WAMC: Average GPA, High Experience, RVT

[sunflower02]

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Hello Everyone!

Posting as I would like to get some more opinions and feedback, as I may be doing another cycle.

I applied for my first cycle this year to 14 schools. I was rejected from most, but did have two interviews at Long Island & LMU. I was waitlisted at LIU and am still awaiting a decision from LMU and Iowa.

I am somewhat non-traditional as I am a RVT. I did not even consider applying to veterinary school until I started working at my current clinic.

Here are some of my stats:
A.A.S. In Veterinary Technology with Honors
A.S. with Honors
B.S. in Biology (expected May ‘26)

cGPA: 3.5
Science GPA: 3.57
Last 45: 3.4 - this may have changed and I do need to recalculate it

Dean’s List 7 times
Member of TriBeta Biological Honor Society

Certifications/License
- RVT license in 2 states
- Fear Free Certification
- Recover CPR Basic & Advanced

Experience:
Veterinary
- 4,500 + hrs as small animal GP RVT
- 300 hrs as small animal & exotics RVT
- 150 hrs large animal & equine
- 1,500 hrs small animal vet tech (working while in tech school)

Animal
- 3,000 hrs pet boarding/daycare facility
- 250 hrs volunteer dog foster
- 250 + hrs therapy dog volunteer and trainer
- 200 animal shelter and rescue volunteer

Non-Animal Volunteer
- 50 hrs Human Hospital Volunteer
- 300 hrs Rural Food Pantry Volunteer

Non-Vet Work Experience
- 3,000 hrs Lifeguard and Swim Instructor
- 500 hrs Retail

LOR:
- DVM at my small animal GP - founder & head doctor
- Small animal & ER DVM - previously worked with and now works ER
- Academic Advisor & Biology Professor

Any advice is welcome! I will say I tried to apply smartly but I did throw in some schools that I met the requirements for since I had some extra funds. I know some of my school choices were not good as I am OOS and my GPA is not super high. My first mistake was not triple checking that I met all of the pre req requirements for a few schools. So, that lead me to being rejected from Arizona, Mississippi State, & Rowan.

Schools I applied to for 25-26 Cycle:
- tOSU (instate)
- LMU
- LIU
- Mississippi State
- Kansas State
- Iowa State
- Rowan
- U of Florida
- Minnesota
- Colorado State
- Oregon State
- Washington State
- Arizona
- Missouri

Let me know what you think!
My plan is to possibly retake some classes, and get some more experience in large animal or exotics. Otherwise, I’m not quite sure
Thanks!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I'm curious about making Dean's List 7x but only have a GPA around 3.5 or 3.6. Are you sure your last 45 GPA is 3.4?

 

[sunflower02]

I'm curious about making Dean's List 7x but only have a GPA around 3.5 or 3.6. Are you sure your last 45 GPA is 3.4?

Yes, I believe so, but I could have made an error.
I made Deans List all 4 semesters of tech school, twice before, and then once at my current institution.

 

[Tech_Penguin]

I'm curious about making Dean's List 7x but only have a GPA around 3.5 or 3.6. Are you sure your last 45 GPA is 3.4?

I think honors awards are highly variable at different universities

 

[dew5]

1,500 hrs small animal vet tech (working while in tech school)

Just nit-picking here but I would be careful about how you phrase this experience. Some states have title protection and it sounds like you were still in tech school during this time period? If you hadn't received your RVT credentials yet, it might be safer to describe it as veterinary assistant.

Otherwise, your experiences are relatively strong! Diversifying your experiences by incorporating more LA/exotic hours wouldn't hurt. I think that the best way to strengthen your application would be to make improvements on your GPA by retaking some prerequisite courses.

Best of luck!

 

[sunflower02]

Just nit-picking here but I would be careful about how you phrase this experience. Some states have title protection and it sounds like you were still in tech school during this time period? If you hadn't received your RVT credentials yet, it might be safer to describe it as veterinary assistant.

Otherwise, your experiences are relatively strong! Diversifying your experiences by incorporating more LA/exotic hours wouldn't hurt. I think that the best way to strengthen your application would be to make improvements on your GPA by retaking some prerequisite courses.

Best of luck!

Yes, I made sure to list unlicensed technician, but I should just switch it to assistant for next cycle. Thank you for the input. That is my plan as of right now.