Successful Applicant Stats - Class of 2020

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They do! 🙂 I asked about it in my interview today. Basically your third year you pick something to focus in, and if you don't know, you just choose mixed animal.
But, this is different from traditional tracking because it's not until third year, right?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
 
26y female, 1st time applicant, New York resident

Applied: Davis, Cornell, Colorado, North Carolina, Wisconsin, VA-MD, Penn, Oregon, Tennessee, Minnesota
Interviews: Minnesota, Tennessee (cancelled both)
Rejected: Davis, VA-MD, Penn
Waitlisted: Wisconsin
Accepted: Cornell, Colorado, North Carolina, Oregon

Attending: Still not sure!! It's between Cornell (my IS, close to home), and NC State (cheaper, great weather, amazing research institution)

Degrees: Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and American Studies

Overall GPA: 3.8
Last 45: 3.9
Science GPA: 3.85

GRE (Q/V/W): 166/161/4.5

Veterinary Experience:
Vet assistant at a SA general practice (1000+ hrs)
Canine physical therapist for last three years (4500+ hrs)

Research Experience:
None!

Animal Experience:
Stable hand/pony trainer throughout high school (1000+ hrs)
Farm animal care (cows, sheep, pigs, chickens) in lower-middle school (500+ hrs)
 
23y female, 1st time applicant, New York resident

Applied: Davis, Cornell, North Carolina, Wisconsin, VA-MD, Illinois, Kansas, Georgia, Penn, Tufts, Florida, Ohio, Iowa (I think that's it...)
Interviews: Penn, Tufts, Ohio (declined), Kansas, Iowa (declined), VA-MD (declined), Illinois (declined)
Rejected: Davis, NC, Florida
Waitlisted: Wisconsin (removed self), Georgia (removed self)
Accepted: Cornell, Penn, Tufts, Kansas

Attending: Not sure. Between Cornell and Penn, split 50% 50%. It changes everyday.

Degrees: Double major (BS in bio, BA in math)

Overall GPA: 3.46 (well-regarded undergrad)
Last 45: 3.67
Science GPA: 3.5

GRE (Q/V/W): 161/168/5.5

Veterinary Experience:
Vet assistant at a SA general practice (600hrs)
Shadowing SA gen practice (500hrs)
Shadowing equine vet and practice (90hrs)
Shadowing specialty vet (40 hours)
Shadowing lab animal vet (40 hours)

Research Experience:
250 hours internship
50 hours shadowing

Animal Experience:
animal shelter (40 hours)
 
21 female, 1st time applicant, New Hampshire resident (OOS everywhere)

Applied: Cornell, NCSU, Tufts, Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, Michigan, Auburn
Rejected: NCSU
Waitlisted: Cornell - accepted off the waitlist
Accepted: Ohio, Tufts, Auburn, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee

Attending: Cornell!!! :soexcited:

Degrees: B.S. in Biomedical Science

Overall GPA: 3.70
Last 45: 3.96
Science GPA: 3.70

GRE (Q/V/W): 159/161/4.5

Veterinary Experience:
480 hours surgical technician at a high volume spay/neuter clinic
234 hours kennel technician at a small animal practice
192 hours vet tech assistant as the same small animal practice
40 hours externing at equine referral and surgery hospital
29 hours shadowing herd health veterinarian
55 hours externing at a mixed animal practice
220 hours externing at equine/large animal practice
45 hours performing and observing necropsies


Research Experience:
50 hours working with desert mice mainly looking at histo
36 hours working on dairy cattle feed study (feeding, drawing blood, etc.)


Animal Experience:
162 hours volunteer at animal shelter
24 hours volunteer with therapeutic riding program
170 hours volunteer at center for wildlife
224 hours in CREAM (class at my school where you manage a string of dairy cows)
120 hours working on a dairy farm


Extracurriculars/Awards:
President of Animal Welfare Alliance
Secretary of Animal Welfare Alliance (prior to becoming president)
Member of Pre-Vet Club
Deans List/High Honors
Presidential Scholarship


Non-Animal Related Employment:

1320 hours working as a hard drive tester
350 hours waitressing

Personal Statement:
I talked about the process of switching my major and determining I wanted to be a veterinarian. I then went on to talk about how each of the vets I had worked for exemplified certain qualities that make a good veterinarian using specific examples and how my experiences led me to my future goals. It sounds really boring but I ended up being pretty happy with it.
 
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How come you didn't include those 300 hours of vet tech assistant as vet experience?
Because I was applying to a school that required a minimum of 250 animal experience hours and by the time I realized that I wouldn't have the time to make up those hours so I let myself suffer and took some of my hours from vet experience into my animal experience because, at my job, during times I wasn't directly observing, I would be doing stuff that the vet school described as "animal experience"
 
Because I was applying to a school that required a minimum of 250 animal experience hours and by the time I realized that I wouldn't have the time to make up those hours so I let myself suffer and took some of my hours from vet experience into my animal experience because, at my job, during times I wasn't directly observing, I would be doing stuff that the vet school described as "animal experience"

I wonder if you had those extra 250 under vet if that would have improved your chance with UF? I have similar stats as you and FL is my IS so I'm trying to curb my statistics to what they want. When I spoke to someone there they said 1000 was competitive. I will be having around 1000 hours at the time of applying so I hope that will be enough 😱 I thought 800 was pretty good so I was kind of surprised
 
I wonder if you had those extra 250 under vet if that would have improved your chance with UF? I have similar stats as you and FL is my IS so I'm trying to curb my statistics to what they want. When I spoke to someone there they said 1000 was competitive. I will be having around 1000 hours at the time of applying so I hope that will be enough 😱 I thought 800 was pretty good so I was kind of surprised
Personally I don't think they would have. I was too vague before but UF said I didn't have enough vet experience in that I wasn't diverse enough in my experience and I lacked hours in the area of diversity. You should probably be fine tho if that's your IS! And I've been scanning these boards for so long now trying to locate a "pattern" for the perfect vet applicant and everyone is so diverse and so wonderful that I could not locate that pattern. It may sound so lame but you'll go where you're suppose to go! Proud to say that I will be a part of the UGA class of 2020!!
P.S. Good luck! I'm sure you will get in with all of the hard work you've put in!
 
Personally I don't think they would have. I was too vague before but UF said I didn't have enough vet experience in that I wasn't diverse enough in my experience and I lacked hours in the area of diversity. You should probably be fine tho if that's your IS! And I've been scanning these boards for so long now trying to locate a "pattern" for the perfect vet applicant and everyone is so diverse and so wonderful that I could not locate that pattern. It may sound so lame but you'll go where you're suppose to go! Proud to say that I will be a part of the UGA class of 2020!!
P.S. Good luck! I'm sure you will get in with all of the hard work you've put in!

Congratulations and good luck to you too!!
 
*Mediocre GPA and low vet experience hours people have hope!*
I'm posting this for the applicants like me who felt like they didn't stand a chance after reading some of these AMAZING stats! Seriously, you guys are ridiculously impressive.

21 female, 1st time applicant, Tennessee resident

Applied: UTK
Accepted: UTK

Degree: Animal Science BS, minors in Biology and Chemistry

Overall GPA: 3.49 (at time of application - went to 3.52 after last semester but they didn't see this)
Science GPA: Not totally sure, made A's in all upper division courses, but made C's in Bio 2 and Chem 2 (didn't take classes as seriously first two years)
Last 45: 3.56 - If I had not gotten in and reapplied, my last 45 would have changed to a 3.91 (last semester add in, one bad grade that I had to retake drop off)

GRE: 307 (don't remember the breakdown), 3.5 on writing I think.

Veterinary Experience:
400 hours small animal clinic
31 hours volunteering at mixed practice
6 hours shadowing anatomical pathologists

Animal Experience:
Didn't put any on my application

Non-Animal Related Work Experience:
Seriously didn't put any of these on my application either. I worked for 3 years for the same retail company and then worked for a year and a half on and off at another retail company. I don't know what I was thinking when I filled out my application!

Research Experience:
1 semester researching frequency of S. neurona exposure (can cause EPM) in horses around middle Tennessee.

Extracurriculars/Awards:
Again, didn't put any on my application (whoops!)

Focus: Pathology (probably Anatomic, specifically)

LORs:
Small animal veterinarian I worked for
Major advisor
Histology professor I assisted for 1 semester

Personal Statement: Talked about my path to realizing disease and pathology are my passions - in my interview this was what we talked about, and I believe it was obvious that I'm serious about it! 🙂 Not everyone is interested in specializing, but ultimately I feel like this is what helped me most!
 
I wonder if you had those extra 250 under vet if that would have improved your chance with UF? I have similar stats as you and FL is my IS so I'm trying to curb my statistics to what they want. When I spoke to someone there they said 1000 was competitive. I will be having around 1000 hours at the time of applying so I hope that will be enough 😱 I thought 800 was pretty good so I was kind of surprised
UF is really big on diversity. They want you to have as many different vet experiences as possible with a solid amount of hours in each. They only require 500 hours but want to see those 500 hours to be high quality experiences in different fields of veterinary medicine. I only had around 700 hours when I applied, but of those 700 hours I had a least 200 hours of small animal, equine, and wildlife. I also had research hours so I believe my diversity of experience really helped me because I didn't have thousands of hours as other applicants since I started a little later than others. But best of luck on your application!
 
21y female, 1st time applicant, Maine resident
*GPA calculated to include fall grades

Applied: Illinois, VA-MD, North Carolina, Tufts, Wisconsin, Missouri
Interviews: Tufts, Missouri, Illinois (declined)
Rejected: North Carolina, VA-MD
Accepted: Tufts, Missouri, Wisconsin
Attending: Tufts!!!!!

Degrees: Graduating class ’16 B.S. in Animal and Veterinary Science

Overall GPA: 3.79
Last 45: 3.81
Science GPA: 3.73

GRE (Q/V/W): 159/161/4.5

Veterinary Experience:
720 hours Emergency/Specialty Hospital Tech-Assistant (intensive 2 year experience)
15 hours Shelter Technician Assisting and Spay/Neuter Observation
5 hours Equine veterinary assisting

Research Experience:
1170 hours Idexx intern working on R&D hematology team (3 summers)
100 hours Streptococcus equi. PCR work

Animal Experience:
700 hours working with and retraining retired Standardbred race horses (4 years)
150+ hours volunteer (K9 trainer, care, P.R., adoption assistance) at animal shelter (4 years)
2000+ hours fostering (kittens and medical fosters) (6 years)
30 hours milking and handling dairy herd
400 hours volunteer at second animal shelter (7 years)
1300+ hours training and competing with AKC agility border collies

Extracurricular/Awards:
President of Standardbred Drill Team
Dale Carnegie public speaking graduate
Miss Maine’s Outstanding Teen 2011 (platform: Help Homeless Animals: Adopt, Donate, Volunteer)
Maine Merit Scholarship, Edward and Grace Cutting Merit Scholarship, John P. Deering Scholarship
Dean’s List all semesters
Maine AllState Singer
President’s Award for Educational Excellence
5000+ hours theater and music groups
National Forensic League: Degree of Honor
Youth Leadership Group Spokesperson

Non-Animal Related Employment:
740 hours Camp Counselor
100 hours Model (New England Model Group & Click Model Management)

Personal Statements: I discussed several of what I believe to be the most important aspects of being a veterinarian, and how I learned to best handle these situations with my experience in both specialty/emergency medicine and shelter medicine. I also discussed my time as Miss Maine’s Outstanding Teen and how it helped me learn how to communicate effectively. Finally I spoke about my laboratory work at Idexx, and how I gained respect for all of the work that goes behind some of the most vital clinical instruments. I liked it 😀
 
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I can finally post here since I've heard back from all of the schools I applied to as of this morning. This is gonna be long, sorry y’all.

