Seriously haha I would've killed to get a 3.8 any one of my semesters or quarters! Highest I've gotten so far was a 3.66 this past fall quarter. Congrats Sabriel, and don't beat yourself up, this is not mediocre 🙂
---->Successful Applicant Stats c/o 2015
- Thread starter psilovethomas
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2008
- Messages
- 691
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 1
I am so fortunate that there were some schools willing to read my entire application, and give me a chance despite my "noncompetitive" GPA. I spent the last 2.5 years working to do everything I could to prove that I was no longer affected by the personal issues that crushed my numbers back in 2001-2004. I went back to school while working full-time, got straight A's, and recommenced volunteering. I've wanted to be a vet since before I could pronounce the word "veterinarian," (as my relatives are all fond of telling me . . . . over and over again . . . but I don't think I really understood what I'd need to do to succeed both in school and as a professional until I'd worked in research for a while.
First time applicant, 29 years old, female, MA resident.
BS from Cornell in 2005, bio major with animal physiology concentration
Applied: Tufts, Penn, Cornell, Colorado, UC Davis, Oregon, Washington, Purdue, Massey, Ross, Ontario - basically, all schools that weighted GREs heavily and were known to accept more non-trads
Rejected: Cornell, Washington, Oregon, UC Davis, Purdue, Colorado (2 weeks after I submitted my application due to an "early academic review." That one really stung.
Interviewed: Tufts, Penn, Ross
Waitlisted: Tufts
Accepted: Penn, Massey, Ross
Attending: PENN!!!!!
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.00
Undergraduate GPA: 2.92
Last 45 credit hrs: 3.49
Last 20 credit hours, taken at the Harvard Extension School: 3.88
My HES courses in chronological order were: Electrical and Magnetic Physics (postbacc, first attempt in undergrad was a D), The Organic Chemistry of Drug Synthesis (graduate, got C's in organic undergrad), Cell Biology (graduate), Biochem (graduate, third attempt, got C's and then B's undergrad and I needed to show I could do it!!), and Mechanical Physics (postbacc)
GRE: 730q, 750v, 4.0a (I thought the writing would be at then end of the test, and got thrown off when it was the first section.)
Veterinary Experience (most recent first):
250 hours at a small animal hospital
200 hours at the Tufts Cummings small animal ICU
200 hours at the Cornell Wildlife Clinic
Animal Experience (most recent first)
600 hours working at a pet store
600 hours as a student supervisor at the Cornell Raptor Center (amazing work!!)
200 hours in animal-assisted therapy
200 hours in equine and companion animal behavior
350 hours as a kennel weekend manager
218 hours in equine care and husbandry
Employment:
7000 hours as a flow cytometry core facility manager in a Harvard Medical School-affiliated research institution. I work in the Division of Infectious Diseases, and we are also closely affiliated with the Harvard School of Public Health
2080 hours as a flow cytometry technician at a private company
350 hours as a behavioral services tech at a human hospital
2500 hours as a hospital aide in the ICCU of a human hospital
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
Boston Reefers (saltwater fish group)
Boston Aquarium Society
Tompkins County Dog Owner's Group
Volunteer Firefighter
Licensed Basic EMT
Gay-Straight Alliance
Cornell Vegetarians
Pre-vet society
eLORS:
both vets at my SA practice
my boss at my flow job, an associate professor and MD
my organic chemistry and cell bio professors - both PhD's
Awards and Honors:
none, really! I didn't achieve highly enough as an under grad, and I wasn't enrolled in any degree program postbacc. I do have a co-author publication though, and one more that's just been submitted; and I also have 6 or 7 acknowledgments including one in Cell.
During my interview and in my PS, I tried to emphasize my passion for veterinary public health, and how I hoped to apply it to wildlife and conservation medicine. I firmly believe that we're going to see increasing populations of wild and endangered species being adversely affected by pathogens introduced by humans, companion and production animals, and that the forefront of conservation medicine will depend heavily on veterinary medicine with public health applications. Wildlife medicine is amazing - I can't tell you how much I enjoy working with porcupines, turtles, raptors, etc - but you need to be able to treat populations as a whole to make a difference.
First time applicant, 29 years old, female, MA resident.
BS from Cornell in 2005, bio major with animal physiology concentration
Applied: Tufts, Penn, Cornell, Colorado, UC Davis, Oregon, Washington, Purdue, Massey, Ross, Ontario - basically, all schools that weighted GREs heavily and were known to accept more non-trads
Rejected: Cornell, Washington, Oregon, UC Davis, Purdue, Colorado (2 weeks after I submitted my application due to an "early academic review." That one really stung.
Interviewed: Tufts, Penn, Ross
Waitlisted: Tufts
Accepted: Penn, Massey, Ross
Attending: PENN!!!!!
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.00
Undergraduate GPA: 2.92
Last 45 credit hrs: 3.49
Last 20 credit hours, taken at the Harvard Extension School: 3.88
My HES courses in chronological order were: Electrical and Magnetic Physics (postbacc, first attempt in undergrad was a D), The Organic Chemistry of Drug Synthesis (graduate, got C's in organic undergrad), Cell Biology (graduate), Biochem (graduate, third attempt, got C's and then B's undergrad and I needed to show I could do it!!), and Mechanical Physics (postbacc)
GRE: 730q, 750v, 4.0a (I thought the writing would be at then end of the test, and got thrown off when it was the first section.)
Veterinary Experience (most recent first):
250 hours at a small animal hospital
200 hours at the Tufts Cummings small animal ICU
200 hours at the Cornell Wildlife Clinic
Animal Experience (most recent first)
600 hours working at a pet store
600 hours as a student supervisor at the Cornell Raptor Center (amazing work!!)
200 hours in animal-assisted therapy
200 hours in equine and companion animal behavior
350 hours as a kennel weekend manager
218 hours in equine care and husbandry
Employment:
7000 hours as a flow cytometry core facility manager in a Harvard Medical School-affiliated research institution. I work in the Division of Infectious Diseases, and we are also closely affiliated with the Harvard School of Public Health
2080 hours as a flow cytometry technician at a private company
350 hours as a behavioral services tech at a human hospital
2500 hours as a hospital aide in the ICCU of a human hospital
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
Boston Reefers (saltwater fish group)
Boston Aquarium Society
Tompkins County Dog Owner's Group
Volunteer Firefighter
Licensed Basic EMT
Gay-Straight Alliance
Cornell Vegetarians
Pre-vet society
eLORS:
both vets at my SA practice
my boss at my flow job, an associate professor and MD
my organic chemistry and cell bio professors - both PhD's
Awards and Honors:
none, really! I didn't achieve highly enough as an under grad, and I wasn't enrolled in any degree program postbacc. I do have a co-author publication though, and one more that's just been submitted; and I also have 6 or 7 acknowledgments including one in Cell.
During my interview and in my PS, I tried to emphasize my passion for veterinary public health, and how I hoped to apply it to wildlife and conservation medicine. I firmly believe that we're going to see increasing populations of wild and endangered species being adversely affected by pathogens introduced by humans, companion and production animals, and that the forefront of conservation medicine will depend heavily on veterinary medicine with public health applications. Wildlife medicine is amazing - I can't tell you how much I enjoy working with porcupines, turtles, raptors, etc - but you need to be able to treat populations as a whole to make a difference.
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2011
- Messages
- 20,109
- Reaction score
- 20,915
- Points
- 5,501
- Location
- Plymouth, MN, USA
- Website
- animaltracks.wordpress.com
- Veterinarian
Yowzer, that is impressive. I was a little thrown on the GRE when I did a math section, a 'verbal' section ... and then it hit me with another math section instead of the writing.
Anyway, congrats on Penn, Phaedraeos!!! Nice accomplishment!
Thanks! I listed my stats exactly as they were submitted via VMCAS, but I think that at least the equine behavior was probably "vet" and not "animal" experience - I was working under a DVM.
I just hope it will give other non-trads confidence. Like I said, I spent the last 2.5 years of my life preparing for this application cycle. Sooooo glad I don't have to do it again!
I just hope it will give other non-trads confidence. Like I said, I spent the last 2.5 years of my life preparing for this application cycle. Sooooo glad I don't have to do it again!
First time applicant, 23 years old, male, CA resident.
BS from UC Davis in 2009, Animal Science with an emphasis in nutrition
Applied: UC Davis, Western, Auburn, Purdue
Rejected: Auburn, UC Davis
Interviewed: Purdue, Western
Waitlisted: Purdue
Accepted: Western
Attending: Most likely Western
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.02
Prereq GPA 3.32
Last 45 credit hrs: 3.0
GRE: 720q, 480v, 3.5a
Veterinary Experience (most recent first):
>2000 hours working in veterinary diagnostic and research lab at UC Davis SVM
1500 hours working with lab animals in nutrition department at UC Davis
100 hours equine (80 hours with equine barn at UC Davis teaching hospital and rest working with foals on a vaccine study)
80 hours between a small animal hospital and radiology department at UC Davis teaching hospital
10 hours working with dairy cattle on a melamine toxicity project (i only helped bleed and collect milk and urine)
Employment:
Besides the ones listed above, worked at on campus restaurant part time my 2nd year of UG
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
Delta Epsilon Mu (co-ed pre health fraternity, Orientation leader)
eLORS:
My faculty advisor in undergrad + prof for two of my major classes (PhD)
The director of my current job (DVM/PhD)
Faculty member at UC Davis SVM who I did the foal study with (DVM)
Awards and Honors:
co-author on a publication that's in press right now
There's hope for eveyone! I do not have stellar grades but think i have a decent well rounded-ness to make me look a little more attractive and emphasized that i want to do clinical research in my interviews and application, so being slightly different helps you get a little more attention in my opinion
BS from UC Davis in 2009, Animal Science with an emphasis in nutrition
Applied: UC Davis, Western, Auburn, Purdue
Rejected: Auburn, UC Davis
Interviewed: Purdue, Western
Waitlisted: Purdue
Accepted: Western
Attending: Most likely Western
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.02
Prereq GPA 3.32
Last 45 credit hrs: 3.0
GRE: 720q, 480v, 3.5a
Veterinary Experience (most recent first):
>2000 hours working in veterinary diagnostic and research lab at UC Davis SVM
1500 hours working with lab animals in nutrition department at UC Davis
100 hours equine (80 hours with equine barn at UC Davis teaching hospital and rest working with foals on a vaccine study)
80 hours between a small animal hospital and radiology department at UC Davis teaching hospital
10 hours working with dairy cattle on a melamine toxicity project (i only helped bleed and collect milk and urine)
Employment:
Besides the ones listed above, worked at on campus restaurant part time my 2nd year of UG
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
Delta Epsilon Mu (co-ed pre health fraternity, Orientation leader)
eLORS:
My faculty advisor in undergrad + prof for two of my major classes (PhD)
The director of my current job (DVM/PhD)
Faculty member at UC Davis SVM who I did the foal study with (DVM)
Awards and Honors:
co-author on a publication that's in press right now
There's hope for eveyone! I do not have stellar grades but think i have a decent well rounded-ness to make me look a little more attractive and emphasized that i want to do clinical research in my interviews and application, so being slightly different helps you get a little more attention in my opinion
D
deleted266066
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- Joined
- Nov 9, 2010
- Messages
- 15,219
- Reaction score
- 21,651
- Points
- 9,646
- Location
- Pennsylvania
- Veterinarian
TES makes an excellent point. What will you do, phaed?
But, I love your stats. I'm so happy for you that you got into UPenn!!!
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Pre-Veterinary
Your stats make me so happy because they are very similar to mine. I'm hoping I'll get an acceptance one day, too. 🙂 Congratulations!!
