WAMC DVM/PhD reapplicant

[PixelPenguinz]

Hey everyone. I'm a 20 soon-to-be college graduate. I'm deciding between doing full-time clinical research at a vet school or doing a master's. My focus would be academia & a "mixed" animal specialty. My ultimate goal is to be a veterinary professor, PI, and practicing clinician (it is possible, I know several people who do this 😆). The DVM/PhD programs on my list are Davis (IS), VMCVM, NCSU, Cornell, Wisconsin, Penn, UGA, CSU, UIUC, KSU, ISU, Auburn, LSU, and MSU. Also considering Minnesota, UTK, Purdue, and Oregon, but they don't currently have a specialty I'm interested in.

(if I do a master's, my GPA will be slightly ~0.05 lower because of no summer classes. About 20% of my classes are online, but all prerequisites were in-person).
Cumulative GPA: 3.80-3.85
science GPA: 3.88-3.93
last 45: 3.95-4.0

Degrees: BS zoology/bioengineering, MS veterinary sciences or bioengineering (still on the fence about starting this)

GRE results: n/a

Veterinary Experience (1450 hr):

• 1,250 as small animal GP vet assistant for 4-5 years (part-time). Practice did a lot of ortho surgeries and had a CT machine, which I was trained on. Also, radiologists and surgeons came in occasionally. I did a lot of surgical prep, anesthesia, radiology, lab work, etc., by the end of my time there
• 150 hours shadowing various specialties, including lab animals, dentistry, and radiation oncology
• (planned) 50 hours shadowing equine specialists

Animal Experience (500 hr):

• 300 hours at a shelter (high school) doing dog walking, fostering, and socializing training
• 100 hours taking a lab animal class that taught blood draws, anesthesia, survival surgery (including stereotaxic), and histology
• 100 hours anesthetizing mice for an imaging study, placing tail catherers, and euthanasias at a med school

Research Experience (3600 hr):
My strongest category, imo. These are chronological

• 100 hours on an animal biotechnology study the summer before college
• 500 hours doing basic lab tasks such as gels, cell culture, bioinformatics, etc, at a genomics lab
• 1000 hours these past two summers in a biophysics/immunology lab at a med school as part of a SURF program. Included a lot of mouse imaging and tissue handling.
• 1000 hours for the past two years doing medical device development in my bioengineering department. Included collecting scans in clinics, writing code, processing data, tissue handling, etc, at the vet and med schools
• 500 hours of independent research analyzing trends in hospital data for veterinary dental diseases
• 500 hours of independent research developing a hand tracking software for surgery

Awards/scholarships:

• Research
  • 1st author in dental disease study
    • presented at undergrad conference
    • will present at med school conference
  • 2nd author (med school) and co-author (vet school) for medical device research
    • attended tech conference
    • attended vet conference
    • will present at bioengineering conference
  • 1st author in hand tracking research (plan to submit by Sep)
    • got an undergrad research grant (2k)
    • will present at school conference
  • 1st author in biophysics study from summer research (plan to submit by Sep)
    • presented at med school conference
    • will present at an international bioengineering conference
    • received travel award
    • part of my honors thesis
  • Applying for two more undergrad research awards
• Academics
  • Dean's list (2023-25)
  • 4 merit scholarships (~10k total)
  • volunteering/science fair awards in high school
• Other
  • Fear-Free certified
  • Purdue's veterinary diversity certificate
  • CPR certified (human and vet)

Extracurriculars (12,760):

• 500 hours in a human health club for the last 2 years, helping organize fundraisers and outreach. We raised over 10k last year
  • leadership position
• 10,000 hours in high school and intramural sports in college
  • leadership position
• 2,000 in high school choir
• 150 hours participating in a program to mentor high school students and be mentored by a grad student/professor
• 100 hours TA'ing two senior science courses
• 10 hours volunteering at an open house

Employment (550 hr):

• 500 hours working as an assistant at a bike shop
• 50 hours as a disability aide in one of my classes

