Hello!
I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight on my application for this cycle. I am a first time applicant beginning to stress because it’s the start of interview/decision season. I am interested in becoming a veterinary professor, potentially in anatomic pathology or pharmacology with appointments in teaching and research but still undecided.
23/F/Iowa resident
I applied to 10 schools: Iowa, Illinois, Cornell, UPenn, Texas A&M, Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio, North Carolina, and Tennessee with my dream schools being TAMU or UPenn. I would LOVE to get out of Iowa but I know my best chance is here.
I have a B.S. in Animal Science summa cum laude and am currently working towards my other Bachelor’s in Microbiology hopefully summa cum laude as well.
GPA:
According to ISU Supplemental Application, my Required Science course GPA is 3.95 and Last 45 GPA is 3.88
According to Texas A&M Application, my Overall GPA is 3.84, Overall BCPM GPA is 3.80, Undergrad Non-BCPM GPA is 4.00. So you can see the calculations are different from school to school.
I am currently taking Biochemistry and an upper level Statistics class (required for A&M) and plan to take Organic Chemistry 2 at a community college in spring.
Veterinary:
I worked in a small animal practice as an assistant for 3.5 years doing a little bit of everything. I think I had a little over 2,000 hours. I worked at my vet school as a student attendant in the Equine ICU for 500ish hours. I volunteered as an animal medical assistant at an animal rescue for almost 300 hours. I interned at a mixed animal practice for about 200 hours.
Animal:
I worked at our schools dairy farm for 2 years, therapeutic horse riding center (a little in college but I have many hours from high school), kennel assistant, animal shelters, an urban farm, horse rescue. I also have some pig experience from class like getting to work hands-on with them on the farm: handling, caretaking, castration, etc. Additionally, I got to anesthetize, gavage, and collect blood from mice and rats. I also took a course to learn AI in cattle but I don’t think I included those experiences because they were part of a class not really their own experience. I figure if they come up in the interview then I can talk about them.
Research:
I’ve been involved in five different research opportunities. 1) Stem cell research, 2) Animal behavior in beef cattle, 3) Bacterial research at the vet school, 4) (random) Plastics research, 5) Bacterial research at a pharmaceutical company
Teaching:
I have been a teaching assistant/learning assistant for five courses. Mainly 200-level courses and one 400-level. I’ve also had tutoring positions in even more courses too.
Leadership:
I have been involved in many, many organizations during my time in college. Ranging from Pre-Vet/Animal related, Student Government, Honor Societies, national organizations, sitting on university committees, weight lifting/fitness, and just for fun. I’ve held just about every leadership position you can think of including being elected to President of eight different organizations.
Service:
I was very involved in service in high school which I included those hours, however, I had to work to put myself through college so my volunteering experiences are limited. I volunteer at my local animal shelter, National Alliance on Mental Illness, and the local domestic violence and sexual assault shelter, things I am passionate about outside of vet med but I don’t have a lot of hours with them.
Awards:
I won Homecoming Queen at my university but this just happened so it’s not on my VMCAS, won a Woman of Achievement award through a well-known community organization, won one of the top awards at my university (only 202 people have ever received since 1968), and won one of the scholarships given by the President’s office at my institution. Additionally, I’ve won other competitive scholarships during my time in college.
Letters of Recommendation:
- Veterinarian and Former Practice Owner at clinic I worked at for 3.5 years
- Staff Veterinarian at clinic I worked at for 3.5 years
- Professor/Advisor
- Assistant Dean of College of Ag who knows me very well
- Director of a program I’m in who knows me very well
- Pharmacist I’ve worked with for 2 years
No GRE
Casper: 4th quartile
My concerns:
- I’ve had a good amount of withdrawals from courses during my time in college because I had numerous family deaths and was in an abusive relationship. Unfortunately, we have very limited mental health resources on my campus and in my community. It took me months to find a therapist and in that time I had to drop classes and quit jobs but once I did get one I haven’t had any more drops and my mental health is great. I included a (I think) well-written essay on the circumstances that caused the withdrawals and asked two of my letter of recommendation writers to write on my experiences with this in my application. I know at this point it is out of my control but I am still worried.
- I wrote my application essays last minute because of family issues and whatnot so I know they are nowhere near as well as they could have been but again, it’s out of my control at this point. Obviously, I plan on writing my essays sooner for the next application cycle in the event I need to apply again.
For interviewing, I am typically really good at “normal” interviewing but am worried about MMI format or more specific questions about the profession or casper type questions. If anyone has any advice on interviews, please let me know.
Currently I am planning to work on things that I can improve if I need to reapply next year. I know most people don’t get in the first time and I am expecting that to happen (while still remaining hopeful!) so if anyone has any advice on what i should do in this next half year to improve my application that would be awesome!
I know I have forgotten to include things so please ask me anything.
Thank you so much!