I'm a'goin to Penn 😀
I just never got a nice, comfortable vibe from Tufts. I'm happy to PM people about my decision, but will keep all the public stuff happy and positive 🙂
I'll probably wait and see if I get accepted - just 100% plain curiosity. And really, really, really, I posted my stats to give other people confidence in their applications, so that would be another reason to just wait and see, and then post the acceptance if I receive it.
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2010
- Messages
- 61
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 4,551
First time applicant, 25 years old (26 in about a week!), Female, PA resident.
BA from UC Santa Cruz in 2007, Environmental Science
Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Health Program University of Pennsylvania
Applied: University of Pennsylvania, Kansas State University, Ohio State University, Auburn, Purdue, Iowa State University, Washington State University, University of Wisconsin, Michigan State University, University of Missouri, University of Tennessee, Oklahoma State University
Rejected: Purdue, Iowa State, Washington State, University of Wisconsin
Interviewed: Ohio State, Kansas State, Auburn, Mississippi (declined), Penn, Tennessee (declined)
Waitlisted: Ohio State, Auburn, Michigan State, maybe Missouri??
Accepted: Kansas State, Oklahoma State, UPenn
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.62 Undergrad, 3.28 Post-Bacc
Prereq GPA 3.28 maybe higher if you add in additional classes like nutrition and statistics
Last 45 credit hrs: Not sure how to calculate with undergrad in quarters and post-bacc in semesters
GRE: 640q, 640v, 4.5a
Veterinary Experience (most recent first):
-30 hours volunteer in an immunology lab working with mice and whatnot (been volunteering there full time since so my hours are much higher, but this is what vet schools saw on my VMCAS)
-200 hours volunteer for an equine clinical trial
-50 hours volunteer foal sitter
-100 hours ride-alongs with a large animal vet
-800 hours receptionist for small animal hospital
-800 hours vet tech assistant for a mixed animal practice
Animal Experience Hours
-1000 hours intern at a center for non-releasable wild and exotic animals
-100 hours volunteering at zoo
-30 hours at a Dolphin Research camp
-many years of owning way too many pets!
Employment:
Besides the ones listed above, lots of waitressing and catering and babysitting--ahh the joys of being a pre-vet!
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
-Leader of UC Chapter CSSC (a student sustainability organization)
-Co-President of the College Eight Senate
-Member of UC Environmental Club
-College Eight representative to the Student Union Assembly
-And stuff in high school--but I think I'm too old for that to really matter
eLORS:
-Biology Professor (PhD)
-Vet at the mixed practice I worked for (DVM)
-Vet in charge of the foal sitting program (DVM)
-Committee letter from my Post-Bacc program (although I'm not sure many schools read it because it was in paper form)
Awards and Honors:
-graduated with honors in the major and college honors
-high school stuff that I can't remember right now
Hopefully this gives some hope to someone with a lower science GPA. I think my broad range of experiences helped my application. I also applied to a lot of schools. I am so lucky to have gotten into more than one. I would have been happy just to be called off a waitlist. I applied to so many schools because I'm a little older and I knew it was a somewhat random process so I wanted to give myself the best possible chance to be a vet in four years. Good luck to all future applicants!
BA from UC Santa Cruz in 2007, Environmental Science
Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Health Program University of Pennsylvania
Applied: University of Pennsylvania, Kansas State University, Ohio State University, Auburn, Purdue, Iowa State University, Washington State University, University of Wisconsin, Michigan State University, University of Missouri, University of Tennessee, Oklahoma State University
Rejected: Purdue, Iowa State, Washington State, University of Wisconsin
Interviewed: Ohio State, Kansas State, Auburn, Mississippi (declined), Penn, Tennessee (declined)
Waitlisted: Ohio State, Auburn, Michigan State, maybe Missouri??
Accepted: Kansas State, Oklahoma State, UPenn
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.62 Undergrad, 3.28 Post-Bacc
Prereq GPA 3.28 maybe higher if you add in additional classes like nutrition and statistics
Last 45 credit hrs: Not sure how to calculate with undergrad in quarters and post-bacc in semesters
GRE: 640q, 640v, 4.5a
Veterinary Experience (most recent first):
-30 hours volunteer in an immunology lab working with mice and whatnot (been volunteering there full time since so my hours are much higher, but this is what vet schools saw on my VMCAS)
-200 hours volunteer for an equine clinical trial
-50 hours volunteer foal sitter
-100 hours ride-alongs with a large animal vet
-800 hours receptionist for small animal hospital
-800 hours vet tech assistant for a mixed animal practice
Animal Experience Hours
-1000 hours intern at a center for non-releasable wild and exotic animals
-100 hours volunteering at zoo
-30 hours at a Dolphin Research camp
-many years of owning way too many pets!
Employment:
Besides the ones listed above, lots of waitressing and catering and babysitting--ahh the joys of being a pre-vet!
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
-Leader of UC Chapter CSSC (a student sustainability organization)
-Co-President of the College Eight Senate
-Member of UC Environmental Club
-College Eight representative to the Student Union Assembly
-And stuff in high school--but I think I'm too old for that to really matter
eLORS:
-Biology Professor (PhD)
-Vet at the mixed practice I worked for (DVM)
-Vet in charge of the foal sitting program (DVM)
-Committee letter from my Post-Bacc program (although I'm not sure many schools read it because it was in paper form)
Awards and Honors:
-graduated with honors in the major and college honors
-high school stuff that I can't remember right now
Hopefully this gives some hope to someone with a lower science GPA. I think my broad range of experiences helped my application. I also applied to a lot of schools. I am so lucky to have gotten into more than one. I would have been happy just to be called off a waitlist. I applied to so many schools because I'm a little older and I knew it was a somewhat random process so I wanted to give myself the best possible chance to be a vet in four years. Good luck to all future applicants!
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2010
- Messages
- 12,023
- Reaction score
- 13,987
- Points
- 6,576
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2008
- Messages
- 207
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 4,551
- Location
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Veterinary Student
First time applicant, 23 years old, female, TX resident
BA in Linguistics from The University of Texas
Applied: Ohio State, Mizzou, LSU, Wisconsin, NC State, Colorado, Minnesota, Florida
Interviews Offered: Ohio State, Mizzou, LSU, Minnesota, Florida
Interview Offers Declined: LSU, Minnesota, Florida
Accepted: NC State, Ohio State, Mizzou
Waitlisted: Wisconsin
Rejected: Colorado
Will Be Attending: NCSU!
Cum GPA: 3.97
Last 45 Hour GPA: 3.9
Science GPA: 3.8
GRE: q: 610, v: 590, w: 5.5
Veterinary Experience
~1500 hours in small animal as a veterinary technician
~300 hours in public health; interned in the Tx. Dept. of Health researching rabies epidemiology and rabies vaccine efficacy in coyotes and foxes
Animal Experience
~600 hours of kennel work in small animal hospital
~100 hours of Humane Society volunteering
Employment
~Biochemistry Senior Preceptor for the U. of Texas Learning Center; mentored and trained study group leaders for biochem
~Office Assistant in a physician's office for a summer
Volunteering/Extracurricular
~genetics peer tutor for a semester
~chemistry peer tutor for a semester
~biochemistry peer tutor for a semester
~Liberal Arts Honors mentor for 1 year
~Best Buddies for 1 year
Honors/Awards
~Presenter at Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Colloquium 2010
~Wrote linguistics honors thesis
~Liberal Arts Honors Program
~Graduated with Highest Honors and honors/dean's list every semester of college
eLOR
~My honors thesis advisor
~The two public health vets I worked with at the Dept. of Health
~A vet at the small animal hospital I work at
Other Stuff That I Mentioned
~Went to a health career magnet high school. During my senior year, I completed a year-long internship in four different departments: physical therapy, neonatal ICU, emergency room, and organ transplant clinic. I have well over 1000 hours experience in human medicine. I talked a lot about One Health, and how my experiences in human medicine and veterinary public health showed me how interconnected different areas of vet med and med in general are.
~Observed a human kidney transplant
~I have training in human laboratory medical skills and human phlebotomy from the diagnostic lab skills class I took in H.S.
I'm still working at the same small animal hospital. I didn't have any large animal experience at the time (and they asked me about this in my Mizzou interview), but I have a little bit now because I'm volunteering at a therapeutic horse riding center for kids with disabilities. I'm also shadowing at an exotics practice to get more exposure to exotics. Don't let the learning and vet experiences stop during the time between vet school acceptances and school starting...it's fun! 🙂
BA in Linguistics from The University of Texas
Applied: Ohio State, Mizzou, LSU, Wisconsin, NC State, Colorado, Minnesota, Florida
Interviews Offered: Ohio State, Mizzou, LSU, Minnesota, Florida
Interview Offers Declined: LSU, Minnesota, Florida
Accepted: NC State, Ohio State, Mizzou
Waitlisted: Wisconsin
Rejected: Colorado
Will Be Attending: NCSU!
Cum GPA: 3.97
Last 45 Hour GPA: 3.9
Science GPA: 3.8
GRE: q: 610, v: 590, w: 5.5
Veterinary Experience
~1500 hours in small animal as a veterinary technician
~300 hours in public health; interned in the Tx. Dept. of Health researching rabies epidemiology and rabies vaccine efficacy in coyotes and foxes
Animal Experience
~600 hours of kennel work in small animal hospital
~100 hours of Humane Society volunteering
Employment
~Biochemistry Senior Preceptor for the U. of Texas Learning Center; mentored and trained study group leaders for biochem
~Office Assistant in a physician's office for a summer
Volunteering/Extracurricular
~genetics peer tutor for a semester
~chemistry peer tutor for a semester
~biochemistry peer tutor for a semester
~Liberal Arts Honors mentor for 1 year
~Best Buddies for 1 year
Honors/Awards
~Presenter at Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Colloquium 2010
~Wrote linguistics honors thesis
~Liberal Arts Honors Program
~Graduated with Highest Honors and honors/dean's list every semester of college
eLOR
~My honors thesis advisor
~The two public health vets I worked with at the Dept. of Health
~A vet at the small animal hospital I work at
Other Stuff That I Mentioned
~Went to a health career magnet high school. During my senior year, I completed a year-long internship in four different departments: physical therapy, neonatal ICU, emergency room, and organ transplant clinic. I have well over 1000 hours experience in human medicine. I talked a lot about One Health, and how my experiences in human medicine and veterinary public health showed me how interconnected different areas of vet med and med in general are.
~Observed a human kidney transplant
~I have training in human laboratory medical skills and human phlebotomy from the diagnostic lab skills class I took in H.S.
I'm still working at the same small animal hospital. I didn't have any large animal experience at the time (and they asked me about this in my Mizzou interview), but I have a little bit now because I'm volunteering at a therapeutic horse riding center for kids with disabilities. I'm also shadowing at an exotics practice to get more exposure to exotics. Don't let the learning and vet experiences stop during the time between vet school acceptances and school starting...it's fun! 🙂
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Second time applicant, 30 yrs old, California resident
A.A. Liberal Arts (01)
B.A. Mass Communications (03)
B.S. Biology (Physio. option), Minor in Chemistry (10)
1st cycle: UC Davis, Illinois, Ohio, Colorado
2nd cycle:
Applied: UC Davis, Illinois, Ohio, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Tufts, Western
Interviews: Illinois, Ohio, Kansas, Minnesota (declined)
Apps Withdrawn: Western
Rejected: UC Davis, Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Tufts
Accepted: Illinois, Ohio
Attending: ? (will edit this post when I decide)
Cum GPA: 3.57
Last 45 hours: 3.5 (or 3.8 if Fall qtr considered)
Required GPA: 3.4-3.7
GRE:
1st take 1230: 660 Q, 570 V, 5.0 A
2nd take 1330: 690 Q, 640 V, 5.0 A (just 12 days after 1st take)
Veterinary Experience:
- 6,600 hrs employed as an unlicensed tech at two SA clinics, this included some wildlife. (Seems like allot, but I looked at my old pay stubs to get this number)
- One day shadowing an equine vet
- Marine mammal (see below)
Animal Experience:
- 350 hrs marine mammal rehab (listed under animal experience because all hours werent under DIRECT supervision of a DVM, most under supervision of an RVT)
- 360 hours at an organic dairy farm in New Zealand (included performing medical treatments)
- Employed at dog daycare facility
- Dog, cat, and exotic pet ownership, chicken-sitting
Research Experience:
100 hrs: Assisted with neuro research at my university
Work Experience:
- Server
- Copyediting
- Real Estate Assistant
- Ski school sales at a ski resort
- Assistant at medical clinic at a ski resort
- DJ at a nightclub
- Youth Track and Field coach
Community Activities/Other Experiences:
- Observation of autopsies at Coroners office
- Observation of human surgeries
- Spoke at high schools and to teachers about issues for gay youth
- Volunteered at community events for a low-cost health clinic in SF that serves women and transgendered people
- Marched in the SF Pride parade twice
- Started first gay-straight alliance at my high school
- Designed and performed educational presentations for at-risk youth on HIV prevention and safe-sex practices
- Snowboard competitions
- 1st chair trumpet in H.S.