Program-specific things: Last year, my only interviews were at NCSU (DVM/PhD) and Virginia-Maryland (I did apply to a lot fewer schools, though)
NCSU: I thought I really connected with my interviewers and the students at NCSU. Also, I've heard it's an unspoken rule that these types of programs prefer people with gap year(s), so maybe next year I'll have better luck with NCSU. I was told by the director that graduates of these programs usually do a path residency, but he said it's certainly possible to do another clinical residency. He also hinted that he'd prefer students do the PhD at NCSU instead of UNC-CH (some current students' labs are there or at Duke). A faculty member interviewing me said he noticed I had a lot of research experience during my undergrad compared to others and asked if I thought about doing just a PhD (I did bring up my veterinary experience and my interest in clinic work/research). Some faculty and students did say they would share their support for me last cycle
Virginia-Maryland: I bombed the Virginia-Marlyand MMI on Kira. If I apply here as IS, my chances after interviews go from 15% to 50%. Their admissions suggested I move there for research or a master's. I'll likely get into the dual degree program after DVM admissions if I do research at the vet school during my gap year. The admissions said my essays were well-written
Davis: Davis did say my higher GPA will give me a good chance at an interview this year. If I reach the DVM/PhD interviews at Davis, my close connections with my lab and our clinician collaborators would really help me out. Some of my letter writers also have close connections to members on the dual committee. And I think current students would have good things to say about me
Cornell: If I make it past the DVM admissions at Cornell, a PI I connected with is close with the dual degree director and offered to reach out to them. I've been told by Cornell's DVM admissions that my personal statement seems very centered on specific specialties. They clarified that it wasn't a bad thing but just something the admissions committee noticed. A student who was on admissions at some point said my essays were well-written
Wisconsin: A PI I connected with offered to reach out to admissions, but I didn't take this offer last cycle
KSU: One of my mentors is a professor from there and friends with the admissions director
Illinois: A faculty member I met at a conference this year said she can talk to admissions if I apply
CSU: I'll probably get an interview next year since the dual degree admissions process is separate

Other things to consider: I'm reapplying as mixed-animal instead of small animal - admissions people told me this was ok since horses are occasionally treated by the specialties I'm interested in, and I will have equine experience. I can transfer 100 research hours to vet hours. The GP I worked at did technically see exotics, but I marked small animal last cycle since that was 95% of our patients. I've also been shown some of my letters of rec, and they were glowing. I did utilize my explanation statement to explain why I wasn't a straight-A student at the beginning of college (so much college lore, lol) and how I developed a growth mindset from the adversities. This year, I'm working closely with a pre-vet advisor to review everything in my applications and help me practice for MMIs.

Any advice on *ANYTHING* I can improve? I'm just worried I won't get into vet school again because it seems that nothing is ever enough, and it's getting to the point of what else is there that I can possibly do??

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[supershorty]

a "mixed" animal specialty.

What does this actually mean?

Your stats and experiences are fine. Based on numbers, you should be a pretty competitive applicant. The fact that you've struggled suggests to me that your problems are coming from either your personal statement/other essays, your references, or how you interview.

I do find it somewhat concerning that much of the second half of your post seems more about what strings you think you can pull/have people pull for you, rather than what you can do to change yourself as an applicant. It makes me wonder how you're coming across in your essays and interviews.

 

[PixelPenguinz]

By mixed animal, I meant a specialty that occasionally treats more than just dogs and cats, like derm or oncology. I think my main problem during the last cycle was applying with a slightly lower (3.7) GPA to schools that have high GPA oos averages (3.8/3.9). Except for one holistic school (Virginia-Maryland). I'm taking a lot of units right now and focusing on school, and since I didn't have a ton of units previously, this is making a difference. My letters are good. Some of them have shown theirs to me without being asked, and they were considered good in file reviews. I could definitely improve on MMIs, which is why I will practice with my school's pre-vet advisor. I thought my personal interview was good since the faculty said they'd say good things at the end, and we were getting along well. I'll double check with the director during a future meeting to see what I should improve if it's not just wanting to see a gap year of full-time research. Also, a lot of schools I applied to didn't interview oos. I thought my personal statement was good, as did an advisor and a file reviewer, but someone on here pointed out there are a few parts I can improve upon. I've had positive feedback on a few essays last year, but this year I'm having as many people take a look at them as possible just in case. I only had one published paper last cycle, but I don't know if that mattered.

