Ohio State 2025-2026 (c/o 2030 hopefuls)

Started by supershorty
Veterinary Science Graduate Programs from U. of I.
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Protect Ohio

Really exciting news that came out today. Currently in the approval process is Protect One Health in Ohio (Protect OHIO) initiative. Governor Dewine and members of the Ohio General Assembly are supporting moving forward with this. In addition to enhancing education at tOSU CVM, it is planned to increase the class size by up to 35 in-state seats per class year. One Health and large-animal rural medicine is the primary focus! I am super excited about this so I thought I would share it with you all. If all goes well, they plan on beginning to implement these changes starting next year.
 
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dvmhart107 said:
OOS second time applicant, first time applying to Ohio! Any tips?
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Hi - I’m an older, non-traditional applicant who was accepted OOS to Ohio State last year. The biggest tips I can give regarding Ohio State are below.

1. Make your experience sections shine.

Don’t just talk about what you did in different roles, talk about what you learned and how it’s prepared you for vet school. Proofread each and every section and make sure your formatting is harmonious. Make it enjoyable to read these sections.

Further, make sure you’re including all experiences that matter for your application - Ohio State doesn’t only want to see that you’ve spent a lot of time in the clinic. They want to see that you have volunteered, that you’re community oriented. They want to see leadership, and maturity. Experiences outside of veterinary medicine are very valuable here.

2. Aim for diversity of experience, but you don’t need everything.

It’s not true that you can’t get in without Large Animal or equine experience. Your experience just has to make sense for YOU and your goals. I had about 1500 hours of veterinary experience, with a lot of depth across companion animal medicine, especially diving into Oncology. I want to specialize in medical oncology, so this made sense for me. I had GP, wildlife, and diverse SA specialty experience. I did NOT have any LA or equine experience. So, just make sure that your experience aligns with your goals.

3. Written materials matter.

Make your personal statement and any written submissions very polished. Submit them to people you know AND people you don’t. I suggest submitting now to someone on our Personal Statement Readers thread. (I read statements! Always happy to help.) Your personal statement should be a narrative, not a resume, and make sure you answer the prompt!!!

4. Trust the process!

Ohio State was incredibly organized, professional, and helpful. They released news and updates when they said they would. Once you are waiting on news about interviews (and admissions, too)….. just relax. They’ll say when things will be released, and they will be released on the date mentioned. Don’t stress yourself out too much thinking they might release early. Ohio State’s process is a pretty well-oiled machine.

5. Got an interview? Practice but not too much, and make sure that you research the program and ask intelligent questions!

This really applies to any interview anywhere. An interview is not meant to be rehearsed, so prepare talking points and know that everyone - yes EVERYONE - messes up during interviews! They know you’ll be nervous, they know that you won’t answer in a way that 100% reflects your knowledge and abilities. What matters is that you can move forward and still answer, and have good examples, logic, and reasoning. Write up potential experiences and practice scaffolding out the important points.

Also, as someone who’s interviewed a lot of people myself, I think something that separates a good from a great interview is whether the applicant shows interest and knowledge about the program. It doesn’t have to be a deep understanding, but it really helps to engage with your interviewers when asked if you have any questions. A few informed questions can make you look knowledgeable, mature, and prepared.

Consider every single aspect of an interview as a way to engage and show who you are as a person and a future vet. Send thank you emails.

Best of luck! Feel free to follow up if you have any more questions. 🙂
 
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indysadventures said:
Hi - I’m an older, non-traditional applicant who was accepted OOS to Ohio State last year. The biggest tips I can give regarding Ohio State are below.

1. Make your experience sections shine.

Don’t just talk about what you did in different roles, talk about what you learned and how it’s prepared you for vet school. Proofread each and every section and make sure your formatting is harmonious. Make it enjoyable to read these sections.

Further, make sure you’re including all experiences that matter for your application - Ohio State doesn’t only want to see that you’ve spent a lot of time in the clinic. They want to see that you have volunteered, that you’re community oriented. They want to see leadership, and maturity. Experiences outside of veterinary medicine are very valuable here.

2. Aim for diversity of experience, but you don’t need everything.

It’s not true that you can’t get in without Large Animal or equine experience. Your experience just has to make sense for YOU and your goals. I had about 1500 hours of veterinary experience, with a lot of depth across companion animal medicine, especially diving into Oncology. I want to specialize in medical oncology, so this made sense for me. I had GP, wildlife, and diverse SA specialty experience. I did NOT have any LA or equine experience. So, just make sure that your experience aligns with your goals.

3. Written materials matter.

Make your personal statement and any written submissions very polished. Submit them to people you know AND people you don’t. I suggest submitting now to someone on our Personal Statement Readers thread. (I read statements! Always happy to help.) Your personal statement should be a narrative, not a resume, and make sure you answer the prompt!!!

4. Trust the process!

Ohio State was incredibly organized, professional, and helpful. They released news and updates when they said they would. Once you are waiting on news about interviews (and admissions, too)….. just relax. They’ll say when things will be released, and they will be released on the date mentioned. Don’t stress yourself out too much thinking they might release early. Ohio State’s process is a pretty well-oiled machine.