- Sailing (racing and leisure)
- Varsity sports H.S., adult soccer league now
eLORs:
Two SA vets I worked with
Orgo professor
Academic advisor (also my professor for 3 physio courses)
Supervisor/RVT at marine mammal rehab center
Manager at the restaurant where I currently work
Awards/Honors
Not much recently!
- Superior customer service award
- A.A. with Honors
- College scholarships based on H.S. academic performance and community service
- H.S. athletic awards for scholastic performance while participating in varsity athletics
Aspects of my application that I worried would work against me, but never came up as an issue in either my interviews or the file reviews from my first cycle:
- I had an unrelated degree and had attended six different colleges (a few were for only one class for a summer or something of the like).
- I had attended a community college more than any other institution (transferred from a c.c. to a 4-year to earn my first degree, then 6 years later went back to the same c.c. to do my lower-level science prerequisites. before transferring to another 4-year for my second degree)
- I wasnt able to attend full-time for more than half of my prerequisites because I was working to support myself.
- My application had This girl is gay. written all over it.
- I spoke very openly about an eating disorder I recovered from 10 years ago, and in my Ohio supplemental I shared mistakes I made in the past which many people wouldnt want to admit to.
A.A. Liberal Arts (01)
B.A. Mass Communications (03)
B.S. Biology (Physio. option), Minor in Chemistry (10)
1st cycle: UC Davis, Illinois, Ohio, Colorado
2nd cycle:
Applied: UC Davis, Illinois, Ohio, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Tufts, Western
Interviews: Illinois, Ohio, Kansas, Minnesota (declined)
Apps Withdrawn: Western
Rejected: UC Davis, Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Tufts
Accepted: Illinois, Ohio
Attending: ? (will edit this post when I decide)
Cum GPA: 3.57
Last 45 hours: 3.5 (or 3.8 if Fall qtr considered)
Required GPA: 3.4-3.7
GRE:
1st take 1230: 660 Q, 570 V, 5.0 A
2nd take 1330: 690 Q, 640 V, 5.0 A (just 12 days after 1st take)
Veterinary Experience:
- 6,600 hrs employed as an unlicensed tech at two SA clinics, this included some wildlife. (Seems like allot, but I looked at my old pay stubs to get this number)
- One day shadowing an equine vet
- Marine mammal (see below)
Animal Experience:
- 350 hrs marine mammal rehab (listed under animal experience because all hours werent under DIRECT supervision of a DVM, most under supervision of an RVT)
- 360 hours at an organic dairy farm in New Zealand (included performing medical treatments)
- Employed at dog daycare facility
- Dog, cat, and exotic pet ownership, chicken-sitting
Research Experience:
100 hrs: Assisted with neuro research at my university
Work Experience:
- Server
- Copyediting
- Real Estate Assistant
- Ski school sales at a ski resort
- Assistant at medical clinic at a ski resort
- DJ at a nightclub
- Youth Track and Field coach
Community Activities/Other Experiences:
- Observation of autopsies at Coroners office
- Observation of human surgeries
- Spoke at high schools and to teachers about issues for gay youth
- Volunteered at community events for a low-cost health clinic in SF that serves women and transgendered people
- Marched in the SF Pride parade twice
- Started first gay-straight alliance at my high school
- Designed and performed educational presentations for at-risk youth on HIV prevention and safe-sex practices
- Snowboard competitions
- 1st chair trumpet in H.S.
- Sailing (racing and leisure)
- Varsity sports H.S., adult soccer league now
eLORs:
Two SA vets I worked with
Orgo professor
Academic advisor (also my professor for 3 physio courses)
Supervisor/RVT at marine mammal rehab center
Manager at the restaurant where I currently work
Awards/Honors
Not much recently!
- Superior customer service award
- A.A. with Honors
- College scholarships based on H.S. academic performance and community service
- H.S. athletic awards for scholastic performance while participating in varsity athletics
Aspects of my application that I worried would work against me, but never came up as an issue in either my interviews or the file reviews from my first cycle:
- I had an unrelated degree and had attended six different colleges (a few were for only one class for a summer or something of the like).
- I had attended a community college more than any other institution (transferred from a c.c. to a 4-year to earn my first degree, then 6 years later went back to the same c.c. to do my lower-level science prerequisites. before transferring to another 4-year for my second degree)
- I wasnt able to attend full-time for more than half of my prerequisites because I was working to support myself.
- My application had This girl is gay. written all over it.
- I spoke very openly about an eating disorder I recovered from 10 years ago, and in my Ohio supplemental I shared mistakes I made in the past which many people wouldnt want to admit to.
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2008
- Messages
- 207
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 4,551
- Location
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Veterinary Student
I'm glad that you were able to put your experiences on your application and that you didn't face discrimination because of it. Sexual orientation should be a non-issue on applications anyway, but I know that at this point in time, it's not the case. You put your experiences on there knowing that there was a possibility that someone might hate on you. I admire that. 🙂
I am also a member of a groups that faces a lot of discrimination (atheists). I have actually endured some pretty severe discrimination and hate from people because of it, to the point that I had to seek counseling, but I declined to even mention it on my application, even on the part where we had to describe hardships we've overcome. I really wanted to talk about how I've managed to find success and live a healthy life despite all of the crap I went through, but at the same time, I was just so afraid of being discriminated against by adcoms or having them misunderstand what I was saying that I simply did not mention that part of my life, as much as it has impacted me.
Well you got in! And even though you wish you could have talked about it in your application, we all can't include everything. Can you imagine the crazy life stories the adcomms would have to read if we had unlimited space on our applications? I think that playing "the game" a bit and tailoring your application for the adcomms is smart, just as long as you still represent who you really are. P.S. After vet school, move to CA.
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2008
- Messages
- 207
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 4,551
- Location
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Veterinary Student
Haha, true, true.
I did stay true to myself on my apps, so I'm happy about that. And about getting in, of course!
I hope this helps someone! I know previous posters in the last couple of years have helped me!
Second time applicant (NC state), non-trad 29 year old female, NC resident.
BS in Equine Studies from 2004
Applied: NCSU, Western
Rejected: NCSU
Interviewed: Western
Accepted: Western
Attending: Western, but deferring a year because of my pregnancy 😀 can't wait to meet you 2016ers!
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.67
Prereq GPA : 3.52
Last 45 credit hrs: 3.46
GRE: 620 q, 480 v, 4.0 a
Veterinary Experience (most recent first):
500 hours - tech at small animal hospital in NC
10 hours – "Anaesthesia for exotic species" course
4 hours – "Radiology for nurses" course
6 hours – "Chest drains, why and how?" course
10 hours – "Oncology for nurses" course
8 hours – "Everyday dentistry for the Cat and Dog" course
150 hours – managed and taught "puppy school" courses
~5,000 hours – head veterinary nurse at small animal clinic in London
~4,500 hours – vet tech at small animal clinic in NYC
640 hours – assistant vet tech at small animal clinic in NJ
Animal Experience:
400 hours - Riding Instructor and trainer
1800 hours – kennel assistant
1600 hours – Horse trainer
800 hours – Head instructor riding day summer camp
15,000 hours – riding, showing and training hunters and jumpers
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
Mentor to teen through local community outreach organization
Previous NJVTA member
IHSA team member during undergrad
member of local neighborhood organization
eLORS:
Veterinarian/owner of a practice I previously worked for
Veterinarian/head clinician of a practice that I previously worked for
Veterinarian I most recently worked with
Awards and Honors:
2002 and 2004 Equine department awards during undergrad
2002 Garden state equine grant
2002 IHSA zone finals winner
1996 CHSA pony hunter classic winner
1996 AHSA Pony Finals qualified
Second time applicant (NC state), non-trad 29 year old female, NC resident.
BS in Equine Studies from 2004
Applied: NCSU, Western
Rejected: NCSU
Interviewed: Western
Accepted: Western
Attending: Western, but deferring a year because of my pregnancy 😀 can't wait to meet you 2016ers!
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.67
Prereq GPA : 3.52
Last 45 credit hrs: 3.46
GRE: 620 q, 480 v, 4.0 a
Veterinary Experience (most recent first):
500 hours - tech at small animal hospital in NC
10 hours – "Anaesthesia for exotic species" course
4 hours – "Radiology for nurses" course
6 hours – "Chest drains, why and how?" course
10 hours – "Oncology for nurses" course
8 hours – "Everyday dentistry for the Cat and Dog" course
150 hours – managed and taught "puppy school" courses
~5,000 hours – head veterinary nurse at small animal clinic in London
~4,500 hours – vet tech at small animal clinic in NYC
640 hours – assistant vet tech at small animal clinic in NJ
Animal Experience:
400 hours - Riding Instructor and trainer
1800 hours – kennel assistant
1600 hours – Horse trainer
800 hours – Head instructor riding day summer camp
15,000 hours – riding, showing and training hunters and jumpers
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
Mentor to teen through local community outreach organization
Previous NJVTA member
IHSA team member during undergrad
member of local neighborhood organization
eLORS:
Veterinarian/owner of a practice I previously worked for
Veterinarian/head clinician of a practice that I previously worked for
Veterinarian I most recently worked with
Awards and Honors:
2002 and 2004 Equine department awards during undergrad
2002 Garden state equine grant
2002 IHSA zone finals winner
1996 CHSA pony hunter classic winner
1996 AHSA Pony Finals qualified
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Congrats Squib! May I ask where you got your marine animal rehab experience?🙂
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- Pre-Veterinary
Hey, sorry to not get back to you sooner. I haven't been on a computer lately because I've been in TN for my UTK interview 🙂. I was more talking about my experience, since most of it is small animal and I don't really have any exotic vet experience. A lot of people told me to retake the GRE, too, but I was too lazy. My GPA is probably what helped me out the most for Mizzou, since I know I suck at interviews. Congrats to everyone else who got in!
TMMC in the house, yo! (I know I already PM'ed you about this) 🙂
So I've always considered "stats" to be an applicant's GPA and GRE. I just wouldn't want some poor soul to lurk around here and see someone calling their 3.8 GPA "not stellar," and start feeling badly about their own stats.
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- 0
- Points
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- Pre-Veterinary
.
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- Joined
- Nov 8, 2009
- Messages
- 897
- Reaction score
- 68
- Points
- 4,641
- Location
- Gainesville
- Veterinary Student
You know, it's funny...I look at this thread and it starts to make me feel bad about myself because I see all these people who had such amazing GPAs and GREs or these really random but incredibly awesome experiences and think that I'll never be as great as these people. But then, I remember that I've been offered a spot at two schools. So even though my academic stats aren't something that anyone would admire, I guess I'm doing alright.