Also, by connections, I didn't mean pulling strings. I meant more so that if someone admissions knows writes me a strong letter or is my proposed PI, then it could make a difference. I haven't been requesting upfront for people to talk to admissions behind closed doors, but if someone were to offer to do that without being asked, I wouldn't necessarily turn it down. I have noticed some subtle nepotism during dual degree interviews for someone who had done their gap year at that vet school and was close with the students/faculty. We were told their opinions matter for admissions. So basically, I'm just concerned about the potential politics of the dual degree admissions process since that's out of my control. Regardless, I am trying to do a lot to improve my applications.

 

[supershorty]

By mixed animal, I meant a specialty that occasionally treats more than just dogs and cats, like derm or oncology.

The way you've phrased this says, to me, that you don't have a real focus. And that's okay - you're not even in vet school yet and many people come in thinking they know what they want and changing their minds.

However, for a dual degree program, I do think that's a red flag. You're asking a school to make a significant financial investment in your training, and you're describing wanting to specialize, but without knowing what specialty or really why, just that you don't want to be limited to small animal. There's nothing wrong with wanting to do mixed animal practice - but I wouldn't talk about wanting to specialize if you don't truly have a specialty goal in mind (and for the record, the vast, vast, vast majority of oncology is small animal).

What are your research goals? How did you describe what interests you about research?

 

[PixelPenguinz]

The top specialty I mentioned in my personal statement and DVM/PhD essays was radiation oncology since it combines my interest in technology with cancer. I also mentioned that my research interests were minimally invasive cancer diagnostics/treatments, and I referenced the toll invasive cancer treatments have taken on my pets and other pets I've known during my vet experiences. I did talk to admissions at a few schools, and they said that mixed or the small animal/equine focus was okay based on my projected hours and interests.

I feel like I have made my interests and career trajectory very clear in my essays and presentation. But I also added a "disclaimer" for some essays that I was keeping an open mind to explore other specialties like neuro during school since that's also involved in cancer care. I did identify a few specific labs/PIs who were open to taking on another PhD student, but I did notice that a director was nudging me to vet school-specific PIs since they brought up vet school faculty by name. But I do think there's a potential issue with coming across as too rigid vs too flexible with my clinical/research goals for vet schools. I'm getting the impression that DVM admissions and DVM/PhD admissions want different things at different vet schools. It might be a good idea to ask each one what approach they prefer since I've heard mixed things.

 

[supershorty]

I guess I'm not sure what you're looking for with this thread.

You come across as quite scattered and unfocused in these posts, and I do wonder if you come across similarly as an applicant, which may have contributed to your struggles thus far. In any event, you seem feel that you know what your deficiencies were. Best of luck this next cycle!

 

[JaynaAli]

I agree with shorty, from reading your earlier posts I honestly couldn’t tell if you just weren’t sure what you wanted to do or if you were just being weirdly cagey about your plans or something. Which is fine, this is the internet lol. Your GPA and experiences should theoretically be fine/competitive. Even if you thought the essays were great, I’d still consider rewriting them for the next attempt, simply because that’s something simple to change. If you really wrote great ones the first time, I’m betting you could do it again or even still improve on them. Maybe seek out some feedback from people who aren’t your close mentors too? Sometimes people try to be so encouraging they aren’t as critical as they should be. Of course I have no way to know if that’s the case here or not, but just something to consider since you asked for advice. But imo, if you’re not having luck getting accepted with a 3.8 and thousands of hours of experience, changing essays would be where I’d start. Increasing your GPA by 0.1 and getting more hours certainly doesn’t hurt, but 3.9 vs a 3.8 are pretty much equally competitive in my mind. Essays seem like the biggest chance to change your app when all the other stats should be decent.

