Post Bac at Upenn

[MollySparkle1026]

Hi guys!

I guess I am a non traditional student because I worked for 9 1/2 years between graduating from college in 2013 until now. I had wanted to go back to school sooner but I had some set backs 😱. I was wondering if anyone was in the LPS post bac program at Upenn and if they could tell me what a competitive applicant looks like? The woman during the info session wasn't super helpful because when someone asked all she said was "a hard working and motivated person"...so like will they appreciate 9 1/2 years experience in veterinary medicine? or do they like a solid GPA and standardized test scores best? My cumulative GPA isn't amazing because I was in a bad car crash at the end of my senior year of high school and I was still having memory issues my freshman year but every other year my semester GPAs were great. I forget my Science GPA and last 45 or whatever its called but it was a lot higher than my cumulative GPA. I'm worried that my freshman year is going to kill me academically, its one of the reasons why I waited so long.

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[VeggieTrex]

Resident Illinois shill repping the Veterinary Science Certificate at Illinois. I have a little bit of a more through write up, but we're solely Veterinary focused. We have career changers, people who are applying for their first cycle, a few of the online masters students (like me!). For summer I know they want above a 3.0, but that's also a full-time program.

I've felt incredibly supported in the program and feel like it's one of the best decisions I've ever made.

 

[EB73674]

Product of Penn's LPS Post-Bacc Pre-health program here! I didn't have a particularly competitive GPA (3.4 undergrad), and no vet med experience at the time, but I did have solid recommendations from my bosses at work & a good essay. I would honestly say that, as long as your GPA is over 3.0, you likely stand a good shot.

Here's the bad news: I did learn a lot during the program, but it is VASTLY overpriced. It also is very, VERY intense academically, and it's not necessarily a program designed to boost folks' grades. I would not trade the studying & thinking skills I learned there for anything, but it kicked my ass. I would highly, HIGHLY suggest looking into your local university or community college for classes - it will likely be cheaper and require you to take out way fewer loans pre-vet school. Vet schools 100000000% do not care where your degree or classes came from, so long as they are from an accredited university/college. Some schools care about certain classes being taken at a four year institution (UC Davis, Cornell, and Tufts come to mind), but most do not care what or where you took them, PennVet included.

I'm only saying this because I wish someone had told me to begin with - I stayed in Penn's program for 2.5 years, and got a lot out of it, but I'm now $30k in private loan debt plus some federal loans due to its cost. Think long and hard about whether having that intense, non-forgivable debt is really a good idea financially for your future, especially if you're a non-traditional student who will likely have fewer years of practice to be able to pay it off. I'm also happy to talk in more detail over DM about this.

 

[EngrSC]

I have no experience with Penn's program, but second everything @EB73674 had to say!

I graduated undergrad in 2010 and started vet school in 2020. I took courses as a post-bacc student at a local community college, then my upper divisions at a very small 4-year university in Georgia. I sought out the least expensive way to take classes so I could pay cash and not accrue loans or debt before vet school. My undergrad GPA was absolute crap, but I made almost all As in my post-bacc courses and I had multiple acceptances my first application cycle. I'm a huge huge HUGE advocate for being smart with your money because vet school ain't cheap!

Good luck to you!