I realized as I was writing this that some people might take this the wrong way. So, let me say that I really admire all the people who were able to rock out such awesome stats, I really wish I had them. However, I also want to make sure that people who don't have these kinds of numbers realize that there's still a chance for you. I'm really excited to see the broad range of stats this year. It makes me feel like more people will have hope,
I realized as I was writing this that some people might take this the wrong way. So, let me say that I really admire all the people who were able to rock out such awesome stats, I really wish I had them. However, I also want to make sure that people who don't have these kinds of numbers realize that there's still a chance for you. I'm really excited to see the broad range of stats this year. It makes me feel like more people will have hope,
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2010
- Messages
- 119
- Reaction score
- 71
- Points
- 4,651
- Location
- San Antonio, TX
- Pre-Veterinary
Just curious, I'm in TX and I go to a health career magnet high school- which one did you go to?
Second time applicant. Only applied to UC Davis last year.
I think the most important thing about my application is that I am AVERAGE. It was so frustrating to look at school stats and know that I fit exactely in their average ranges (GRE, GPA, experience hours, etc...) So when I didn't get in the first year, I made two priorities. The first was to do something NOT average (trip to Costa Rica) and to write a GOOD personal statement that caught the adcoms attention. I think it worked (?) since I got at 3 interviews!
B.S. Biology from a California State University
Applied: UC Davis, Washing ton State, Kansas State, UPenn
Interview: UC Davis, Washington State, Kansas
Rejected: Kansas, UPenn
Waitlisted: Washington State
Accepted: UC Davis
Attending: UC Davis
Cumulative GPA: 3.7
Last 45 credit hours: 3.7
Science GPA: 3.3
GRE: 1st/ 2nd V: 570/460 Q: 620/660 W: 4.0/4.5
Veterinary Experience
1200 hours over all, including: working as a veterinary assistant full time after graduation, volunteering at UCD VMTH (equine), going on a VIDA trip to Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Research/Animal Experience
Undergrad Honors Thesis program at my school. Did my research through the UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory working on the Red Fox project. Not published.
Animal Experience
NARHA Certified Instructor - taught for 5 years!
Equine staff at a camp for a summer
Pet sitting
Groom at an eventing barn on the East Coast
Horse owner
Other Employment
Tutoring one on one study skills at a local community college
Extracurriculars
President of Field Biology Group, play numerous instruments, church
Evaluators
Biology professor who was my boss for the tutoring program
PI and professor from fox research
CVMA president/veterinarian
Veterinarian
Interview: I wrote out paragraph answers to every question from SDN as well as others that I found online. I did not memorize them but I made sure I knew specific points I wanted to hit. I also did 2 mock interview with a professor and his wife, and numerous "interviews" with my husband and friends. These were invaluable! Awkward, uncomfortable and weird - but it made me hear how something sounded coming out of my mouth and how I wanted to change it for the actual interview!
A note for UCD applicants: In my first application, numerous things needed to be improved (experience hours, better PS style, etc) but what I heard from several sources, including the dean of admissions, was that even if I was not 100% sure what field I wanted to go into, I needed to pick one and explain why I should be in that field in my PS. A quote from the rejection letter that year included the phrase, "Your application was also evaluated based on....whether your veterinary experience was aligned with your career goals..." They want to see what your FUTURE plans are - not just that you want be a good vet but HOW you will be a good vet!
I'm sure there are succesful UCD applicants who have been accepted without stating an eventual career goal but there's my $0.02. 😉
I think the most important thing about my application is that I am AVERAGE. It was so frustrating to look at school stats and know that I fit exactely in their average ranges (GRE, GPA, experience hours, etc...) So when I didn't get in the first year, I made two priorities. The first was to do something NOT average (trip to Costa Rica) and to write a GOOD personal statement that caught the adcoms attention. I think it worked (?) since I got at 3 interviews!
B.S. Biology from a California State University
Applied: UC Davis, Washing ton State, Kansas State, UPenn
Interview: UC Davis, Washington State, Kansas
Rejected: Kansas, UPenn
Waitlisted: Washington State
Accepted: UC Davis
Attending: UC Davis
Cumulative GPA: 3.7
Last 45 credit hours: 3.7
Science GPA: 3.3
GRE: 1st/ 2nd V: 570/460 Q: 620/660 W: 4.0/4.5
Veterinary Experience
1200 hours over all, including: working as a veterinary assistant full time after graduation, volunteering at UCD VMTH (equine), going on a VIDA trip to Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Research/Animal Experience
Undergrad Honors Thesis program at my school. Did my research through the UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory working on the Red Fox project. Not published.
Animal Experience
NARHA Certified Instructor - taught for 5 years!
Equine staff at a camp for a summer
Pet sitting
Groom at an eventing barn on the East Coast
Horse owner
Other Employment
Tutoring one on one study skills at a local community college
Extracurriculars
President of Field Biology Group, play numerous instruments, church
Evaluators
Biology professor who was my boss for the tutoring program
PI and professor from fox research
CVMA president/veterinarian
Veterinarian
Interview: I wrote out paragraph answers to every question from SDN as well as others that I found online. I did not memorize them but I made sure I knew specific points I wanted to hit. I also did 2 mock interview with a professor and his wife, and numerous "interviews" with my husband and friends. These were invaluable! Awkward, uncomfortable and weird - but it made me hear how something sounded coming out of my mouth and how I wanted to change it for the actual interview!
A note for UCD applicants: In my first application, numerous things needed to be improved (experience hours, better PS style, etc) but what I heard from several sources, including the dean of admissions, was that even if I was not 100% sure what field I wanted to go into, I needed to pick one and explain why I should be in that field in my PS. A quote from the rejection letter that year included the phrase, "Your application was also evaluated based on....whether your veterinary experience was aligned with your career goals..." They want to see what your FUTURE plans are - not just that you want be a good vet but HOW you will be a good vet!
I'm sure there are succesful UCD applicants who have been accepted without stating an eventual career goal but there's my $0.02. 😉
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- Joined
- Feb 11, 2011
- Messages
- 193
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 4,571
- Location
- California
- Veterinary Student
Really hope this might help someone who doesn't have the traditional vet experience feel more confident about their application!
First time applicant
Applied to UC Davis only and accepted for c/o 2015
Notes: Out of school for 5 years. I really worked hard on my personal statement and had a lot of people read it prior to submitting, including vets. Everyone liked it, and the adcoms commented on it during my interview, so not sure how much impact that had on my overall application. To prepare for my interview I scheduled meetings with, and talked to as many vets (and a couple MD's) as would meet with me to talk about the interview. I also spent a lot of time on the avma website.
Precieved weaknesses of the application: No recent clinical experience (the last time I worked in a clinic was in 2004), not a stellar GPA, in many cases I took the easy route of the prerequites - for example only 2 quarters of lower division physics without a lab, same with o-chem except it had a lab, lower division stats etc. Only one vet reference. I actually thought several of these elements were going to aboslutely sink me and I would have to reapply - I guess it just goes to show they accept humans and not robots!
B.S. Avian Scien from UC Davis
Applied: UC Davis
Interview: UC Davis
Rejected: None
Waitlisted: None
Accepted: UC Davis
Attending: UC Davis
Community College Cumulative GPA: 3.614
UC College Cumulative GPA: 3.65
Last 45 credit hours: 3.78
Science GPA: 3.51
GRE: V: 680 Q: 660 W: 5.0
Veterinary Experience
15320 hours over all, including: Working in a small animal hospital 30 hours/week during CC, 3 management positions at a food processing company at various plants and operations after graduation doing food safety etc.
Research/Animal Experience
Paper published with me as a second author as a result of undergraduate research. Publication was not animal related. Animal experience outlined below.
Honors
Thank goodness I saved all those certificates from years ago! Mostly scholarships, both at the CC and UCD, and various achievements etc over the years. Not going to go into here.
Animal Experience
Competitive dressage, endurance riding, community outreach for adults who are dealing with fear of riding, vaccine production and research, raptor rehab, dairy, raptor surveys for a research project, wild horse and burro sancturay, historical horse drawn artillery. FFA, 4-H. I did not put any of my animal ownership hours here because my hours already looked ridiculous.
Other Employment
Bodega Bay lab, UCD air quality lab, CC physiology lab, private tutoring in calculus, general tutoring through CC, violin/fiddle lesson instruction.
Extracurriculars
Church, historical brass band, fencing, hiking/backpacking/running, CBA volunteer (California bluegrass association).
Evaluators
VP of tech services at the company I work for (vet)
Former manager of the company I work for
Micro manager of the company I work for
Family friend and CO of one of my animal experiences
Personal Statement
Drew parelles between my journey to vet school and my journey to my Tevis completion, both of which started over 10 years ago. Emphasized my experience managing a quality control/food safety department and overseeing the food safety programs for the plant.
First time applicant
Applied to UC Davis only and accepted for c/o 2015
Notes: Out of school for 5 years. I really worked hard on my personal statement and had a lot of people read it prior to submitting, including vets. Everyone liked it, and the adcoms commented on it during my interview, so not sure how much impact that had on my overall application. To prepare for my interview I scheduled meetings with, and talked to as many vets (and a couple MD's) as would meet with me to talk about the interview. I also spent a lot of time on the avma website.
Precieved weaknesses of the application: No recent clinical experience (the last time I worked in a clinic was in 2004), not a stellar GPA, in many cases I took the easy route of the prerequites - for example only 2 quarters of lower division physics without a lab, same with o-chem except it had a lab, lower division stats etc. Only one vet reference. I actually thought several of these elements were going to aboslutely sink me and I would have to reapply - I guess it just goes to show they accept humans and not robots!
B.S. Avian Scien from UC Davis
Applied: UC Davis
Interview: UC Davis
Rejected: None
Waitlisted: None
Accepted: UC Davis
Attending: UC Davis
Community College Cumulative GPA: 3.614
UC College Cumulative GPA: 3.65
Last 45 credit hours: 3.78
Science GPA: 3.51
GRE: V: 680 Q: 660 W: 5.0
Veterinary Experience
15320 hours over all, including: Working in a small animal hospital 30 hours/week during CC, 3 management positions at a food processing company at various plants and operations after graduation doing food safety etc.
Research/Animal Experience
Paper published with me as a second author as a result of undergraduate research. Publication was not animal related. Animal experience outlined below.
Honors
Thank goodness I saved all those certificates from years ago! Mostly scholarships, both at the CC and UCD, and various achievements etc over the years. Not going to go into here.
Animal Experience
Competitive dressage, endurance riding, community outreach for adults who are dealing with fear of riding, vaccine production and research, raptor rehab, dairy, raptor surveys for a research project, wild horse and burro sancturay, historical horse drawn artillery. FFA, 4-H. I did not put any of my animal ownership hours here because my hours already looked ridiculous.
Other Employment
Bodega Bay lab, UCD air quality lab, CC physiology lab, private tutoring in calculus, general tutoring through CC, violin/fiddle lesson instruction.
Extracurriculars
Church, historical brass band, fencing, hiking/backpacking/running, CBA volunteer (California bluegrass association).
Evaluators
VP of tech services at the company I work for (vet)
Former manager of the company I work for
Micro manager of the company I work for
Family friend and CO of one of my animal experiences
Personal Statement
Drew parelles between my journey to vet school and my journey to my Tevis completion, both of which started over 10 years ago. Emphasized my experience managing a quality control/food safety department and overseeing the food safety programs for the plant.
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Second time applicant, Female, 23yrs. CA resident
BS in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior from UC Davis in 2010
My first cycle I applied only to Davis, got an interview and then was rejected. During my postmortem I was told I needed more varied experience (most of mine at that point was associated with Davis) and eLORs (again, all of them were from people I worked with in lab in Davis). Also my interview went horribly, at the end they told me they "Didn't see me as a vet" So there was not much hope after that.
