Looks like I will be the first Canadian to make a post here!
Age, Gender, State/Country of Residence, Traditional/Non-traditional applicant, # of times you've applied: 24, Male, Canada, 1st time applying to US schools (applied 4 times to OVC, interviewed 3 times with no luck)
Applied: Arizona, Colorado, Cornell, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Midwestern, Minnesota, North Carolina, Purdue, Wisconsin
Interview Invites: Illinois, Kansas, Midwestern, Minnesota
Waiting to hear: Midwestern (Alt List), Wisconsin (Alt List)
Accepted: Kansas, Illinois, Iowa
Attending: Kansas!
Overall GPA: 3.78
Science GPA: 3.74 (as per VMCAS, will be increased from Fall 2022, individual schools’ prereq GPAs vary)
Last 45 GPA: 3.98 (current, as per my Iowa status page, not sure exactly what it was prior to Fall 2022)
GRE (Q/V/W): N/A (didn’t take)
Degree(s): Bachelor of Science, Honours - Animal Biology (University of Guelph)
Veterinary Experience:
Experience - (~4700 hours at time of application, this has since gone up much higher)
Hours at time of application:
~2850 hours - Vet Assistant at small animal + avian/exotics GP/pseudo-emergency clinic
~900 hours - Intensive Care Unit Summer Student at the Ontario Veterinary College (high-responsibility position, in charge of completing treatments on my own)
~650 hours - Vet Assistant at an emergency hospital that treats small animals and avian/exotics
~230 hours - Shadowing at small animal GP clinic
~50 hours - Shadowing at small animal GP/reproduction specialty clinic
~10 hours - Shadowing large animal vet
Animal Experience:
Experience - (~200 hours)
~185 hours - Volunteer Zookeeper at a CAZA-accredited zoo, responsible to animal care as well as interacting with guests and assisting with outreach shows
~30 hours - Volunteering at an animal sanctuary
Research:
Experience - (~150 hours)
Feeding and monitoring seahorses in a marine research lab.
Extracurriculars/Awards:
Experience - (~2750 hours)
Discussed my personal reptile/aquarium keeping.
I also mentioned being a game leader for, and player in, a roleplaying game, as I genuinely feel like it has some value in interesting ways and was ready to talk about that, and at worst it will simply be ignored, I would imagine. (Ended up talking about this in my Illinois interview and I got accepted there, so maybe that says something)
I also talked about sports and band stuff dating back through high school.
I didn’t talk about playing video games and trading card games, as I feel they dig deeper into certain stigmas than needed and I didn’t have anything super evocative to say about it if it were to come up - there are certainly things I could say, but was also scared they may paint me in a bad light? Idk. My hours would certainly skyrocket if I had included them, and perhaps they would have painted a broader picture of myself as a person, but my call was to not include them.
Non-Animal Employment:
Experience - (~1000 hours)
I was a lifeguard and swim instructor prior to starting into the vet field many years ago.
LORs:
- Veterinarian/Practice Owner of my current hospital
- Veterinarian from my current hospital
- Team Lead of the OVC Intensive Care Unit/Veterinary Technician (+ an assortment of other specialty titles and positions at other associations)
- Professor of my Vertebrate Ethology course from my undergrad
Essay Questions/Personal Statement:
So many essays…
I don’t remember any specific moment that made me want to become a vet, it’s all I remember, so in my personal statement I described a core moment from my childhood that I felt helped solidify my passion for pursuing this career. I then discussed my various qualities that make me a strong applicant for a veterinary medicine program and kept referring back to that moment and the impact I could have, as a veterinarian, on the life of a child in a similar situation.
~~~
I am so happy to finally be attending vet school. Despite competitive grades and strong experience, even from within their own hospital, applying to OVC became fairly demoralizing, and I will never know what the thing was that stopped me from getting in, but there was no way I was going to let that stop me from pursuing this career. I would say it was something of a blessing in disguise, as they recently closed their exotics ward, much to the dismay of everyone in the veterinary community in the surrounding regions. As someone pursuing zoo med, I think I will have a much more incredible education at Kansas State!
Don’t let rejections make you think you aren’t worthy of going to vet school. Take it from someone who technically took 5 cycles to get in. Keep at it and do your best.
