WAMC - fourth time applicant

[jlo94]

Looking for any advice/help for applying my 4th time this coming cycle...

I work full time currently so it is difficult for me to do things during the week related to vet experience. I have been considering getting exotic experience because that is something I'm lacking in but I'm having a hard time finding a nearby clinic that is open on Saturdays.

I feel like I also need to get more volunteer experience with things outside of vet med so I will be doing some volunteer work this summer with a reading program in my county.

GPA isn't the greatest either... thought about retaking some courses (Only C I ever had was in orgo 2 so I considered retaking that).

Any insight to why I can't even get waitlisted at one school?? My prerequisites are going to start expiring this year so if I don't get in this time I think that's it for me... help!

Rejected by: NCSU, UGA, UT, VMCVM

I plan to pursue large/mixed animal medicine.

Schools Planning on Applying/Looking into Upcoming cycle: NCSU, UGA, UT, VMCVM, Auburn, UF, Lincoln-Memorial, U-Penn?


Information for this past cycle per VMCAS:

Cumulative GPA undergrad: 3.51
Grad: 3.41
Overall: 3.49

Science GPA undergrad: 3.4
Grad: 3.2
Overall: 3.36

Last 45 GPA: ?? Need to calculate

Degrees Held: BS Animal Science, MAS (Master of Animal Science, online non-thesis based)

GRE Results: 300 (1st time), 302 (2nd time) - not including writing score (4 both times)




The hours and information below reflect what would be included in my upcoming VMCAS Application:

Veterinary Experience (with a Veterinarian): roughly 1500 hours

Worked in 2 different small animal clinics and interned for a week at a large animal clinic.


Volunteer (not animal related): ~200 hours

A lot of the volunteer work was completed in high school. Volunteered with clubs, local fire department... I currently volunteer with a local feline rescue but maybe 1 hour a week at most.



Animal Experience (no Veterinarian Involved): over 10,000 hours

I currently work full time on a dairy farm and have worked here for the last 7 years.
On past applications I also included pet sitting.



Extracurricular Activities: ~1,500

- Sorority Involvement, College and High School clubs, High School sports



Research: 1,900 hours

Worked at a lab for 2 years, have 2 publications (not first author)



Employment (Not Animal Related): ~4,500 hours

Secretary assistant during high school and internship during college.


Achievements: Dean's List 3 years in undergrad, lots of scholarships and awards in high school

Certifications: Artificial Insemination, HAACP

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[Georgethecat]

Do you have an IS school? Have you done file reviews?

 

[jlo94]

Yes NCSU is my in state school.

I have not done file reviews in the past because some didn't offer them (NCSU had a general review last year for all denied applicants but I wasn't able to attend because of work, and they said they would have another one this year but I haven't heard when yet. It just seems very general though. They also said do not contact about your application in the mean time...) I'm going to schedule reviews for the other schools now because most of them made you wait until after May 1st.

 

[QuinVet]

I think your application is solid. Are you LORs good? Who do you have writing them? Ensure that those writing them are doing you justice especially with UGA not doing interviews and calling these people for a feel of you. Also because your masters program GPA is on the lower side that MAY be a red flag that you are not able to handle the course load of vet school i.e higher level science courses: I also know that you are under the GRE requirement for UGA, which could influence their decision: I would consider adding MS State and possibly Tuskegee to your school list they can be more holistic in their review.

 

[jlo94]

I think your application is solid. Are you LORs good? Who do you have writing them? Ensure that those writing them are doing you justice especially with UGA not doing interviews and calling these people for a feel of you. Also because your masters program GPA is on the lower side that MAY be a red flag that you are not able to handle the course load of vet school i.e higher level science courses: I also know that you are under the GRE requirement for UGA, which could influence their decision: I would consider adding MS State and possibly Tuskegee to your school list they can be more holistic in their review.

I have letters from my lab PI, the vet I worked with at the last clinic I worked at, my dairy manager, and a past professor/advisor. I am pretty close with all of them so I feel like they should be decent. UGA has never even called my references though. And yes I agree about my graduate GPA but I was working full time (40+ hours a week) and taking 6-9 hours a semester which I talked about in my application.

 

[battie]

Schools Planning on Applying/Looking into Upcoming cycle: NCSU, UGA, UT, VMCVM, Auburn, UF, Lincoln-Memorial, U-Penn?

Your application is a smidgen below average from a national perspective as far as grades go, just about average for experience. So your school list needs to be more focused on how you fit to the schools and more open to others

I would absolutely take off UGA and Penn, with the potential of removing UF as well (I would need to look up their stats). OOS is competitive for these schools due the low number of OOS seats they offer and/or how high their OOS GPAs/scores are.

The AAVMC has a public data sheet that can be downloaded as a PDF or is an interactive chart. Go through the schools and apply to those with 1) high numbers of OOS seats, 2) lower numbers of applicants, and 3) your grades are closer to the averages.