Second cycle:
Applied: Washington State University, University of Wisconsin, UC Davis, Western, Oregon State University, University of Minnesota, Cornell University, Colorado State University
Rejected: Colorado State University, Cornell University
Interviewed: Washington, Minnesota, UC Davis, Western(declined)
Waitlisted: Washington
Accepted: UC Davis, Oregon, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Attending: Probably UC Davis but Oregon is still in the running
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.72
Prereq GPA: 3.64
Last 45 credit hrs: 3.91
GRE: 780q, 590v, 4.5a
Veterinary Experience (most recent first):
-104 hours riding along with a large animal vet
-208 hours volunteering at a small animal clinic
-208 hours volunteering at a large animal hospital
-72 hours volunteering at C Barn at UC Davis Vet school
-88 hours working on an equine research project at UC Davis Vet school
-1740 hours working in a food animal research lab at UC Davis Vet school
Animal Experience Hours
-48 hours recreational horseback riding
-grew up on a farm, had pets growing up
Employment:
- 880 hours working as a "gopher" at a biomedical company
Awards/Volunteering:
-Departmental Citation
-Graduated College with honors
-Phi Sigma Society
-Phi Beta Kappa
-Phi Kappa Phi
-Golden Key
-Helped out a local animal rescue group
-volunteered at a local church
eLORS:
-Neurobiology professor (PhD)
-Vet at small animal practice I worked in (DVM)
-Vet at ambulatory large animal practice I worked in (DVM)
-My PI I worked with for 3 years (DVM, PhD)
In my statement I talked about the moving to America (I grew up in Ukraine) and the challenges I overcame with that. In general whenever there was a "tell us your hard circumstances section" I never wrote anything there, personally I felt that any "hardships" I might have had made me a stronger and better person and so actually are beneficial to me.
Also, one of my vets gave me really good interview advice, she said to make it a point to mention how you would benefit the school. Not just how you are a great student and will make a wonderful vet, but how will you make the school better (research, giving back). I added this point at the end of my Davis interview and I was very happy with how the committee received it.
Hope this helps!
BS in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior from UC Davis in 2010
My first cycle I applied only to Davis, got an interview and then was rejected. During my postmortem I was told I needed more varied experience (most of mine at that point was associated with Davis) and eLORs (again, all of them were from people I worked with in lab in Davis). Also my interview went horribly, at the end they told me they "Didn't see me as a vet" So there was not much hope after that.
Second cycle:
Applied: Washington State University, University of Wisconsin, UC Davis, Western, Oregon State University, University of Minnesota, Cornell University, Colorado State University
Rejected: Colorado State University, Cornell University
Interviewed: Washington, Minnesota, UC Davis, Western(declined)
Waitlisted: Washington
Accepted: UC Davis, Oregon, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Attending: Probably UC Davis but Oregon is still in the running
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.72
Prereq GPA: 3.64
Last 45 credit hrs: 3.91
GRE: 780q, 590v, 4.5a
Veterinary Experience (most recent first):
-104 hours riding along with a large animal vet
-208 hours volunteering at a small animal clinic
-208 hours volunteering at a large animal hospital
-72 hours volunteering at C Barn at UC Davis Vet school
-88 hours working on an equine research project at UC Davis Vet school
-1740 hours working in a food animal research lab at UC Davis Vet school
Animal Experience Hours
-48 hours recreational horseback riding
-grew up on a farm, had pets growing up
Employment:
- 880 hours working as a "gopher" at a biomedical company
Awards/Volunteering:
-Departmental Citation
-Graduated College with honors
-Phi Sigma Society
-Phi Beta Kappa
-Phi Kappa Phi
-Golden Key
-Helped out a local animal rescue group
-volunteered at a local church
eLORS:
-Neurobiology professor (PhD)
-Vet at small animal practice I worked in (DVM)
-Vet at ambulatory large animal practice I worked in (DVM)
-My PI I worked with for 3 years (DVM, PhD)
In my statement I talked about the moving to America (I grew up in Ukraine) and the challenges I overcame with that. In general whenever there was a "tell us your hard circumstances section" I never wrote anything there, personally I felt that any "hardships" I might have had made me a stronger and better person and so actually are beneficial to me.
Also, one of my vets gave me really good interview advice, she said to make it a point to mention how you would benefit the school. Not just how you are a great student and will make a wonderful vet, but how will you make the school better (research, giving back). I added this point at the end of my Davis interview and I was very happy with how the committee received it.
Hope this helps!
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2011
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 0
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- Veterinary Student
First time applicant, 24 years old, female, CA resident.
BS from UC San Diego in 2010, Engineering Science with an emphasis in Aerospace Engineering
Applied: UC Davis, University of Minnesota, Kansas State, Purdue, Iowa State, Penn
Rejected: Penn
Interviewed: Purdue, Iowa, Kansas, University of Minnesota, Davis
Accepted: Purdue, Iowa, Kansas, University of Minnesota, Davis
Attending: Davis
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.34
Prereq GPA ~ 3.8
Last 45 credit hrs: ~ 3.8
GRE: 770q, 530v, 4.0a
Veterinary Experience:
512 hours working at a small animal hospital as kenneling assistant
95 hours volunteering with rescued wildlife
567 hours working at small animal hospital during high school
Employment:
Biology teaching assistant, campus tour guide (4 years), resident advisor, 2 engineering internships
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
gaming club, music festival club, camp ronald mcdonald counselor, member of wilderness themed housing, a lot of random leadership roles
eLORS:
the biology prof. I was a TA for, another biology prof. and the vet I worked with most recently
I hope this helps the recently decided pre-vet students! I was really scared having so few hours of experience but I feel that the passion and commitment demonstrated from the point of my decision really played an important role in getting interviews. As for my ps, it really emphasized what led to my transition and what my future goals are as a small animal vet.
BS from UC San Diego in 2010, Engineering Science with an emphasis in Aerospace Engineering
Applied: UC Davis, University of Minnesota, Kansas State, Purdue, Iowa State, Penn
Rejected: Penn
Interviewed: Purdue, Iowa, Kansas, University of Minnesota, Davis
Accepted: Purdue, Iowa, Kansas, University of Minnesota, Davis
Attending: Davis
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.34
Prereq GPA ~ 3.8
Last 45 credit hrs: ~ 3.8
GRE: 770q, 530v, 4.0a
Veterinary Experience:
512 hours working at a small animal hospital as kenneling assistant
95 hours volunteering with rescued wildlife
567 hours working at small animal hospital during high school
Employment:
Biology teaching assistant, campus tour guide (4 years), resident advisor, 2 engineering internships
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
gaming club, music festival club, camp ronald mcdonald counselor, member of wilderness themed housing, a lot of random leadership roles
eLORS:
the biology prof. I was a TA for, another biology prof. and the vet I worked with most recently
I hope this helps the recently decided pre-vet students! I was really scared having so few hours of experience but I feel that the passion and commitment demonstrated from the point of my decision really played an important role in getting interviews. As for my ps, it really emphasized what led to my transition and what my future goals are as a small animal vet.
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2011
- Messages
- 193
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 4,571
- Location
- California
- Veterinary Student
zyablako - reagrding giving back to the school - I did the same thing in the closing section of my interview where they told me to sell myself.
It's fun to see UCD people start to post their stats. I'm actually a little shocked they told you last year at the interview that they didn't see you as a vet? Good for you to come back the next year and be successful! Must make it all the sweeter.....
As far as your decision - that's a tough one. For me it would be: sunshine or no sunshine 🙂 LOL.
It's fun to see UCD people start to post their stats. I'm actually a little shocked they told you last year at the interview that they didn't see you as a vet? Good for you to come back the next year and be successful! Must make it all the sweeter.....
As far as your decision - that's a tough one. For me it would be: sunshine or no sunshine 🙂 LOL.
D
Deleted member 288172
When I looked at last year's thread, and the stats posted by the vet schools themselves, I was SO intimidated by the average number of vet hours. So I am posting my stats to show that if you do well in college and manage to get some vet experience while taking classes, you do not need to have nearly as much, or as cool, experience as others who post on this site. They need us "traditional" applicants too!!!
First time applicant, female, 21 years old, CA resident.
BS 2011 in Biology
Applied: UC Davis, Oregon State, Washington State, Colorado State, Tufts, Florida, Penn
Accepted: UC Davis, Oregon State, Washington State, Colorado State, Tufts, Florida, Penn
Attending: UC Davis
Cumulative GPA: 3.86
Science GPA: 3.91
Last 45: 3.82
GRE: 790Q, 650V, 6.0W
Veterinary Experience
-700 hours at a 1 doctor small animal clinic as a vet assistant - summers/winter breaks
-220 hours at a 4 doctor small animal clinic as a vet assistant/receptionist - during school year
-450 hours at a pharmaceutical company doing cell research with diabetic rats - qPCR, ELISA and the like as well as learning surgical skills
-220 hours doing on-campus research in yeast
-20 hours riding along with a LA vet
-20 hours shadowing specialists
Animal Experience
-50 hours as a cat socializer at various shelters
-20 hours at a summer prevet camp in high school
Employment
-250 hours as a publications editor
-440 hours at an investment bank
-100 hours running the on campus copy room
-600 hours food service in high school
Awards
-a few awards from my undergrad - Deans List all semesters, Top 50 of class, biology awards, etc.
-awards from high school - graduated in top 20 of class, most others were scholar athlete or for community service
Community Activities
-science teacher for various women in science programs
-cofounder of pre-vet club at my school
-high school field hockey and soccer, golfing, hiking, other various hobbies
eLORs
-DVM from small animal clinic
-Advisor for undergrad research, PhD
-Advisor for pharmaceutical company research, MD/PhD
My personal statement traced my interest in veterinary medicine and research because of the problem solving and puzzles involved. It was chronological and touched upon many of my experiences but I talked a lot about *why* I liked what I did and how it helped me along my path towards wanting to enter veterinary clinical research. I am very proud of it now, but it took a LOT of editing to get it to be perfect. I highly recommend that people take a look at Colorado State's Philosophy of the Admissions Committee to spark some ideas on what to focus on in their personal statement.
First time applicant, female, 21 years old, CA resident.
BS 2011 in Biology
Applied: UC Davis, Oregon State, Washington State, Colorado State, Tufts, Florida, Penn
Accepted: UC Davis, Oregon State, Washington State, Colorado State, Tufts, Florida, Penn
Attending: UC Davis
Cumulative GPA: 3.86
Science GPA: 3.91
Last 45: 3.82
GRE: 790Q, 650V, 6.0W
Veterinary Experience
-700 hours at a 1 doctor small animal clinic as a vet assistant - summers/winter breaks
-220 hours at a 4 doctor small animal clinic as a vet assistant/receptionist - during school year
-450 hours at a pharmaceutical company doing cell research with diabetic rats - qPCR, ELISA and the like as well as learning surgical skills
-220 hours doing on-campus research in yeast
-20 hours riding along with a LA vet
-20 hours shadowing specialists
Animal Experience
-50 hours as a cat socializer at various shelters
-20 hours at a summer prevet camp in high school
Employment
-250 hours as a publications editor
-440 hours at an investment bank
-100 hours running the on campus copy room
-600 hours food service in high school
Awards
-a few awards from my undergrad - Deans List all semesters, Top 50 of class, biology awards, etc.
