WAMC 2nd time applicant Below avg GPA

[purrlywhites]

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23y/o, Nevada resident, First-gen mentioned in some essays. Got waitlisted then accepted to LMU & LIU. Also waitlisted to Western, Rowan, & Iowa (150). I will be doing my projected 2025-26 stats, not 2024-25. I am applying again because USU has IS tuition for Nevadans, and I got rejected to USU this past cycle. Bristol also seems like a practical option b/c it’s holistic and cheaper than these private US universities.

Cumulative GPA: 3.46
science GPA: 3.3
last 45: 3.5 (according to ISU)

Bachelor of Science in Biology from a well-known university on the West Coast, not that it probably matters but I think it affected my GPA

Applying to: Washington state (got past academic screening last cycle), Oregon State (unsure) Iowa, LMU, Rowan, USU, UAZ, UF. Considering internationals like OVC, Bristol, Edinburgh with my A’s in most of those prerequisites
Removing Cornell, Upenn, LIU, Midwestern from my applications, because it’s either too expensive or unlikely with GPA.
If there’s a holistic school I’m missing, it’s because I already looked and don’t meet the prereqs.

Casper: 4th quartile

LORs:
- 2 current vets, one was closer to me than the other. The one less close to me has now left but I plan on asking him to resend it.
- 1 professor; I was not close to any of my professors :/ but I did an extra credit project and attended all his lectures in person when most didn’t, so he might’ve mentioned some of that.
- Gonna ask the head volunteer at my lion volunteer place, and she’s gonna help me mention stuff that others may have missed. This will be a new letter that can probably replace one of the vets, at some schools.

Veterinary Experience:
- 3700 hours Small animal GP by the time I apply; worked at 3 different clinics
- 120 hours Small animal + Avian
- 3 hours Dermatologist shadow
- 8+ [ongoing] Exotic/Avian shadow
- Hopefully up to 20+ hours in ER if my shadowing pulls through

Animal Experience:
- 12 hours [ongoing] Beagle rescue
- 30+ hours [ongoing] at 2 farms. My new one is more hands-on so I switched, and currently have 11 hours there.
- 20 hours at Horse farm, not hands-on, actually had more human interaction than animals
- 150+ hours [ongoing] at a lion habitat where I can observe but mostly work with customers
- 75 hours Wildlife sanctuary in Africa

Research Experience:
- 0 hours
- Trying to get a remote volunteer position to research pet cancer.

Awards/scholarships:
- None

Extracurriculars:
- 170-ish hours volunteering in Alpha Phi Omega, had one leadership position
- 2 quarters of Phi Sigma Rho which is a STEM sorority, joined last minute for fun oops.
- 50? Idk hours Hiking club (I love hiking!)
- 2.5 years of tennis in high school
- 3.5 years of track & field in high school (sports got cutoff by COVID)
- Pre-vet club for college, but first 1.5 years were virtual
- Animal advocates club for 2 years

Employment:
- The only non-animal job I had was for this company called Caption Call where I transcribed what I heard on phone calls, for hard of hearing customers. I had social anxiety holding me back from jobs more early on, but I was also busy with sports.

Personal Statement:
My first cycle I talked about how my vegetarian diet was influenced and led that into my morals for animal welfare. Then I discussed how my wildlife trip abroad influenced me wanting to pursue wildlife alongside small animal care because of my dog’s health journey. I briefly talked about academics and how I was looking for a challenging environment leading me to choose a more difficult school. TBH, I think I was trying to include too much and need to focus more on small animals. I heard talking about abroad programs also aren’t great since they aren’t accessible to everyone.

This cycle I am trying to focus more on small animal experiences and low-income populations due to my experience with being unable to pay for my family dog, and having to convince my parents through self-research and communication. I demonstrated some ways I have helped low income at my own clinic and currently work in a financially vulnerable area.

Student conduct violation: I explained it straightforward- I was caught cheating on an exam because I was using our homework system when I saw one test question looked similar. I took a 5 week seminar and retook the class for an A+. I had 2 file reviews [Cornell, LSU] who said this didn’t matter because it was my freshman year and I was honest about it.

* I am mostly looking for what I can improve besides GPA, so that’s why I just started the beagle rescue, where I can expand in both human and animal horizons, and possibly but most likely ER/exotics. Thank you so much in advance! I know I can’t get much help on USU being a new school, but that is my top choice for tuition 🙂

 

[BunnyFluffy]

Hey! I went to school in Nevada 🐺 and my GPA was similar to yours!

