WAMC Class of 2028 Hopeful

[Tayspot99]

Hi all! I’m going to be applying for the 2023-2024 cycle and I would like to know what everyone thinks about my stats/experience/extracurriculars/etc.

20 y/o F, traditional, FL resident, majoring in animal science and minoring in chemistry
I’m planning on applying to UF, UGA, NC state, Auburn, Virginia-Maryland, Cornell, and Mississippi state

Overall GPA: 3.9

Science GPA: 3.86

Last 45 GPA: 4.0 currently but may change depending on what grades I get for this semester (Spring 2023)

Veterinary Experience:

• 200 hours shadowing at various small animal vets in high school
• 1000 hours working as a vet assistant at a small animal GP (started out as a volunteer and got hired after my first summer working)
• 100 hours working as a surgical vet assistant at a specialty hospital (small animal surgery department)
• 90 hours as a student intern at an exotic animal hospital
• 30 hours at a wildlife rehab and rescue center when I studied abroad
• 20 hours large animal from working with the campus veterinarian in animal science labs, and from when I worked with beef cattle

Animal Experience:

• 500 hours volunteering and fostering and adopting out puppies from a local rescue
• 200 hours fostering and adopting out kittens from animal control (My family fostered kittens for several years while I was in middle and high school, but I’m only including the hours from high school here)
• 350 hours working with beef cattle on my college campus
• 50 hours from various animal science lab classes

Research Experience:

• 120 hours on a project studying the effects of gastrointestinal parasites on the development of pregnancy toxemia in ewes.

I developed this research project with my mentor, and wrote and received a grant to fund my work. The data is currently being analyzed and my results will be presented at our student symposium in April. Possibly publishing!

• 50 hours on a research project while studying abroad. My partner and I set up trail cameras and baited traps to see if anthropogenic factors influenced the efficacy of the live mammal traps. We presented our findings at our student symposium.

Employment:

70 hours - Groundskeeper at a Museum and Gardens my first semester of college

500 hours - Theatre Camp Counselor 2 years of high school (I was involved with this theatre camp pretty much my whole life, and worked as a CIT and counselor for a number of years - I’m only including the years from high school in this number)


Extracurriculars/awards/honors:

Deans List all semesters

Various undergrad scholarships

Research grant (~$1500)

Studied abroad for 1 month in Costa Rica taking a conservation medicine course taught by a DACZM

Pre-vet club 1 yr

Dance team 1yr

Youth Soccer Coach 1 semester

MLS Laser Therapy Certified

HOSA member, NHS member in high school

Past BLS, EKG, and EMR certified (Medical Academy in High school)

Received various local theatre awards in high school (Best Musical Award at local competition, Critics Choice Award for a dance number at districts festival, etc.

Selected to take our play to the state thespian festival


eLORs: SA vet, research advisor, school advisor who also happens to be the campus veterinarian

Personal Statement: Undecided but I most likely want to center it around preventative medicine and client education. I want to bring in a preventative behavioral aspect as well (ex: proper socialization and exposure to avoid behavioral problems in the future). The GP clinic that I work for is a fear free practice and we see lots of fearful and/or aggressive animals, so I have become very passionate about learning to work with these patients. In addition, my malinois rescue is highly reactive and anxious, and working with him has taught me so much about animal behavior.


I am probably going to start volunteering at the local shelter in my college town this semester to get more recent hours in shelter med. I also plan to continue working over the summer for my GP vet and the specialty hospital.


I’m mostly concerned that I don’t have much recent leadership experience or involvement, and it’s a little late to get that. I had family troubles my first year of college and ended up adopting a dog to help with the anxiety I had developed. He is my ESA now, but he’s a Malinois that takes up a lot of my time. He also has behavioral issues, so I spend most of my free time training him. Because of this, I had very limited time for extracurriculars and focused my energy into my schoolwork and actual work. I don’t know if this is something that’s worth stating on an explanation statement, so let me know what you guys think!

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[WildZoo]

I think your stats look great. In your shoes I would consider bumping up your large animal vet experience hours if you had to pick something to work on. I know multiple people (even IS, including myself) who were passed over by UF because of low large animal experience, though not with GPAs as high as yours as far as I can remember, so that may make it less of a factor.

One other thing I noticed is that one of your letters is coming from your school advisor. Is this someone you worked with for a significant amount of time and have a good enough relationship with that they can write you a strong, personal letter? It is of course great to get more than one letter from a vet, but you want them to be from people who have really gotten to know you and can vouch for you.

As far as where you're applying, can I ask why Cornell? Just geographically it seemed like an outlier compared to the others, and is also a fairly expensive option.

Overall I think you'll have a solid application. I don't really think you'll need an explanation statement.

 

[Tayspot99]

I think your stats look great. In your shoes I would consider bumping up your large animal vet experience hours if you had to pick something to work on. I know multiple people (even IS, including myself) who were passed over by UF because of low large animal experience, though not with GPAs as high as yours as far as I can remember, so that may make it less of a factor.

One other thing I noticed is that one of your letters is coming from your school advisor. Is this someone you worked with for a significant amount of time and have a good enough relationship with that they can write you a strong, personal letter? It is of course great to get more than one letter from a vet, but you want them to be from people who have really gotten to know you and can vouch for you.

As far as where you're applying, can I ask why Cornell? Just geographically it seemed like an outlier compared to the others, and is also a fairly expensive option.

Overall I think you'll have a solid application. I don't really think you'll need an explanation statement.

Hello! Thank you for the reply! I have taken 3 classes with my advisor and meet with her periodically so I feel like she could write me a strong letter. I'm positive that my other 2 letters will be extremely strong as well. She is our large animal veterinarian on campus, so I could try getting some shadowing hours in with her this semester. I was just going to apply to Cornell because I thought I had a good chance of getting in there based on my academic stats. If you think otherwise, let me know. I appreciate the feedback!

 

[Georgethecat]

Agree with WildZoo that your stats look great! If you could add some additional hours in large animal that would be ideal. Also consider adding hours at an ER clinic. I don't know any specifics on how UF does their selections, but overall with a good personal statement and good LOR's you should have an excellent shot at admission.

Take this advice with a grain of salt....with your stats personally I would only apply to the least expensive schools possible.

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Ballpark numbers:
UF: $198,003
NC State: $204,574
and this is where I'd stop applying in your case, at least for the first cycle

Miss St: 275, 872
UGA: $287,657
Auburn: $294,843
VAMD: 301,980
Cornell: 305,296

Only a minimal difference between UF and NC State, but from there you're jumping up $77.8k to $107.3k. That is a LOT of money.

I'd focus on tailoring your application to UF and NC State at this point. Look at their websites and make sure that you have the sorts of experiences that they value etc. Practice for the UF interview well in advance so that you're comfortable interviewing. By only applying to a few schools, you will save a good bit on money in application fees and save yourself a lot of application stress. You also won't be kicking yourself if you end up getting accepted to a school that you ultimately decide is too expensive.

Best of luck!