WAMC - first time applicant interested in DVM/PhD

[vindelilas]

Hi everyone! I found posting my stats questions about two years ago to be helpful and I really could use any and all input now that I am gearing up to apply in 2025. I am somewhat of a non-traditional 21-year-old student transfer student from a California school to Oklahoma who has moved about twenty times (including lived in Eastern Europe and South America) due to family reasons. I began attending college full time when I was 15-years-old (did not go to high school or do dual-enrollment), but decided to add a couple more years to my undergraduate studies to gain more experience based on suggestions from those around me. I originally was pre-vet then switched to pre-med in hopes of studying my brother’s condition then switched back to pre-vet. I realized from shadowing on both sides I feel most excited and content with veterinary medicine, but do recognize how much I enjoy mentoring/working with children (as you will see below) and hope to incorporate that in my career somehow.

I would love some feedback on how my application looks! I am a part time certified caretaker for my mother and brother who have terminal illnesses, my sister who had cancer, and my sister who was temporarily paralyzed so I had a bit of a rough time with their diagnoses (I landed a few Bs and a C). I also spent these past two years physically struggling with an undiagnosed chronic condition so taking care of them took up the majority of my time since I struggled so much prior to getting on the recommended medication and diet for my condition. I love research and hope to apply to dual PhD/DVM programs. Veterinary medicine extension/teaching, laboratory medicine, and dermatology (really interested in how this field intersects with entomology) intrigue me the most.

My main concern is getting veterinary experience (all the clinics are “full” with current pre-vet shadowers likely due to my town having our only IS vet school), I am starting to get nervous looking at the recent statistics of successful applicants. But I am beyond excited at the prospect of applying next year <3 Thank you!!


Cumulative GPA: 3.859
Science GPA: 3.801
L45: 4.0

Any degrees achieved

Will graduate with three degrees: Entomology, Psychology, and Honors Studies with Insect Biology and Ecology and Pre Veterinary and Medical Sciences concentrations and a minor in Microbiology

GRE results: Q/V/W - have not taken yet

Veterinary Experience (about 400 hrs):

• Small animal veterinary assistant
• Exotic/lab animal shadowing (this is an amazing PhD/DVM researcher, sadly only got to shadow her for two days before she had to leave for an emergency)
• Exotic animal shadowing + assisting
• Pre-Vet internship (shadowed/assisted a variety of specialties and subspecialties related to equine, LA, SA, exotics, etc.)

Animal Experience (about 2.3k hrs):

• Co-Founder, Co-Vice-President, and Secretary of a 4-H chapter (showed rabbits lol)
• Volunteer at an African animal preserve (bulk of my hours)
• Humane Society
• Animal Center
• English Equestrian
• FFA Volunteer
• Horse Ranch Volunteer
• Exotic/Arthropod Pet Sitter
• Humane Society

Research Experience (about 2.5k hrs—2k being with a veterinarian):

• Studied bioinformatics, genomics, and genetics in relation to med/vet entomology at another university
• First year research assistant - studied E. coli and antibiotic resistance
• Personality psychopathology undergraduate research assistant - helped with a lot of studies/ran participants but first authored a study on emotion dysregulation, gender, and college dynamics
• Duchenne muscular dystrophy and cancer literature review (published paper)
• I have written honors research papers for all of these research opportunities and presented my findings for each at symposiums and/or conferences on a global level
• Nutrition-based cardiothoracic veterinary research WITH a veterinarian (bulk of my hours and takes place at my school’s vet hospital, performed endless heart surgeries/MIs, and received multiple research scholarships for this that I talk about below)
• Climate justice research with another university
• Science communication research training for my veterinary cardiothoracic research that involved local news interviews/publishing about heart research
• Rural medicine research on musculoskeletal health (WITH a veterinarian)

Awards/scholarships:

• Research-based freshman scholarship
• Dean’s list x6
• President’s list x11
• Academic scholarship x10
• Military family scholarship
• Dean-appointed award/scholarship for “dedication to academic achievement and research”
• Recently won my school’s most premier research scholarship
• Scholarship for dedication to research from the state capitol
• Sheep reproduction scholarship
• Food animal production scholarship
• Honors award
• National research award
• Psychology undergraduate student award
• Social justice program of the year award (for the national programming I created for my sorority)
• Outstanding chapter award for a medical club I founded with my university’s college of medicine
• Other general scholarships I applied for from my university