I think you're on the right track, your vet experience is great but your animal hours are a little low. Does the 2 farms involve large animal? I would say that should try and be your next goal, even if it's tough. I know a lot of applicants "didn't need" LA hours, but with how competitive the process is right now, you have to put on the best show you can, and that means earnestly trying each facet of vet med even if it's not your cup of tea.

I think this ties into one of my concerns (which you've already identified), which is talking about animal welfare without that experience. If you were talking about small animal welfare I think it would be fine, but if you've never stepped foot into a feed lot or dairy parlor, it's hard to talk about welfare without seeming... Preachy? That's just my opinion, but most would advise against talking about something you have little experience hours in. I would say you should still mention what is important to you, but use your experiences to tie it all together, rather than a "this is what I'm going to do".

With all that said, I believe you're a great applicant and that if you can pull out some stellar LORs and a great personal statement, you'll have some decent chances.

 

[purrlywhites]

Hey! I went to school in Nevada 🐺 and my GPA was similar to yours!

I think you're on the right track, your vet experience is great but your animal hours are a little low. Does the 2 farms involve large animal? I would say that should try and be your next goal, even if it's tough. I know a lot of applicants "didn't need" LA hours, but with how competitive the process is right now, you have to put on the best show you can, and that means earnestly trying each facet of vet med even if it's not your cup of tea.

I think this ties into one of my concerns (which you've already identified), which is talking about animal welfare without that experience. If you were talking about small animal welfare I think it would be fine, but if you've never stepped foot into a feed lot or dairy parlor, it's hard to talk about welfare without seeming... Preachy? That's just my opinion, but most would advise against talking about something you have little experience hours in. I would say you should still mention what is important to you, but use your experiences to tie it all together, rather than a "this is what I'm going to do".

With all that said, I believe you're a great applicant and that if you can pull out some stellar LORs and a great personal statement, you'll have some decent chances.

Yay Reno! I actually went out of state for school but came back home to NV haha. Thank you for your input. Both farms involve large animal but the first one I volunteered at was more with bunnies and then observing the LA due to the owner having trust issues with new people. I ended up leaving b/c of location, but this new one I found allows me to feed, interact with, and help clean areas for chickens, cows, goats, etc. I will keep that in mind and try to volunteer here more even tho the 100 degree weather is killing me 😅

Also my diet is what inspired me to look for careers with animals in the first place, so I think i’ll try to focus more on that part and how my values can still shine in SA medicine I guess? I don’t want to talk too much about the meat industry since yeah I didn’t get to see this first-hand, but I believe making this major change has shown my determination to animal welfare and I hope readers will see it that way if I write it well. So far I have a transition from my diet —> looking at how to contribute directly, leading to my interest in a career in caring for sick animals —> what I did in college and how my clinic jobs have inspired me to be a vet specifically

 

[indysadventures]

I think you’ve been very thoughtful about your personal statement approach! I think your plan to keep it more concentrated in your specific passions and experience within the field is a very good idea. I also think it’s a wise choice to forgo applying to schools that weigh GPA heavily (I think Cornell is like 60%).

I’ll note that I’ve been some version of vegetarian/vegan/pescatarian since middle school, so I get the angle you’re approaching from, but I would have some reservations about leaning too much into vegetarianism/animal welfare. I didn’t talk about it at all during my application cycle, and that’s not to say that it’s not the right choice for you, but approach with empathy and nuance. In a world where we can’t even get half of the population to care about rampant human rights violations, it can come off as lofty or privileged to lean too heavily into diet-based morality.

Generally, I do worry if talking about your diet, other than an anecdote or opening statement, may cause some concern with adcoms as obviously food animal veterinarians are a huge part of our field. Depending on your angle, I agree with Bunny that it could come off preachy and make you seem like you don’t understand an essential aspect of vet med, or that you may be ethically so against coursework/classes that you wind up hating the field? Food animal coursework is unavoidable, and it may make a reader worry if you’ll be a good fit for the curriculum.

Obviously, that all depends on how you’re referencing your diet - if you’re approaching it as it’s made you think critically about animal welfare and [insert here], then move on to clinical/scientific aspects of your journey, you’re probably fine. But if you’re approaching with the angle of wanting to change the meat industry etc etc, it will probably turn some readers off, especially without significant experience with livestock.