There may be a red flag somewhere in your application other than your grades. If you can, have new people read and critique your essays and other written portions of your application.

 

[Trilt]

I got into NCSU with just a smidge higher GPA (3.6ish) and waaaay less experience. I agree with above that getting your application reviewed and making sure you're selling yourself and not throwing red flags is probably very important.


Two more things that stick out to me: do you have a reason your grad school GPA was poorer than your undergrad? That's something that gives me pause considering many will do the non-thesis masters to show their ability to do grad level work, and I hate that it didn't pull up your GPA at all.

Having only a week of large animal experience and then saying that is your goal for a career might be raising eyebrows, too (though obviously you have the dairy farm experience, but different being the vet vs working there!) Can you reach out and get more time with the vet(s) that your farm uses, maybe?

I'm happy to go over stuff if you want to PM me. It's been a decade+ since I applied so I can't guarantee I'm the best up to date resource, but could likely help focus the application on stuff NCSU tends to like to give you the best go at in-state.

 

[jlo94]

Your application is a smidgen below average from a national perspective as far as grades go, just about average for experience. So your school list needs to be more focused on how you fit to the schools and more open to others

I would absolutely take off UGA and Penn, with the potential of removing UF as well (I would need to look up their stats). OOS is competitive for these schools due the low number of OOS seats they offer and/or how high their OOS GPAs/scores are.

The AAVMC has a public data sheet that can be downloaded as a PDF or is an interactive chart. Go through the schools and apply to those with 1) high numbers of OOS seats, 2) lower numbers of applicants, and 3) your grades are closer to the averages.

There may be a red flag somewhere in your application other than your grades. If you can, have new people read and critique your essays and other written portions of your application.

Thank you for the feedback! Do you think retaking low grade classes would benefit me at all? Or just sticking with going over my application would be the best option?

 

[jlo94]

I got into NCSU with just a smidge higher GPA (3.6ish) and waaaay less experience. I agree with above that getting your application reviewed and making sure you're selling yourself and not throwing red flags is probably very important.


Two more things that stick out to me: do you have a reason your grad school GPA was poorer than your undergrad? That's something that gives me pause considering many will do the non-thesis masters to show their ability to do grad level work, and I hate that it didn't pull up your GPA at all.

Having only a week of large animal experience and then saying that is your goal for a career might be raising eyebrows, too (though obviously you have the dairy farm experience, but different being the vet vs working there!) Can you reach out and get more time with the vet(s) that your farm uses, maybe?

I'm happy to go over stuff if you want to PM me. It's been a decade+ since I applied so I can't guarantee I'm the best up to date resource, but could likely help focus the application on stuff NCSU tends to like to give you the best go at in-state.

I will definitely take you up on that offer to discuss things! I’ll send you a message tonight. Thank you.

And I just didn’t do great in my first semester. I took too many classes while I was working two jobs 40+ hours a week. I really hate that I did that too because I know how bad it looks. I try to explain that in one of my essays too but I’m not sure if it helps anything.

I thought about shadowing the vet that comes here, do you think that would be more beneficial than getting exotic or wildlife experience somewhere? I thought maybe they wanted more varied experience but that might not be the issue.

 

[battie]

Thank you for the feedback! Do you think retaking low grade classes would benefit me at all? Or just sticking with going over my application would be the best option?

Depends on the grade. Retaking anything under a C is obviously ideal for science and prerequisites. But retaking Cs only matters it you'll get an A or if schools with straight swap the new grade for the old.

Of the schools you decide to apply to, would not be a bad idea to email them and see if they do grade replacement

 

[britzen]

Your grades are okay for VMCVM - somewhere a smidgen below the average and plenty of people get in with similar stats.

You might be outcompeted on essays or LORs. I don't remember the exact number of apps, but theres maybe 1200-1300 OOS apps for about 50 seats. Against that many people you've gotta have something about you that pops or gets you some extra points on the holistic side. We do file reviews so be sure to ask for one.

More hours won't help you at VMCVM - you'll max out the points awarded for that section I think. More varied experience might help though.

I'd change your essay that talks about not doing well in school to something else honestly. Use the explanation statement on the app to briefly mention it. If you can pull a 3.2 in a full time program while working full time, you can make an argument that you would be able to handle the courseload of vet school, you might just need to frame it better to look more like a strength rather than a weakness. Use your essays to talk about what makes you awesome, not excuses about why you've done poorly. Have some people with fresh eyes review everything to make sure you're not selling yourself short.

People on this forum help with apps every year, maybe contact some people on that thread when the time comes to get some new reviewers.

Prereqs don't expire for VMCVM btw. Some of mine were like 15 years old or something. There were multiple schools I spoke too that didn't care about how old they were. If you're willing to expand into newer schools / schools out west, they may be more forgiving I that regard (I think Western or Midwestern said they didn't care, can't remember honestly it's been awhile and I ended up applying to just my IS my first cycle.)