-awards from high school - graduated in top 20 of class, most others were scholar athlete or for community service
Community Activities
-science teacher for various women in science programs
-cofounder of pre-vet club at my school
-high school field hockey and soccer, golfing, hiking, other various hobbies
eLORs
-DVM from small animal clinic
-Advisor for undergrad research, PhD
-Advisor for pharmaceutical company research, MD/PhD
My personal statement traced my interest in veterinary medicine and research because of the problem solving and puzzles involved. It was chronological and touched upon many of my experiences but I talked a lot about *why* I liked what I did and how it helped me along my path towards wanting to enter veterinary clinical research. I am very proud of it now, but it took a LOT of editing to get it to be perfect. I highly recommend that people take a look at Colorado State's Philosophy of the Admissions Committee to spark some ideas on what to focus on in their personal statement.
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My acceptance from UC Davis also means it is the end of the application cycle for me, so here are my stats!
1st time applicant, 19 years old, Female, Southern California resident
Applied: Colorado, Cornell, UC Davis, Iowa, Tufts, UPenn, Wisconsin
Rejected: Colorado, UPenn
Interviewed: Iowa, Tufts, UC Davis
Waitlisted: Wisconsin
Accepted: Cornell, Iowa, Tufts, UC Davis
Attending: UC Davis or Cornell — haven't decided yet!
Degree: BS in Biology, California State University Los Angeles
Cumulative GPA: 3.97
Required Science GPA: 3.98
Last-45 GPA: 3.95
GRE: 1360 (590V, 770Q); 4.5 AW
Honors and Awards:
- Summa Cum Laude
- Dean's List 2007-2010 (all applicable years)
- Early Entrance Program*, Freshman of the Year
- GE Honors Program, Student of the Year
Veterinary Experience (@ time of application):
- 300 hrs at an Emergency Pet Clinic (250hrs small animal, 50hrs exotics)
- 60 hrs at a wildlife clinic
- 300 hrs lab assistant in a neuroscience lab working with rats (VMCAS considers this vet exp)
Animal Experience:
- 3,000 hrs equine (general)
- 500 hrs small animal and exotics (pet sitting/fostering/etc)
- 20 hrs wildlife (remaining hours at the wildlife center that wasn't vet exp)
Employment:
- 2 years working in an inorganic chemistry lab on campus
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
- Early Entrance Program* Club, President
- People for Animal Care and Kindness, Founder/President
- War Horse Foundation (non-profit), Member/Volunteer
- Special Spirit Inc. (therapeutic horse back riding), Volunteer
- Associated Students, Inc (student government)
- Early Entrance Program*, Mentor
`
Letters of Recommendation (only 1st three submitted for some schools):
- Early Entrance Program Director (advisor)
- Inorganic chem research lab PI (also prof of a couple required prereqs)
- SA vet from the emergency pet clinic
- Cognitive neuroscience lab PI
- Wildlife clinic's head tech (I volunteered on days in which the vet was absent and she ran the entire clinic — this is still considered vet exp btw)
- Ornithology professor (random, I know, but he offered)
Note:
I have a below average number of veterinary experience hours (I only had a year to gain experience), but having a good GPA and GRE goes a LONG WAY. If you are very busy and have to make the decision between studying those extra hours to get an A in a class or using those hours to get more experience, go for the A!
* I skipped three years of high school through a special program and did not receive a GED. I'm not sure if this unique experience helped or hurt my application. My age did put me at a disadvantage, as I was unable to find a clinic to volunteer at until I was 18 (due to liability issues… blegh). This meant that I had to wait and apply after graduating from university.
1st time applicant, 19 years old, Female, Southern California resident
Applied: Colorado, Cornell, UC Davis, Iowa, Tufts, UPenn, Wisconsin
Rejected: Colorado, UPenn
Interviewed: Iowa, Tufts, UC Davis
Waitlisted: Wisconsin
Accepted: Cornell, Iowa, Tufts, UC Davis
Attending: UC Davis or Cornell — haven't decided yet!
Degree: BS in Biology, California State University Los Angeles
Cumulative GPA: 3.97
Required Science GPA: 3.98
Last-45 GPA: 3.95
GRE: 1360 (590V, 770Q); 4.5 AW
Honors and Awards:
- Summa Cum Laude
- Dean's List 2007-2010 (all applicable years)
- Early Entrance Program*, Freshman of the Year
- GE Honors Program, Student of the Year
Veterinary Experience (@ time of application):
- 300 hrs at an Emergency Pet Clinic (250hrs small animal, 50hrs exotics)
- 60 hrs at a wildlife clinic
- 300 hrs lab assistant in a neuroscience lab working with rats (VMCAS considers this vet exp)
Animal Experience:
- 3,000 hrs equine (general)
- 500 hrs small animal and exotics (pet sitting/fostering/etc)
- 20 hrs wildlife (remaining hours at the wildlife center that wasn't vet exp)
Employment:
- 2 years working in an inorganic chemistry lab on campus
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
- Early Entrance Program* Club, President
- People for Animal Care and Kindness, Founder/President
- War Horse Foundation (non-profit), Member/Volunteer
- Special Spirit Inc. (therapeutic horse back riding), Volunteer
- Associated Students, Inc (student government)
- Early Entrance Program*, Mentor
`
Letters of Recommendation (only 1st three submitted for some schools):
- Early Entrance Program Director (advisor)
- Inorganic chem research lab PI (also prof of a couple required prereqs)
- SA vet from the emergency pet clinic
- Cognitive neuroscience lab PI
- Wildlife clinic's head tech (I volunteered on days in which the vet was absent and she ran the entire clinic — this is still considered vet exp btw)
- Ornithology professor (random, I know, but he offered)
Note:
I have a below average number of veterinary experience hours (I only had a year to gain experience), but having a good GPA and GRE goes a LONG WAY. If you are very busy and have to make the decision between studying those extra hours to get an A in a class or using those hours to get more experience, go for the A!
* I skipped three years of high school through a special program and did not receive a GED. I'm not sure if this unique experience helped or hurt my application. My age did put me at a disadvantage, as I was unable to find a clinic to volunteer at until I was 18 (due to liability issues… blegh). This meant that I had to wait and apply after graduating from university.
OMG this is an amazing thread! Congrats to everyone who got in!
I haven't even finished my first semester as a Post-Bacc and all of your posts are getting me excited and more determined to succeed 🙂
I haven't even finished my first semester as a Post-Bacc and all of your posts are getting me excited and more determined to succeed 🙂
- Joined
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- Location
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- Veterinarian
Good lord, bonaparte. What an app!
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2010
- Messages
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- Veterinary Student
For you guys on the fence, give it a shot your junior year. That's what I did, got an interview, and got rejected. I then had a senior year to enjoy, and took hard classes and made really good grades. I improved everything on my app and it paid off (I originally applied with a 990 GRE). Anything is possible and I hope everyone that is thinking about applying to go ahead and do it! You never know what is in store for you!
Second time applicant, 22 years old, male, Alabama resident.
Applied: Auburn, MSU, and Tennessee
Apps withdrawn: Never heard a word from TN.
Interview: Auburn
Accepted: Auburn!!!!! (I refuse to say war eagle as I go to University of Alabama 😀)
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.63
Last 45 credit hrs: 3.8ish
Science GPA @ time of application: 3.6ish
GRE: 1050, yes people, 1050. 480V and 570Q. 3.5 AW. Took it 4 times.
Veterinary Experience:
-over 1000 hours working as an assistant at different SA hospitals (3 to be exact). I started working for a vet around the age of 17.
-about 50 hours shadowing an equine vet
Research
-Helped in a lab that did research on the affects of chromium as an essential nutrient and its relation to diabetes and insulin resistance. We are now working on some really cool nanoparticle delivery system research. Look for my name in an early paper that paved the way for curing cancer! This stuff is the future, folks!
Animal Experience/Volunteering:
-25 hours volunteering at a no kill "cat house."
-100 Hours teaching elementary age kids about biology.
Employment
-I've only ever worked for a vet.
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
-Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity.
-Intramural sports (basketball and football).
-High school Letterman in basketball and football.
eLORS:
-1 SA vet in my hometown (AU Graduate)
-1 Large animal vet in my hometown (UGA graduate)
-1 SA vet in Tuscaloosa (Where UA is). (Also and AU graguate).
Awards and Honors:
-Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society
-Dean's List for the entirety of my undergrad
-Senior class salutatorian (HS)
-Beta Club President
-SGA Vice President
-Who's Who Among American HS Students
-Army National Reserve Scholar Athlete (HS)
-Golden Key Honor Society
-Spanish 2 Elite (HS)
-Maybe a few others I forgot.
Second time applicant, 22 years old, male, Alabama resident.
Applied: Auburn, MSU, and Tennessee
Apps withdrawn: Never heard a word from TN.
Interview: Auburn
Accepted: Auburn!!!!! (I refuse to say war eagle as I go to University of Alabama 😀)
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.63
Last 45 credit hrs: 3.8ish
Science GPA @ time of application: 3.6ish
GRE: 1050, yes people, 1050. 480V and 570Q. 3.5 AW. Took it 4 times.
Veterinary Experience:
-over 1000 hours working as an assistant at different SA hospitals (3 to be exact). I started working for a vet around the age of 17.
-about 50 hours shadowing an equine vet
Research
-Helped in a lab that did research on the affects of chromium as an essential nutrient and its relation to diabetes and insulin resistance. We are now working on some really cool nanoparticle delivery system research. Look for my name in an early paper that paved the way for curing cancer! This stuff is the future, folks!
Animal Experience/Volunteering:
-25 hours volunteering at a no kill "cat house."
-100 Hours teaching elementary age kids about biology.
Employment
-I've only ever worked for a vet.
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
-Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity.
-Intramural sports (basketball and football).
-High school Letterman in basketball and football.
eLORS:
-1 SA vet in my hometown (AU Graduate)
-1 Large animal vet in my hometown (UGA graduate)
-1 SA vet in Tuscaloosa (Where UA is). (Also and AU graguate).
Awards and Honors:
-Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society
-Dean's List for the entirety of my undergrad
-Senior class salutatorian (HS)
-Beta Club President
-SGA Vice President
-Who's Who Among American HS Students
-Army National Reserve Scholar Athlete (HS)
-Golden Key Honor Society
-Spanish 2 Elite (HS)
-Maybe a few others I forgot.
Pahaha, it's a bit unusual, I know! I was certain the lack of vet hours would be the end of me! I still can't believe the application cycle is over
WE'RE GOING TO VET SCHOOL! 😍
AHorseOffCourse - I realized that in order for me to say yes to Oregon I would have to say no to Davis and I just couldn't do that. In the end it ended up being a much easier decision then I thought it would be, and that makes it the right one. Woot for being classmates next year!
1
168135
I wouldn't feel so bad about your lack of veterinary hours. You still have more than me
I think it's wonderful that you gained that much experience in a short amount of time.
First time applicant, female, 25 years old, CA resident.
B.A. in Business Economics, emphasis in Accounting - UC Santa Barbara 2007
Applied: UC Davis, UPenn, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio, NCSU, Kansas
Interviewed: UC Davis, Illinois, Ohio
Accepted: UC Davis, Illinois, Ohio
Attending: UC Davis!
Undergrad GPA: 3.53
Cumulative GPA: ~3.6
Science GPA: 3.62
Last 45: 3.69
GRE: 750Q, 640V, 4.5W on my third try. (1st time score can't remember, 2nd time: 590Q, 630V, 4.0Q) I had to work my butt off to improve my quantitative score, which went down from my 1st to 2nd test because I focused so hard on my verbal.
Veterinary Experience
-420 hours small animal (most of my hours at 1 2-doctor S.A. clinic, about 20 at another S.A. clinic, 20 at a large ER/referral hospital)
Animal Experience
-150 hours at a zoo
-20 hours at a shelter
-15 hours at a dog-specific shelter walking dogs
Employment
-1 year working at previously stated S.A. clinic part time
-1 year working at a venture capital firm after I graduated college
-80 hours over a summer working for a financial planner in college
-500 hours working for a medical billing company in highschool
Awards
College:
-Dean's List for 4 quarters
Highschool:
-President's Award
-Governor's Scholar Award (3 years in a row)
Community Activities
-3 Day for the Cure (trained but did not participate - I broke my pinky toe two weeks before the event. D'oh!)
