The Impossible Dream

[Syr]

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Hey all,

I'm a 6th-year undergraduate, finally hitting my "senior" year. I've been planning on going for my MPH for a while now, but am now having second/third/fourth thoughts about it, and rethinking the whole "I want to earn my DVM" thing.

The problems:
-low GPA, only 2.8, hopefully 3.0 by the time I graduate
-haven't completed the pre-requisites, particularly for my in-state school, MN.
-low veterinary experience (though my father is a vet, and I've grown up and worked in his private practice).

So, as I see it, I have three options
-get my MPH, finish pre-reqs, apply for DVM (problem is after I get my DVM, probably won't use the MPH much as I'd prefer private or hospital practice)
-skip the MPH, finish pre-reqs while working and going to school part-time, apply to schools
-give up, get MPH

Choice 3 is not an option for me at this point - it hurts me to think about it. Please, if you're going to come into this thread and be a downer and tell me it's impossible, please skip it - I know how slim my odds are. I'm the dark horse here, and well aware of it.

What I'm wondering is:
1) what I can do increase my chances of getting in
2) what I can do to get more veterinary experience, especially considering my father is relatively well-known in our veterinary circle in the area
3) what people think about the MPH option, whether I should go for it or skip it, and
4) if anybody sees other options

Thanks for any help.

 

[nyanko]

Not having the prerequisites is not a problem - it's actually a good thing. If you can get good grades in them, it will go a long way towards presenting a better application in spite of your cumulative GPA.

What you need to do is get some quality veterinary experience so you can write a good personal statement and know why you want to go into the field, rock the GRE and get good grades in the prereqs, then see where you stand.

 

[parietal]

Welcome, Syr! Always good to see another Minnesotan on here.

So, as I see it, I have three options
-get my MPH, finish pre-reqs, apply for DVM (problem is after I get my DVM, probably won't use the MPH much as I'd prefer private or hospital practice)
-skip the MPH, finish pre-reqs while working and going to school part-time, apply to schools
-give up, get MPH

I'm doing the DVM/MPH program and I love it, but the primary reasons to do an MPH are if you have a strong interest in either public health or population-level research. If you plan to do mixed or farm animal practice it may be worth it: it sounds like some employers really like DVMs with more awareness of public health. If you plan to do small animal or equine, it probably isn't very relevant. And it isn't cheap.

I agree that your best option for now would be to finish -- and rock -- your prereqs. I don't know if you know this, but Minnesota doesn't actually consider your cumulative GPA, just your last-45 credits and your prereqs. So depending on how many prereqs you have left, that may change your chances considerably.

What I'm wondering is:
1) what I can do increase my chances of getting in
2) what I can do to get more veterinary experience, especially considering my father is relatively well-known in our veterinary circle in the area
3) what people think about the MPH option, whether I should go for it or skip it, and
4) if anybody sees other options

Thanks for any help.

1) Take and do as well in your prereqs as is humanely possible.
2) Why not work at your father's clinic? If that would be weird, I'm sure he could help you find colleagues where you could at least shadow.
3) See above.
4) See above.

Hope that helps. All hope is definitely NOT lost!

Good luck!

 

[Syr]

I'm actually working at his office right now, about 5 hours a week. Not a lot, but it's something. I'm learning how to draw blood soon, excited for that. Gonna talk to my mom though, who manages the clinic, to see if I can get any hours during the school year. I'm also working at a vaguely veterinary-related office right now too.

As for prerequisites, I've completed a few of them, but haven't done a lot of them. Still have about 6-7 of them left.

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. I'm really thinking about going for it!

 

[parietal]

I'm actually working at his office right now, about 5 hours a week. Not a lot, but it's something. I'm learning how to draw blood soon, excited for that. Gonna talk to my mom though, who manages the clinic, to see if I can get any hours during the school year. I'm also working at a vaguely veterinary-related office right now too.

As for prerequisites, I've completed a few of them, but haven't done a lot of them. Still have about 6-7 of them left.

