WAMC - 1st time applicant

[jadex]

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Hi everyone! Looking to just get some feedback and thoughts on how competitive my application is. I know I’m applying to only very competitive schools, but I’m not opposed to taking a gap year and am just kind of shooting my shot this year!

F/20/Traditional/CA

Cumulative GPA: 3.78
Science GPA: 3.75
Last 45: 3.89

Any degrees achieved:
Set to graduate with B.S. Animal Biology in Spring 2026. Minor in Political Science.

Applying to:
UC Davis (IS), Colorado State, Cornell, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Upenn

Veterinary Experience: around 1150 hrs

• Small Animal GP - 580 hours as a vet assistant
• Speciality Internships - 72 hours
• Racetrack equine internship / vet assistant - 213 hours
• Vaccinator at low cost clinics through a shelter - 105 hours
• Livestock / farm vet shadow - 70 hours
• Goat research (paid) - 50 hours
• Necropsy work as part of lab - 8 hours

Animal Experience: 180 hours

• Lab animal colony caretaker - 60 hours
• Animal care volunteer at a wildlife center - 50 hours
• Shelter volunteer in high school - 70 hours

Employment:

• Worked at my family business since covid ~ 1000 hours
• Learning Assistant (an undergraduate TA) for one quarter of genetics undergraduate course (receive academic credit)

Research Experience: 400 hours

• Undergraduate Research Assistant in an equine genetics lab at my school. Presented my research at the undergraduate conference. Have a second author publication on a dog genetics paper also.
• Have published (not peer reviewed) paper from research in high school on shelter medicine.

LORs:

• One from a vet tech and vet at the Small Animal GP that I worked at
• One from my lab PI
• One from an equine vet
• One from a biochemistry professor

Awards/scholarships:

• Department Student of the Month
• 5x Dean’s list
• A ton of Model UN awards from high school
• A ton of tennis awards from high school

Extracurriculars:

• Former treasurer and current President of a large pre-vet club on my undergraduate campus.
• Member of the tennis club in college, varsity captain of high school team for 2 years. Have been playing for 15 years.
• Moderator for Undergraduate Health Conference.
• Not sure how relevant high school is but founded and served as President for 2 years of the only animal related club on my high school campus, super involved in Model UN in high school (multiple awards received, served as secretary general for school’s entire program), student council, president of 2 other clubs.

Concerns:
I know my science GPA isn’t great and my animal hours are low 🙁 Hoping that my leadership and research can help me stand out? Probably left something out!

 

[indysadventures]

I think you have a decently competitive application - are any of those your in state? Because even with your fairly competitive GPA, I worry it may be more beneficial to choose schools other than Davis and Wisconsin. They both have very, very high average GPAs and there’s not a lot of people OOS accepted below those averages (think above 3.9).

Are there particular reasons you’re drawn to these schools, or is it based off of ranking? Because everyone here will tell you ranking doesn’t matter, it’s based on made-up metrics that aren’t related to the quality of the program. And, aside from Ohio and Davis, those are all going to be expensive programs to attend as an OOS. Cornell and UPenn even for IS. Especially with the changes in student loan caps, some of these schools would likely require you to take out significant private loans.

Thus, I’d suggest you consider schools like NC state or WSU or Mizzou, where you can establish residency after your first year. Davis does allow this, but they may not be a good use of your time depending on your stats, but that’s up to you. They’re picky about prerequisites so make sure those are approved.

 

[jadex]

I think you have a decently competitive application - are any of those your in state? Because even with your fairly competitive GPA, I worry it may be more beneficial to choose schools other than Davis and Wisconsin. They both have very, very high average GPAs and there’s not a lot of people OOS accepted below those averages (think above 3.9).

Are there particular reasons you’re drawn to these schools, or is it based off of ranking? Because everyone here will tell you ranking doesn’t matter, it’s based on made-up metrics that aren’t related to the quality of the program. And, aside from Ohio and Davis, those are all going to be expensive programs to attend as an OOS. Cornell and UPenn even for IS. Especially with the changes in student loan caps, some of these schools would likely require you to take out significant private loans.

Thus, I’d suggest you consider schools like NC state or WSU or Mizzou, where you can establish residency after your first year. Davis does allow this, but they may not be a good use of your time depending on your stats, but that’s up to you. They’re picky about prerequisites so make sure those are approved.

thanks for the feedback! UC Davis is my IS. Unfortunately I'm not able to apply to half the schools because they require a full year of ochem and I took a two quarter series.