WAMC: 1st time, non-trad, upward trend in GPA

[mangochip]

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Hi all! With the TMDSAS and VMCAS deadlines behind us, I wanted to see what others thought of my stats so I can finally release the mental load of this cycle haha 🥲 I honestly applied on a whim; I had planned to apply next cycle, but I realized I had all the pre-reqs necessary and decided to try it out this year to at least get a feel for the process. That being said, I'm also very open to suggestions on how I can improve my application for next year, need-be. I only applied to TAMU (my IS) and Tufts (I thought it'd be a good idea to try out both application services and I went with Tufts bc of recommendations from a good friend and from a veterinarian I worked with closely).

About me: I'm a non-traditional student with a bachelor's in geography and minor in biology. A lot of my previous work revolved around resource accessibility, inequality, public health, and environmental justice for humans. Post-graduation as a vet tech at a shelter, I found a lot of the same themes I studied appeared in shelter medicine/veterinary public health. That discovery, plus my long-standing interest in medicine/science, drove my interest in pursuing a DVM. I'm currently completing my pre-reqs, with some courses being retakes. My science/cumulative GPA is lower than I would like it as I was in a relationship during my first two years of college where my ex-partner forced me to travel hours to see him every weekend, taking time away from my academics. Leaving the relationship dramatically improved my performance: during my senior year of undergrad and whole post-bacc career, I've received As for my courses (except one physics II lab.... ).

Cumulative GPA: 3.49
science GPA: 3.37
last 45: 3.98

Any degrees achieved: B.A. in Geography/minor in Biology

GRE results: N/A

Veterinary Experience:

• Shelter vet tech/euthanasia tech (3180hrs): tech in the foster medical care department, providing basic care and diagnostics to in-house, fostered, and recently adopted animals. Certified in TX to perform euthanasia for ~1yr now
• Equine Sports Medicine Shadowing (10hrs): shadowed vet during summer volunteering at equestrian center
• Private Hospital Shadowing (50h): shadowed vet who did relief work at my shelter at her other office, got to see a lot of procedures/diagnoses I don't usually encounter at a shelter
• High Volume Clinic Shadowing (25h): shadowed at surgery clinic associated with my shelter
• Large Animal/Field Medicine Shadowing (8h): shadowed vet visit on goat farm in Mexico, got to see spay/neuter surgery done in the field on small animals (super cool!), only vet experience with food animals

Animal Experience:

• Goat farm volunteer (100hrs): WWOOF'd in Mexico, herding/taking care of baby goats 🙂 Talked abt the experience of solo tripping for the first time with not-amazing Spanish and how it exhibits my strengths/dedication to improving accessibility for Hispanic clients in one of the TMDSAS secondary essays
• Wildlife Center Volunteer (20hrs): hoping to get this # up in the next year
• Equestrian Center Intern (150hrs): mucking, turning out, grooming horses
• Medical/Behavioral Foster (400hrs): fostering sick, unsocial, underweight cats
• Kennel Technician/Adoption Counselor at shelter (1650hrs)
• Kennel Technician at pet resort (440hrs)
• For TMDSAS: Included pet ownership of turtles/tortoises and guinea pig

Research Experience:

• Antarctic Paleoclimate Reconstruction (600hrs): received an NSF-funded grant via Brown University aimed at encouraging AAPI participation in geology (touched on this in a secondary essay)
• Geography Honors Thesis (300hrs): received departmental honors
• Geography Seminar Project (130hrs)
• Ethnographic Interview about Corporate Culture (75hrs): conducted/transcribed anthropological research interview for class project
• Feline Infectious Disease Prevalence (10hrs): recently started personal research concerning temporal changes in FIV prevalence pre/post-COVID utilizing data from my shelter. Honestly doing out of curiosity but have the opportunity to present at a little research symposium at my post-bacc uni if I find interesting results.

Awards/scholarships:

• AAPI in Geoscience Internship Grant: NSF-funded research grant
• Post-Baccalaureate Merit Scholarship
• Dean's Award for last 5 semesters of undergrad
• Dean's Award for 2 semesters at post-bacc uni (didn't receive the past few semesters bc I'm not a full-time student anymore)
• Graduated Cum Laude with departmental honors from undergrad
• Academic/conduct recognition throughout high school
• Award for exceeding expectations of volunteering at local retirement home in college

Extracurriculars:

• Various volunteer efforts since high school (~950hrs), most notably:
  • Director/creator of high school composting program
  • Director of post-hurricane relief program in high school (talked abt how this inspired my interest in public health in general in my main statement)
  • Instagram account highlighting fashion of students of color throughout college, culminating in planning a multicultural fashion show my senior year (focus of a secondary essay)
  • Training EMT at ambulance corps
  • Volunteer for running LGBTQ+ social events in my city
  • Education/outreach volunteer for local bat group 🦇: started very recently
• Committee member of social activism group in college: executed educational events about race/power dynamics
• Theatre/singing lessons throughout high school
• Some hobbies: running, fiber arts, outdoor recreation, learning Spanish

Employment:

• Sustainability intern for campus dining buildings in college
• Internship at an Alzheimer's-focused biotech startup
• Internship at elder rights activism group
• Various kitchen/café jobs
• Farmer's market seller for various vendors
• General chemistry lab TA (during post-bacc)
• Genetics peer mentor (during post-bacc)

My letters are from a vet that I worked alongside at the shelter and later shadowed, my shelter supervisor, and my genetics professor/pre-vet advisor who I now peer-mentor for. I have strong relationships with all of them so I hope they said nice things haha. For VMCAS, I included letters from another shelter vet and an additional professor (good working relationships but not very close personally).