20 year old female, first time applicant, TX resident
Applied
: Texas A&M (IS), Colorado State University (DVM/MPH program specifically), Wisconsin, NCSU
Interviewed: TAMU (other three do not currently interview)
Waitlisted: N/A
Rejected: NCSU
Accepted: CSU (DVM/MPH), TAMU, Wisconsin
Attending: ??? 😱 (UPDATE: Attending CSU's DVM/MPH program!)

Degree: B.S. in Zoology with a minor in Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University (graduating May 2016)

TAMU doesn’t include +/- grades in their GPAs, so the GPAs that TAMU calculated are in parentheses.
Overall GPA: 3.98 (4.0)
Science GPA: ~3.98 (4.0)
Last 45 credits: 4.0 (4.0)

GRE(Q/V/W): 155 (60%) /166 (96%)/5.5 (98%)

Veterinary Experience:
  • Veterinary Technician at an Animal Control facility in Texas - ~830 hours. This job was a hoot and a half and I got to sedate/medicate/skin scrape/vaccinate/draw blood on/intubate animals, help with necropsies, work on cruelty cases, work with feral animals, etc. I highly recommend you all find a local animal control/shelter to get some experience at. 😉
  • Some shadowing of small animal private practice vets (a few in TX and a few in CO)
  • Various labs put on by veterinarians on different topics (equine lameness evaluations, myofascial palpation, etc.)
Research Experience:
  • This one sort of doubles as veterinary experience – helped with a USDA study on dairy calf welfare under the supervision of a DVM/(PhD in progress). I mainly drew blood from Holstein calves and collected fecal samples
  • I guess I also did an honors thesis on bats as vectors of viral zoonotic diseases and the impact this has on public health and conservation, but it was a literature review, not original research.
Animal Experience:
  • Pet sitting – ~200-300 hours (I know, everybody pet sits – mine included caring for geriatric animals, medicating pets, caring for random animals like tortoises/lizards/birds/horses, and sometimes clicker training animals… I’m a weird pet sitter)
  • Showed hogs (also learned how to show sheep and cows)
  • Some special dissection days that I went to for a class I was in – we dissected emus, pinnipeds, and some native CO wildlife
  • Volunteered at a raptor rescue as part of a city-wide volunteering day
  • I was an officer in the Pre-Vet Club for three years (more on this later) and every year we put on a huge event called Pre-Vet Day. I ran the exotics lab, a bird/reptile handling lab, and helped in a lot of the other activities we put on (sheep necropsies, ruminant digestion labs, horse handling, etc.)
  • Volunteered at adoption events (puppy time!)
  • Volunteered at Doggie Olympics (I mostly judged events and helped out the competitors, which is honestly more fun than hanging out with the dogs!)
  • Volunteered at a wolf dog sanctuary a few times
  • Took a class on humane livestock handling, so I had a few hours from that as well as experience designing low-stress chute systems for cattle
  • Socialized/trained lab rabbits on campus
  • I also bred and raised leopard geckos in middle/high school (reptiles are my faves)
  • I think I mentioned horseback riding lessons from when I was a wee child on there as well, mostly so the adcoms knew that I have in fact seen a horse before 😛
  • Some experience working with beef and dairy cattle for my animal nutrition class (only Wisconsin heard about this, since it started after I submitted my VMCAS application but before their supplemental was due)
Non-Animal Employment:
  • RA on campus for 2.5 years (I have some great stories from this, by the way, but more importantly this really honed my ability to be empathetic and considerate to others. I’m also decently nifty in a crisis now, too.)
  • Worked the front desk at a residence hall on campus (started the same semester I applied)
Extracurriculars/Doodads:
  • Officer in the school’s Pre-Vet Club for 3 years (and a member the year before that). I was Newsletter Editor, Community Outreach Coordinator, then President. We’re a pretty big club on campus (~200 members) and Pre-Vet Club is one of my favorite things. 😀 I have a lot of random experiences here and there that came from being a part of this club, too – for example, every Valentine’s Day we do a heart dissection with some of the anatomy professors.
  • Some suture clinics here and there (I can stitch a mean banana). :banana:
  • Tutored for: introductory physiology class, introductory biology lab. I also TA for the undergraduate anatomy class now (never mentioned it on my applications because I didn’t start TAing until this semester).
  • Coordinated a food drive for the Pre-Vet Club – we collected over 500 lbs worth of food.
  • Volunteered to help out at a Cat Care Conference that CSU veterinary students put on every year (which is great not only because I got to meet a ton of cool cat ladies/dudes, but also because they let me watch the lectures because I volunteered)
  • Volunteered to clean up leaf litter/trash from public parks and from the homes of elderly people who were unable to do so themselves
  • (Accidentally) Taught CPR classes around south Texas with a lady my mom worked with.
  • Guest Services volunteer at the Texas State Aquarium.
  • Volunteered in food and supply drives for the local cat rescue – collected nearly $1000 in one day for them.
  • Volunteered directing traffic/general help for a Halloween 5K race that a local hotel puts on every year.
  • I’ve done standup a few times and wasn’t booed off the stage! 🙄
  • I have also competed in National Novel Writing Month a few times (I used to do it every year, but dialed it back when I got busier) and “won” it every time (the goal of NaNo is to write 50,000 words of a novel in a month – there’s no real verification process, hence the quotation marks around “won”).
  • I also mentioned a few odds and ends from high school, mostly because I felt like it. I tutored AP US History, founded/was president of the Physics Club, was president of Speech & Debate, and was VP of the Creative Writing Club. I also did IB in high school, though I doubt anyone cared about that.
Awards:
  • Dean’s List every semester (I should graduate Magna Cum Laude)
  • Had a poem and a short nonfiction piece published in a magazine a few years ago.
  • Had a species account submitted for publication for Cornell’s Neotropical Bird website (now if they would get around to publishing it, that would be nice).
  • Phi Beta Kappa (only 123/3600 students in my class were invited to join, or so I was told in the email when they asked me to be in it)
  • Golden Key (lmao)
  • Some Scholarships
  • Mentioned some Speech & Debate competitions from high school – I competed in radio broadcasting and placed 7/30 in one tournament and 11/51 in another.
LORs:
  • Head Veterinarian at the Animal Control facility I worked at for ~3 years
  • Herpetology professor
  • Former boss (actually my old Residence Director who supervised me during my second year as an RA)
Personal Statement:
I wrote it about scabies (I’m only half kidding, but seriously – nothing gets me excited like my scabies babies).

Other Essays:
I know this is a weird section, but since I got into a dual degree program I thought I’d mention it, since I had to write what was essentially a personal statement (but public health related!) when I applied to the DVM/MPH. The prompt for this one was HUGE (4 part prompt that took up about a page) and I think the character count was ~5000? Anyway, I wrote this essay about my relationship with diseases, including the time my mother almost died of an infection and the CDC was called out to investigate. I talked again about my love for educating others, as well as how I liked that public health requires very holistic/big picture type thinking. I built the whole essay around an old Italian proverb that I found (“Illness tells us what we are”) and ended it by saying that public health tells us what we can be.

Anyway, if any of you in the future have questions about dual degree essays or even supplemental application essays, feel free to PM me. I love writing and I’m always down to help other people workshop ideas. 😀
 
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I can finally post here since I've heard back from all of the schools I applied to as of this morning. This is gonna be long, sorry y’all.

20 year old female, first time applicant, TX resident
Applied
: Texas A&M (IS), Colorado State University (DVM/MPH program specifically), Wisconsin, NCSU
Interviewed: TAMU (other three do not currently interview)
Waitlisted: N/A
Rejected: NCSU
Accepted: CSU (DVM/MPH), TAMU, Wisconsin
Attending: ??? 😱

Degree: B.S. in Zoology with a minor in Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University (graduating May 2016)

TAMU doesn’t include +/- grades in their GPAs, so the GPAs that TAMU calculated are in parentheses.
Overall GPA: 3.98 (4.0)
Science GPA: ~3.98 (4.0)
Last 45 credits: 4.0 (4.0)

GRE(Q/V/W): 155 (60%) /166 (96%)/5.5 (98%)

