First time applicant, 22 years old, Female, California resident.
Applied: Edinburgh U, RVC, Massey U, Glasgow U, UC Davis
Interview: Glasgow U, UC Davis (I declined the interview)
Accepted: Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies (Edinburgh), RVC, Massey U, Glasgow U
Attending: Edinburgh!!!
Cum GPA @ time of application: 3.73
Last 45 credit hrs: 4.0
Science GPA @ time of application: 4.0
GRE: 154q, 159v, 3.5 AW *I took the new GRE once, and very last minute. I wish I had the time to study for it but I guess it didn't matter after all!
Veterinary Experience:
-1400 hours working at a small animal hospital as a vet assistant. We also saw exotics, birds of prey, and wildlife. (this is the number I put on VMCAS, but I continued working there up through last month)
-150 hours interning at the Inland Valley Humane Society Vet Hospital
-20 hours shadowing a traveling orthopedic surgeon
-30 hours assisting Western U vet classes held at the animal units (beef, sheep, swine) I lived on.
Animal Experience:
1520 hours of wildlife rehabilitation and animal fostering. The number of hours was much more than that but I didn't have contact for a lot of the time so I only listed what I could reasonably prove. I've been doing it since I was a kid and I love it!
-1737 hours of paid animal experience working at Petsmart. I took care of the animals in the store.
-736 hours as a paid farmhand living at my UG's beef cattle unit, maintaining the herd and facilities. I even grew the hay pastures for the cattle.
-1260 hours as a volunteer farmhand at my UG's beef, sheep, and swine units
-1824 hours of Equestrian pleasure riding. My grandma had me working with her horses since before I can remember. I mentioned that I learned how to properly handle, maintain, ride, and interact with horses.
-612 hours on my UG's intercollegiate horse show team.
Other employment:
-320 hours working in student housing at my dorm
Extracurricular/Community Activities:
-2 years on my College's Council as an elected board (treasurer and then publicity). We basically managed clubs, distributed club funding from the University, hosted beautification events (we would get clubs to meet up and clean/touch-up school facilities) and held community outreach/charity events.
-3 years performing in my UG's concert choir
-12 years playing soccer
-15 years doing art: b&w photography/modeling, figure/portrait drawing, painting, silk-screening, charcoal, you name it.
-7 years of musical theater! I miss it so much!
-18 years dancing. Some of it was on 2 competitive teams, some in classes, and some in performances.
eLORS:
-vet from the SA vet hospital I worked at
-my academic adviser/teacher and head of the Animal Science Department at my UG
-a vet that was also my teacher in UG. I was he and his wife's pet/house sitter multiple times
Awards and Honors:
-Dean's list 9 quarters
-President's List 2 years
-Inducted into the Gamma Sigma Delta Honor Society
-I had a poem published in 2006 (random, I know)
Personal Statement: I wrote about my mother encouraging my passion for animal rehabilitation. She enrolled me in a day course offered by a local vet hospital going through a vet's day to day business; I was immediately smitten with a vet's career. I then talked about overcoming her death and how it only strengthened my desire to become a vet. I described my efforts and experiences towards getting into vet school. I finished up by outlining what my career goals were as a veterinarian. I really think my passion and my ability to overcome adversity was really important. I had an RVC alumni that assists with their North American admissions (also happens to be my teacher) read it over for me, revision after revision. I had everybody read it and give me input which was really helpful; my housemate (my fifth reader) pointed out that I said I used to drink out of dog "bowels" when I meant "bowls"! No one else had noticed it! That would have been a strange read.
Explanation section: I had 2 Ws which really had me scared. My vet/teacher said to just be honest about the issues that caused them and that it would be fine. It was. No one ever asked me about it. I just wrote that I was still depressed my first couple of quarters following my mother's death. My lack of mental health coupled with a serious head injury got me off to a rough start in college. I took a quarter off, came back to school refreshed and happy. I then proceeded to kick ass in class. I finished strong and that is what the adcoms cared about.
I almost threw in the towel a few times and I am so glad that I pushed through it all. I can't believe I am finally going to the vet school of my dreams!
😍
You go girl! 
