PhD student Applying to Vet School

[UpstateNY27]

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Hi everyone:

I am so happy that I found this forum. Applying to vet school sometimes can feel like a lonely process due to the amount of work and preparation needed to get the whole process started and completed. And that is just applying! Anyway, I am very happy to be able to communicate with other people that may be experiencing the same type situation.

My question is the following. And please feel free to comment. I am completing a PhD in molecular toxicology at a good med school. Most of my animal experience deals with transgenic animals. I have thousands of documented hours of working with DVM/PhDs on such stuff as murine-animal behavior testing and conducting a whole array of biochemical tests on tissue obtained from these animals. As a result of this animal experience, I grew very interested in obtaining a veterinary degree.

Other animal experience includes growing up in a farm, until the age of 10, in a foreign country. This farm had a lot of large animals that once in a while I helped to take care of.

Anyway, I would like to hear people's opinion on the following:

1. Do you think admission committees will take into account my childhood animal experience in a farm?

2. My GRE scores are in the mediocre side: 550V 680Q. Are these scores competitive?

3. How much would completing a PhD count on the application?

4. How do admissions committees view applicant mostly interested in research animal vet-medicine?

My state school is Cornell. Which just happens to be one of the most competitive to get into. However, it is my first choice too.

Thanks. Feel free to comment.

 

[kate_g]

Hey... I'm in a very similar boat (my PhD is in psych/neuro, and I didn't grow up on a farm, but in general...) I'm applying now so this isn't guaranteed advice, but here's what I've gleaned so far.

1. Do you think admission committees will take into account my childhood animal experience in a farm?

Probably not in the sense that you should make an entry in the VMCAS "animal experience" section for "grew up on a farm and sometimes helped take care of the animals". But it couldn't hurt to mention in your essay as a source of early inspiration. Especially since your research involved small (very small!) animals, having a general familiarity with (and lack of a fear of) large animals will be seen as a good thing.

2. My GRE scores are in the mediocre side: 550V 680Q. Are these scores competitive?

I don't know. All schools publish the average stats for the past couple years' applicants on their web sites, so you can at least see how far above or below average you'd be at any particular school.

3. How much would completing a PhD count on the application?

Hardly anyone applies to vet school already having a PhD (though plenty of people get a PhD after the DVM). In that same page of applicant stats I mentioned above, you'll see that any particular school has only one or two (if any) PhDs in each entering class. So there's not really any standard "have a PhD" slot that "counts" for the application. You will be judged on the same criteria as everyone else, meaning that having a PhD doesn't really make up for a poor undergrad GPA or a low GRE score. However, most admissions people I talked to about it seemed to be impressed and think it would be generally positive (i.e. given someone else with equivalent GPA and GRE, I'd have an advantage).

4. How do admissions committees view applicant mostly interested in research animal vet-medicine?

Very, very highly. Provided you can honestly say that your career goals include continuing in research (or providing supportive care as a lab animal vet), and especially since you can document that with loads of experience, it will be a big advantage. BUT... I was in a similar situation (essentially all research experience) and was strongly advised to get some private practice clinical experience before applying. *Most* people graduating veterinary school go into private practice, and they seemed to just want to know that I was familiar with that side of things. I shadowed one afternoon a week for most of the summer and actually found it eye-opening, because dealing with clients is way different from dealing with other researchers and administrative staff.

Note also, some schools emphasize research more than others, and some have much bigger and more varied lab animal programs than others. So although you have an advantage at the more research-focused schools, there will probably be non-research-focused schools who will think "you want a career in research, why are you applying here?" So that might affect the out-of-state schools you consider.

Good luck!

 

[UpstateNY27]

Thanks for your response Kate 🙂

Yeah. I am a little nervous about applying with no-clinical vet experience. But, I decided to try anyway. We'll see if my other unique qualities get me in.

I am so excited about potentially starting vet school.

What schools are you applying to? I am applying to Cornell (my first choice), Penn, Tufts, Tenn, Wis, Ill, Wash, and Davis(it will be a miracle if I get in to the last one, but I love the school).

How do you feel about vet schools measuring student's ability to succeed in vet school with how well they do on the GRE? it seem like every scientific study proves that the GRE is NOT predictive of success in any time of school. Yet, these schools seem to measure it as such.