Veterinary Experience:
  • Veterinary Technician at an Animal Control facility in Texas - ~830 hours. This job was a hoot and a half and I got to sedate/medicate/skin scrape/vaccinate/draw blood on/intubate animals, help with necropsies, work on cruelty cases, work with feral animals, etc. I highly recommend you all find a local animal control/shelter to get some experience at. 😉
  • Some shadowing of small animal private practice vets (a few in TX and a few in CO)
  • Various labs put on by veterinarians on different topics (equine lameness evaluations, myofascial palpation, etc.)
Research Experience:
  • This one sort of doubles as veterinary experience – helped with a USDA study on dairy calf welfare under the supervision of a DVM/(PhD in progress). I mainly drew blood from Holstein calves and collected fecal samples
  • I guess I also did an honors thesis on bats as vectors of viral zoonotic diseases and the impact this has on public health and conservation, but it was a literature review, not original research.
Animal Experience:
  • Pet sitting – ~200-300 hours (I know, everybody pet sits – mine included caring for geriatric animals, medicating pets, caring for random animals like tortoises/lizards/birds/horses, and sometimes clicker training animals… I’m a weird pet sitter)
  • Showed hogs (also learned how to show sheep and cows)
  • Some special dissection days that I went to for a class I was in – we dissected emus, pinnipeds, and some native CO wildlife
  • Volunteered at a raptor rescue as part of a city-wide volunteering day
  • I was an officer in the Pre-Vet Club for three years (more on this later) and every year we put on a huge event called Pre-Vet Day. I ran the exotics lab, a bird/reptile handling lab, and helped in a lot of the other activities we put on (sheep necropsies, ruminant digestion labs, horse handling, etc.)
  • Volunteered at adoption events (puppy time!)
  • Volunteered at Doggie Olympics (I mostly judged events and helped out the competitors, which is honestly more fun than hanging out with the dogs!)
  • Volunteered at a wolf dog sanctuary a few times
  • Took a class on humane livestock handling, so I had a few hours from that as well as experience designing low-stress chute systems for cattle
  • Socialized/trained lab rabbits on campus
  • I also bred and raised leopard geckos in middle/high school (reptiles are my faves)
  • I think I mentioned horseback riding lessons from when I was a wee child on there as well, mostly so the adcoms knew that I have in fact seen a horse before 😛
  • Some experience working with beef and dairy cattle for my animal nutrition class (only Wisconsin heard about this, since it started after I submitted my VMCAS application but before their supplemental was due)
Non-Animal Employment:
  • RA on campus for 2.5 years (I have some great stories from this, by the way, but more importantly this really honed my ability to be empathetic and considerate to others. I’m also decently nifty in a crisis now, too.)
  • Worked the front desk at a residence hall on campus (started the same semester I applied)
Extracurriculars/Doodads:
  • Officer in the school’s Pre-Vet Club for 3 years (and a member the year before that). I was Newsletter Editor, Community Outreach Coordinator, then President. We’re a pretty big club on campus (~200 members) and Pre-Vet Club is one of my favorite things. 😀 I have a lot of random experiences here and there that came from being a part of this club, too – for example, every Valentine’s Day we do a heart dissection with some of the anatomy professors.
  • Some suture clinics here and there (I can stitch a mean banana). :banana:
  • Tutored for: introductory physiology class, introductory biology lab. I also TA for the undergraduate anatomy class now (never mentioned it on my applications because I didn’t start TAing until this semester).
  • Coordinated a food drive for the Pre-Vet Club – we collected over 500 lbs worth of food.
  • Volunteered to help out at a Cat Care Conference that CSU veterinary students put on every year (which is great not only because I got to meet a ton of cool cat ladies/dudes, but also because they let me watch the lectures because I volunteered)
  • Volunteered to clean up leaf litter/trash from public parks and from the homes of elderly people who were unable to do so themselves
  • (Accidentally) Taught CPR classes around south Texas with a lady my mom worked with.
  • Guest Services volunteer at the Texas State Aquarium.
  • Volunteered in food and supply drives for the local cat rescue – collected nearly $1000 in one day for them.
  • Volunteered directing traffic/general help for a Halloween 5K race that a local hotel puts on every year.
  • I’ve done standup a few times and wasn’t booed off the stage! 🙄
  • I have also competed in National Novel Writing Month a few times (I used to do it every year, but dialed it back when I got busier) and “won” it every time (the goal of NaNo is to write 50,000 words of a novel in a month – there’s no real verification process, hence the quotation marks around “won”).
  • I also mentioned a few odds and ends from high school, mostly because I felt like it. I tutored AP US History, founded/was president of the Physics Club, was president of Speech & Debate, and was VP of the Creative Writing Club. I also did IB in high school, though I doubt anyone cared about that.
Awards:
  • Dean’s List every semester (I should graduate Magna Cum Laude)
  • Had a poem and a short nonfiction piece published in a magazine a few years ago.
  • Had a species account submitted for publication for Cornell’s Neotropical Bird website (now if they would get around to publishing it, that would be nice).
  • Phi Beta Kappa (only 123/3600 students in my class were invited to join, or so I was told in the email when they asked me to be in it)
  • Golden Key (lmao)
  • Some Scholarships
  • Mentioned some Speech & Debate competitions from high school – I competed in radio broadcasting and placed 7/30 in one tournament and 11/51 in another.
LORs:
  • Head Veterinarian at the Animal Control facility I worked at for ~3 years
  • Herpetology professor
  • Former boss (actually my old Residence Director who supervised me during my second year as an RA)
Personal Statement:
I wrote it about scabies (I’m only half kidding, but seriously – nothing gets me excited like my scabies babies).

Other Essays:
I know this is a weird section, but since I got into a dual degree program I thought I’d mention it, since I had to write what was essentially a personal statement (but public health related!) when I applied to the DVM/MPH. The prompt for this one was HUGE (4 part prompt that took up about a page) and I think the character count was ~5000? Anyway, I wrote this essay about my relationship with diseases, including the time my mother almost died of an infection and the CDC was called out to investigate. I talked again about my love for educating others, as well as how I liked that public health requires very holistic/big picture type thinking. I built the whole essay around an old Italian proverb that I found (“Illness tells us what we are”) and ended it by saying that public health tells us what we can be.

Anyway, if any of you in the future have question about dual degree essays or even supplemental application essays, feel free to PM me. I love writing and I’m always down to help other people workshop ideas. 😀

Your stats look amazing! To be honest I'm absolutely shocked that you weren't accepted at NCSU as well! Good luck with your decision, looks like you have some great programs to choose from!
 
Your stats look amazing! To be honest I'm absolutely shocked that you weren't accepted at NCSU as well! Good luck with your decision, looks like you have some great programs to choose from!
Thanks for the vote of confidence. 😉 To be honest, I was surprised by the rejection as well, only because I thought I had a decent chance at a waitlist position (nothing's ever guaranteed though, of course). NCSU is super competitive though (not that the other schools I applied to aren't), and with ~700 applicants for 20 positions I think at a certain point OOS applications become a bit of a crapshoot. My guess is that my lack of variety in my veterinary experiences is what shot me in the foot for their program, though. Frankly, I'm really honored that any of these schools wanted me - they're all wonderful and it's really humbling to see my hard work from the past few years paying off.

Either way, I have a lot of choices to make... and no idea how to make them. I can barely decide what to eat for dinner, so actual life choices are kind of like my kryptonite. 😳
 
25 year old female, 1st time applicant from Georgia

Applied: Georgia, LMU, Oregon, VMCVM, Mississippi State, Illinois, Missouri, Washington, Midwestern, Tufts

Interview: Illinois (did not attend), Mississippi State (did not attend), LMU, Midwestern

Waitlist: Oregon, VMCVM, Tufts

Accepted: Georgia, Midwestern, (haven't heard from LMU)

Attending: Georgia

Overall GPA: 3.4
Science GPA: 3.7
Last 45: 3.8
GRE: (Q/V/W) 153/150/4.8

Degrees: Bachelors of Science (Biology) 2015

Veterinary Experience: 9,000 hours at two different practices both small animal.

Animal Experience: I was the head of the Animal care facilities at my University for two years.

Research experience: Researched Hox genes and the effects of amphetamines on aquatic animals for two years.

Non-veterinary experience: served tables at a high end restaurant for two years while working at an animal hospital.

Extracurricular Activities/Awards:
HOPE scholarship 3 years
CRC scholarship for 2 years
Captain of the women's lacrosse team
played rugby for 1 year
deans list or presidents list the last 2 years.
Vice president of the Pre-vet club

LORs:
My research advisor
Three different doctors I worked extensively with
My vertebrate anatomy professor


Personal Statement:
I discussed my struggles in the early years of my college career leading to a low GPA my freshman year and why I took three years off from school. I then talked about how I fell in love with veterinary medicine and how I decided nothing would stop me from pursing my dreams of becoming a veterinarian.

I think my strong personal statement- which explained why my overall GPA was low but without my freshman year I would have had a 3.65 overall- was the turning point in my application. I did not have large animal experience nor volunteer hours but a come back story seemed to intrigue a few schools. I did not have straight A's in my gen ed courses but my science classes I showed a strong interest in. I did have VERY strong LORs and research experience. What I am trying to say is- you don't have to be the cookie cutter student to get into veterinary school... I even had an advisor tell me my sophomore year that I would never become a veterinarian and I should change my major.
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence. 😉 To be honest, I was surprised by the rejection as well, only because I thought I had a decent chance at a waitlist position (nothing's ever guaranteed though, of course). NCSU is super competitive though (not that the other schools I applied to aren't), and with ~700 applicants for 20 positions I think at a certain point OOS applications become a bit of a crapshoot. My guess is that my lack of variety in my veterinary experiences is what shot me in the foot for their program, though. Frankly, I'm really honored that any of these schools wanted me - they're all wonderful and it's really humbling to see my hard work from the past few years paying off.

Either way, I have a lot of choices to make... and no idea how to make them. I can barely decide what to eat for dinner, so actual life choices are kind of like my kryptonite. 😳
This application is killer as is the enthusiasm. NCSU might regret this one...I'm shocked. This makes my IS application look pitiful. You got me worried!

Well done and best of luck on your decision! Remember money talks so go where it's cheap 😛
 
This application is killer as is the enthusiasm. NCSU might regret this one...I'm shocked. This makes my IS application look pitiful. You got me worried!

Well done and best of luck on your decision! Remember money talks so go where it's cheap 😛
Thank you! You shouldn't worry about your IS application - I hear the dartboard is bigger for IS students everywhere 😉
 
Either way, I have a lot of choices to make... and no idea how to make them. I can barely decide what to eat for dinner, so actual life choices are kind of like my kryptonite. 😳

The decision is easy...come to A&M! We have every service, hands-on skills from the get go, a BRAND NEW school, awesome wet labs (Zoo/Exotics, Food Animal, Equine, Lab Animal), active clubs for any interest, tons of research opportunities, close to 3 major cities w/ excellent externship possibilities + potential for conferences (AAHA is in Austin this year, AVMA is in San Antonio, ExoticsCon was in San Antonio last year, AAZV will be in Dallas next year, and so on!), a 2-week rotation at SPCA in Houston where you get tons of surgery experience, plus super dedicated professors and administration. And we have pie!*

*There is no guarantee for pie.
 
The decision is easy...come to A&M! We have every service, hands-on skills from the get go, a BRAND NEW school, awesome wet labs (Zoo/Exotics, Food Animal, Equine, Lab Animal), active clubs for any interest, tons of research opportunities, close to 3 major cities w/ excellent externship possibilities + potential for conferences (AAHA is in Austin this year, AVMA is in San Antonio, ExoticsCon was in San Antonio last year, AAZV will be in Dallas next year, and so on!), a 2-week rotation at SPCA in Houston where you get tons of surgery experience, plus super dedicated professors and administration. And we have pie!*

*There is no guarantee for pie.
Haha, I swear TAMU has been placing people everywhere in my life to convince me to come there. They don't happen to train you in Jedi mind tricks there as well, do they? 😛 (if they do, tell me now because I'd definitely attend for that!)

But seriously, I've had people who've never even been to TX before tell me to go to A&M! People seem to speak really highly of the school, which is a great thing to hear! 🙂
 
This application is killer as is the enthusiasm. NCSU might regret this one...I'm shocked. This makes my IS application look pitiful. You got me worried!

Well done and best of luck on your decision! Remember money talks so go where it's cheap 😛

Agreed her app had me shaking in my boots even as an IS!
 
Haha, I swear TAMU has been placing people everywhere in my life to convince me to come there. They don't happen to train you in Jedi mind tricks there as well, do they? 😛 (if they do, tell me now because I'd definitely attend for that!)

