WAMC 2nd time applicant

[graceless27]

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Hello! This is my second application cycle, my first cycle I got rejections from Mississippi State (no interview invitation), LMU (no interview invitation, applied for fall only), Tufts (second round then rejected), Illinois (auto-rejected because they wouldn't take my AP credit), and I'm on the IS waitlist at UGA with an unknown position. I have a file review scheduled with LMU and have attended one of Mississippi's application review seminars and know that I need to improve the descriptions for all of my experiences, and I'm currently retaking the one pre-requisite course I got a C in. I graduated in May 2024 and am working full time as a vet assistant.

The schools I'm potentially interested in applying to this cycle are UGA (IS), Mississippi, LSU, Auburn, UF, SGU, Massey, and Bristol. Not reapplying to Tufts because I frankly had no business applying there in the first place lol (plus its cold and expensive), and I'm hesitant on reapplying to LMU because of political climate and I'm not sure about the area as an LGBT student (but I'm open to being swayed if anyone happens to have anything to say on the matter).

Career wise, I'm interested in basically everything as long as it doesn't involve me being on call long term lol. I worked for a vet who did that and said wow this is hell. My dream job would probably be one where I'm at a mixed practice clinic, or one that does small animals plus exotics.

I will quickly note that these numbers are if I get an A in the class I'm retaking, which seeing as its midterms and I have a 100 seems decently likely

Cumulative GPA: 3.4
science GPA: 3.26
last 45: 3.75

Any degrees achieved
Bachelor of Science with a major in Animal Science and minors in Chemistry and Biology


Veterinary Experience:
923 hours working with small animals + exotics
335 as a vet assistant seeing small animals only (this number will increase, our exotics vet just left and I'm working full time)
456 as a vet assistant in a rural mixed practice
I did a loop abroad semester, that breaks down to 50 hours hands on with elephants, large animals, and small animals, 34 at a zoo with wildlife (some hands on, lots of watching), 38 hours hands on with different elephants, 26 hours assisting hands on with sea turtles (2 of these I should probably put as research as we were counting fish for a citizen science database), 36 hours assisting with a spay/neuter clinic (dog and cat prep, anaesthesia monitoring, recovery), 60 hours with small animals
40 hours at a high school internship, mostly shadowing but I did get to take care of the medical boarding animals
About 2,000 hours in total

Animal Experience:
15 hours volunteering at cat shelter
32 working hands on with sheep (part of my lab class)
207 hours as an employee working with a small laying flock (120 hours I was the general manager, we did not get a lot of hours per week)
LOOP Abroad - 16 hours with dogs and cats, 22 hours with river otters (creating an ethogram and enrichment activity), 33 hours with Asian elephants (same deal)
660 as a kennel tech
10 working with various large animals during a lab
About 1,000 hours in total

Research Experience: none, but I'm thinking of signing up for a LOOP abroad digital research thing that gives you 100 hours

Awards/scholarships:
Deans list at my main undergrad in Spring 2024, Fall 2023, and Fall 2020
Deans list at the school LOOP uses for transfer credit in Fall 2022
Student Work Award for 2022-2023 and 2023-2024
Second place sweetbread at the county fair
One 1st, one 2nd, and 3 third place ribbons for photography at a different county fair
DAR Outstanding junior member for 2022-2023
Gold President's Volunteer Service Award
Dean's Scholarship (your basic merit scholarship)
Ambassador Service to Girl Scouts bar
Ambassador Service to Community bar
Senior Service to Girl Scouts Bar
Senior Service to Community Bar
Senior Silver and Gold Torch award
HOPE scholarship (state sponsored scholarship)

Extracurriculars:
Current:
North Atlanta Craft Club
Daughters of the American Revolution

College:
Alternate Realities (general nerd club)
Orchestra
Society of Outdoor Life and Exploration (hiking club)

High school:
Orchestra (student leadership)
Creative Writing Club (founding member + leadership position)
Advanced Space Academy (earned 1 college credit)
Tri-M Music Honors Society
Notes of Joy (service club where we play music at retirement homes)
Camp Juliette Low
Beta Club
Reading Bowl (leadership position + we technically won state woohoo)
Girl Scouts (1-12 grade, now a lifetime member)

Plus I also do a bunch of crafts including quilting, cross stitch, hand and machine embroidery, and got to sell my stuff at a market so I put that down

Employment:
7 semesters working lab prep for the undergraduate biology department, including 2 semesters as closing lead
Camp counselor during covid summer
Cashier/front desk at a music lesson and rental store for a semester in high school
Airbrush face painter (only for like 4 hours though, I think I worked 1 shift then she basically shut down the business)
My neighbor is currently paying me to check on his elderly mother once a week

Other info
You may notice my low science GPA! Short story is I tried to get an autism evaluation and ended up with a Prozac script, and the semester immediately after my grades PLUMMETED, and that was of course the semester I took almost all science classes. I went from As and Bs to Cs and a D, and then I got off it and my grades bounced right back up, but apparently the damage was already done. I also didn't participate in a whole lot of extra-curriculars in college since I was already working and had evening shifts a lot, and the LGBT club met exclusively during orchestra which was kind of annoying.

If you recalculate my GPA to eliminate the plus/minus scale all of my GPAs improve a noticeable amount. My overall goes to a 3.49, science to a 3.37, and if you add grade replacement into the mix my overall goes up to a 3.55. I know that Mississippi state does grade replacement and no +/- scale so I went ahead and calculated those numbers just to know.

If you think any schools I should consider applying to (or any that I'm looking at that I should avoid) then please let me know! Being close to someone my family knows is important to me, but my parents know someone pretty much everywhere globally so its not much of a limiting factor. Also, I hate flipped classrooms with a passion.

 

[nicole98]

Your general stats look fine so your personal statement and letters of recommendations might be having the greatest impact. Get as many people to read your personal statement as you can (or at least as many as you feel comfortable with). And try to ask for letters of recommendation from people who can attest to your character.

As for your hesitation on LMU, I completely understand because I am also LGBTQ+ and was nervous about coming here. It depends on what area you're coming from as well. I grew up in the southeast, so I'm used to seeing religious billboards and churches around every corner, and I get extra excited when a place is marked as LGBTQ+ friendly on google. I have lots of classmates within the LGBTQ+ community and there are at least two professors/faculty members that I know of as well. I personally haven't had any issues at school or in the surrounding area, but I am aware that I am more straight passing than some people. Lastly, I will add that I did meet my girlfriend here so I am so happy that this is where I ended up 🙂

 

[graceless27]

I'm going through everything and my experience descriptions were actually so awful for so many of them so we're working on fixing that now and hopefully this will help

 

[CeeGee14]

A tip that I got from a friend who’s currently in vet school is don’t just write what you did for each experience. Write what you learned. I had a job at UPS and instead of just saying I was chucking packages into trailers, I said I learned how to work with my team in a fast-paced environment. That way, we wouldn’t have packages flooding the floor and crushing people lol.

If you’re worried about your PS, there are amazing people here on SDN that are happy to look over your statement and give their critiques. Your PS is you telling a story, but don’t be so wrapped up in your narrative that you forget to answer why you want to be a vet and what you would bring to the field.

As for potential schools, try to find ones that place more emphasis on your last 45 or schools that let you replace a low grade in a class with a higher one. Don’t know any off the top of my head, but it’s a start.

And just as an aside, I also went on a Loop Abroad trip. 10/10 would go again if finances weren't a concern lol.