 

[PixelPenguinz]

Thank you! I guess I wasn't being super detailed at first because I was sharing private conversations but it's not like they said don't tell anyone 🤐. I was concerned about grades initially because one school straight up told me a 3.7 was not "competitive" based on their rubric, which is kind of a bummer because what happens if you took hard classes? I was also wondering if there's a small detail I overlooked, but I guess my experiences are fine, and the other half of my application that's not on here is more subjective criteria. I think I also spent more space in DVM-only essays talking about my interest in clinical research and not enough time sharing my passion for vet med. So, adcoms may have been wondering, why not a PhD? Is it better to just axe the research part and focus on oncology for DVM-only essays so it's more cohesive and less scattered? Either way, I think there's definitely room to improve the essays since I didn't set aside enough time for multiple revisions with my schedule last cycle. Is there a thread for essay reviewing?

Also, all these hoops I have to jump through to be a competitive vet school applicant AND dual degree applicant in a pool of other competitive applicants are stressful to say the least XD. But I have yet to meet someone who got into a dual program straight from undergrad, so at least I'm not alone! I'm definitely more optimistic about the next cycle when I can make these improvements and apply to 12 schools instead of just 6.

 

[indysadventures]

As previously discussed, I think there is significant room for improvement with your personal statement but I also think there's a lot of promise there. I don't necessarily think that completely removing any discussion of your research interests would greatly improve your essays, as that is a major interest of yours (and research and oncology are the best of friends). I would focus on rewriting your written submission materials and getting a lot of eyes on them, as well as assessing your LORs.

Personally, I think adding additional hours in clinical oncology in the next couple months would really benefit you and help you develop your personal statement, essays, and views of clinical work. It sounds like you have the research work down, alongside grades and excellent experiences. Gaining additional oncology experience - whether medical, surgical, or radiation - would help ground your understanding and statements and give you more concrete, real-world examples to back up your passions, inspirations, and goals.

 

[PixelPenguinz]

yeah, I think medical oncology shadowing would be a good idea since it’s something I'm currently lacking. Tbh I tried finding a medical or radiation oncology vet assistant position within a fifty mile radius but they weren't interested in someone who wasn't a career vet assistant

 

[pp9]

It kind of sounds like you've gotten an answer (work on your essays and interviewing), but I'll give my input for some additional perspective.

The way you've phrased this says, to me, that you don't have a real focus. And that's okay - you're not even in vet school yet and many people come in thinking they know what they want and changing their minds.

However, for a dual degree program, I do think that's a red flag. You're asking a school to make a significant financial investment in your training, and you're describing wanting to specialize, but without knowing what specialty or really why, just that you don't want to be limited to small animal. There's nothing wrong with wanting to do mixed animal practice - but I wouldn't talk about wanting to specialize if you don't truly have a specialty goal in mind (and for the record, the vast, vast, vast majority of oncology is small animal).

I was going to say this as well. I'm unsure/unconvinced of your actual goals. You want to end up in rad onc...as far as I can tell with what you've provided, you have very little clinical experience to support such a specific goal. Especially one that you intend to undertake probably 10+ years of training to reach, when you can ditch the dual degree altogether and do rad onc without a PhD, or get a PhD after vet school.

Basically what I'm reading is you have published research in multiple areas, have a lot of other research experience, have great grades, and have comparatively few hours in the specialty you're saying you want to end up in. I would make sure you are answering the question of 'Why do you want to be a vet?' thoroughly on your PS. Most essays I read miss the mark on that entirely. I have a feeling you might have as well because I can't tell what is driving you to vet med based on what you've said here, aside from the fact that you've worked in vet clinics. You could have a very fulfilling career with just a PhD....so why add the DVM? Or vice versa? That's where a really well-written essay and convincing interview will come into play. Shoot, you don't even need the DVM to do research in a veterinary setting. So if you want the DVM because you want to practice clinical medicine on top of PhD activities, you need to be abundantly clear about that and explain how both degrees are important for your path, not just one or the other....

and asked if I thought about doing just a PhD

because if someone has already asked you this in the context of a DVM/PhD interview, my guess is they are also not sure why you want a DVM/aren't convinced that the DVM is right for you based on your app/interview.