But seriously, I've had people who've never even been to TX before tell me to go to A&M! People seem to speak really highly of the school, which is a great thing to hear! 🙂

Perhaps that is a sign? 😉 But, really--go where you think you will be happy! I only applied to A&M because looking at the costs of other places made me want to vomit, even though I would have loved to get out of Texas for once. But I'm saving a lot of money and I really do *gasp* enjoy the program and enjoy going to school, interacting with my classmates, learning from our faculty and clinicians, etc. I could just be weird, though, lol. If there's anything else you want to know about College Station, the school, the program, or anything else, please don't hesitate to contact me! I'll answer as best as I'm able! 🙂
 
Perhaps that is a sign? 😉 But, really--go where you think you will be happy! I only applied to A&M because looking at the costs of other places made me want to vomit, even though I would have loved to get out of Texas for once. But I'm saving a lot of money and I really do *gasp* enjoy the program and enjoy going to school, interacting with my classmates, learning from our faculty and clinicians, etc. I could just be weird, though, lol. If there's anything else you want to know about College Station, the school, the program, or anything else, please don't hesitate to contact me! I'll answer as best as I'm able! 🙂
I definitely will! I've got a friend who goes to TAMU now (she's actually class of 2018 as well) who I've been pestering for a while with questions. I'm conflicted and need to think about it a lot - choosing is also complicated by the fact that I would actually get IS tuition at CSU because of the dual degree program I got into. :nailbiting:

I think I might have some questions to send your way later about public health specifically, since it's quickly become a huge love of mine and I'd like to pursue it in the future. 😀
 
Not to be a creeper, but I vote TAMU as well. Save money, continue to be a part of an awesome network of Aggies, and learn from the most dedicated professors. Even though first year is absolute torture, I love being an Aggie Vet Student (only slightly biased because I did my undergrad and graduate school here)
 
21 year old female, 1st time applicant, MD resident
Applied: Auburn, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi State, NC State, Tennessee, VA-MD
Interviews: Auburn, Florida, MS State, Tennessee, VMRCVM
Rejected: NC State
Waitlisted: Georgia
Accepted: Auburn, Florida, MS State, Tenn., VMRCVM
Attending: Undecided between VMRCVM and UF:help:

Degrees: B.S. in Animal and Veterinary Science - graduating May 2016, minor in Psychology

Overall GPA: 3.86
Last 45: 3.9ish (can't remember)
Science GPA: 3.84

GRE (Q/V/W): 158/155/4.5

Veterinary Experience:

200 hours - intern with equine surgeon
600 hours - small animal hospital vet tech assistant

Animal Experience:

I listed a few 1000 hours working at various horse barns, riding for 10 years, a few hundred hours in animal science courses that focused on hands on animal exposure

Extracurricular/Awards:
president of my school's equestrian team
member of pre-vet club
student ambassador for the animal science department at my school
dean or presidents list for every semester
recipient of merit based scholarships
volunteer experience at a therapeutic riding facility as well as two other barns
spent a few hours at a lab animal research facility
2 semesters working on a project about animal rights with two philosophy professors and a few philosophy students
I did list some small awards from high school and that I was a girl scout as well
work as a server at a local restaurant

LORs
academic advisor who I have been a teaching assistant for and who is the advisor for the club I am president of
equine veterinarian I worked with for a summer
horse riding instructor of 10 years

Personal Statements:

I talked about how I grew up in a military family traveling, and how I first became involved with horses through volunteering at a therapeutic riding facility and then mentioned my vet experience and explained what I want to do with a career in vet medicine.
 
The decision is easy...come to A&M! We have every service, hands-on skills from the get go, a BRAND NEW school, awesome wet labs (Zoo/Exotics, Food Animal, Equine, Lab Animal), active clubs for any interest, tons of research opportunities, close to 3 major cities w/ excellent externship possibilities + potential for conferences (AAHA is in Austin this year, AVMA is in San Antonio, ExoticsCon was in San Antonio last year, AAZV will be in Dallas next year, and so on!), a 2-week rotation at SPCA in Houston where you get tons of surgery experience, plus super dedicated professors and administration. And we have pie!*

*There is no guarantee for pie.

I'm an LA resident and everyone asks me why I didn't apply to A&M. "But Rocky, that's where you go to be a vet!" For one I could not get the funds together to take animal nutrition and the other my stats were lower, so the low number of OOS spots deterred me. My bosses are Aggie vets and you could tell their education was second to none. We seem to have a lot of TAMU grads here! It wasn't possible for me to keep TAMU on my shortlist, but I do recommend the school to other pre vetties a lot!! And I recommend it to OP 😉
 
I'm an LA resident and everyone asks me why I didn't apply to A&M. "But Rocky, that's where you go to be a vet!" For one I could not get the funds together to take animal nutrition and the other my stats were lower, so the low number of OOS spots deterred me. My bosses are Aggie vets and you could tell their education was second to none. We seem to have a lot of TAMU grads here! It wasn't possible for me to keep TAMU on my shortlist, but I do recommend the school to other pre vetties a lot!! And I recommend it to OP 😉

I'm certainly very happy with my education and time spent at A&M so far. Back when I was first thinking of applying (for c/o 2014), I had LSU on my list because I was impressed with the wildlife/exotics program and most of my family is from LA, though we're all located up north and technically I was born in AR--stupid blizzard. But then I freaked out about costs + had some family drama and put vet school on the back burner and pursued other degrees. I'm very glad that I only chose to apply to my IS since I already worry about my financial life after school and I'm not even coming out with the same kind of debt as other students. Blows my mind. In the end, it's their decision, but I think their future selves would be much happier picking the cheaper option than picking their dream school (assuming they're not one in the same). Even something like $20,000 may not seem like that big of a difference, but considering interest on that amount and then capitalization...ugh. No thanks. But I digress! I think any of the schools will produce a great veterinarian if that person has the drive to be a great veterinarian. All schools make good and bad vets. It's down to the student to decide what kind of doctor they will ultimately be. 🙂
 
I'm an LA resident and everyone asks me why I didn't apply to A&M. "But Rocky, that's where you go to be a vet!" For one I could not get the funds together to take animal nutrition and the other my stats were lower, so the low number of OOS spots deterred me. My bosses are Aggie vets and you could tell their education was second to none. We seem to have a lot of TAMU grads here! It wasn't possible for me to keep TAMU on my shortlist, but I do recommend the school to other pre vetties a lot!! And I recommend it to OP 😉

One of the vets I work for told me that LSU grads are the best-prepared out of state vets she's met. We're surrounded by TAMU grads here (being in TX and all); so, I took that as a good sign for LSU. In other words, she was telling me that if I didn't want to stay in state then the wisest course of action is to go to LSU. My point is, if you get into LSU it sounds like you'll be in excellent shape.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
 
One of the vets I work for told me that LSU grads are the best-prepared out of state vets she's met. We're surrounded by TAMU grads here (being in TX and all); so, I took that as a good sign for LSU. In other words, she was telling me that if I didn't want to stay in state then the wisest course of action is to go to LSU. My point is, if you get into LSU it sounds like you'll be in excellent shape.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

Oh, I've heard that too! If I get in I'll be pretty excited 😀
 
Oh, I've heard that too! If I get in I'll be pretty excited 😀
I love LSU and the veterinarians I've worked with who went there have all been hugely important to my general life trajectory, in addition to being great clinicians. I definitely would have applied if I thought I could swing that OOS tuition, but ultimately decided against it.
 
21 year old, Male
1st time applicant
Major: Biology
Minor: Chemistry / Business Administration
FL resident

Applied: UF, NCSU, Kansas, Tennessee, VA/MA, Auburn, UGA
Waitlisted: Kansas, UF
Rejected: NCSU, UGA
Accepted: Auburn, UF (off waitlist), Tennessee, VA/MA
Attending: UF, nothing beats in state tuition

Overall GPA: 3.49 (Lower than average I know)
Science GPA: 3.48
Last 45 credits: 3.85

GRE (Q/V/W): 155 /158 /4.0

Veterinary Experience:
Worked with vet in mobile equine unit: 400
Vet Assistant at a small hospital: 850
Vet Assistant at a surgical practice: 300

Research Experience:
None

Animal Experience:
Grew up on a farm with 5 horses: 5,000+
Worked with horses and training them: 1,500

Non-Animal Employment:
Had a desk job at my University Gym: 800
Worked/working as a boat broker: 500+

Extracurriculars / Etc:
Regular stuff (clubs, honor societies, etc)
Started a freediving club
Held eboard position in Prevet club

LORs:
Animal Communication Professor
Orthopedic Surgeon (vet) I worked with
Small Animal Vet I worked with

Personal Statement:
Wrote about my life growing up in a veterinary family. My father, uncle, and aunt are all vets and how my career choice of veterinary medicine has been made because I love the field but also have a very different view on it. My business background and perspective from my family helps me to see what it takes to be a good practitioner. Its just as much about interacting with people as it is animals. Also went into how important organized veterinary medicine is for the profession. We can't practice in isolation because vet med is a community.

Final thoughts:
My GPA and GRE are pretty average and honestly thought they were going to hurt me. My final 45 though i think are what really helped but in the end i only got rejected from 2 school (both that don't interview). I interview very well and prepared extensively for each one, researching programs and old questions so that helped too. The fact I was a boat broker came out in my interviews 3x more than my experiences haha, they loved that it was something different. So my final thoughts are no matter how "average" you think your application is just find something that makes you stand out. My business background helped make me stand out and also the diversity in my experiences in small animal and large. For me I grew up on the water and love the ocean, being a boat broker was so fun to me and allowed me to make money to save up for vet school. Im proof theres hope for people who have lower/average GPAs :banana:
 
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29 year old female,non-traditional, 1st time applicant, VA resident
Applied: UGA, University of Pennsylvania, Tufts, VMRCVM
Interviews: VMCVM, UPenn, Tufts (declined) [Note: UGA does not interview]
Accepted: VMCVM, UPenn, UGA (declined)
Attending: Undecided between VMRVM and UPEnn
Degrees: Graduated in 2008 with a triple major in Psychology, Economics and German (honors in all three, PBK and ODK membership); Masters in accounting in 2010

Undergrad GPA: 3.82
Science GPA: 4.0
Last 45: 4.0
Cumulative GPA: 3.84

GRE (Q/V/W): 160/163/4.5

Veterinary Experience:

1200 hours - vet assistant at a low cost animal clinic, also including some shelter work
200 hours - vet assistant at an equine and mixed animal vet
120 hours - vet assistant at a zoo
100 hours - shadowing a lab animal veterinarian

Animal Experience:

~200 hours at an animal shelter

Extracurricular/Awards:
I did not include any of the undergrad extracurricular activities I had in undergrad (since it has been a while); I included all of my 12,000+ hours of public accounting and 2,000+ hours of investment banking. I am also a licensed CPA.

LORs
Physics professor at post-bacc institution
Academic advisor at post-bacc institution
Two small animal vets
One large animal vet
 
29/male, first-time applicant

Applied
: Royal Veterinary College, Tufts, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado State University
Interviewed: Royal, Tufts, Minnesota (canceled all my interviews)
Waitlisted: Wisconsin
Accepted: Colorado (WICHE)
Attending: Colorado

Overall GPA: 3.9
Last 45 credits: 4.0

Degree: B.Sc. Nutritional Sciences / Biochemistry Minor

GRE (Q/V/W): 161/159/4.5

Veterinary Experience (VERY LOW HOURS!!):
  • Shadowing local SA vet: 100
  • Shadowing local LA vets: 20

Research Experience:
  • Salivary cancer in mouse models: ~600

Animal Experience:
  • Service dog organization: 100
  • Being OCD about my service dog: lots

Non-Animal Employment / Extracurriculars / Etc:
  • Pizza delivery driver for Domino's
  • Manager at Jamba Juice
  • Parachute gear sales/service
  • 2.5 years as guitarist in a nationally touring rock band
  • 3 years as professional skydiver (tandem videographer and wingsuit instructor)
  • Bobsled pilot in Paralympic developmental program

LORs:
Animal Physiology Professor / Assistant Dean
SA Veterinarian
Nutritional Metabolism Professor / Research PI
Neurological Rehabilitation Clinic Owner

Personal Statement:
I began with my dream as a little kid to become a veterinarian. From there, I moved on to describing my passions and interests that caused my original dream to fade. I talked about the life lessons learned and wisdom gained from being in a rock band, nursing my father who passed away from cancer, pursuing my biggest love (skydiving) and my goal to become a US Army Golden Knight, becoming paralyzed weeks before achieving that goal, overcoming my accident, returning to school, and coming full-circle back to my rekindled childhood dream. I spent many months drafting this, and I feel I really portrayed my character and ruthless determination to achieve anything I put my mind to.
 