-Relay for Life (college)
-Key Club (highschool)
-Junior Statesmen of America (highschool)
-NSCS (college)
-Played piano from age 11-17
Other:
I studied abroad in the Netherlands for 6 months my senior year of college. I didn't emphasize this in my app (they could see it on my transcript) but I did talk about it in my interview.
eLORs
-both doctors from S.A. clinic
-General Biology professor (still to date the hardest class I've ever taken. Professor teaches at berkeley and upholds the same standards at the CC I took the course at). He also only writes LOR for students that received an A in his course. I was one of, um, like 3 students who got A's both semesters)
I thought this was just going to be a practice round for me, due to my low clinical hours and no diversity of experience but I thought, hey what the heck, give it a shot and find out where they think you need to improve. In the end I think they must have just thought I was an oddball (in a good way). I emphasized my business skills, my experience studying abroad as an example of being able to deal with all kinds of people, and my ethnic diversity. Just goes to show you you can get in with not as many experience hours if you stand out in other ways!
Also wanted to add that I took all my lower division pre-reqs at a CC. My only upper divisions were Animal Nutrition (online), Genetics (online), Physiology and Biochemistry.
B.A. in Business Economics, emphasis in Accounting - UC Santa Barbara 2007
Applied: UC Davis, UPenn, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio, NCSU, Kansas
Interviewed: UC Davis, Illinois, Ohio
Accepted: UC Davis, Illinois, Ohio
Attending: UC Davis!
Undergrad GPA: 3.53
Cumulative GPA: ~3.6
Science GPA: 3.62
Last 45: 3.69
GRE: 750Q, 640V, 4.5W on my third try. (1st time score can't remember, 2nd time: 590Q, 630V, 4.0Q) I had to work my butt off to improve my quantitative score, which went down from my 1st to 2nd test because I focused so hard on my verbal.
Veterinary Experience
-420 hours small animal (most of my hours at 1 2-doctor S.A. clinic, about 20 at another S.A. clinic, 20 at a large ER/referral hospital)
Animal Experience
-150 hours at a zoo
-20 hours at a shelter
-15 hours at a dog-specific shelter walking dogs
Employment
-1 year working at previously stated S.A. clinic part time
-1 year working at a venture capital firm after I graduated college
-80 hours over a summer working for a financial planner in college
-500 hours working for a medical billing company in highschool
Awards
College:
-Dean's List for 4 quarters
Highschool:
-President's Award
-Governor's Scholar Award (3 years in a row)
Community Activities
-3 Day for the Cure (trained but did not participate - I broke my pinky toe two weeks before the event. D'oh!)
-Relay for Life (college)
-Key Club (highschool)
-Junior Statesmen of America (highschool)
-NSCS (college)
-Played piano from age 11-17
Other:
I studied abroad in the Netherlands for 6 months my senior year of college. I didn't emphasize this in my app (they could see it on my transcript) but I did talk about it in my interview.
eLORs
-both doctors from S.A. clinic
-General Biology professor (still to date the hardest class I've ever taken. Professor teaches at berkeley and upholds the same standards at the CC I took the course at). He also only writes LOR for students that received an A in his course. I was one of, um, like 3 students who got A's both semesters)
I thought this was just going to be a practice round for me, due to my low clinical hours and no diversity of experience but I thought, hey what the heck, give it a shot and find out where they think you need to improve. In the end I think they must have just thought I was an oddball (in a good way). I emphasized my business skills, my experience studying abroad as an example of being able to deal with all kinds of people, and my ethnic diversity. Just goes to show you you can get in with not as many experience hours if you stand out in other ways!
Also wanted to add that I took all my lower division pre-reqs at a CC. My only upper divisions were Animal Nutrition (online), Genetics (online), Physiology and Biochemistry.
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- Pre-Veterinary
Second time applicant, 22 yrs old, female, CA resident
B.S. Physiology and Neuroscience 2010
Applied UC Davis, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, VMRCVM, Missouri, Washington, Oregon
Rejected VMRCVM, Missouri, Washington
Interviewed Davis, Illinois, Iowa
Waitlisted Iowa, Wisconsin, Oregon
Accepted UC Davis, Illinois
Attending UC Davis (though quite tempted by Illinois)
Cum GPA - 3.56
Sci GPA - ~3.3, though varies a ton between schools
Last 45 GPA - 3.57
GRE 560V, 740Q, 5.5A (took it twice for first application cycle, didn't take again for second round)
Veterinary Experience
80 hrs large animal (abroad)
85 hrs exotics
~1700 hrs small animal (combination of volunteer + paid vet assistant at several clinics locally and abroad, and a shelter)
Animal Experience
~160 hrs at PetSmart Doggy Day Care
Tons of foster dog care (listed as 3200 hours, don't remember where I came up with that number)
120 hrs at a wildlife refuge in S America
Other Work Experience
Lots of work with children with disabilities
Two summers as receptionist at a non-profit office
One summer as law office assistant
One summer as dental lab assistant
Four years of teaching at a Sunday preschool program
Eight years of transcription work
Awards and Honors
Some Provost's honors from throughout college
Scholarship I received throughout college
Awards from gymnastics team in high school
Community Activities
Rotaract Club
International work with children in several countries
Various Jewish things, mostly from high school
Gymnastics team (HS)
Camp counselor
eLORs
2 vets from small animal clinic
prof from biology lab
PS
Worked on it forever and got input from people here as well as family and friends. Spent hours on end tweaking it and ended up adding a humorous twist at the end. Also tried to keep it all wrapped around one basic concept with which I started and finished the PS with. Used a lot of imagery and talked about my goals in shelter and international medicine based from my experiences.
Thought I had completely blown my Davis interview, so was completely surprised to get my acceptance. Last year, I was devastated when I applied to three schools and didn't get as much as an interview. Never thought I would say this, but the year off ended up being good thing that gave me the chance to work full time in the field and really get a sense of what I'm going into. The stress of the process, though, was definitely not fun to do twice..
B.S. Physiology and Neuroscience 2010
Applied UC Davis, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, VMRCVM, Missouri, Washington, Oregon
Rejected VMRCVM, Missouri, Washington
Interviewed Davis, Illinois, Iowa
Waitlisted Iowa, Wisconsin, Oregon
Accepted UC Davis, Illinois
Attending UC Davis (though quite tempted by Illinois)
Cum GPA - 3.56
Sci GPA - ~3.3, though varies a ton between schools
Last 45 GPA - 3.57
GRE 560V, 740Q, 5.5A (took it twice for first application cycle, didn't take again for second round)
Veterinary Experience
80 hrs large animal (abroad)
85 hrs exotics
~1700 hrs small animal (combination of volunteer + paid vet assistant at several clinics locally and abroad, and a shelter)
Animal Experience
~160 hrs at PetSmart Doggy Day Care
Tons of foster dog care (listed as 3200 hours, don't remember where I came up with that number)
120 hrs at a wildlife refuge in S America
Other Work Experience
Lots of work with children with disabilities
Two summers as receptionist at a non-profit office
One summer as law office assistant
One summer as dental lab assistant
Four years of teaching at a Sunday preschool program
Eight years of transcription work
Awards and Honors
Some Provost's honors from throughout college
Scholarship I received throughout college
Awards from gymnastics team in high school
Community Activities
Rotaract Club
International work with children in several countries
Various Jewish things, mostly from high school
Gymnastics team (HS)
Camp counselor
eLORs
2 vets from small animal clinic
prof from biology lab
PS
Worked on it forever and got input from people here as well as family and friends. Spent hours on end tweaking it and ended up adding a humorous twist at the end. Also tried to keep it all wrapped around one basic concept with which I started and finished the PS with. Used a lot of imagery and talked about my goals in shelter and international medicine based from my experiences.
Thought I had completely blown my Davis interview, so was completely surprised to get my acceptance. Last year, I was devastated when I applied to three schools and didn't get as much as an interview. Never thought I would say this, but the year off ended up being good thing that gave me the chance to work full time in the field and really get a sense of what I'm going into. The stress of the process, though, was definitely not fun to do twice..
First off, congrats to all who have been accepted!!
First time applicant, 23 years old, female, MO resident
BS in Chemical Engineering at a UM school
Applied/Interviewed/Accepted: Mizzou!
Cum GPA: 3.76
Science GPA: 3.71
Last 3 semesters (Mizzou does 3 semesters, not last 45): 3.93
GRE: 740 Q, 470 V, 4.0 A
Veterinary Experience (shown as [at application --> at interview with updated numbers]):
Small Animals [477 --> 557] - Divided between 3 mixed animal clinics and 1 SA only, plus VIDA
Food Animals [65 --> 85] - Divided between the mixed animal clinics and VIDA
Equine [35 --> 40] - Divided between the mixed animal clinics and VIDA
Other [90 --> 120] - Divided between one of the mixed animal clinics and an avian vet
All of this experience was volunteer/shadowing experience
Animal Experience:
None besides ownership - I put ownership on my app, but I waaay underestimated the hours, just to show that I was comfortable with those species
Employment (most to least recent):
Academic Success mentor for 1 semester
Research for a very brief period of time
ChemE Rep to high school students during an Intro to Engineering camp one summer
Residential Life office assistant for one summer
Busser at Embassy Suites Hotel in high school for a year and a half
Baskin-Robbins cake decorator/shift manager for 2 years in high school
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
Residence Hall Association (RHA) - voting member for a year and a half, Co-Chair for a year
Affiliate Organization to RHA - voting member and committee chair for a semester, Vice-President for a year
Conference attendee - NACURH and MACURH with presentations at both
MACURH Conference Staff - Co-Director of Hospitality and Co-Director of Volunteering for a year and a half
National Residence Hall Honorary - voting member for a year and a half, ran development exercises for up-coming leaders in the res halls, recognized leaders in the res halls, fundraised for our annual leadership scholarship
Pre-Health Society - Member for a year, President for a year
Concert/Symphonic/Marching band in high school - Tuba player all the way 😛 I lettered one year, went to state for a quintet, went to DC for the WWII Memorial dedication ceremony/parade
eLORS:
Mixed animal vet I shadowed with the most
Avian vet
RHA advisor from when I was a Co-Chair
Awards and Honors:
MACURH 4-Year Outstanding Service Pin
NACURH Bronze Pin
Res Life Stakeholder Award
Executive Board Member of the Year x 3
Program of the Year x 2
Up-Coming Leadership Scholarship
Most Improved Member in band
Most Outstanding Member in band
Honor Roll each semester (my school doesn't have deans)
I didn't touch on any other scholarships since they could see my GPA and I don't think it adds much to the application.
I really tried to emphasize my understanding of the profession in my application and interview, and also tried to connect what I did in the residence halls and engineering to veterinary medicine. This was because I didn't seriously consider vet med until August of 2009 so I didn't have much time to get breadth/depth of experience (I thought). I hope my application helps someone out who doesn't have thousands of hours of experience!!
First time applicant, 23 years old, female, MO resident
BS in Chemical Engineering at a UM school
Applied/Interviewed/Accepted: Mizzou!
