Texas A&M-Should I even bother?

[femmedusiecle]

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Hey guys!
My cum gpa is ~3.1, sGPA is ~3.3 and last 45 is ~3.5. I'm studying for the GRE as my scores have expired and I'm aiming for no lower than 1200. Also, I have a little over 10 years experience working with animals. My experience includes domestics, zoo, a little bit of wildlife and litttttle bit of large.
Besides the GRE, I plan on taking more science classes to boost my GPA. Academically speaking, do you guys think my application would be given a shot for a FULL review?

Thanks in advance. 🙂

 

[that redhead]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=820748
🙂

 

[femmedusiecle]

Thank you so much for the link! 😉 😉

 

[jlindp]

I think you so go ahead and go for, especially if you are in-state! You meet the minimum requirements and it's impossible to say how it will turn out. A&M does use a calculation system to rank applicants for the interview invitations using the 3 GPAs and GRE. It all depends on what other applicant stats are, honestly. I know a few current vet students and recent graduates who got in with grades like yours and even lower!

 

[femmedusiecle]

Reassuring words, indeed. I've spoken to two different people in Admissions, one telling me that I should do a Masters while the other one is telling me that I should take more upper level undergrad science courses. Grrrr... I'm not really in a position right now to commit to a grad program. Taking courses here and there would better suit me (frequent traveler). So, upper level science courses or graduate level science courses?
Hope these questions aren't remedial...I just want to make sure that I utilize my time and money wisely!!

 

[HopefulAg]

If you're in-state, yes. If you're out-of-state, no.

I'm not really in a position right now to commit to a grad program.

If you're at A&M you can do that BIMS non-thesis master's thing. It's a year long and, as far as I can tell its sole reason for existence is for people in your situation.

 

[su_grad2007]

Hey guys!
My cum gpa is ~3.1, sGPA is ~3.3 and last 45 is ~3.5. I'm studying for the GRE as my scores have expired and I'm aiming for no lower than 1200. Also, I have a little over 10 years experience working with animals. My experience includes domestics, zoo, a little bit of wildlife and litttttle bit of large.
Besides the GRE, I plan on taking more science classes to boost my GPA. Academically speaking, do you guys think my application would be given a shot for a FULL review?

Thanks in advance. 🙂

Not sure what you mean by a full review, but I would say go ahead and apply but have a back up plan. My GPA was only a little higher than yours and I got in.

 

[PendantWorld]

Hey guys!
My cum gpa is ~3.1, sGPA is ~3.3 and last 45 is ~3.5. I'm studying for the GRE as my scores have expired and I'm aiming for no lower than 1200. Also, I have a little over 10 years experience working with animals. My experience includes domestics, zoo, a little bit of wildlife and litttttle bit of large.
Besides the GRE, I plan on taking more science classes to boost my GPA. Academically speaking, do you guys think my application would be given a shot for a FULL review?

Thanks in advance. 🙂

You have 10 years working with animals, which is amazing. However, how much of that is veterinary experience vs. animal experience (not working directly with a veterinarian)? Schools tend to heavily favor veterinary experience when they examine applicants.

 

[Cypress]

Reassuring words, indeed. I've spoken to two different people in Admissions, one telling me that I should do a Masters while the other one is telling me that I should take more upper level undergrad science courses. Grrrr... I'm not really in a position right now to commit to a grad program. Taking courses here and there would better suit me (frequent traveler). So, upper level science courses or graduate level science courses?
Hope these questions aren't remedial...I just want to make sure that I utilize my time and money wisely!!

I would highly recommend a year long Masters program if you have access - based on another comment sounds like A&M has a program set up for that purpose. I am in one now in Indiana and I actually really love it. It remains to say whether it will make the difference (still waiting to hear from most schools) but my own personal thoughts are it has strengthened me as a student in ways undergrad classes were never able to - I feel WAY more ready for vet school and I'm not nervous about the course load at all any more.

My program is 30 credit hours of biology grad courses in 2 semesters - so 15 credit hours a semester - 5 classes a semester.

 

[su_grad2007]

You have 10 years working with animals, which is amazing. However, how much of that is veterinary experience vs. animal experience (not working directly with a veterinarian)? Schools tend to heavily favor veterinary experience when they examine applicants.

That's very true but there are actually several people in my class who didn't have clinical veterinary experience at all. Most did, but some only had research experience and I worked for a vet that only had experience breeding and raising show dogs prior to vet school. It helped me out a lot that I had strong letters of recommendations and some very unique experiences. It actually wasn't my veterinary experience that made me stand out although I did have a lot of it. They liked the fact that I started and successfully ran my own training company, that I think set my application apart and it was actually the only thing that really changed between my applications. You will however need at least one recommendation from a veterinarian.You will always need to be able to explain the low grades.

It never hurts to apply, but I would definitely think about what you're going to do if you don't get in and have a back up plan. Make your application as strong as possible and try to play up your strengths and realize it may take you more than try to get in. It took me twice and there is a girl in my class (who is going to be an awesome vet) who was on her 4th application cycle. And don't put your life on hold. The best thing I did was to start my company. I knew I would have to walk away if I did get into vet school, but I also knew that if I didn't get in, not being a vet wasn't going to keep me from having a career I loved.