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So excited to be able to post here!

25 year old female, first time applicant, TX resident

Applied: Texas A&M, Oregon State, Washington State, Western U, University of Illinois, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Mississippi State
Interviews: WSU, Western, U of I, Kansas, Mississippi (declined)
Rejected: Texas A&M (bye-bye IS tuition)
Waitlisted: Oregon, WSU, Western U
Accepted: U of I, KSU, OkSU
Attending: Undecided! I go back and forth between the three everyday. (HELP!!)

Degrees: BS in Biology, Biochem minor

Overall GPA: 3.54
Science GPA: 3.75
Last 45: ~3.9

GRE (Q/V/W): 159 (75%)/157 (74%)/ 4.0 (56%)

Veterinary Experience:
Vet Tech at Animal Shelter Clinic (ongoing, paid) 270 hours at time of application
Vida Volunteer Trip, 56 hours
Surgery Recovery Volunteer, 56 hours
Shadowed at Equine only hospital, 30 hours
Technician of Neonatal Ward in above animal shelter (paid), 380 hours
Parvo Puppy ICU Technician (volunteer), 635 hours
Shadowed at Emergency Clinic, 60 hours
Shelter Medical Clinic Volunteer, 78 hours

Research Experience:
Organic Chemistry Lab Research Assistant (paid)- 128 hours

Animal Experience:
Wildlife Rehab volunteer- 160 hours
Fostering Kittens- 210 hours
Neonatal Ward that was not veterinary supervised (paid)- 3000 hours
Volunteer and Intern of Neonatal Ward before being offered a paid position- 740 hours

Non-Vet Employment:
Daycare(s)- 1000s of hours
Sales Associate at two different clothing stores- 1000s of hours
Ice Cream Server- 250 hours

***Did not include anything from High School on my application***

Extracurriculars / Etc:
Pre-Vet Club- Member then Treasurer

LORs:
Executive Director and DVM of animal shelter where majority of my experience is from
Former shelter medicine DVM who I worked with in shelter then shadowed at the EC
Organic Chemistry Professor who taught me and offered me a job in her lab

Personal Statement:
Opened with an exciting story from being a wildlife rehab volunteer, then went on to talk about different experiences I had working in shelter medicine and my Vida trip abroad. Told the story that solidified my decision to become a veterinarian. Tied everything together by saying each of those experiences involved life-saving results with limited resources. Said as a DVM, I want to devise creative solutions that result in a better QOL for shelter animals
 
Cautionary tale to follow. Don't do what I did!

24 year old female, third time applicant, CO resident

Applied: Oregon State, Washington State, Western U, University of Illinois, Kansas State, Colorado State, Louisiana State, U of Minnesota
Interviews: U of I
Rejected: Oregon State, Washington State, Western U, Kansas State, Colorado State, Louisiana State, U of Minnesota
Waitlisted: Lol.
Accepted: University of Illinois
Attending: University of Illinois

Degrees: BS in Biology

VMCAS calculated first; Illinois GPA second
Overall GPA: 3.04; 3.2-3.3 --> have to double check this, though I know it's higher
Science GPA: 2.88; 3.2-3.3 --> have to double check this, though I know it's higher
Last 45: let me calculate this in a bit and I'll edit

GRE (Q/V/W): 149 (37%)/156 (71%)/ 5.5 (98%)

Veterinary Experience:
4 hours--Shadowed National Jewish Health's on staff vet for two hours twice; got a tour of the facility; discussed what it's like to be a regulatory vet

1080 hours--Volunteer turned vet assistant at a clinic that borders the high end and low end of my home town. Clinic owner (in hindsight) was pretty sketchy and would not refer people if at all possible, among other things. Got to see plenty of cool emergencies, but all not a positive work environment. Not super hands on.

96 hours--Interned with a dental specialty vet. Got a lot of hands on stuff and even was able to perform dentals by myself (though obviously not pulling teeth or anything like that). Assisted in a canine root canal, which was pretty sweet.

143 hours--Shadowed with a vet that we used for our family pet stores. Got a lot of hands on since they knew I wasn't going to sue them if I got bit (mom told them that if I got bit, it wouldn't be the first time). Got to perform necropsies on several animals.

Research Experience:
I didn't put any on my application, but I did write a research article on the MDR1 gene in herding breeds for my senior capstone course. Probably totaled around 300 hours between research, writing it, and presenting it. Didn't think I could put it on the app cause it was for class credit.

Animal Experience:
690 hours--Kennel technician at a doggie day care (place's name was Doggie Dude Ranch and the O'Cat Corral; one of my favorite jobs ever); just cats and dogs

60 hours--Sales associate/kennel technician at my mom's pet store (probably worked more hours than that over the years, but I frequented her store less frequently than others; this was the last 3 or 4 weeks we were open); just cats and dogs

4060 hours--Sales associate/kennel technician at my aunt's pet store (starting at the age of ten until 22); dogs, cats, small mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles.

1390 hours--Horseback riding and showing from middle school through the last week before the beginning of college. Showed every summer. Was never able to break out of the academy ranking since I could never lease or own a horse.

Non-Vet Employment:
240 hours--Associate Director of Housing and Residence Life. I'm an RD for my undergrad in our largest residence hall. Oversee the RAs and residents of the building. I'm the person that gets called when someone is too drunk, there's a fight, the printer in the computer lab doesn't work, etc. Current job and now at 1160 and I was going to stay in this job as I reapplied two cycles from now.

700 hours--Senior Resident Advisor for my senior year of undergrad in the smallest dorm (60 kids for three RAs)

495 hours--Resident Advisor for my junior year of undergrad in the largest dorm (250-300 kids for ten RAs)

1360 hours--Cashier/stocker at the campus convenience store from sophomore to senior year of undergrad

Extracurriculars / Etc:
Pre-Vet Club--Vice president elect, vice president, president from sophomore to senior year
Allies Club--Sophomore and senior year
Girls' swim team--four years of high school; captain senior year
Boys' swim team--three years of high school; head manager junior and senior year

Awards:
Gold presidential scholarship
Jack and Anna Lewellen scholarship for pre-vets
leadership scholarship
Dean's List both semesters freshman year
Various horseback riding awards, categorized by the horse show and the year I earned the awards/ribbons--specified that I was the academy rider of the year (saddleseat equitation) in 2009 in Colorado
Lettered in swimming
Various art show ribbon placings through high school
Various swim team awards
Outstanding student award given in high school by staff vote
High school honors


LORs:
Veterinarian that was a relief two days a week at the crazy vet's clinic
The RD I worked under as a senior RA
Zoology/parasitology professor who knew me very well

Personal Statement:
I started off talking about our latest puppy, Orville, who we lost due to kidney failure that he was born with. I moved on to talk about how, before we lost Orville, I had been wavering in my decision to go into vet med because of the crazy vet clinic I worked at and how many times I had been rejected from getting into school. I was burnt out.

I moved on to describe how losing Orville and going to work after at DDR and thinking about dogs in general. I described how Orville's GP had been able to help him as best he could, but that can only go so far. I then described how I want to be the initial veterinarian that works with dog breeders as they will always be a part of the industry. Dogs have been with mankind longer than any other species and they deserve to have the best care available.

Cautionary Tale:

1) Yes, you can get into school with a low GPA. It's not the way to go. It causes a lot of stress and heartache. It also costs money when you end up applying three times. Do whatever you have to do to have a decent GPA.

Do not average 17.5 credits per semester while working two jobs; something has got to give and if it is the job, you get fired and if it's your study time, your grades falter. You can average 15 credit hours per semester and be just fine. Don't fall into the trap that you need to take a bunch of credits at once. It's a lie. Wish I had known my advisor was wrong about that sooner.

If you're going to do poorly, do it sooner rather than later cause it was a lot harder to fix my grades when I messed up first semester junior year and second semester senior year. There are simply too many credits when you get that far into the game.

If something goes wrong in your life, back off on the schooling to save your GPA. My ex-boyfriend's sister and my sister were in a near death situation that jacked me up my junior year and I didn't acknowledge that it did. That, in part, lead to me failing organic chem I the first time I took it. If you are having life problems, get help, get it fast, and back off of school if you need to. It's not a big deal if you need to take an extra semester/do summer classes; it's totally worth it to save your GPA, espcially if it gets you into your preferred school on the first try.

If you are halfway through the class and failing, drop the class and retake it later after you fix whatever is wrong with your life.

2) Yes, experience can balance out a bad GPA. But it doesn't balance it out as much as you think/hope. With my Illinois GPA being 3.2ish, it took quite literally thousands of hours to balance that out.

3) Strategically apply to vet school. I got into Illinois because, once I got the interview, my GPA didn't matter. I didn't apply to NCSU because I knew I wouldn't make their GPA cut off. Think smart about where you apply. I probably should not have applied to Louisiana this year, but I thought I would give it a shot and label them as my least likely option. Be smart about where you apply. Other schools I applied to do grade replacement, which helped with the grade situation. I retook all but 1 class--and there were several--that I got a C in and did better the second time (except physics), so it pushed that 3.04 up to 3.3 in some cases.

Don't fall into the low GPA trap. It's a bad place to be, especially when you're struggling with other stuff.
 
24 year old male, IL resident, first time applicant
Applied
Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Colorado State, VA-MD, Tufts
Interviews: Illinois, Missouri, VA-MD, Tufts
Rejected: Wisconsin
Waitlisted: Colorado State, VA-MD, Tufts
Accepted: Illinois, Missouri

Attending: Undecided; probably Missouri unless I get off the waitlist at Tufts

Degrees: BS in Environmental Science (with Spanish double major)
Overall GPA: 3.61
Science: 3.43
Last 45: 3.89

GRE (Q/V/W): 155 (60%)/159 (81%)/4.0 (56%)

Veterinary Experience:
-Volunteer as a veterinary assistant at local small animal hospital

Research Experience:
-Investigated carbon flux and primary production in the salt marsh ecosystems of coastal Georgia through geospatial surveys of marsh vegetation and water quality assessments
-Investigated diatom consumption of salt marsh invertebrates through excising GI tissues and extracting chlorophyll pigment
-Investigated the growth and developmental effects of two strains of Buggy Creek Virus (BCRV-A and BCRV-B) on nestling European house sparrows

Animal Experience:
-Undergraduate TA for a Zoology lab course that entailed handling many live animals

Non-Animal Employment:
-Worked as a field scientist doing phase II environmental site assessments for an engineering consulting company
-Worked in a geotechnical laboratory doing various testing on soil samples
-Office assistant during undergrad

Extracurriculars / Etc:
-Biology Club (vice president one year; president the next)
-Sigma Delta Pi member (Spanish honor society)
-Graduated with honors
-Made Dean's List several times

LORs:
-Two vets (one being the practice owner) from the aforementioned small animal hospital
-Professor from undergrad who was my major advisor, research advisor, and I was also a TA for his Zoology lab
-Spanish professor with whom I took many advanced courses and went with on a summer study abroad program


Personal Statement:
I talked about how my interest in vet med stemmed from a medical tragedy that occurred in my family when I was very young, and in being a tumultuous time, my dog was the only constant thing I could depend on in my life. He gave me the comfort I needed during that rough period, and I know that my situation was unusual, but it was not unique; there are many other similar stories out there where people depend on their pets for comfort and emotional stability in hard times. I wrote about how I wanted to make my journey of becoming a vet as a way to give back and help the people who depend on their animals the same way I did when I was young.
 