Also, just to keep in the back of your mind as you approach the next cycle, but avoid name dropping. Maybe you didn't do that in an interview, but you've definitely alluded to it here and it never has the intended effect...almost always has the opposite. If someone wants to go to bat for you, they will do it on their own accord if they know you are applying (or just have them write you a LOR). Having 'connections' often doesn't help as much as you'd think/hope when it comes to admissions. Perhaps the PhD world is completely different from any other admissions (for anything, really) but if I had a dime for every person that 'knew someone' but didn't end up getting accepted, getting the job, etc....

My ultimate goal is to be a veterinary professor, PI, and practicing clinician (it is possible, I know several people who do this 😆).

We do too...many clinicians at teaching hospitals are doing exactly this

ETA:
Also, it's unclear where you've applied for DVM vs. DVM/PhD. For a DVM program, with your grades and decent experience, your lack of acceptances has got to be down to your essay(s) +/- interviews if you had any.

I think I also spent more space in DVM-only essays talking about my interest in clinical research and not enough time sharing my passion for vet med. So, adcoms may have been wondering, why not a PhD? Is it better to just axe the research part and focus on oncology for DVM-only essays so it's more cohesive and less scattered?

Absolutely, if you are talking about your love for research in a personal statement to a DVM program, they are probably not convinced you should be admitted (or convinced you are on the right path).

The concept applies to anyone applying to vet school. Why do you want to be a vet? That question needs to be answered somehow. I think it's fine to talk about career aspirations in a PS, but not nearly as important as convincing the reader that you should be admitted. Your noble career aspirations aren't going to do the convincing (particularly for you, when you can achieve all of your goals, sans clinical practice, with a PhD) - a well written essay describing your experiences, path, and maybe even what you think would make you be a good vet are what's going to do that. 'I want to be a vet so I can work on blue whales' is entirely different from 'I have x background in blue whale research, met a vet who did y, and a lightbulb went off in my head - I want to be a vet.'

That's obviously oversimplifying, but hopefully you catch my drift.

I can't tell you how many essays I've read over the years. Probably half or more failed to explain why they want to go through 4 years of grueling school, followed by a lifetime of a career in a field that's pretty much always on fire. Yes, bringing up your horse hand background, your microbiology degree, your job at PetSmart, whatever is all important info, but you cannot forget to explain why you want to become a vet.

 

[supershorty]

Also, it's unclear where you've applied for DVM vs. DVM/PhD. For a DVM program, with your grades and decent experience, your lack of acceptances has got to be down to your essay(s) +/- interviews if you had any.

I believe they applied for dual programs, but regardless, for many of those programs, you basically go through 2 admissions processes (review by DVM, plus review by PhD/dual), and I know from my own experiences and discussions with leaders of dual programs that those admissions pieces are not always connected. For example, at UMN, there is not communication between the DVM admissions side and the PhD portion - you can interview great for the dual program, but then still get rejected because you were rejected by the DVM side. So having that clear understanding and communication of "why a DVM, why a PhD, and why a DVM/PhD vs a DVM now and PhD later" is essential.

 

[pp9]

I believe they applied for dual programs, but regardless, for many of those programs, you basically go through 2 admissions processes (review by DVM, plus review by PhD/dual), and I know from my own experiences and discussions with leaders of dual programs that those admissions pieces are not always connected. For example, at UMN, there is not communication between the DVM admissions side and the PhD portion - you can interview great for the dual program, but then still get rejected because you were rejected by the DVM side. So having that clear understanding and communication of "why a DVM, why a PhD, and why a DVM/PhD vs a DVM now and PhD later" is essential.