5. Got an interview? Practice but not too much, and make sure that you research the program and ask intelligent questions!

This really applies to any interview anywhere. An interview is not meant to be rehearsed, so prepare talking points and know that everyone - yes EVERYONE - messes up during interviews! They know you’ll be nervous, they know that you won’t answer in a way that 100% reflects your knowledge and abilities. What matters is that you can move forward and still answer, and have good examples, logic, and reasoning. Write up potential experiences and practice scaffolding out the important points.

Also, as someone who’s interviewed a lot of people myself, I think something that separates a good from a great interview is whether the applicant shows interest and knowledge about the program. It doesn’t have to be a deep understanding, but it really helps to engage with your interviewers when asked if you have any questions. A few informed questions can make you look knowledgeable, mature, and prepared.

Consider every single aspect of an interview as a way to engage and show who you are as a person and a future vet. Send thank you emails.

Best of luck! Feel free to follow up if you have any more questions. 🙂
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Thank you so much!
 
Anyone ever gotten in to ohio state with a cumulative GPA below a 3.0 ? This is my 3rd cycle and OSU is my in state. I have filled out the extenuating circumstances form both prior cycles and my petition was denied meaning they never even reviewed my application [emoji20]. (This form is for students under the 3.0 cut off, if they feel you have a legit extenuating circumstance that explains your low grades they will consider your GPA 3.0 and put you in the regular applicant pool.
I have retaken science courses and taken masters courses with A’s but VMCAS still calculates my cum gpa as 2.91. Any advice is appreciated. I did apply to 8 other US schools this cycle.
Best of luck to all this cycle.

(Anonymous because I don’t want fellow classmates to know my GPA)
 
Aupper said:
Anyone ever gotten in to ohio state with a cumulative GPA below a 3.0 ? This is my 3rd cycle and OSU is my in state. I have filled out the extenuating circumstances form both prior cycles and my petition was denied meaning they never even reviewed my application [emoji20]. (This form is for students under the 3.0 cut off, if they feel you have a legit extenuating circumstance that explains your low grades they will consider your GPA 3.0 and put you in the regular applicant pool.
I have retaken science courses and taken masters courses with A’s but VMCAS still calculates my cum gpa as 2.91. Any advice is appreciated. I did apply to 8 other US schools this cycle.
Best of luck to all this cycle.

(Anonymous because I don’t want fellow classmates to know my GPA)
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You might not get someone coming forward with personal experience, but the answer is most likely yes. Just remember that might very well be a single person in a class, and that person is almost guaranteed to have exceptional written components/experience or have a very compelling story.

I would talk to the school and see if you can get any further info about what needs to happen for you to be considered. I don't have any have any direct experience with OSU's admissions process, but based on other schools that do something like this: it is possible they put the <3.2 (their published minimum) people in a pile, review their applications/circumstances forms, and decide who gets to proceed. They may have years where no one in that pile proceeds. Generally the people who get to proceed have otherwise incredibly outstanding applications. So to put it bluntly, your described circumstances and non-academic components appear to not be outstanding enough to buy you a pass for the academic portion of the process (twice). ETA: Or they just have enough (and OSU apparently got nearly 3000 applicants last year) people who are competitive that they aren't really considering people below the cutoffs?

Another hard part to keep in mind is that not everyone agrees on what would constitute 'acceptable' extenuating circumstances. You don't have to share your story unless you want to, but just keep that in mind. An example we see somewhat often on SDN is working full-time. That's not really seen as a valid reason to 'excuse' a low GPA.

I would consider making a full post about yourself in the 'What are my chances?' sub-forum so we can get more detail and offer other suggestions. I don't know if Ohio averages repeat courses or replaces grades, but if you have 4.0's in recent courses you may want to be applying only to schools that replace repeated course grades and strongly weigh master's credits.
 
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Good luck to everyone who submitted apps! Figured I would post the timeline from this past cycle for people to reference when they wonder when they'll hear back! I'm a first-year student at tOSU and am happy to answer any questions!!
  • Notified of when we'd hear about interview decisions = October 15th
  • Notified about missing pre-reqs = November 22nd
  • Interview invites = Friday, December 20th around 10:30am
  • Interviews = January 18, 25 and February 1
  • Decisions sent = Friday, February 7th around 8:30am (some people actually received status updates in their portal the night of February 6th, which was definitely not supposed to happen lol)
 
Do you have any tips for interviews/what types of questions are asked? First time applying and while I feel as if i’m a good interviewer when it comes to jobs, i don’t know how that would translate to vet school interviews
 
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kitzsuna said:
Do you have any tips for interviews/what types of questions are asked? First time applying and while I feel as if i’m a good interviewer when it comes to jobs, i don’t know how that would translate to vet school interviews
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It's a closed-file interview so your interviewers know nothing about you! It was 4 questions and all of them (maybe except for one) were pretty standard vet school interview questions. Out of the three interviews I did tOSU's was my favorite! My interviewers were super nice, even when they couldn't really respond to my answers.

