WAMC - 2nd time applicant, low science GPA

[nicoledoesvetstuff]

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Hello, this is your friendly neighborhood waitlist prisoner! This last cycle, I was waitlisted from 4 schools (Illinois, LMU, LIU, Iowa), and at this point I have lost hope of getting off any of these waitlists, so I have been working hard on my reapplication!

I recently graduated with my bachelor’s degree in English and biology on the pre-vet track with a minor in French. This cycle, both my overall GPA and my science GPA have improved, although my science GPA is still on the low end.

1st cycle to 2nd cycle:
Overall GPA: 3.66 —> 3.70
Science GPA: 3.25 —> 3.34

Do you think these new GPAs could possibly push these waitlists to acceptances? I have also completely rewritten my personal statement and will be gaining additional veterinary hours, since I have just been hired as a veterinary assistant at a vet clinic. I will have around 1500 veterinary experience hours and 250 research hours.

A concern that I had (other than my science GPA) is that I barely have any animal experience hours (just around 15). I’m planning on volunteering at an animal shelter in order to raise those hours— do you think raising these hours will make a difference in my application though? I have very extensive extracurricular involvement (president of my sorority, saxophonist, etc.), non-animal volunteering hours, as well as non-animal employment hours with my on-campus job.

Thanks for your guidance!!

 

[pp9]

It's hard to say. It's great that they went up of course, but they didn't budge all that much. It may not be enough to make cutoffs, but also who knows what the cutoffs will be. What's your last 45?

Idk that adding a few animal hours will make or break your app. I can't remember what I had when I applied but truly I think I had very little 'animal' hours? I would think getting variety in your vet hours would have a bigger effect.

 

[nicoledoesvetstuff]

It's hard to say. It's great that they went up of course, but they didn't budge all that much. It may not be enough to make cutoffs, but also who knows what the cutoffs will be. What's your last 45?

Idk that adding a few animal hours will make or break your app. I can't remember what I had when I applied but truly I think I had very little 'animal' hours? I would think getting variety in your vet hours would have a bigger effect.

My last 45 is currently a 3.73. For comparison, when I applied last cycle, it was a 3.60. Do you think I should take an upper-level science course to bring my science GPA higher?

Right now, I have around 1,000 vet hours at a small animal clinic, 140 hours with research animals (mice and rats), 25 hours at an equine mobile clinic, and 60 hours at a shelter.

 

[pp9]

My last 45 is currently a 3.73. For comparison, when I applied last cycle, it was a 3.60. Do you think I should take an upper-level science course to bring my science GPA higher?

Right now, I have around 1,000 vet hours at a small animal clinic, 140 hours with research animals (mice and rats), 25 hours at an equine mobile clinic, and 60 hours at a shelter.

3.73 is pretty good, but is essentially the same as your cGPA (if it was much higher, I'd tell you to focus on schools that look at last 45 specifically). With 2/3 GPAs being good, I would consider schools that look at all three GPAs. Some of those schools still might weigh the sGPA most heavily, which might hurt you...not all schools publish how much weight they put on each component though.

Knowing that you've already achieved waitlist status, however, that tells us that you've passed the initial academic cutoffs that schools may have had in place. For U of I in particular, they no longer consider academics after phase I, so it was your experience/essays/interview that held you back. With that in mind, I would consider focusing on increasing your vet experience hours, overhauling your written portions, and practicing your general interview skills. For the other three schools that (I think) consider academics until the very end - I don't think a single course is going to drastically increase any of your GPAs seeing as you have a degree/a lot of credits under your belt anyways. It would have the most impact on your last 45, which is already pretty good.

If you are really itching to take more courses, I would take a look at what your schools really look at. 'Science GPA' can be a misleading phrase, even though it is often used pretty generically. Some schools look at all science (+/- math) courses taken when calculating sGPA (and as such, it is sometimes referred to as the 'VMCAS science GPA'), others look at the GPA for all science/math prereqs for that specific school. So taking another high level science may affect your sGPA at some schools (and your cGPA/last 45 by default), it may only affect your cGPA/last 45 at others. For the schools where it would be the latter, I don't think it would be worth it for you.

Examples: U of I looks at cGPA and 'VMCAS science GPA' (Admissions - Veterinary Medicine at Illinois) which implies that they do not pick out the grades for their prereqs only. Iowa, on the other hand, specifies that they look at the GPA for required science courses only (Academic Review – 45% – Future DVM Students) as well as the last 45. So taking an upper level science would probably be more impactful for U of I. Clear as mud?