I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight on my application for this cycle. I am a first time applicant beginning to stress because it’s the start of interview/decision season. I am interested in becoming a veterinary professor, potentially in anatomic pathology or pharmacology with appointments in teaching and research but still undecided.
23/F/Iowa resident
I applied to 10 schools: Iowa, Illinois, Cornell, UPenn, Texas A&M, Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio, North Carolina, and Tennessee with my dream schools being TAMU or UPenn. I would LOVE to get out of Iowa but I know my best chance is here.
I have a B.S. in Animal Science summa cum laude and am currently working towards my other Bachelor’s in Microbiology hopefully summa cum laude as well.
GPA:
According to ISU Supplemental Application, my Required Science course GPA is 3.95 and Last 45 GPA is 3.88
According to Texas A&M Application, my Overall GPA is 3.84, Overall BCPM GPA is 3.80, Undergrad Non-BCPM GPA is 4.00. So you can see the calculations are different from school to school.
I am currently taking Biochemistry and an upper level Statistics class (required for A&M) and plan to take Organic Chemistry 2 at a community college in spring.
Veterinary:
I worked in a small animal practice as an assistant for 3.5 years doing a little bit of everything. I think I had a little over 2,000 hours. I worked at my vet school as a student attendant in the Equine ICU for 500ish hours. I volunteered as an animal medical assistant at an animal rescue for almost 300 hours. I interned at a mixed animal practice for about 200 hours.
Animal:
I worked at our schools dairy farm for 2 years, therapeutic horse riding center (a little in college but I have many hours from high school), kennel assistant, animal shelters, an urban farm, horse rescue. I also have some pig experience from class like getting to work hands-on with them on the farm: handling, caretaking, castration, etc. Additionally, I got to anesthetize, gavage, and collect blood from mice and rats. I also took a course to learn AI in cattle but I don’t think I included those experiences because they were part of a class not really their own experience. I figure if they come up in the interview then I can talk about them.
Research:
I’ve been involved in five different research opportunities. 1) Stem cell research, 2) Animal behavior in beef cattle, 3) Bacterial research at the vet school, 4) (random) Plastics research, 5) Bacterial research at a pharmaceutical company
Teaching:
I have been a teaching assistant/learning assistant for five courses. Mainly 200-level courses and one 400-level. I’ve also had tutoring positions in even more courses too.
Leadership:
I have been involved in many, many organizations during my time in college. Ranging from Pre-Vet/Animal related, Student Government, Honor Societies, national organizations, sitting on university committees, weight lifting/fitness, and just for fun. I’ve held just about every leadership position you can think of including being elected to President of eight different organizations.
Service:
I was very involved in service in high school which I included those hours, however, I had to work to put myself through college so my volunteering experiences are limited. I volunteer at my local animal shelter, National Alliance on Mental Illness, and the local domestic violence and sexual assault shelter, things I am passionate about outside of vet med but I don’t have a lot of hours with them.
Awards:
I won Homecoming Queen at my university but this just happened so it’s not on my VMCAS, won a Woman of Achievement award through a well-known community organization, won one of the top awards at my university (only 202 people have ever received since 1968), and won one of the scholarships given by the President’s office at my institution. Additionally, I’ve won other competitive scholarships during my time in college.
Letters of Recommendation:
- Veterinarian and Former Practice Owner at clinic I worked at for 3.5 years
- Staff Veterinarian at clinic I worked at for 3.5 years
- Professor/Advisor
- Assistant Dean of College of Ag who knows me very well
- Director of a program I’m in who knows me very well
- Pharmacist I’ve worked with for 2 years
No GRE
Casper: 4th quartile
My concerns:
- I’ve had a good amount of withdrawals from courses during my time in college because I had numerous family deaths and was in an abusive relationship. Unfortunately, we have very limited mental health resources on my campus and in my community. It took me months to find a therapist and in that time I had to drop classes and quit jobs but once I did get one I haven’t had any more drops and my mental health is great. I included a (I think) well-written essay on the circumstances that caused the withdrawals and asked two of my letter of recommendation writers to write on my experiences with this in my application. I know at this point it is out of my control but I am still worried.
- I wrote my application essays last minute because of family issues and whatnot so I know they are nowhere near as well as they could have been but again, it’s out of my control at this point. Obviously, I plan on writing my essays sooner for the next application cycle in the event I need to apply again.
For interviewing, I am typically really good at “normal” interviewing but am worried about MMI format or more specific questions about the profession or casper type questions. If anyone has any advice on interviews, please let me know.
Currently I am planning to work on things that I can improve if I need to reapply next year. I know most people don’t get in the first time and I am expecting that to happen (while still remaining hopeful!) so if anyone has any advice on what i should do in this next half year to improve my application that would be awesome!
I know I have forgotten to include things so please ask me anything.
Thank you so much!
