (3.1) and my science gpa is even worse at around 2.8. The first three years I had some problems at home so I maintained pretty low avg of 2.9 but in my senior year things got better for me so I managed to get 3.7 in both semesters. Now I did apply to the vet school I wanted (An international school) and got in but my home fell into a financial crisis and I decided to give up my seat and work for this year Instead. I have a lot of volunteer hours (800+) and decent gre scores (can’t recall what they are exactly but it wasn’t that bad). I’m looking to apply again since my family situation is stable now and I don’t have to keep working. With my history, what would be the best option for me? A masters program or a post bacc?

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[sheltermed]

You may want to apply to schools that have a stronger emphasis on the last 36 or 45 credit GPA. Schools off the top of my head that do that are Iowa State and Michigan State.

You may not need an entire master's degree. There are graduate certificates that you may want to look at - one that comes to mind is offered by Washington State University, it's fully online and it's in molecular biosciences, consisting of mainly upper level science courses along with some professional development. I believe it's 12 credits, which would certainly help your last 36/45 provided you do well. If you can show that you can do well in graduate level sciences, that may be good enough. I personally would not pursue a post-bacc unless you got anything below a C (or below whatever the schools you're applying to require) in your undergraduate level pre-requisites. I'd say post-baccs are more for career changers who didn't take the pre-reqs at all during undergrad, but of course that isn't always the case.

Hope that helps a little.

 

[Ōkami-sama]

You may not need an entire master's degree. There are graduate certificates that you may want to look at - one that comes to mind is offered by Washington State University, it's fully online and it's in molecular biosciences, consisting of mainly upper level science courses along with some professional development. I believe it's 12 credits, which would certainly help your last 36/45 provided you do well. If you can show that you can do well in graduate level sciences, that may be good enough.

@sheltermed Thank you for the reply! I heard though that graduate gpa is usually separate from undergrad gpa so would graduate classes even help?
I’ve had some C- grades but they were for my major. For my pre-reqs I’ve gotten C’s and B-, though I am missing my bio chem requirement.
Also, though I am more interested in veterinary medicine, would it change anything if I wanted to go to med school? I don’t know if med school accept pre vet courses?

 

[CanadatoUS2019]

@sheltermed Thank you for the reply! I heard though that graduate gpa is usually separate from undergrad gpa so would graduate classes even help?
I’ve had some C- grades but they were for my major. For my pre-reqs I’ve gotten C’s and B-, though I am missing my bio chem requirement.
Also, though I am more interested in veterinary medicine, would it change anything if I wanted to go to med school? I don’t know if med school accept pre vet courses?

You're going to need to do a deep dive on all of the schools you could see yourself applying to. Personally I would go through all the schools in the US, and even some ones abroad. Generally AVMA accredited schools abroad in the UK/Ireland, or Australia are probably going to be easier to get into just because many Americans will not apply there due to the distance (miles) from home. This does not reflect the quality of their education in any way, nor your ability to pass the NAVLE when you return home. They are also priced similarly to many OOS schools, and even cheaper than many. If you find that you're going to struggle getting into some US schools, I would consider those. Also consider the AVC and the OVC in Canada. I think a good deal of Americans are unaware of those schools.

Look at if schools consider graduate studies separately from your last 45 credits, or not. Look at schools that look only at your latest semesters because that will help you substantially. A 3.7 is really quite good, so if you could do another 2 semesters at that or higher, you will significantly increase your shot at those schools.

If you decide on a MSc program you're going to have to decide on course-based or thesis-based. I did a thesis based MSc and it helped replace a low semester at my school (in Canada I got into), but that was 2 years of work for one semester. Fortunately I got paid during it (unlike most MScs in the US) and I love research so it was what made sense over post-bac for me. However I will say that if you do not know if you'll like research, or already know you don't like it, then don't do a thesis-based MSc. Its hard. Not in the same sense as veterinary school or undergrad, but hard in its own way, and that isn't for everyone.

 

[SkiOtter]

You may want to apply to schools that have a stronger emphasis on the last 36 or 45 credit GPA. Schools off the top of my head that do that are Iowa State and Michigan State.

Michigan State will not look at your application if your science prereq GPA and last 36 GPA are not 3.0 or higher.

 

[SkiOtter]

For my pre-reqs I’ve gotten C’s and B-

Retake prereqs.

 

[Ōkami-sama]

Retake prereqs.

So post bacc is better?

 

[isocitrate dehydrogenase]

You're going to need to do a deep dive on all of the schools you could see yourself applying to. Personally I would go through all the schools in the US, and even some ones abroad. Generally AVMA accredited schools abroad in the UK/Ireland, or Australia are probably going to be easier to get into just because many Americans will not apply there due to the distance (miles) from home. This does not reflect the quality of their education in any way, nor your ability to pass the NAVLE when you return home. They are also priced similarly to many OOS schools, and even cheaper than many. If you find that you're going to struggle getting into some US schools, I would consider those. Also consider the AVC and the OVC in Canada. I think a good deal of Americans are unaware of those schools.

Strongly agree with the bit about canadian schools- the exchange rate for the american dollar is great right now, take advantage of it!

 

[EngrSC]

I have a hard time wrapping my head around doing a masters unless it’s something you’re interested in and can potentially use. Personally, I enrolled as a post-bacc student at my cheapest and closest school. But I had to take all the prereqs, as they weren’t required as part of my original degree. If you’re really dedicated, University of Missouri and University of Illinois vet schools have grade forgiveness programs, however, I believe you have to put a few years between your old grades and your application cycle before you’re eligible (but check the details). I also encourage you to consider the financial impact ... if you have undergrad debt, contribute to it with a masters, then add a DVM, your loans can balloon quickly. You can play around with this student loan payment calculator to see what I mean: FinAid | Calculators | Loan Calculator

Good luck!

 

[doctor-who]

Now I did apply to the vet school I wanted (An international school) and got in but my home fell into a financial crisis and I decided to give up my seat and work for this year Instead.

What was the international school you got into? I'd reapply there and just explain why you gave up your seat before!