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[future.repro.vet]

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Hi everyone! This is my first SDN post, and I am a 20y first time VMCAS applicant for the 2025-2026 cycle. I am making this post to gauge where I currently stand and find areas to improve if I do not get in this cycle. I applied for 11 schools including Colorado, UC Davis, Edinburgh, UF, Glasgow, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, UTK, Washington and Wisconsin. I have already completed an interview with Glasgow and have received an interview invitation from Edinburgh and completed the pre-interview screening for Tennessee, but I also have been rejected from UC Davis.

My stats are as followed:
GPA
Overall: 3.72 Science: 3.73 Last: 3.83
I have a weird academic history since I graduated high school in 2023 and completed my associate's in general science in 2024 and now I am graduating as a double major in animal science pre-vet and marine biology this December. I fast tracked my undergrad education since I am fully committed to completing a veterinary degree and wanted to save money by doing so.

LORs
- Veterinarian who I completed Internship under
- Professor who I completed research under
- Professor who I TA for and have taken several classes

Hours
Veterinary (lacking):
600 - Internship working with dolphins, reptiles, manatees, and parrots
165 - Paid Overnight ER Assistant
50 - Shadowing equine clinic
50 - Shadowing general small animal
50 - Shadowing integrative medicine vet
40 - shadowing aquarium vet clinic

Animal:
45 - volunteer at parrot rescue
40+ - animal management classes (only livestock)
36 - volunteer penguin husbandry
400+ - equestrian and working student (did not include prior to undergrad since I was on and off)
465 - interpreter and animal caretaker at an aquarium
45 - volunteer at wildlife rescue hospital
285 - volunteer at animal rescue
60+ - volunteer at therapeutic riding center that also had livestock

Research:
220 - undergraduate research assistant studying exotic animal behavior (3 semesters)
80 - undergraduate research assistant studying nutrition of pregnant ewes and impacts on immunity in lambs (1 semester)

Employment (non-animal):
300+ - working as an academic tutor in biology and chemistry courses
10k+ - waitress and retail worker for seafood restaurant

Leadership roles:
-Academic Tutor
-Undergraduate TA for animal anatomy and physiology
-Secretary for National Organization of Rare Diseases Club
- Figure skating coach

Certifications:
CITI Training certs
BQA calf-cow cert
SCUBA open water certified

Achievements:
-Scholarship by state that fully covered my associates degree
-Scholarship as a transfer student (Phi theta kappa honor society)
-Pre-vet scholarship provided by school
- Tau Sigma Honor society student
- In high school NHS and Spanish National Honor Society
-National level figure skater solo ice dance (added into application over 20K hours)
-I included varsity pole vaulter from high school, did not feel relevant though

Goals in career:
I have a large interest in wildlife medicine but I have also been interested in large animals as I grew up around them when my family was in the military but during high school and at community college I lived near the beach and did not have as much access to large animals other than equine until I got into my bachelors program. I hope to go into research into studying what we can learn from reproduction in livestock and integrate into conservation medicine and overall improving production and health of livestock as well as integrate these aspects for endangered species. I applied to several dual programs involving these areas.

I understand that I may not get into my first cycle which is why I plan to improve my veterinary hours once I graduate and begin my research career with a master's program focusing in reproduction. Please let me know if there are other areas that are seen as lacking!

 

[pp9]

Hi everyone! This is my first SDN post, and I am a 20y first time VMCAS applicant for the 2025-2026 cycle. I am making this post to gauge where I currently stand and find areas to improve if I do not get in this cycle. I applied for 11 schools including Colorado, UC Davis, Edinburgh, UF, Glasgow, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, UTK, Washington and Wisconsin. I have already completed an interview with Glasgow and have received an interview invitation from Edinburgh and completed the pre-interview screening for Tennessee, but I also have been rejected from UC Davis.

