WAMC c/o 2027

[eggliina]

Hi all! I am a 20 year old, traditional applicant currently in my junior year of undergrad. My in-state school is NCSU, although I am attending college out-of-state. My school does not have a pre-vet advising department or much of a pre-vet community, so I thought I'd try posting on here for advice. I'm mostly worried about my vet experience being on the lower side due to COVID and other personal circumstances, and would greatly appreciate any comments, suggestions, or feedback on my application and schools list. So far, I'm interested in NCSU, Cornell, Penn, Tufts, CSU, Purdue, UIUC, LIU, Wisconsin, Oregon State, and WSU.

Cumulative GPA: 3.96
Science GPA: 3.95
Last 45: Not calculated

Any degrees achieved: BA in Biology (expected)

GRE results: Do not plan on taking

Veterinary Experience:

• Small animal clinic vet assistant: 780 hrs, plan to continue working here until I graduate
• Zoo hospital intern: will be completing this internship over summer 2022 and should be able to get 90-100 hrs

Animal Experience:

• Zoo commissary intern: will be interning at commissary of the same zoo, 90-100 hrs expected
• Avian wildlife rehabilitation volunteer: 150 hrs
• Hippotherapy / Therapeutic riding volunteer: 43 hrs
• Dog sitting/walking: 50 hrs
• Kitten foster: 300 hrs
• Cat shelter volunteer: 200 hrs (HS)

Research Experience:

• Research assistant at primate anthropology lab: ~175 hrs of wet lab work & data analysis
• Summer intern at epigenetic biology lab: 320 hrs (HS)

Awards/scholarships:

• Dean’s list
• Presidential Honors Scholar
• Phi Beta Kappa

Extracurriculars:

• Co-President of Pre-Vet Club
• Peer mentor at my university’s support program for women in STEM
• Volunteer at ESL program for parents: ~30 hrs
• Volunteer at the emergency department of a human hospital: 64 hrs
• National Honor Society (HS)

Employment:

• Ice cream store employee: ~400 hrs (HS)
• Neighborhood babysitting: ~100 hrs (HS)

My boss from the SA clinic has been telling me that I need more large animal experience, but personally I have no desire to pursue large animal medicine as a career. At this point, I am considering either small animal GP/surgery or zoo medicine for the long run. Would my lack of large animal hours be something that significantly hurts my chances at the schools I'm looking at? I haven't finalized my school list yet, so if anyone knows anything about which schools are more large or small animal focused, please let me know. Also, I know that this may be impossible, but I would really like to attend school somewhere that is more urban/suburban vs rural.
Thank you all for reading my post!

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[zenarcade]

I think your chances look pretty good. Your GPA is great, and honestly your vet hours aren't that low, I think that's a perfectly acceptable amount. Research experience is always a plus, and even though you don't have large animal vet hours, you do have some LA in your regular animal exp. I don't think the lack of LA hours should significantly hurt you...I was accepted to several schools and my application only had 2 hrs of LA experience, and they weren't even vet hours. That being said, if you are able to get some LA vet hours it would further strengthen your application...even if you're pretty certain you aren't interested in that area of vet med it's good to have exposure to different parts of the field.