Cum GPA: 3.76
Science GPA: 3.71
Last 3 semesters (Mizzou does 3 semesters, not last 45): 3.93
GRE: 740 Q, 470 V, 4.0 A
Veterinary Experience (shown as [at application --> at interview with updated numbers]):
Small Animals [477 --> 557] - Divided between 3 mixed animal clinics and 1 SA only, plus VIDA
Food Animals [65 --> 85] - Divided between the mixed animal clinics and VIDA
Equine [35 --> 40] - Divided between the mixed animal clinics and VIDA
Other [90 --> 120] - Divided between one of the mixed animal clinics and an avian vet
All of this experience was volunteer/shadowing experience
Animal Experience:
None besides ownership - I put ownership on my app, but I waaay underestimated the hours, just to show that I was comfortable with those species
Employment (most to least recent):
Academic Success mentor for 1 semester
Research for a very brief period of time
ChemE Rep to high school students during an Intro to Engineering camp one summer
Residential Life office assistant for one summer
Busser at Embassy Suites Hotel in high school for a year and a half
Baskin-Robbins cake decorator/shift manager for 2 years in high school
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
Residence Hall Association (RHA) - voting member for a year and a half, Co-Chair for a year
Affiliate Organization to RHA - voting member and committee chair for a semester, Vice-President for a year
Conference attendee - NACURH and MACURH with presentations at both
MACURH Conference Staff - Co-Director of Hospitality and Co-Director of Volunteering for a year and a half
National Residence Hall Honorary - voting member for a year and a half, ran development exercises for up-coming leaders in the res halls, recognized leaders in the res halls, fundraised for our annual leadership scholarship
Pre-Health Society - Member for a year, President for a year
Concert/Symphonic/Marching band in high school - Tuba player all the way 😛 I lettered one year, went to state for a quintet, went to DC for the WWII Memorial dedication ceremony/parade
eLORS:
Mixed animal vet I shadowed with the most
Avian vet
RHA advisor from when I was a Co-Chair
Awards and Honors:
MACURH 4-Year Outstanding Service Pin
NACURH Bronze Pin
Res Life Stakeholder Award
Executive Board Member of the Year x 3
Program of the Year x 2
Up-Coming Leadership Scholarship
Most Improved Member in band
Most Outstanding Member in band
Honor Roll each semester (my school doesn't have deans)
I didn't touch on any other scholarships since they could see my GPA and I don't think it adds much to the application.
I really tried to emphasize my understanding of the profession in my application and interview, and also tried to connect what I did in the residence halls and engineering to veterinary medicine. This was because I didn't seriously consider vet med until August of 2009 so I didn't have much time to get breadth/depth of experience (I thought). I hope my application helps someone out who doesn't have thousands of hours of experience!!
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2008
- Messages
- 207
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 4,551
- Location
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Veterinary Student
Health careers high school in San Antonio, Texas. Sorry it took me a while to get back to you... This thread fills up with lengthy posts fast!
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2010
- Messages
- 119
- Reaction score
- 71
- Points
- 4,651
- Location
- San Antonio, TX
- Pre-Veterinary
Sorry to hijack this thread further, but what?! What graduating class are you?? I go there (class of 2012)! I actually just started a pre-vet society 🙂
Anyways, can you message me instead so that this thread gets back on track? I'm really curious now since our school is so human med focused.
First time applicant, 20 years old, female, MO resident.
Pursued BS in Biology/minored in Chemistry at a small liberal arts university. Finished three years (opted out of finishing degree once I was accepted)
Applied: KSU, Mizzou
Rejected: None
Interviewed: KSU, Mizzou
Waitlisted: KSU
Accepted: Mizzou
Attending: Eish... Mizzou, as of right now. May change if I get called off of K-state's waitlist.
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.8
Undergraduate GPA: 3.81
Last 45 credit hrs: 3.92
GRE: 570 Q, 460 V, 5.5 A
Veterinary Experience (most recent first):
500 hours at small animal hospital
200 at avian hospital
200 various small ruminant/camelid/equine hours
50 large animal
Animal Experience (most recent first)
10,000 hours--Ranch life-- goats, camelids, horses, cattle, poultry, sheep.
5,000-- Train/raise/show Border Collies and Great Pyrenees
??? hours-- 11 years in 4-H-- showing/raising/judging livestock
1500--Employed at Petsmart as PetCare specialist
2000-- Employed at boarding kennel as kennel kid and, later, part-time manager
Employment:
University laboratory technician
Show cave tour guide/interpretive aide
Petsmart
Teacher's aide, after-care aide at daycare
Housekeeper/nanny
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
4-H member for 11 years
4-H leader for 4 years
Therapy dog work for 7 years
Baby-sit in church's nursey for past 7 years
Show livestock
Show dogs
Fiber arts
Natural Science Club
StuGo
eLORS:
Small animal vet
Avian vet
Dean of Sciences (Ph.D)
Pathologist I kept house for (D.O.)
Awards and Honors:
Full-ride scholarship to my undergrad
Several other scholarships
Presidential Honor roll all semesters
4-H Key Award
4-H I Dare You Award
Several national awards for showing dogs
In my PS, I tried to emphasize how much I wanted to work with small ruminants and how I was not only familiar with the animals, I was familiar with the industry and the people who need small ruminant veterinarians. I also mentioned genetic health testing in dogs and how I wished to work with breeders to offer more options for testing their breeding stock.
Pursued BS in Biology/minored in Chemistry at a small liberal arts university. Finished three years (opted out of finishing degree once I was accepted)
Applied: KSU, Mizzou
Rejected: None
Interviewed: KSU, Mizzou
Waitlisted: KSU
Accepted: Mizzou
Attending: Eish... Mizzou, as of right now. May change if I get called off of K-state's waitlist.
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.8
Undergraduate GPA: 3.81
Last 45 credit hrs: 3.92
GRE: 570 Q, 460 V, 5.5 A
Veterinary Experience (most recent first):
500 hours at small animal hospital
200 at avian hospital
200 various small ruminant/camelid/equine hours
50 large animal
Animal Experience (most recent first)
10,000 hours--Ranch life-- goats, camelids, horses, cattle, poultry, sheep.
5,000-- Train/raise/show Border Collies and Great Pyrenees
??? hours-- 11 years in 4-H-- showing/raising/judging livestock
1500--Employed at Petsmart as PetCare specialist
2000-- Employed at boarding kennel as kennel kid and, later, part-time manager
Employment:
University laboratory technician
Show cave tour guide/interpretive aide
Petsmart
Teacher's aide, after-care aide at daycare
Housekeeper/nanny
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
4-H member for 11 years
4-H leader for 4 years
Therapy dog work for 7 years
Baby-sit in church's nursey for past 7 years
Show livestock
Show dogs
Fiber arts
Natural Science Club
StuGo
eLORS:
Small animal vet
Avian vet
Dean of Sciences (Ph.D)
Pathologist I kept house for (D.O.)
Awards and Honors:
Full-ride scholarship to my undergrad
Several other scholarships
Presidential Honor roll all semesters
4-H Key Award
4-H I Dare You Award
Several national awards for showing dogs
In my PS, I tried to emphasize how much I wanted to work with small ruminants and how I was not only familiar with the animals, I was familiar with the industry and the people who need small ruminant veterinarians. I also mentioned genetic health testing in dogs and how I wished to work with breeders to offer more options for testing their breeding stock.
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2008
- Messages
- 207
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 4,551
- Location
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Veterinary Student
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2010
- Messages
- 31
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Veterinary Student
2nd time applicant overall, 1st time applying to NCSU, 25 yo
NC resident
2nd Application: Rejected: everywhere else I applied
Accepted: North Carolina State University
-B.A. 2008 Environmental Studies, minor in Biology (small liberal arts college) cum laude
-working towards research-heavy master's degree for 3 years (I do not recommend a 3-4 year program, make sure you ask other students how long others have taken to finish. It probably did help me get in...)
GRE: 590 V (84%ile), 700 Q (70%ile), 5.0 Analyt. (84%ile)
GPAs: undergrad: 3.51 primary undergrad college 3.52, Req'd: 3.25, cumulative: 3.38, last 45: 3.47 grad school: 3.2
Experience:
Veterinary hours:
Exotic veterinary: 200h clinical, 50h museum
Research veterinary: 3000h (3 years is a long, long time...)
small animal veterinary: 365h
Animal:
horse handling: 20h (years ago...)
wildlife research: 30h (study abroad, years ago)
no kill shelter: 100h
show/breeding/finding homes for puppies/talking to owners over the years: 16 years, I said 5000 hours but that is an underestimation
Honors:
Bachelors - cum laude
undergrad research publication
various academic achievement awards based on GPA in college
High school:
academic awards, honor guard, honor roll, state exams... cross country, track, all academic awards for high GPA while doing sports, AP classes, etc.
Community activities:
Studied abroad for a semester
America Reads -helped 2nd and 3rd graders with literacy activities, America Counts - tutored 8th graders in algebra, and another community program (I played with pre-school kids in an "academic preparedness setting")
Lived in Green house as an undergraduate... yes, we composted our food and recycled our trash
Served on various committees in college to make a difference in the world in society and environmentally (I loved my liberal arts school 🙂)
eLORs:
1. PhD - with whom I've worked for masters
2. PhD - with whom I did research as undergrad
3. DVM - exotic, most recent
4. supervisor for whom I did community based programs as undergrad
Employment:
Research Assistant (for last year and a half - lots of studies with many fish)
Teaching Assistant (3 semesters before that; taught 2 lab sections of 24 students)
Research assistant (2 summers as undergrad, water quality environmental studies)
NC resident
2nd Application: Rejected: everywhere else I applied
Accepted: North Carolina State University
-B.A. 2008 Environmental Studies, minor in Biology (small liberal arts college) cum laude
-working towards research-heavy master's degree for 3 years (I do not recommend a 3-4 year program, make sure you ask other students how long others have taken to finish. It probably did help me get in...)
GRE: 590 V (84%ile), 700 Q (70%ile), 5.0 Analyt. (84%ile)
GPAs: undergrad: 3.51 primary undergrad college 3.52, Req'd: 3.25, cumulative: 3.38, last 45: 3.47 grad school: 3.2
Experience:
Veterinary hours:
Exotic veterinary: 200h clinical, 50h museum
Research veterinary: 3000h (3 years is a long, long time...)
small animal veterinary: 365h
Animal:
horse handling: 20h (years ago...)
wildlife research: 30h (study abroad, years ago)
no kill shelter: 100h
show/breeding/finding homes for puppies/talking to owners over the years: 16 years, I said 5000 hours but that is an underestimation
Honors:
Bachelors - cum laude
undergrad research publication
various academic achievement awards based on GPA in college
High school:
academic awards, honor guard, honor roll, state exams... cross country, track, all academic awards for high GPA while doing sports, AP classes, etc.
Community activities:
Studied abroad for a semester
America Reads -helped 2nd and 3rd graders with literacy activities, America Counts - tutored 8th graders in algebra, and another community program (I played with pre-school kids in an "academic preparedness setting")
Lived in Green house as an undergraduate... yes, we composted our food and recycled our trash
Served on various committees in college to make a difference in the world in society and environmentally (I loved my liberal arts school 🙂)
eLORs:
1. PhD - with whom I've worked for masters
2. PhD - with whom I did research as undergrad
3. DVM - exotic, most recent
4. supervisor for whom I did community based programs as undergrad
Employment:
Research Assistant (for last year and a half - lots of studies with many fish)
Teaching Assistant (3 semesters before that; taught 2 lab sections of 24 students)
Research assistant (2 summers as undergrad, water quality environmental studies)
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2008
- Messages
- 207
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 4,551
- Location
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Veterinary Student
I hadn't heard of it until 8th grade, right before I applied. Some students came to talk to us, and they brought a brain in a jar, and I was hooked, lol. It's a really great school. Besides the clinical rotations, one of my favorite classes was Diagnostic Laboratory Skills, where I learned venipuncture, lab sample analysis (of blood and urine), and just lab stuff in general. We also studied a lot of hematology (I remember having fun drawing coagulation cascades, hehe).
Thank you for saying this! Looking at all of these GPAs and experience hours have been making me so nervous! I just keep thinking how there's no way I can get x-amount of hours and my GPA up to a 3.8 or something before applying.
