WAMC: first time applicant, average stats, no in state vet school

[Circe31]

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Hi everyone!! I'm planning on applying next cycle but very worried about the fact that I don't have an in state vet school (no contract seats either). Was wondering if you guys had any recommendations for schools I should look into that take a good amount of OOS students.
Schools I've been looking into: St. George's, UF, Oregon State, Ohio State, LSU, Colorado State, RVC, Cornell

Cumulative GPA: 3.81
science GPA: 3.61 (all As and Bs)
last 45: Still have two more semesters but anticipating around a 3.8

Any degrees achieved:
Set to graduate with B.S. Zoology and minor in Classical Studies May 2027

Veterinary Experience:
- Small animal emergency and critical care (ER, ICU, step down ward) - around 600 hours as vet assistant, will be just over 1000 by the time I apply
- Small animal ICU - 200 hours as volunteer
- Exotics - 50 hours as volunteer
- Mobile large animal clinic, both wellness and emergency - 10 hours shadowing (hoping to get at least 50 by time of application)

Animal Experience:
- Zoo volunteer (mostly working as a docent, building enrichment to put in enclosures, citizen science projects) - 200 hours
- Aquarium touch tank attendant - 100 hours

Both of these experiences were in high school. Could probably split my volunteer hours in ICU and exotics since I did so much cleaning?

Research Experience:
150 hours - Undergraduate research assistant to a PhD student on project on black footed ferret genomics. Started verrrry early on in project so helped develop hypothesis, write grants, optimize lab procedures for hair blood and buccal dna extraction, bioinformatics stuff. Project got scrapped after I had been helping with it for a year and a half so no publications 🙁
50 hours - Independent class project extracting microbial DNA from okapi stool samples and using 16s sequencing to identify microorganisms. Attempted to determine cause of frequent GI issues in one of the okapis.

Awards/scholarships:
- Deans list all semesters of college
- CSI scholar athlete (high school)

Extracurriculars:
- Brown Bag Project (delivered free contraceptives in discreet brown paper bags. Love this project and super passionate about it but worried about putting it on application since it is organized by Planned Parenthood Gen Action. Nothing inherently controversial abt free contraceptives but thats an org everyone has an opinion about)
- Sigma Kappa sorority (but only for a year, dropped when I started working as an assistant) - academic excellence committee
- Club swim team
- HS swim captain
- EMT in HS

Employment:
- Beach lifeguard for 4 summers

LORs:
PhD candidate I worked with (she's also a DVM)
Tech from the hospital I work at
DVM letter from either the hospital (but since I switch rooms every shift and the residents/interns cycle through so quickly I don't have a great relationship with any single doctor in particular) or the large animal vet I started shadowing
Vert biodiversity prof

Concerns: No in state school or contract seats. Worried whether or not to put brown bag on app because it could be controversial. Quality of DVM letter of rec. No GP experience and not sure if thats a red flag (although I want to go into emergency and thats where all my hours are)

My plan is to find a GP clinic to shadow over the summer to hopefully get a good letter of rec and fill in that gap on my application. Would love to hear any other suggestions on how to strengthen my app or other schools to look into 🙂

 

[JaynaAli]

I don’t have great recommendations for schools to consider, but to answer your other questions, I don’t think the brown bag thing is an issue at all. Far more controversial things get included regularly. I doubt anyone will bat an eye in a negative way, and sharing something you’re passionate about is important. I would advise you to be very careful who you ask for a letter. A poor or less than enthusiastic letter can be a death knell for an app. Find people who will sing your praises. I do think you’d benefit from some GP experience, but I’d say your chances are pretty good, even applying as an OOS.

My other advice would be that if you’re going to have to go OOS, be sure you’re aware of the cost of attendance for the schools, especially in light of the loan changes and the new 200k lifetime cap on federal loans. If I were you with your stats I’d apply to the cheapest schools and the ones who let you change residency after the first year.

 

[indysadventures]

I think you’ve got a decent shot as long as you have great LORs and qualitative application aspects (essays, experience sections, etc). I would encourage you to list what you’re passionate about. I didn’t work for your project but had some similar stuff and I talked about certain experiences in essays. It felt true to me and my passions and I figured, if somewhere put me on the “no” pile for those things, then so be it because I wouldn’t necessarily want to go there anyway!

As for your school choices, why did you pick what you did? I agree with Jayna, I’d be looking at schools that will allow you to change to in state after first year, like WSU.

A random aside, noticed your Classical Studies minor! I was a classics major and my Latin coursework has 1000% already made my life easier in vet school (anatomy).