Extracurriculars (about 2.3k hrs):

• Sorority - Positions Held: Nationals Inclusion Committee Collegiate Representative, Academic Assistant, VP of Finance, VP of Academic Achievement, Recruitment Philanthropy Round Head, Recruitment Tech Chair, and Recruitment Food Chair
• Global Medical Brigades (pre-medical study abroad) - Positions Held: Secretary
• Internship at pediatric hospital
• Internship through university at cardiology-focused hospital and clinic
• Pre-DO club - Positions Held: Founder and President
• Rural Medicine club - Positions Held: Secretary
• Ag Honors Council Representative (appointed by my school’s Ag Dean, allowed me to attend 6+ conferences and increase our college’s involvement at the university)
• Student Conduct Committee: General Member
• Friends of Doctors without Borders: General Member
• AMSA: General Member
• African American Psychologists: General Member
• Fundraising and Finance Team Member for our school’s danceathon
• Biochemistry Club: General Member
• Pre-Vet Club: General Member
• Developed an application that reminds my grandfather to water his crops due to him having Alzheimer’s

Volunteer Experience (about 3.5k hrs):

• Ag College Ambassador
• Founder/President of a rural beach clean up organization
• Teaching assistant for microbiology laboratory
• Student Academic Mentor for freshman ag major students
• Caretaker for family
• Volunteer at human hospital
• Volunteer at a center for people with physical disadvantages

Employment (about 2.1k hrs):

• Private Tutor - Underclassmen Mathematics and Russian/Spanish
• School-employed Tutor - 20+ STEM and Spanish courses
• Supplemental Instruction Leader - Calculus I and Organic Chemistry
• Supplemental Instruction Leader Associate Mentor - Accounting, Finance, and Economics
• Supplemental Instruction Mentor - General, Organic, and Engineering Chemistry
• Mentor for students in Ag College - multiple STEM courses and English
• Blog writer (primarily about the application of the traditional beliefs of my African tribe to modern living and the main way I am able to support myself in college)
• Teaching/extension in veterinary entomology with elementary-aged kids in rural communities

LORs will be from a SA vet I shadowed, a vet and two PhDs I did long-term research with, my supervisor for my supplemental instruction/tutoring positions, and a PI from one of my REEUs.

Here are the ones that intrigue me the most. I am very open to adding or taking away from this list:

- OK State
- Cornell
- Western
- Oregon State
- University of Wisconsin
- LSU
- Virginia Tech (did research with them)
- Washington State
- University of Pennsylvania
- Colorado State
- Long Island
- Iowa State
- Kansas State
- University of Illinois
- University of Missouri
- Ohio State

My dream school is Pennsylvania but I understand that is probably a longgggg shot. Thank you for reading this super long post! This community has really helped me improve both on and off paper. You guys are great! 🙂

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[supershorty]

Your stats are competitive, but there are several schools on your list that do not have dual DVM/PhD programs, so if that’s truly something you’re interested in, make sure your list reflects that.

 

[stinkydog]

Hello! I'm also applying in the 2025 cycle (whoop whoop) At one point, I considered a DVM/PhD program, but I realized I am not the strongest soldier when it comes to research lol. I’m very close with my research mentor, who is currently doing a DVM/PhD program at UGA.

One piece of advice I got when looking into dual programs was to think about how the programs are structured. Some programs offer flexibility, letting students to choose their own path—like completing 2 years of the PhD, then 4 years of the DVM, and finishing the PhD afterward. This might be a better fit for some people. Other students might not like pausing their DVM to focus on the PhD, especially when it means rejoining a different cohort. It’s definitely something worth considering as you make your list of schools!

I’m not an expert on the details of DVM/PhD programs, but I thought I’d share this perspective. It could be helpful to reach out to the program directors at the schools you're interested in to see what kind of flexibility they offer.

I’m curious to hear what others think. Your stats look very competitive to me! I bet the oodles and oodles of research experience you have is going to look great. Best of luck! Rooting for you =-)

 

[vindelilas]

Your stats are competitive, but there are several schools on your list that do not have dual DVM/PhD programs, so if that’s truly something you’re interested in, make sure your list reflects that.