Gotcha, wasn't sure if they applied to DVM in addition to DVM/PhD programs.

 

[PixelPenguinz]

No, I hadn't applied DVM-only to programs because the schools I liked also had dual degree programs. I had the impression that connections and networking were important for PhD admissions since this is what I've heard from grad students. We were told at one vet school that faculty may be contacted for their impressions of us. Plus, one school I will apply to even said they can't review applications until we reach an agreement with a PI. And for letters of rec I would assume a letter from a colleague would be more impactful than one from someone they've never met.

Also, it's true that I don't have radiation oncology research experience. However, each of my labs had a cancer research aspect in one way or another, even if it wasn't our primary focus. The reason I have 3x as many research hours as vet hours (I should've added this to my explanation statement) is that hands-on and paid research experiences were much more accessible in my college town than vet experiences unless you had a car and were willing to commute long distances. A lot of places wouldn't even accept pre-vets. So I'm guessing that when admissions see this, it'll raise questions. Regarding the faculty member who said why not a PhD, they only had access to my CV. It's going to be difficult explaining why I want to do clinical work part-time with the limited space, but it's certainly possible. Hopefully, the private practice vets who may read my applications won't hold it against me.

For vet hours, there are only 100 or so RO diplomates in the US, and there's a very limited job availability for oncology support staff. I think the best I can do is rely on my combined hours with adjacent oncology areas to make my case. But I did see 100+ radiation sessions, which is certainly something. Plus, GPs are certainly involved with cancer cases. The alternative would be to keep in generalized to oncology because I have surgical oncology hours and can do medical oncology shadowing. Any suggestions on how to approach this since you've had adcom experience?

 

[pp9]

No, I hadn't applied DVM-only to programs because the schools I liked also had dual degree programs. I had the impression that connections and networking were important for PhD admissions since this is what I've heard from grad students. We were told at one vet school that faculty may be contacted for their impressions of us. Plus, one school I will apply to even said they can't review applications until we reach an agreement with a PI. And for letters of rec I would assume a letter from a colleague would be more impactful than one from someone they've never met.

Also, it's true that I don't have radiation oncology research experience. However, each of my labs had a cancer research aspect in one way or another, even if it wasn't our primary focus. The reason I have 3x as many research hours as vet hours (I should've added this to my explanation statement) is that hands-on and paid research experiences were much more accessible in my college town than vet experiences unless you had a car and were willing to commute long distances. A lot of places wouldn't even accept pre-vets. So I'm guessing that when admissions see this, it'll raise questions. Regarding the faculty member who said why not a PhD, they only had access to my CV. It's going to be difficult explaining why I want to do clinical work part-time with the limited space, but it's certainly possible. Hopefully, the private practice vets who may read my applications won't hold it against me.

For vet hours, there are only 100 or so RO diplomates in the US, and there's a very limited job availability for oncology support staff. I think the best I can do is rely on my combined hours with adjacent oncology areas to make my case. But I did see 100+ radiation sessions, which is certainly something. Plus, GPs are certainly involved with cancer cases. The alternative would be to keep in generalized to oncology because I have surgical oncology hours and can do medical oncology shadowing. Any suggestions on how to approach this since you've had adcom experience?

I don't have adcom experience beyond interviewing and just mentoring prevets. AFAIK none of us currently active on the forum officially serve on adcoms in a decision making capacity. So all of this is my opinion based on what I've learned and observed in the last 15 years.

Coming from the zoo world, where networking is also said to be very important, here's my take: Networking is important in general, yes. imo 'connections' are more than just having met someone at a conference, knowing someone who knows someone, etc. You meeting someone and talking to them for 10 minutes at a conference =/= working for a person or that person actually getting to know you. If you have real experience with someone in a faculty position at a school, that can help assuming they write you a LOR or are willing to talk you up, but it also isn't everything. Real experience with someone who is very close to another someone at a school can help too, but generally only if the latter someone is in a decision-making position. The person you know can talk you up until they are blue in the face, but if the people making the decision still aren't sure about you, it's probably not going to happen. I've been the person recommending for (or even against, once) an applicant to a position and truly, unless you are making the decision, it doesn't always help. Totally depends on the person making the decision.