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. I'm really thinking about going for it!

Good luck!

 

[Nexx]

Don't have anything other to add besides recommending that you may want to branch out from working at your dad's clinic. I wouldn't go as far as to say to stop working there entirely, but remember you will likely have to submit recommendations from vets. If you can get one from one of the associate vets at his clinic, great. However if your dad is as well-known as you say adcoms may see your surname and all the experience at a vet's practice who has the same surname and then put two and two together.

Basically working for/with your dad for experience could be a potential slight negative if that is the only experience you have. Just my thought on the situation, it may have zero influence on acceptance 🙂

 

[Minnerbelle]

I agree with Nexx. Maybe focus on learning as much tech skills as you can at your dad's clinic to make yourself marketable to other clinics. Then use his sweet connections to find other clinics (preferably a different type of clinic, like a referral or ER clinic) to work at?

 

[david594]

Rock your remaining pre-reqs and rock the GRE. Then apply intelligently to schools that put some heavy weight on pre-req grades.

Look into UPEI. Their forumula for ranking applicants for interviews is essentially just pre-req grades and GRE.

 

[luplodw]

Definitely work somewhere else. I know that I applied to multiple vet schools that specifically stated that LORs were not to be written by relatives. Start working somewhere else now!!! You want to be able to establish a really strong relationship with a couple of more vets (some schools require letters from 2 different vets). The longer you work with them, the better they know you, and the better the LOR will be.

And for the MPH... why in the world would you do that? If your ultimate goal is to get into vet school, don't waste money on something you don't really want. If however you actually did want it, go to a vet school that has the MPH/DVM program. It is cheaper if you do it that way (at least at one school they said it was...not sure about others). It may even require less time! If you are trying to do something to improve your application/GPA then get a masters in something that you actually enjoy! The knowledge and passion you have for that topic will totally come through in your interview (and maybe your PS)

 

[Syr]

I'm going to start trying to talk to my mom, who's knows a lot of managers in the area, to see if she can get me in to at least shadow with some of the other vets in the area.

It's not that I'm not interested in the MPH, it's just that if I got my DVM, I'm not sure I'd really want to work as a DVM/MPH. I'm doing more research into that aspect of it too.

 

[Klizard]

Perhaps you could shadow a veterinarian that at one time shadowed your dad? They seem to be more than willing to help out the offspring of someone who helped them achieve their goal of becoming a vet 🙂

My dad is also the only vet at his private mixed animal practice (which my mom manages: small world!). Needless to say, I was in a bit of a squeeze when it came to finding a veterinarian with whom I could get quality experience and a letter of recommendation. With my dad's help, I started shadowing one of his former "shadowees" who owns a small animal hospital about 30 minutes from home. Pretty much after the first day, the veterinarian had me assisting with some awesome surgeries because he knew I had a strong foundational skill set in vet-med. An extra bonus was that I would have never seen these surgeries had I worked exclusively with my dad. So I guess the moral of the story is to use your connections and not be afraid to try new areas! While I can't see myself doing exclusively small animal work in the future, it's been an invaluable experience that also got me that much-needed letter of rec from a vet. Good luck!

 

[Minnerbelle]

1) Take and do as well in your prereqs as is humanely possible.

haha, I just picked up on this now. Only someone involved with animals would make such a typo. That just cracked me up!

though it's sooo true... you don't want to torture yourself just to get your prereqs done. no need to get burnt out before you even get to vet school! i did, and i needed to take a semester off from school, and consequently 2 years off after I graduated.

 

[parietal]

haha, I just picked up on this now. Only someone involved with animals would make such a typo. That just cracked me up!

though it's sooo true... you don't want to torture yourself just to get your prereqs done. no need to get burnt out before you even get to vet school! i did, and i needed to take a semester off from school, and consequently 2 years off after I graduated.

It wasn't intentional, I swear! At least consciously: my subconcious tends to be much funnier than I am. 🙂