Thank you for your reply! I am so nervous about my chances of getting accepted into vet school and wanted to cast my net as far as possible (including non-dual programs just in case). But I could definitely shorten the amount of those programs I apply to. My end goal is hopefully to attend a dual program though 🙂

 

[vindelilas]

Hello! I'm also applying in the 2025 cycle (whoop whoop) At one point, I considered a DVM/PhD program, but I realized I am not the strongest soldier when it comes to research lol. I’m very close with my research mentor, who is currently doing a DVM/PhD program at UGA.

One piece of advice I got when looking into dual programs was to think about how the programs are structured. Some programs offer flexibility, letting students to choose their own path—like completing 2 years of the PhD, then 4 years of the DVM, and finishing the PhD afterward. This might be a better fit for some people. Other students might not like pausing their DVM to focus on the PhD, especially when it means rejoining a different cohort. It’s definitely something worth considering as you make your list of schools!

I’m not an expert on the details of DVM/PhD programs, but I thought I’d share this perspective. It could be helpful to reach out to the program directors at the schools you're interested in to see what kind of flexibility they offer.

I’m curious to hear what others think. Your stats look very competitive to me! I bet the oodles and oodles of research experience you have is going to look great. Best of luck! Rooting for you =-)

Yay!! So glad to meet another person applying soon. You’ve got this!! I appreciate the info, I ideally am hoping to attend a 2 years DVM —> 4 years PhD —> 2 years DVM program just because I believe it’ll be easier to match into residencies from what I’ve heard. However, I am not too picky at this point lol.

 

[JaynaAli]

You just brought up a residency…what are you considering a residency in? I ask because in general, I feel like a lot of the dual degree programs seem more intended for career scientists in basic science, rather than clinical specialties. A lot of the clinical residencies come with combined masters or PhD programs, so it’s a lot more common for specialists who get advanced degrees to earn those concurrent with or subsequent to their residency training. It would be much less common for someone to pursue a PhD and then do a clinical residency…I’m not saying it isn’t done or it’s a bad idea, because I know people that have done it that way (specifically, I know two people, one in pathology and one is zoo med), but as you apply, I’d just be sure your career goals line up with what the programs offer and make sure you’re pursuing what you actually need to reach those career goals. And it’s okay if you don’t know…many people’s plans and interests change throughout vet school, but a PhD program is a lot to commit to unless you’re sure that’s what you want and need.

 

[supershorty]

specifically, I know two people, one in pathology and one is zoo med

three people pending how match goes this year

 

[JaynaAli]

three people pending how match goes this year

You’ll count soon enough! To be fair, I was counting people I’ve actually met/known in person not just my “fake internet friends” 😉

 

[vindelilas]

You just brought up a residency…what are you considering a residency in? I ask because in general, I feel like a lot of the dual degree programs seem more intended for career scientists in basic science, rather than clinical specialties. A lot of the clinical residencies come with combined masters or PhD programs, so it’s a lot more common for specialists who get advanced degrees to earn those concurrent with or subsequent to their residency training. It would be much less common for someone to pursue a PhD and then do a clinical residency…I’m not saying it isn’t done or it’s a bad idea, because I know people that have done it that way (specifically, I know two people, one in pathology and one is zoo med), but as you apply, I’d just be sure your career goals line up with what the programs offer and make sure you’re pursuing what you actually need to reach those career goals. And it’s okay if you don’t know…many people’s plans and interests change throughout vet school, but a PhD program is a lot to commit to unless you’re sure that’s what you want and need.

Good to know!! To be honest I’m still trying to understand more about dual programs since I know so few people who have done them, especially those who are involved in the area of my interest. I want to be a vet dermatologist but specifically research how insect bites/infestations can affect the skin and what can help treat them (but lab animal medicine also interests me greatly). I am working on doing my undergrad thesis on mosquitoes and their preference for different animal skin types based off of sebum (and other specific compounds in the skin) production. I ideally would like to work with a PI for the PhD portion that is interested in medical veterinary entomology (and get to put at least one of my undergrad degrees to good use). Definitely not a common field I don’t think—at least in my small town—but one that really intrigues me! Thanks again for your reply 🙂