People who actually work at vet schools have been declined for admission to that school, and that happens every cycle (could tell you a story about a beloved tech at U of I that they rejected. We were all pissed!). People who have slaved in labs/written papers for/etc. for clinicians have been passed up for residency spots that said clinician had a major hand in filling. If those aren't 'connections,' idk what is. I'm just gently suggesting you don't rely on 'connections' as much as it seems you are intending to. Many people 'know someone' and it doesn't get them where they think it will, especially if you think it will be your make it or break it. This isn't trying to get a plug for discounted heartworm product, this is you trying to get admitted to a program that will be hosting you for a decade essentially. Your app needs to speak for itself, a 'connection' should be the cherry on top.

Lab experience is very important for what you want to do, I'm not saying it's bad that you have more research hours than veterinary because you clearly want a research-heavy career. You just need to approach your application knowing that you need to convince your readers that both degrees are right for you, and you are right for both degrees. There's no magic way of accomplishing that - you just have to sit down, evaluate yourself, and write. Because again, as you've pointed out here....

Regarding the faculty member who said why not a PhD, they only had access to my CV.

...everything else points to PhD. I'm not telling you to drop the DVM by any means. You just need to acknowledge that adcoms could be uncertain about your path and you need to proactively address that in your essays and interviews. As we've all said, it's definitely not your grades holding you back. So that leave's us with the subjective parts of your app, and possibly your vet experience as well (which is a mix of objective/subjective).

The reason I have 3x as many research hours as vet hours (I should've added this to my explanation statement) is that hands-on and paid research experiences were much more accessible in my college town than vet experiences unless you had a car and were willing to commute long distances.

I wouldn't use an explanation statement for this. At all. It is difficult for most prevets to get veterinary experience, paid or unpaid. Imo it's even more difficult when you are on a campus with a large pre-vet community. Ask me how far I had to drive every Sunday during undergrad with a borrowed car to start building up my own hours, lol.

1450 hours is not a small amount, you just ended up getting them over a very long period of time with comparatively few hours doing what you say you want to make a career out of. I will always point this out to anyone who says they want to do ___ without a ton of hours to back it up. It's a double edged sword - you want to show that you have drive/passion, but you don't want the adcom to doubt that you know what you're getting into.

For vet hours, there are only 100 or so RO diplomates in the US, and there's a very limited job availability for oncology support staff.

Because I like to ramble: IMO rad onc is definitely a smaller field. Similar to ophtho, exotics/zoo, nutrition, behavior, pharmacology, cardio etc. It will probably continue to grow just like any other field, but anecdotally, 90+% of the cancer I saw and diagnosed on ER (probably many hundreds when I was FT ER, if I had to estimate, so a decent sample size) won't be seeing an oncologist, let alone committing to chemo or radiation. I am not sure the demand for rad onc would sustain the population of boarded rad oncs by even 1.5-2x of where it's at now.

Most people aren't going to pay to deal with their dog's cataracts, to get a specialty diet recommendation, etc - the majority of eye stuff, derm, nutrition recs, whatever can be handled by a GP. A GP can absolutely diagnose heart failure, if the pet responds on meds alone a client is fairly unlikely to actually pursue an echocardiogram with a cardiologist. And so on. You can add 300 more exotics vets because people say they 'can't find one near them,' but that doesn't change the fact that only around 15% of pet-having households (which is 60% of households in the US) have an exotic pet, and very few of those exotic pets will ever see a vet in their lifetime (excluding presenting to an ER when they are 95% dead already).

This kind of goes into the exponential increase in graduating vets, and the number that are stampeding towards various specialties, and whether or not the demand is actually there and sustainable. This is coming from someone in a specialty that is growing rapidly in terms of number of boarded, residency-trained vets that exist without a significant increase in available positions. Another can of worms entirely, though.