As I read through:

• Do you have an IS school?
• Your academics are probably fine at most schools, UC Davis is a tough school for a lot of people though. I would not take that rejection as a sign of how this cycle is going to go.
• The dolphin/reptile/etc internship was directly under a vet/that is the vet who wrote your letter? Was this at a zoo, rescue/rehab facility, other? This is kind of a weird smorgasbord of species so I'm just wondering more about this. Was it true veterinary/medical 100% of the time, or were there husbandry components to it? If this is not 600 hours of genuine veterinary experience, then you are absolutely lacking in hours and need to address that if you don't get in this cycle.
• For your interests, it can be tricky to say you want to go into a specific niche when you don't have much experience to support that. It may or may not actually be a red flag, it likely depends on the adcom and who ends up reading your specific application. If you don't get in this cycle, I would definitely get more veterinary experience in your stated areas of interest, especially if you are writing about these interests in your PS.
• Only do the master's program if that's something you'd do as a career should you never get into vet school (it sounds like repro is a career interest for you, though).

 

[JaynaAli]

I agree with what pp mentioned. My only other question which is more hypothetical than anything is, do you even need a DVM to do the research you’re wanting to do? So much livestock and wildlife repro is done by non-veterinarian producers I just wonder if the DVM is even necessary or could you accomplish the same goals with a masters/PhD alone in like animal science or something similar? Perhaps the DVM is necessary and that’s great, but I’d definitely be prepared to fully explain your career goals AND why you need both degrees if you’re applying and interviewing for dual programs. Dual programs are a bit of a different beast than regular DVM admissions.

 

[future.repro.vet]

As I read through:

• Do you have an IS school?
• Your academics are probably fine at most schools, UC Davis is a tough school for a lot of people though. I would not take that rejection as a sign of how this cycle is going to go.
• The dolphin/reptile/etc internship was directly under a vet/that is the vet who wrote your letter? Was this at a zoo, rescue/rehab facility, other? This is kind of a weird smorgasbord of species so I'm just wondering more about this. Was it true veterinary/medical 100% of the time, or were there husbandry components to it? If this is not 600 hours of genuine veterinary experience, then you are absolutely lacking in hours and need to address that if you don't get in this cycle.
• For your interests, it can be tricky to say you want to go into a specific niche when you don't have much experience to support that. It may or may not actually be a red flag, it likely depends on the adcom and who ends up reading your specific application. If you don't get in this cycle, I would definitely get more veterinary experience in your stated areas of interest, especially if you are writing about these interests in your PS.
• Only do the master's program if that's something you'd do as a career should you never get into vet school (it sounds like repro is a career interest for you, though).

- I do have an instate but they do not take my community college courses for orgo, which is why I did not apply
- It was directly under the vet, my title was the medical department intern at a marine mammal facility that also had parrots and reptiles that we completed medical exams with, and I was assisting in manatee rescues through this facility on occasion. It was 100% veterinary work during this time.
- Other than my dual program supplements, I did not go into depth discussing my repro interests and spoke mainly on my interests in large animal and wildlife, but I did give examples why as my classes I took in my bachelors involved repro and my internship allowed me to complete an independent project on reproductive hormones in marine mammals. I completely agree that I need more hours in these areas and I am applying to internships at veterinary clinics focusing on repro once I am graduating.
Thank you for providing feedback!

 

[pp9]

To back up what Jayna said, I'm a zoo vet and the vast majority of repro contacts we utilize in this field are not DVMs. They're all PhDs. If you want to do clinical repro, the DVM makes sense (job prospects for a repro person in conservation med are different conversation, there's less demand than you'd think), but plan to do a residency. If you want to be research-heavy, the DVM might make less sense.

- I do have an instate but they do not take my community college courses for orgo, which is why I did not apply

It might be financially smart to do classes your IS does accept if you don't get an acceptance. Up to you of course but you'd spend a few grand to repeat those courses vs 10's of thousands more to go OOS, especially since only two of your remaining schools allow residency change