WAMC 1st Time

[xshadowx]

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Maine resident, traditional applicant
I will be a first-time applicant this September. I plan to apply to Tufts and Cornell, possibly UPEI, UPenn, and LIU. I need to stay close to New England, I know this will hurt my chances unfortunately. I am interested in shelter medicine and community care.

Cumulative GPA: 4.0
science GPA: 4.0
last 45: 4.0

Any degrees achieved
BS in animal science, honors college, expected May 2027

Veterinary Experience:
- Shadowed at a one doctor small animal clinic (27.75 hrs)
- Internship at a local animal shelter community vet clinic (314.5 hrs)
- Internship at a wildlife rehab, working with their veterinarian (currently 10 hrs, expected 20+)
- Externship at an equine surgical hospital and emergency vet (42 hrs)

Expected this summer:
- Rural Area Veterinary Services trip support staff (40+ hrs expected)
- Summer employment at the shelter clinic I interned at (~450 hrs expected)

Animal Experience:
- Cat and clinic volunteer at an animal shelter (~650 hrs)
- Dog walk volunteer at a different animal shelter (~ 40 hrs)
- Internship at a wildlife rehab, not supervised by the veterinarian (currently 60 hrs, expected 100+)
- Pet sitting (dogs and cats) (35 hrs)
- Dairy cattle experience through a college class (~150 hrs)
- Equine experience through a college class (~50 hrs)

Research Experience:
- Research on viral and parasitic infection in wild cervids (currently 260 hrs, expected 300+)

Awards/scholarships:
- Dean’s list and Presidential scholar every semester
- Earned a competitive research grant through my school
- National merit scholar finalist in high school (also received a scholarship for undergrad because of this)
- Various smaller scholarships including two through my high school and multiple through college
- High school valedictorian, school math and science awards

Extracurriculars:
- Pre-vet club member for two years (~45 hrs), secretary for one year (60 hrs)
- Cellist in the university orchestra (~350 hrs)
- Student disability club member for two years (~15 hrs)

Employment:
- Peer tutor (~170 hrs)
- Cello teacher (~25 hrs)
- State park employee (1000 hrs)
- Grocery store cashier (550 hrs)

Concerns:
I’m not sure if I have enough variability in my veterinary hours, since most of my hours will be from the same clinic. I do have experiences at other clinics but the amount of time spent there was more limited and I’m not sure if that will be frowned upon. I also don’t have non-animal volunteer hours, though I’m hoping to get some this summer.

 

[HorseObsessed]

I think you have a wonderful chance— but keep in mind there are many applicants with wonderful stats who have to apply multiple times.

800 hours by the time you apply puts you at about the same as the median applicant, and you have a well above median GPA.

Cornell, though they seem to love high GPAs, says they do a holistic review, so if you do not get in this cycle, consider broadening your experiences a little. It's great that you already have some variety and some research experience.

Cornell and Penn both have a lot of essays, so work really hard on those.

Ohio State is closish to New England if you'd consider that as well? They heavily focus their admissions on the interview, and I think that may be a good option for you.

Experiences with low hours are not frowned upon, but based on my experience this cycle I would only include them in your app (if less than 10 hours) if you could say something meaningful about them in an interview. I was asked about a few of my "smaller" experiences in my interviews.

 

[xshadowx]

Thank you for the advice! I will look into Ohio State as well!

 

[supershorty]

@xshadowx How close is "close to New England" in your mind?

 

[mw1356]

new englander at ohio state, the columbus airport has direct flights into boston logan at least 2x a day that are ~1.5 hours long but driving out at the start of the semester took ~12 hours

 

[xshadowx]

How close is "close to New England" in your mind?

Ideally I would be able to drive to/from school in one day if necessary, Cornell/UPEI/UPenn are all about an 8 hour drive and I would probably not want to go much farther than that.

new englander at ohio state, the columbus airport has direct flights into boston logan at least 2x a day that are ~1.5 hours long but driving out at the start of the semester took ~12 hours

I looked at Ohio State and that would be about 13 hours from home which I think is too far for me unfortunately

 

[supershorty]

Ideally I would be able to drive to/from school in one day if necessary, Cornell/UPEI/UPenn are all about an 8 hour drive and I would probably not want to go much farther than that.

How far is Rowan in NJ for you?

Your GPAs are obviously very competitive and having research experience is a plus (will you have any publications, abstract presentations, etc. from this work?). Your current vet hours are on the lower side, which I'm sure you know, but your application is strong in other areas and that makes it, IMO, less of a red flag than it would be for someone who had hurdles to overcome on the academic side of it. I think you're likely to be competitive at most of the programs that are geographically meeting your needs.

 

[_rae_]

I looked at Ohio State and that would be about 13 hours from home which I think is too far for me unfortunately

Ohio and NCSU are both 13 hours and both allow you to gain in state tuition after your first year (someone yell at me if that's no longer correct). All the vet schools in or close to New England are private and their tuition will reflect that.

I think you have a solid chance at any school you applied to, like shorty said. However, if you can make that additional few hours of driving work, it will literally save you tens of thousands of dollars. I don't know what's tying you to New England, but I ultimately made the choice to leave my elderly parents and go to school in Minnesota. If that's similar to what you're dealing with and you want to chat, feel free to PM me.

 

[xshadowx]

How far is Rowan in NJ for you?

Your GPAs are obviously very competitive and having research experience is a plus (will you have any publications, abstract presentations, etc. from this work?). Your current vet hours are on the lower side, which I'm sure you know, but your application is strong in other areas and that makes it, IMO, less of a red flag than it would be for someone who had hurdles to overcome on the academic side of it. I think you're likely to be competitive at most of the programs that are geographically meeting your needs.

Thank you for the input! I hadn't looked at Rowan much because of how new it is, but it is relatively close so I will do some more research on it. I am presenting my research at my school's student symposium this year, but I won't have any publications. I am also going to try to get more diverse shadowing hours this summer in addition to working, so hopefully that will boost my hours a bit more.

 

[xshadowx]

Ohio and NCSU are both 13 hours and both allow you to gain in state tuition after your first year (someone yell at me if that's no longer correct). All the vet schools in or close to New England are private and their tuition will reflect that.

I think you have a solid chance at any school you applied to, like shorty said. However, if you can make that additional few hours of driving work, it will literally save you tens of thousands of dollars. I don't know what's tying you to New England, but I ultimately made the choice to leave my elderly parents and go to school in Minnesota. If that's similar to what you're dealing with and you want to chat, feel free to PM me.

That is definitely something to consider... thank you for the offer, I may message you in the future!