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1st time applicant, 22 years old, from CT

I almost didn’t apply this cycle because I did not think I had a chance at getting in anywhere (and was especially intimidated by all the stats on this forum). I think my diversity of experience really helped as I had interviewers at both Penn and Tufts comment on that. I don’t have thousands and thousands of hours, but I tried a lot of different things.

Applied: Colorado, Cornell, Penn, Tufts, Iowa (contract), Minnesota, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin
Interviews: Penn, Tufts, Iowa, Minnesota (declined)
Rejected: Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin
Waitlisted: Colorado, Cornell
Accepted: Penn, Iowa, Tufts
Attending: Penn

Degrees: BA in Biological Sciences (minor in Psychology)

I go to a top 5 college with grade deflation in which the average grade in many of my classes is a B or lower. I like to think some schools (Tufts told me straight up they would) took this into consideration when comparing my GPA with those at other schools. I was also very consistent in my grades from freshman to senior year with no huge upward or downward trend, no grades below a B-, etc.

Overall GPA: 3.56
Science GPA: 3.42
Last 45: 3.54

GRE (Q/V/W): First Time 153/162/5.0;
Second Time 161/160/4.5


Veterinary Experience:
Small Animal Hospital #1: 15 hours
Small Animal Hospital #2: 154 hours (and continuing)
Zoo Vet Clinic: 207 hours
Wildlife: 320 hours

Research Experience:
Animal Behavior Research at time of applying: 15 hours (and continuing)
Study Abroad Research (not in a lab): 120 hours

Animal Experience:
Animal Shelter Cat Socialization: 66 hours
Sea Lion Intern at Aquarium: 450 hours (included some research)
Thailand Elephant Care: 40 hours
AVM at Tufts: 40 hours

Non-Vet Employment/Extracurriculars:
3rd Grade Student Teacher: 210 hours
Babysitter/Tutor for 3 kids (including one autistic): 630 hours
Pre-School Student Teacher: 280 hours
Chinatown Tutoring: 90 hours

Awards:
National Honor Society in high school
Middlebury Book Award for a student exceptional in environmental science (in high school)

LORs:
Veterinarian from wildlife center
Veterinarian from zoo
Stats prof—Had highest grade in his class and am a mentor for his class now
Animal Behavior professor
Mentor/trainer from the aquarium
Staff member from my research study abroad program

Personal Statement:
Used a story from my small animal experience to discuss different character traits a vet must have. Then went into personal stories to exemplify how I had each of these traits. Then concluded with why I wanted to be a vet.
 
1st time applicant, 22 years old, from CT

I almost didn’t apply this cycle because I did not think I had a chance at getting in anywhere (and was especially intimidated by all the stats on this forum). I think my diversity of experience really helped as I had interviewers at both Penn and Tufts comment on that. I don’t have thousands and thousands of hours, but I tried a lot of different things.

Applied: Colorado, Cornell, Penn, Tufts, Iowa (contract), Minnesota, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin
Interviews: Penn, Tufts, Iowa, Minnesota (declined)
Rejected: Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin
Waitlisted: Colorado, Cornell
Accepted: Penn, Iowa, Tufts
Attending: Penn

Degrees: BA in Biological Sciences (minor in Psychology)

I go to a top 5 college with grade deflation in which the average grade in many of my classes is a B or lower. I like to think some schools (Tufts told me straight up they would) took this into consideration when comparing my GPA with those at other schools. I was also very consistent in my grades from freshman to senior year with no huge upward or downward trend, no grades below a B-, etc.

Overall GPA: 3.56
Science GPA: 3.42
Last 45: 3.54

GRE (Q/V/W): First Time 153/162/5.0;
Second Time 161/160/4.5


Veterinary Experience:
Small Animal Hospital #1: 15 hours
Small Animal Hospital #2: 154 hours (and continuing)
Zoo Vet Clinic: 207 hours
Wildlife: 320 hours

Research Experience:
Animal Behavior Research at time of applying: 15 hours (and continuing)
Study Abroad Research (not in a lab): 120 hours

Animal Experience:
Animal Shelter Cat Socialization: 66 hours
Sea Lion Intern at Aquarium: 450 hours (included some research)
Thailand Elephant Care: 40 hours
AVM at Tufts: 40 hours

Non-Vet Employment/Extracurriculars:
3rd Grade Student Teacher: 210 hours
Babysitter/Tutor for 3 kids (including one autistic): 630 hours
Pre-School Student Teacher: 280 hours
Chinatown Tutoring: 90 hours

Awards:
National Honor Society in high school
Middlebury Book Award for a student exceptional in environmental science (in high school)

LORs:
Veterinarian from wildlife center
Veterinarian from zoo
Stats prof—Had highest grade in his class and am a mentor for his class now
Animal Behavior professor
Mentor/trainer from the aquarium
Staff member from my research study abroad program

Personal Statement:
Used a story from my small animal experience to discuss different character traits a vet must have. Then went into personal stories to exemplify how I had each of these traits. Then concluded with why I wanted to be a vet.

Glad to hear you're choosing Penn too! Congratulations, see you next year 🙂
 
22 year old female, Arkansas resident, 1st time applying

Applied: Mizzou, OK state, MS state, and LSU
Interview: Mizzou, MS state, and LSU
Waitlist: none
Accepted: Mizzou, MS state, and LSU (Arkansas contract seat)
Attending: SUCH A HARD DECISION! Probably Mizzou though

Overall GPA: 3.61
Science GPA: 3.5ish
Last 45: 3.52
GRE (Q/V/W): 151/152/3

Degrees: B.S. in Animal Science (I graduate in May)

Veterinary Experience:
Vet assistant small animal/exotic practice: >2800 hours
Shadowed equine practice: ~50 hours
Shadowed various LA vets: ~150 hours
Spay neuter clinics/rabies clinics~30 hours

Animal Experience:
TONS
4H/FFA hobby farm for 5 years (raised almost everything)
Shown club lambs, cattle, rabbits, poultry, and dairy goats for 5 years
Hog farm labor~30 hours
Worked at an animal shelter~200 hours
Equine program volunteer and student ~100 hours
There is more than this, but this is where I got most of my hours
Certified EIA verifier~20 hours

Research Experience: ZILCH! Except one tiny, poorly done clinical trail on various flea preventatives that I did for my boss one summer

Non-Veterinary Employment:
I've always held a job of some sort since I was 14.
Animal shelter for 1 summer
Janitorial work for 3 years
Café waitress/cook for 3 years
Work study (hog farm/North farm employee)~2 years

Extracurricular Activities/Awards:
Dean's List a couple of years
Non-Traditional Student Leadership Award (I was a single mother all through college until I got married in 2015)
Pre-Vet club president
Other stuff, too tired to type it all out

LORs
:
Small Animal vet I work with
Another Small Animal vet that I work with (he is also my pastor)
DVM member of the animal science department

Personal Statement: I took a different approach. I talked about my adversities in life, especially being from small/isolated community and being a single mother. I talked about how my upbringing let me see a different side of veterinary medicine. I wrapped it up by explaining how, because of my experiences, I want to be a mixed animal rural veterinarian in order to truly help people. (I promise it was better than how I just described it)
 
Cautionary tale to follow. Don't do what I did!

24 year old female, third time applicant, CO resident

Applied: Oregon State, Washington State, Western U, University of Illinois, Kansas State, Colorado State, Louisiana State, U of Minnesota
Interviews: U of I
Rejected: Oregon State, Washington State, Western U, Kansas State, Colorado State, Louisiana State, U of Minnesota
Waitlisted: Lol.
Accepted: University of Illinois
Attending: University of Illinois

Degrees: BS in Biology

VMCAS calculated first; Illinois GPA second
Overall GPA: 3.04; 3.2-3.3 --> have to double check this, though I know it's higher
Science GPA: 2.88; 3.2-3.3 --> have to double check this, though I know it's higher
Last 45: let me calculate this in a bit and I'll edit

GRE (Q/V/W): 149 (37%)/156 (71%)/ 5.5 (98%)

Veterinary Experience:
4 hours--Shadowed National Jewish Health's on staff vet for two hours twice; got a tour of the facility; discussed what it's like to be a regulatory vet

1080 hours--Volunteer turned vet assistant at a clinic that borders the high end and low end of my home town. Clinic owner (in hindsight) was pretty sketchy and would not refer people if at all possible, among other things. Got to see plenty of cool emergencies, but all not a positive work environment. Not super hands on.

96 hours--Interned with a dental specialty vet. Got a lot of hands on stuff and even was able to perform dentals by myself (though obviously not pulling teeth or anything like that). Assisted in a canine root canal, which was pretty sweet.

143 hours--Shadowed with a vet that we used for our family pet stores. Got a lot of hands on since they knew I wasn't going to sue them if I got bit (mom told them that if I got bit, it wouldn't be the first time). Got to perform necropsies on several animals.

Research Experience:
I didn't put any on my application, but I did write a research article on the MDR1 gene in herding breeds for my senior capstone course. Probably totaled around 300 hours between research, writing it, and presenting it. Didn't think I could put it on the app cause it was for class credit.

Animal Experience:
690 hours--Kennel technician at a doggie day care (place's name was Doggie Dude Ranch and the O'Cat Corral; one of my favorite jobs ever); just cats and dogs

60 hours--Sales associate/kennel technician at my mom's pet store (probably worked more hours than that over the years, but I frequented her store less frequently than others; this was the last 3 or 4 weeks we were open); just cats and dogs

4060 hours--Sales associate/kennel technician at my aunt's pet store (starting at the age of ten until 22); dogs, cats, small mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles.

1390 hours--Horseback riding and showing from middle school through the last week before the beginning of college. Showed every summer. Was never able to break out of the academy ranking since I could never lease or own a horse.

Non-Vet Employment:
240 hours--Associate Director of Housing and Residence Life. I'm an RD for my undergrad in our largest residence hall. Oversee the RAs and residents of the building. I'm the person that gets called when someone is too drunk, there's a fight, the printer in the computer lab doesn't work, etc. Current job and now at 1160 and I was going to stay in this job as I reapplied two cycles from now.