I read a lot of articles (vet and non-vet related) about interview tips, how to structure your answers, and typical questions vet schools tend to ask. Definitely look into the STAR method!! I also made a Google Doc with a ton of common interview questions and possible experiences from my life that I could use to answer those questions. Vet schools as a whole seem to love the "tell me about a time when" style of question, so it's good to have an idea of what scenarios you could tell them about. Personally, I needed to practice my interviewing skills, but I know other people who go into the interview without any sort of prep and do just fine!
 
Thats good to know! Do they ask technical vet specific questions? Thats what makes me nervous since i have limited clinical hours
 
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kitzsuna said:
Thats good to know! Do they ask technical vet specific questions? Thats what makes me nervous since i have limited clinical hours
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I'll had that, from what I've seen, being asked a technical question would be more of an open-file interview style of question! But I don't think the majority of schools would ask a question, if any, about technical stuff to "quiz" you.

They'd rather ask "why do you want to be a vet?" or "what would you do if ___?" since those style of questions gauge your understanding of the profession beyond being book-smart.
 
Did any previous or current applicants here take public speaking outside of their major undergraduate institution? I am OOS, out of undergrad, and Public Speaking is my only outstanding requirement, and Ohio is the only school I need it for. I would LOVE to take one they'd accept from a non-traditional source, such as an online course like UCSD Extended Studies. Does anyone know if they have previously accepted something like that? If not, I will most likely have to take a night course at my local community college.

I would register for the class to start in January and only follow through with taking it if Ohio grants me an interview.
 
Can't say for public speaking as I had that one already, but they did accept an online post-bacc course (and online lab) for micro which I was missing.
 
flsheltermed said:
Did any previous or current applicants here take public speaking outside of their major undergraduate institution? I am OOS, out of undergrad, and Public Speaking is my only outstanding requirement, and Ohio is the only school I need it for. I would LOVE to take one they'd accept from a non-traditional source, such as an online course like UCSD Extended Studies. Does anyone know if they have previously accepted something like that? If not, I will most likely have to take a night course at my local community college.

I would register for the class to start in January and only follow through with taking it if Ohio grants me an interview.
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I know they accepted one of my journalism/communication classes for it, so you could always find something different like that!
 
For Ohio State, if I interviewed last year and was ultimately waitlisted (OOS), does anyone know how likely it is that I'll get another interview invite this cycle? I've gotten one rejection so far this cycle, applied to 7 schools total including VMCVM and haven't got a SJT invite yet from them so I'm trying to hold onto some hope somewhere.
 
rdtcsb said:
For Ohio State, if I interviewed last year and was ultimately waitlisted (OOS), does anyone know how likely it is that I'll get another interview invite this cycle? I've gotten one rejection so far this cycle, applied to 7 schools total including VMCVM and haven't got a SJT invite yet from them so I'm trying to hold onto some hope somewhere.
Click to expand...
I was waitlisted for the same school the last two years in a row. Since it’s a whole new applicant pool each cycle, I don’t know how much they take that into account. In my own experience, I don’t think it mattered unfortunately. There’s still so many reasons to be hopeful though. It only takes one acceptance! Prayers and hugs from a third time applicant!
 
rdtcsb said:
For Ohio State, if I interviewed last year and was ultimately waitlisted (OOS), does anyone know how likely it is that I'll get another interview invite this cycle? I've gotten one rejection so far this cycle, applied to 7 schools total including VMCVM and haven't got a SJT invite yet from them so I'm trying to hold onto some hope somewhere.
Click to expand...
It's hard to say. Personally, I would say you have a decent chance at an interview invite if you've improved on your application from last cycle, but it really depends on the rest of the applicant pool. I'm sure in your file they'd see you were waitlisted before, but whether that factors into their decision at all I can't say. Hang in there! Only a month or so to go until invites get sent out!!
 
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whatever class you take - don't take the LSU Online Human Physiology on demand/online course... it's terrible. The prof just reads bullet points from a premade lecture from Pearson, and gets terms messed up or stumbles over them until you're completely confused. (Plus, you have to buy a $150+ program to do the homework, and it doesn't relate to the exams well.) I'd recommend the UCSD courses, Biochem was fantastic. The lecturers seem to be really passionate about actually teaching!
 
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FelineFine30 said:
PS - anyone have recommendations for a cheap online cell biology (or genetics?) course? Thanks!
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I don't have any positive recs for this, but I would NOT recommend cell bio from UC Berkeley Extension. The course itself was fine but it took 7+ days for the professor to grade assignments, and each module has to be graded before you start the next one so I almost couldn't finish the class in the allowed period.
 
purpleeventer said:
I don't have any positive recs for this, but I would NOT recommend cell bio from UC Berkeley Extension. The course itself was fine but it took 7+ days for the professor to grade assignments, and each module has to be graded before you start the next one so I almost couldn't finish the class in the allowed period.
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UCSD Extension BIOL40358 (Cell and Molecular Biology) is not too bad, and it was a little under $850.
 
Thank you all so much for your recs! I'm enrolled in the UCSD Cell Bio, I was hoping there might be a community college version somewhere, just to save the $$ (I'm repeating the courses, as they just expired :\ )
 
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