But again, you've already surpassed their academic cutoff (at all four schools). The hard part is whether or not you'd do that again next year, as things change from year to year.

ETA: also, for the schools that just take the 'VMCAS science GPA,' idk that I'd be hard pressed to make it a high level science course when the goal is to increase my GPA. You can argue that academic rigor matters to some schools, but I don't know that it would matter enough that getting a 4.0 in a single 100-200 level course would matter that much less than a 4.0 in a 300-400 level course. Getting into that deep of the nitty gritty of admissions is generally outside of what we can speculate (key word) on, though. And you may wish to verify what 'VMCAS science GPA' means to schools that use that phrase. According to VMCAS, the science GPA they calculate includes literally any science subject under the sun (Calculating Your VMCAS GPAs read through this, and also click on the 'VMCAS course subjects' link).

ETA x2: So in researching Mizzou for another thread, apparently they don't take science GPA into account?I would absolutely verify that with the school because that seems strange, but it's listed here: https://cvmweb.missouri.edu/docs/MU_CVM_Admissions_Guide.pdf. If that is accurate, though, I would add Mizzou to your list.

 

[nicoledoesvetstuff]

3.73 is pretty good, but is essentially the same as your cGPA (if it was much higher, I'd tell you to focus on schools that look at last 45 specifically). With 2/3 GPAs being good, I would consider schools that look at all three GPAs. Some of those schools still might weigh the sGPA most heavily, which might hurt you...not all schools publish how much weight they put on each component though.

Knowing that you've already achieved waitlist status, however, that tells us that you've passed the initial academic cutoffs that schools may have had in place. For U of I in particular, they no longer consider academics after phase I, so it was your experience/essays/interview that held you back. With that in mind, I would consider focusing on increasing your vet experience hours, overhauling your written portions, and practicing your general interview skills. For the other three schools that (I think) consider academics until the very end - I don't think a single course is going to drastically increase any of your GPAs seeing as you have a degree/a lot of credits under your belt anyways. It would have the most impact on your last 45, which is already pretty good.

If you are really itching to take more courses, I would take a look at what your schools really look at. 'Science GPA' can be a misleading phrase, even though it is often used pretty generically. Some schools look at all science (+/- math) courses taken when calculating sGPA (and as such, it is sometimes referred to as the 'VMCAS science GPA'), others look at the GPA for all science/math prereqs for that specific school. So taking another high level science may affect your sGPA at some schools (and your cGPA/last 45 by default), it may only affect your cGPA/last 45 at others. For the schools where it would be the latter, I don't think it would be worth it for you.

Examples: U of I looks at cGPA and 'VMCAS science GPA' (Admissions - Veterinary Medicine at Illinois) which implies that they do not pick out the grades for their prereqs only. Iowa, on the other hand, specifies that they look at the GPA for required science courses only (Academic Review – 45% – Future DVM Students) as well as the last 45. So taking an upper level science would probably be more impactful for U of I. Clear as mud?

But again, you've already surpassed their academic cutoff (at all four schools). The hard part is whether or not you'd do that again next year, as things change from year to year.

ETA: also, for the schools that just take the 'VMCAS science GPA,' idk that I'd be hard pressed to make it a high level science course when the goal is to increase my GPA. You can argue that academic rigor matters to some schools, but I don't know that it would matter enough that getting a 4.0 in a single 100-200 level course would matter that much less than a 4.0 in a 300-400 level course. Getting into that deep of the nitty gritty of admissions is generally outside of what we can speculate (key word) on, though. And you may wish to verify what 'VMCAS science GPA' means to schools that use that phrase. According to VMCAS, the science GPA they calculate includes literally any science subject under the sun (Calculating Your VMCAS GPAs read through this, and also click on the 'VMCAS course subjects' link).

ETA x2: So in researching Mizzou for another thread, apparently they don't take science GPA into account?I would absolutely verify that with the school because that seems strange, but it's listed here: https://cvmweb.missouri.edu/docs/MU_CVM_Admissions_Guide.pdf. If that is accurate, though, I would add Mizzou to your list.

Thank you, this is all helpful! I originally didn’t apply to Mizzou last cycle since I did not take algebra in college, but if they don’t take science GPA into account, then I will definitely consider applying there as long as they allow a pending prerequisite. I’ll try contacting their admissions and verify the GPAs that they consider.