700 hours--Senior Resident Advisor for my senior year of undergrad in the smallest dorm (60 kids for three RAs)

495 hours--Resident Advisor for my junior year of undergrad in the largest dorm (250-300 kids for ten RAs)

1360 hours--Cashier/stocker at the campus convenience store from sophomore to senior year of undergrad

Extracurriculars / Etc:
Pre-Vet Club--Vice president elect, vice president, president from sophomore to senior year
Allies Club--Sophomore and senior year
Girls' swim team--four years of high school; captain senior year
Boys' swim team--three years of high school; head manager junior and senior year

Awards:
Gold presidential scholarship
Jack and Anna Lewellen scholarship for pre-vets
leadership scholarship
Dean's List both semesters freshman year
Various horseback riding awards, categorized by the horse show and the year I earned the awards/ribbons--specified that I was the academy rider of the year (saddleseat equitation) in 2009 in Colorado
Lettered in swimming
Various art show ribbon placings through high school
Various swim team awards
Outstanding student award given in high school by staff vote
High school honors


LORs:
Veterinarian that was a relief two days a week at the crazy vet's clinic
The RD I worked under as a senior RA
Zoology/parasitology professor who knew me very well

Personal Statement:
I started off talking about our latest puppy, Orville, who we lost due to kidney failure that he was born with. I moved on to talk about how, before we lost Orville, I had been wavering in my decision to go into vet med because of the crazy vet clinic I worked at and how many times I had been rejected from getting into school. I was burnt out.

I moved on to describe how losing Orville and going to work after at DDR and thinking about dogs in general. I described how Orville's GP had been able to help him as best he could, but that can only go so far. I then described how I want to be the initial veterinarian that works with dog breeders as they will always be a part of the industry. Dogs have been with mankind longer than any other species and they deserve to have the best care available.

Cautionary Tale:

1) Yes, you can get into school with a low GPA. It's not the way to go. It causes a lot of stress and heartache. It also costs money when you end up applying three times. Do whatever you have to do to have a decent GPA.

Do not average 17.5 credits per semester while working two jobs; something has got to give and if it is the job, you get fired and if it's your study time, your grades falter. You can average 15 credit hours per semester and be just fine. Don't fall into the trap that you need to take a bunch of credits at once. It's a lie. Wish I had known my advisor was wrong about that sooner.

If you're going to do poorly, do it sooner rather than later cause it was a lot harder to fix my grades when I messed up first semester junior year and second semester senior year. There are simply too many credits when you get that far into the game.

If something goes wrong in your life, back off on the schooling to save your GPA. My ex-boyfriend's sister and my sister were in a near death situation that jacked me up my junior year and I didn't acknowledge that it did. That, in part, lead to me failing organic chem I the first time I took it. If you are having life problems, get help, get it fast, and back off of school if you need to. It's not a big deal if you need to take an extra semester/do summer classes; it's totally worth it to save your GPA, espcially if it gets you into your preferred school on the first try.

If you are halfway through the class and failing, drop the class and retake it later after you fix whatever is wrong with your life.

2) Yes, experience can balance out a bad GPA. But it doesn't balance it out as much as you think/hope. With my Illinois GPA being 3.2ish, it took quite literally thousands of hours to balance that out.

3) Strategically apply to vet school. I got into Illinois because, once I got the interview, my GPA didn't matter. I didn't apply to NCSU because I knew I wouldn't make their GPA cut off. Think smart about where you apply. I probably should not have applied to Louisiana this year, but I thought I would give it a shot and label them as my least likely option. Be smart about where you apply. Other schools I applied to do grade replacement, which helped with the grade situation. I retook all but 1 class--and there were several--that I got a C in and did better the second time (except physics), so it pushed that 3.04 up to 3.3 in some cases.

Don't fall into the low GPA trap. It's a bad place to be, especially when you're struggling with other stuff.

I was also waitlisted at Lol. Seems like they waitlist a lot of us. But don't worry, the waitlist always moves! 😉
 
22 year old female, first time applicant, CA resident

Applied: CSU, Davis, Illinois, Kansas, Midwestern, Oregon, Purdue, UPenn, Western
Interviews: Illinois, Kansas, Midwestern, Purdue, Western
Rejected: CSU, Davis, UPenn
Waitlisted: Oregon
Accepted: Illinois, Kansas, Midwestern, Purdue, Western
Attending: Illinois! :woot:

Degrees: BS in Animal Science

Overall GPA: 3.18
Science GPA/Last 45: ~3.2?

GRE (Q/V/W): 160 (78%)/159 (81%)/ 4.5 (80%)

Veterinary Experience:
  • Volunteer at small animal clinic, 220 hrs
Research Experience:
  • Undergraduate research assistant in Environmental Toxicology lab, looking at perinatal exposure to DDT in mouse model, 260 hrs
  • Summer internship in National Cancer Institute, worked on review paper looking at dogs as a model for breast cancer, 420 hrs (full-time)
  • Research fellowship in comparative oncology also in NCI, working with human and canine osteosarcoma, and just beginning work with canine glioma, 210 hrs (at time of application), ongoing
Animal Experience:
  • Assistant animal technician at teaching hospital, 480
  • Rodent husbandry intern, 240 hours
  • Shadowed Dermatology service at teaching hospital, 48 hrs
  • Wildlife rehabilitation volunteer, 36 hours
Non-Vet Employment:
  • N/A, didn’t include jobs from high school
Extracurriculars:
  • Dragonboat team for 4 years, leadership role in team for 2 years, 1560 hrs (lol, this was my life apparently)
Achievements/Awards:
  • Merit based scholarship
  • Outstanding senior award in high school
  • Summer programs: one at a veterinary school, and one at the NCI (I included these as achievements because they were selective/competitive to get into)
LORs:
  • DVM at the small clinic I volunteered at, knew me and worked with me all throughout undergrad
  • Undergrad research PI, also took a class she taught
  • Rodent husbandry internship supervisor
  • Animal science professor that I took two classes with, didn’t know me that well but I came to him for advice about applying to veterinary school several times
  • PI for summer internship
  • DVM/PI for my ongoing research fellowship

Personal Statement:
My statement was themed around One Health, and how my research and my other key animal/veterinary experiences have inspired me to contribute to One Health through research, particularly in comparative oncology.


Given my GPA, I was very close to not applying this cycle and was considering getting a Master's beforehand. I was told that I would have no chance with my GPA, and while I am grateful that I proved them otherwise, they're not completely wrong. It gets exceedingly difficult to prove yourself in spite of a low GPA, so if you can help it, do not settle for mediocre/bad grades. It's not impossible, but definitely don't bank on it. I was fully prepared to have to apply again, but thankfully I don't have to!

I think my saving grace (at least for the initial review), was doing well on the GRE in one take. Then from there my emphasis in research and my random extracurricular made me stand out a little more.
 
21 year old female, first time applicant, NJ resident (OOS everywhere) and extremely excited to get to post in this thread:soexcited:

Hopefully this gives some people hope who have average/below average GPA's, GREs and not a ton of vet experience!!!

Applied: Florida, Purdue, Tennessee, VA-MD, Cornell, Penn, Tufts
Interviews: Florida, Purdue, Tennessee, Penn, Tufts
Rejected: VA-MD
Waitlisted: Cornell, Penn, Tufts, Tennessee (pulled myself from this list)
Accepted: Florida and Purdue
Attending: No idea!! I go back and forth everyday

Degrees: BS in Animal Science, Molecular and Cellular Biology minor (graduate in May)

Overall GPA: 3.52
Science GPA: ~3.5
Last 45: ~3.5

GRE (Q/V/W): 161 (80%)/154 (63%)/5 (93%)

Veterinary Experience:
Vet Tech at Animal Shelter Spay and Neuter Clinic, 160 hours
Intern at an Equine hospital, 131 hours
Shadowed/tech at a small animal clinic, 350 hours

Research Experience:
None (writing an honors thesis on beluga whales in captivity but it is essentially a lit review)

Animal Experience:
Independent study assisting with management of horses on campus, 20 hours
intern at a wildlife rehabilitation center (not under an actual vet), 146 hours
volunteer at a conservation center in South Africa, 152 hours
volunteer at a local animal shelter, 150 hours

Non-Vet Employment:
Coach at school's field hockey camp
Counsellor at school's field hockey camp
Camp counsellor for local high school camp

Extracurriculars / Etc:
-Member of a Division I Field Hockey team where we won a total of 10 titles over the course of my 4 years (between conference and national)- thousands of hours (4 years experience)
-Participated in my school's dance marathon to raise money for the local children's hospital (4 years, 18 hours of dancing, 20 hours of fundraising)

LORs:
-Vet at the spay neuter clinic
-Vet at the small animal clinic I was employed at
-The animal science department head at my school (he was a one of my professors and would come to all of my games)
-My honors thesis advisor
-Vet at the equine clinic I interned at
-My Head coach

Personal Statement:
I opened with how this has been my dream forever and talked about an experience with a fawn that cemented that dream. Then I talked about the different experiences I have had and how they have helped me to reach my goal of becoming an Equine vet. I also talked about the different lessons and life skills I had learned about from playing a division I sport and how they would translate to vet school.

Overall my application wasn't the strongest but I hope this helps some people out! A large plus of my application that was discussed at my interviews was the amount of diverse experiences I have had. I also hope this helps anyone out who plays a Division I sport! The schools were very understanding about my lack of experience because of the demands of playing a sport (basically 40+ hours a week) and how difficult it is to balance a sport and school. Hope this helps some future vets out there😀
 
I was 1000% sure that I was not going to get in anywhere this year because I have mediocre everything, but here we are. :joyful:

22 year old female, first time applicant, live in NC but technically not a resident (OOS everywhere)

Applied: Washington, Oregon, Tufts, Illinois, Ross
Interviews: Tufts, Illinois, Ross
Rejected: Washington, Oregon
Waitlisted: Narp
Accepted: Tufts, Illinois, Ross
Attending: Between Tufts and Illinois (I have no idea, send help... seriously, any thoughts/comments appreciated)

Degrees: B.S. Environmental and Ecological Sciences, B.A. Biology, minor in Chem (Graduating May 2016)

Overall GPA: 3.56
Science GPA: 3.67
Last 45: ~3.6

GRE (Q/V/W): 163 (86%)/163 (92%)/4 (56%)

Veterinary Experience:
Vet assistant at SA clinic: 450 hours
Shadowing at 3 different SA clinics (2 in England, 1 in NC): 250 hours

Research Experience:
Did research on reef ecology in the Turks and Caicos
Helped with research on the trophic cascade centering around tiger sharks in Australia

Animal Experience:
Volunteer with mixed animal sanctuary in England (mostly horses, some cats, birds, and farm animals): 100 hours
Sea turtle observation and conservation program: 100 hours
Volunteer with disabled person horse driving program in England: 30 hours

Non-Vet Employment:
TA for Intro to ENS lab at my university
Intern with sustainable architecture company

Extracurriculars / Etc:
Project leader/ volunteer with education and economic empowerment non-profit in Nepal (spent several summers there)
Volunteered in Romania at a women and children's sanctuary/ orphanage
Various environmental protection clubs
Various science clubs/ honor societies
Outstanding science student award, high school
Outstanding first year chemistry student award (lol)

LORs:
Vet at the SA clinic I have worked for for the past year
Pre-health advisor/ biology teacher I had for animal physiology
Academic major (environmental science) advisor

Personal Statement:
I discussed the reasons I entered fairly late into the game and didn't have much in the way of animal/ vet experiences (namely, I lived in Singapore and there was not much inspiration in the way of vet med). How that led me to other passions (marine conservation) and how I followed those passions into other passions and it eventually led me into the arms of vet med. Then I explained how, once I finally figured out that I wanted to be a vet, I got my butt in gear and did everything I could do and such.