My main personal statement focused on how I want to provide accessible, culturally-competent, and compassionate veterinary care in the shelter medicine/veterinary public health world. I spoke about my experience working at a shelter, the importance of building meaningful client relationships, and how learning Spanish has helped me become a better provider and student. Secondary essays revolved around my experience as a queer Asian woman growing up in PWIs and how it's inspired me to work towards a more inclusive world. My explanation statement regarded the abusive relationship I had during my first two years of college, how I eventually left with the help of friends (and therapy!), and how my grades/life have turned around since.

I know I write a lot so thank you if you got this far! Looking forward to hearing people's thoughts

 

[beans2020]

I did not apply to the Texas schools or to Tufts during my cycle, so I can't speak to those programs in particular. You look like you have good experiences and extracurriculars/leadership, so I don't think any of that will cause you a problem! (Maybe the lack of food animal experience, but you have enough other unique experiences and research and such that I don't think it will harm you that much). The letters and essays sound like they are probably okay too. The weakest part of your application, which it sounds like you know already, is the GPA. I'm not sure what the average GPA is at A&M or Tufts, but The 3.49 cumulative is most likely going to be a little low. It will matter how each school reviews your application - if they use a more holistic approach, you may be fine, but if they do cut-offs based on GPA, you may not go as far. Unfortunately I can't really give you much more at this point as you've already submitted your app. I highly recommend that if this cycle isn't as successful for you, doing a file review with one or both schools as they will be able to give you better advise than I can.

Best of luck!!

 

[HorseObsessed]

Looks like a super cool resume!
I went through TMDSAS and VMCAS last year. TAMU unfortunately makes pretty high GPA cuts so I wouldn’t hold your breath. Two schools is definitely a risk, so if you apply again I’d recommend trying some others (especially if you’re willing to pay the price tag of Tufts). I’m not sure about Tufts.

 

[mangochip]

I did not apply to the Texas schools or to Tufts during my cycle, so I can't speak to those programs in particular. You look like you have good experiences and extracurriculars/leadership, so I don't think any of that will cause you a problem! (Maybe the lack of food animal experience, but you have enough other unique experiences and research and such that I don't think it will harm you that much). The letters and essays sound like they are probably okay too. The weakest part of your application, which it sounds like you know already, is the GPA. I'm not sure what the average GPA is at A&M or Tufts, but The 3.49 cumulative is most likely going to be a little low. It will matter how each school reviews your application - if they use a more holistic approach, you may be fine, but if they do cut-offs based on GPA, you may not go as far. Unfortunately I can't really give you much more at this point as you've already submitted your app. I highly recommend that if this cycle isn't as successful for you, doing a file review with one or both schools as they will be able to give you better advise than I can.

Best of luck!!

Thank you for your reply! I have 5 more courses + a lab to still complete that I'm hoping will raise my cumulative/sci GPA by next cycle so fingers crossed they'll help a little bit 🙂 And yes, the file reviews were actually a big factor in why I decided to apply this year; do you have any insight on that process? I've heard some schools are more in-depth than others in terms of feedback but I don't know too much else about it.

 

[mangochip]

Looks like a super cool resume!
I went through TMDSAS and VMCAS last year. TAMU unfortunately makes pretty high GPA cuts so I wouldn’t hold your breath. Two schools is definitely a risk, so if you apply again I’d recommend trying some others (especially if you’re willing to pay the price tag of Tufts). I’m not sure about Tufts.

Thanks for the advice! Yeah I feel the same way about TAMU haha I'm hoping to get some good feedback from them if things don't pan out this cycle. I know they have general GPA cuts for actually being eligible to apply, do further GPA cuts happen throughout the application review process? I'm pretty new to this so not too sure how it works

 

[beans2020]

Thank you for your reply! I have 5 more courses + a lab to still complete that I'm hoping will raise my cumulative/sci GPA by next cycle so fingers crossed they'll help a little bit 🙂 And yes, the file reviews were actually a big factor in why I decided to apply this year; do you have any insight on that process? I've heard some schools are more in-depth than others in terms of feedback but I don't know too much else about it.

So I never actually did a file review - I was planning on doing one with Purdue, but then I ended up getting into Mizzou so it didn't end up happening. From what I've heard though (of course school dependent) you'll get the opportunity to sit down with one of the admissions staff and go through what held you back. Sometimes they are super helpful (like maybe you need more experience or a LOR wasn't great) and sometimes it's like "well we're not sure why you didn't get in". Most schools that offer them will have a form for you to fill out to schedule one or have you reach out to their admissions office if you are interested.

 

[HorseObsessed]

Thanks for the advice! Yeah I feel the same way about TAMU haha I'm hoping to get some good feedback from them if things don't pan out this cycle. I know they have general GPA cuts for actually being eligible to apply, do further GPA cuts happen throughout the application review process? I'm pretty new to this so not too sure how it works

They don’t make people aware of an official “cut” or “cutoff” but it definitely happens. If you look in last years TAMU thread some people shared their file reviews.