A big mistake I see generally in statements is when applicants simplify a very complicated issue and then say something along the lines of, “but I will be the veterinarian that cares enough.” I’m not implying that’s how you wrote it, just a general comment. A good example is when people talk about affordability of emergency veterinary care - if done well and with nuance, it can make you look prepared for the realities of the field. Miss the mark, though, and it does exactly the opposite.

While vegetarianism is a noble cause, we can’t control how people perceive it, and internal biases might make admissions committees question if you truly understand the full scope of the field. They want to make sure you’re going to be capable - mentally, emotionally, ethically - of getting through vet school.

TLDR: I think it’s okay to use an anecdote or story or attention grabber, but then move on to experiences/science/etc.

 

[purrlywhites]

I think you’ve been very thoughtful about your personal statement approach! I think your plan to keep it more concentrated in your specific passions and experience within the field is a very good idea. I also think it’s a wise choice to forgo applying to schools that weigh GPA heavily (I think Cornell is like 60%).

I’ll note that I’ve been some version of vegetarian/vegan/pescatarian since middle school, so I get the angle you’re approaching from, but I would have some reservations about leaning too much into vegetarianism/animal welfare. I didn’t talk about it at all during my application cycle, and that’s not to say that it’s not the right choice for you, but approach with empathy and nuance. In a world where we can’t even get half of the population to care about rampant human rights violations, it can come off as lofty or privileged to lean too heavily into diet-based morality.

Generally, I do worry if talking about your diet, other than an anecdote or opening statement, may cause some concern with adcoms as obviously food animal veterinarians are a huge part of our field. Depending on your angle, I agree with Bunny that it could come off preachy and make you seem like you don’t understand an essential aspect of vet med, or that you may be ethically so against coursework/classes that you wind up hating the field? Food animal coursework is unavoidable, and it may make a reader worry if you’ll be a good fit for the curriculum.

Obviously, that all depends on how you’re referencing your diet - if you’re approaching it as it’s made you think critically about animal welfare and [insert here], then move on to clinical/scientific aspects of your journey, you’re probably fine. But if you’re approaching with the angle of wanting to change the meat industry etc etc, it will probably turn some readers off, especially without significant experience with livestock.

A big mistake I see generally in statements is when applicants simplify a very complicated issue and then say something along the lines of, “but I will be the veterinarian that cares enough.” I’m not implying that’s how you wrote it, just a general comment. A good example is when people talk about affordability of emergency veterinary care - if done well and with nuance, it can make you look prepared for the realities of the field. Miss the mark, though, and it does exactly the opposite.

While vegetarianism is a noble cause, we can’t control how people perceive it, and internal biases might make admissions committees question if you truly understand the full scope of the field. They want to make sure you’re going to be capable - mentally, emotionally, ethically - of getting through vet school.

TLDR: I think it’s okay to use an anecdote or story or attention grabber, but then move on to experiences/science/etc.

Thank you for the response on my PS! I do understand that being vegetarian is a privilege which I briefly mentioned bc my parents were low income immigrants who did not have this privilege, and that was actually a dispute we had so they didn’t support my decision for awhile lol. And I understand the role of vets in this situation, but yeah I definitely don’t want to come off as someone who doesn’t want to partake in certain things because of my beliefs. Maybe I will change the hook honestly, but I’ll see if any of my drafts work out

 

[indysadventures]

Thank you for the response on my PS! I do understand that being vegetarian is a privilege which I briefly mentioned bc my parents were low income immigrants who did not have this privilege, and that was actually a dispute we had so they didn’t support my decision for awhile lol. And I understand the role of vets in this situation, but yeah I definitely don’t want to come off as someone who doesn’t want to partake in certain things because of my beliefs. Maybe I will change the hook honestly, but I’ll see if any of my drafts work out

It sounds like you have that nuance that I was discussing! If you’d like, I am more than happy to review anything and provide feedback. 🙂

 

[purrlywhites]

It sounds like you have that nuance that I was discussing! If you’d like, I am more than happy to review anything and provide feedback. 🙂

Thanks I’ll probably take you up on that 🙂

 

[purrlywhites]

Updated my post a little bit. Now considering Bristol, Edinburgh, and OVC as internationals. Unsure about how my prerequisite GPAs will be weighted here, but I think that GPA ranges from 3.76 at OVC to 3.8+ at these other schools. Any more input?