For my Tufts supplemental essay I wrote about a the Soviet scientist who was a big player in sending animals to space.
 
Hi everyone! I'm a 21 yr old female OH resident, 1st time applicant.

Something unique about my application: I went to a community college for two years and then transferred to a 4 year (yay for saving money!)

Applied: Ohio State, Washington, Florida
Interview Invites: Ohio State, Florida (declined)
Interviewed: Ohio State
Accepted: Ohio State
Attending: Ohio State! :soexcited:

Overall GPA: 3.86
Science GPA: 3.83
Last 45 credits: Somewhere between 3.8 - 4.0 :shrug:

GRE (Q/V/W): 154 (56%) /158 (79%)/4.0 (56%)

Veterinary Experience:
LA Shadowing: 48
SA Veterinary Assistant: 435
Kennel Tech/ Tech Assistant at small animal hospital: 456
SA Shadowing: 300

Research Experience:
None!

Animal Experience:
Humane Society Volunteer: 320
Aviary Volunteer: 220
Wildlife Center Volunteer: 220

Non-Animal Employment:
"Student Professor" for children's science program: 115
Recreational Gymnastics Coach: 600

Extracurriculars / Etc:
High School Gymnastics (senior captain): 306
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant: 56

Awards:
STEM Scholarship

LORs:
Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy Professor
Vet from SA hospital I was an assistant at
Vet from SA hospital I was a kennel tech/ assistant at

Personal Statement:
I wrote about how I had a lot of interests growing up and I had hesitations about committing to veterinary medicine. They I mentioned that, as I gained veterinary experience, I realized how encompassing veterinary medicine is. I found that my love of art, my passion for teaching, and my interest in science are all important factors to be a well-rounded vet. A little cheesy, but I promise it sounded better in the actual essay, haha!
 
I'm so excited to post here. I wanted to give hope to people with lower GPAs!

22 year old female, 2nd time applicant, Michigan resident

Applied: Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Purdue, Illinois
Accepted: Minnesota, Illinois
Waitlisted: Michigan (#6)
Attending: Minnesota

Degree: B.S. Animal Science from Michigan State University (May 2015)

Overall GPA: 3.4
Science GPA: Not totally sure, but probably not above 3.2
Last 3 Semester GPA: 3.75
GRE: (Q/V/W) 153/157/4.5

Vet Experience:
100-150 hours shadowing large, small, and shelter vets
100 hours Thailand study abroad (wildlife + dogs)
100 hours South Africa study abroad (wildlife)

Research:
Headed enrichment project with turkeys at school and presented the findings at an undergraduate forum
Implemented my own wolf behavior research project

Animal Experience:
3 years on school equestrian team
1.5 years working on school swine farm
1000 hours working with captive wolves, foxes, coyotes
1.5 years as a kennel assistant for show dogs
3 years club related animal experience--draft horses, poultry
Unique school experiences--advanced horse and cattle reproduction classes (very hands on), 3 years participating in novice livestock show
Volunteer experiences with humane society and farm sanctuary
Certified dog trainer

Extracurricular:
Founded high school equestrian team
Vice president of my school's draft horse club
Public relations chair for my school's poultry science club
2 years on animal welfare judging team
4 years of indoor drumline

Awards:
2 or 3 years of a Ford scholarship
3 semesters of Dean's list (I know, hard to believe with my low GPA...)
Various animal related accomplishments

LORs:
Large animal vet I shadowed
Vet from my study abroads
My boss at the pig farm
Assistant animal curator at the place I worked with the wolves

Personal Statement:
I started by focusing on how living with a very difficult family member impacted me and made me want to connect with animals. Then I picked two main experiences that were relevant to my interests and went into detail about them, giving specific examples of veterinary techniques, people skills, team work, etc. I tried to highlight how unique my experiences were and how they made me well rounded.
 
22 year-old female, Illinois resident, 1st time applicant.

Applied: Illinois, Wisconsin
Interview: Illinois
Waitlisted: Wisconsin
Accepted: Illinois
Attending: Illinois

Overall GPA: 3.52
Science GPA: 3.32
Last 45: 3.5ish

GRE (Q/V/W): 159/163/4

Degrees:
B.S. Biology

Veterinary Experience:
Work at a small animal private practice: 3120 hrs (still there)

Research Experience:
Migratory Bird Censusing with Audubon Center: 120 hrs
Nectar Bats and their crazy tongues: 48 hrs

Animal Experience:
Wild Bird Rehabilitation (specializes in wild songbirds): 1785 hrs (still there)
Long Meadow Rescue Ranch (equine/large animal branch of HSMO): 56 hrs
Shepherd Hills Horse Farm (equine): 50 hrs

Achievements/Honors:

Graduated Magna Cum Laude
Pierre Laclede Honors College Dean's List: 7 Semesters
University of Missouri - St Louis Dean's List: 7 Semesters
Pierre Laclede Honors College Certificate
Scholarships: PLHC Merit Scholarship, Chancellor's Scholarship, Will and Helen Carpenter Leadership Council Scholarship

Other Employment:
Peer Mentor for a program benefiting first generation college students: 192 hrs
Desk Assistant in Residence Hall: 600 hrs

Extracurriculars/Volunteer/Etc:
UMSL Pre-veterinary and Zoological Society (SGA Rep, then Vice President, then President): 216 hrs

LORs:
Advisor at the Honors College, who also was a professor for several classes and Dean of PLHC
Executive Director at the non-profit songbird rehabilitation facility
Owner of Small animal vet that I work at
2 other vets at the same location

Personal Statement:
Talked about how I had circled in on a career in veterinary medicine after first checking out careers in Conservation/Community Ecology and Public Health, but decided that while I liked aspects of them, I wanted something that was more hands on, and vetmed has traits from both. Also talked about how my variety of experience (wild songbirds vs companion animals) gave me a profound understanding of quality of life and how it should be addressed in different situations.

I'm so happy that I can finally post on one of these!
 
23 year old female, first time applicant, CO resident but from PA (lived OOS since 2010, so no longer had an "in state," decided to move to CO because it's where I wanted to be/took my chances with getting in state for CSU. Dunno if this would be helpful to anyone but might as well put it out there 🙂 )

Applied: Washington, Tufts, Penn, CSU, Purdue
Interviews: Washington, Tufts (declined), Penn, Purdue
Rejected: CSU
Waitlisted: None
Accepted: Penn, Washington, Purdue
Attending: Penn

Degrees: B.S. Animal Science

Overall GPA: 3.71
Science GPA: 3.57
Last 45: High 3.6's? Can't figure out how to look it up. D'oh. Pretty much stayed around 3.7 for all of undergrad, if that helps.

GRE (Q/V/W): 154 (56%)/158 (78%)/5 (93%)

Veterinary Experience:
Vet technician (not certified) at single doctor small animal/exotics clinic: 2000 hours

Research Experience:
Worked in a lab that studied bovine mastitis for 2 1/2 years of undergrad. I then conducted my own research project that stemmed off of the graduate students' projects that also pertained to bovine mastitis my senior year. All in all, about 1200 hours.

Animal Experience:
Was part of a small group of students that managed the dairy farm at my university, also ran for/was elected as veterinary liaison (basically did herd health checks with our veterinarian and went over the health of each cow at our weekly meetings). 300 hours.

Also was a farmyard educator at a nearby farm. I fed the animals, taught kids about farm animals, and got a fair amount of lamb snuggling in. 180 hours.

Non-Vet Employment:
I was a bartender... didn't put this on my app. Although it did help with my patience with people 🙂

Extracurriculars / Etc:
Dean's List 7/8 semesters, Cum Laude
Got a few grants/scholarships for research (nothing huge, but was glad I remembered the details of each one for my application)
Backpacking/backcountry ski leader for the Outing Club
Also volunteered in Thailand for ~3 weeks with a program that taught animal health/dairy practices/herd management to youths in rural agricultural schools

LORs:
Vet I worked with at the SA clinic
My PI for the research lab
Academic advisor
Spanish professor (took a ton of classes with him, put a lot of effort in to this area of non-science)
Creator of Thailand program

Personal Statement:
I discussed the process of realizing I wanted to do public health research with all of my experiences throughout undergrad, then wrapped it up with how I took that desire to turn it into a reality by rounding out my experience (in LA, SA, and research) to make sure that vet school was the right move for me.
 
26-year-old female, 2nd time applicant, NC resident
Applied: Auburn, North Carolina, Lincoln Memorial, Ohio, Virginia-Maryland, Colorado
Interviews: Auburn, Lincoln Memorial
Rejected: Virginia-Maryland, Ohio
Waitlisted: Colorado, Lincoln Memorial
Accepted: Auburn, North Carolina, Lincoln Memorial
Attending: North Carolina

Degrees: B.S. in Zoology, Minor in Animal Science

Overall GPA: 3.49
Last 45: 3.72
Science GPA: 3.49

GRE (Q/V/W): 157/161/4.5

Veterinary Experience:

4000 hours- working at a small animal practice
700 hours- working in emergency medicine
600 hours- working for surgical referral practice
300 hours- working with exotics

Animal Experience:

72 hours- volunteering for PetSmart national adoption weekend
32 hours- working on friend’s farm with goats and sheep
20 hours- volunteering a local lake performing informal discussions on littering affecting wildlife
80 hours- working on a different friend’s farm with horses and cattle
20 hours- volunteering at animal shelter

Extracurricular/Awards:
Volunteering at local thrift store that donates proceeds to lost cost spay/neuter organization
Pre-vet club
Certified in performing abdominal ultrasonography
Certified in operating an ethylene oxide gas sterilizer
Hired at first vet job with no experience, and was promoted to veterinary assistant within 1 month of employment
Was handpicked by a board certified surgeon to help start a brand new surgical referral practice where I am now lead technician
Helped organize and run several CE events related to orthopedic surgery and ultrasound
Was offered an internship working with the International Crane Foundation
Graduated NCSU Magna Cum Laude
Dean’s List
Earned 13 medals in competitive swimming

LORs
Board certified surgeon with whom I am currently employed
Chief of medicine of the company I work for; same doctor I worked at the emergency clinic with
A veterinarian I worked with at my very first vet job
Chief of staff of one of the hospitals I used to work for
High school swim coach who I have known for 9-10 years

Personal Statements:
My dad passed away when I was 3-years-old, so most of my essay focused on what it was like growing up in a single parent household. I talked very passionately about my mother, and how she managed to work a full time job while attending school and raising two toddlers on her own. I really focused on how the way I was raised has instilled in me all of the qualities that I feel a great veterinarian should have. I then went into detail about how working in so many different practice types has given me the opportunity to experience several different types of veterinary medicine. I also described how I got to learn first hand the managerial and financial sides of opening your own practice when I started working for my current employer, a brand new surgical referral practice that I helped start. I shaped my essay so that anyone reading it would see that the skills given to me by my mother, and polished by my opportunities, have prepared me for success in vet school and into my career.
 
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