WAMC?? Help!

[justwannabeavet]

Post 1

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[justwannabeavet]

Did some research and it was ~90 hours if I account for most likely only having 9 instead of ten weeks of actual labs for my class hours for animal experience!

 

[SkiOtter]

I see you want to do zoomed.......do you have any vet experience in that field....?

 

[justwannabeavet]

I see you want to do zoomed.......do you have any vet experience in that field....?

Post 2

 

[SkiOtter]

How do you know you want to be a zoo vet if you have not worked with a zoo vet and seen what they do on a daily basis?

 

[justwannabeavet]

How do you know you want to be a zoo vet if you have not worked with a zoo vet and seen what they do on a daily basis?

Post 3

 

[SkiOtter]

Yep and there are tons of people who want to be zoo vets and they have experience to back it up. You cannot say you 100000000% want to go into zoomed with no experience to show schools you actually want to do that because there are so many people who say they want to do zoomed. And very few zoos in need of a vet.

I’m trying to give you the reality check you asked for before applying so you can think about restructuring your essays. It will be looked down upon if you have NO experience in zoo or wildlife and say you want to work in that field. You can say you’re interested in exploring that field in school but that you’re also interested in this other part of vetmed that you DO have experience in. Wanting to go into zoomed is NOT unique and will not set you apart from applicants like you think it will. Even wildlife (especially vet) experience would be more helpful than NO experience in zoomed.

 

[justwannabeavet]

Yep and there are tons of people who want to be zoo vets and they have experience to back it up. You cannot say you 100000000% want to go into zoomed with no experience to show schools you actually want to do that because there are so many people who say they want to do zoomed. And very few zoos in need of a vet.

I’m trying to give you the reality check you asked for before applying so you can think about restructuring your essays. It will be looked down upon if you have NO experience in zoo or wildlife and say you want to work in that field. You can say you’re interested in exploring that field in school but that you’re also interested in this other part of vetmed that you DO have experience in. Wanting to go into zoomed is NOT unique and will not set you apart from applicants like you think it will.

Post 4

 

[SkiOtter]

I would definitely try and get some experience working with wildlife or zoo animals, even if it’s volunteering with wildlife or working as a zookeeper or shadowing them. Working as a keeper would potentially get you an in to even be able to shadow their vets. But at the very least, you would at least have ANIMAL experience with those species that you want to work with.

 

[justwannabeavet]

I would definitely try and get some experience working with wildlife or zoo animals, even if it’s volunteering with wildlife or working as a zookeeper or shadowing them. Working as a keeper would potentially get you an in to even be able to shadow their vets. But at the very least, you would at least have ANIMAL experience with those species that you want to work with.

Thank you, I will look into that!! Do you have any insight into my chances besides that?

 

[Lupin21]

So do you speak spanish?

 

[justwannabeavet]

So do you speak spanish?

Yes, at least conversationally fluent, a little bit more but I don't like to say I am completely fluent! I am hoping to take classes, especially if they are offered at the veterinary school I end up going to, that will increase my skill level and maybe teach me some additional relevant vocabulary for the profession. I was in a Spanish city for 10 weeks where no one there spoke English besides my classmates, so I had to become proficient enough to get through a whole day without English.

 

[Lupin21]

Yes, at least conversationally fluent, a little bit more but I don't like to say I am completely fluent! I am hoping to take classes, especially if they are offered at the veterinary school I end up going to, that will increase my skill level and maybe teach me some additional relevant vocabulary for the profession. I was in a Spanish city for 10 weeks where no one there spoke English besides my classmates, so I had to become proficient enough to get through a whole day without English.

Gotcha. Well, that is definitely something to at least help you stand out as client communication is one of the most necessary elements to being a good veterinarian, and if you are in a spanish speaking area, this is a huge plus. The rest of your app is average. You will need to find unique things about yourself to write about and show off to stand out. You have a good GRE score, so I think a couple of those schools, like cornell, like that. Your hours are a bit low on the experience side otherwise and aren't offset by high GPA, so definitely spend time on your essays to drive home what you have to offer the profession.

As far as your interest in conservation, you will actually find many applicants mention an interest in that, however there are minimal jobs that do not pay well in that area, so you are going to have to make sure you understand this. Good luck! I am sure people from all these individual schools can chime in to be more specific on what to include depending on what each wants to see in their applicants.

 

[justwannabeavet]

Gotcha. Well, that is definitely something to at least help you stand out as client communication is one of the most necessary elements to being a good veterinarian, and if you are in a spanish speaking area, this is a huge plus. The rest of your app is average. You will need to find unique things about yourself to write about and show off to stand out. You have a good GRE score, so I think a couple of those schools, like cornel, like that. Your hours are a bit low on the experience side otherwise and aren't offset by high GPA, so definitely spend time on your essays to drive home what you have to offer the profession.

As far as your interest in conservation, you will actually find many applicants mention an interest in that, however there are minimal jobs that do not pay well in that area, so you are going to have to make sure you understand this. Good luck! I am sure people from all these individual schools can chime in to be more specific on what to include depending on what each wants to see in their applicants.

Thank you very much!!!

 

[Teepster87]

I would also recommend using the vet aide club while you're still at ucd to get some in hospital experience if you're able to fit it into your schedule. I really wish I had made time for it while I was there.
I also got an internship in Hoveys lab while I was there which got me some good hands on lab experience that I was able to use to get a full time job during my gap year elsewhere. That's always a good route to go too, as you might be able to get a strong academic letter of recommendation out of it.

GRE looks good.

Depending on how well your Spanish is going, you might be able to leverage that into some opportunities working dairy med in the central valley. Being able to talk directly to the people doing milking and cow/calf care makes troubleshooting problems and protocol development way easier

 

[justwannabeavet]

I would also recommend using the vet aide club while you're still at ucd to get some in hospital experience if you're able to fit it into your schedule. I really wish I had made time for it while I was there.
I also got an internship in Hoveys lab while I was there which got me some good hands on lab experience that I was able to use to get a full time job during my gap year elsewhere. That's always a good route to go too, as you might be able to get a strong academic letter of recommendation out of it.

GRE looks good.

Depending on how well your Spanish is going, you might be able to leverage that into some opportunities working dairy med in the central valley. Being able to talk directly to the people doing milking and cow/calf care makes troubleshooting problems and protocol development way easier

Thanks! I am actually getting my letter of rec from my biochem professor! And I applied to do the internships this summer when I would actually have time but didn't get one, and I am not really sure why... I might try again for winter quarter since that is probably going to be the easiest of the three!

 

[Georgethecat]

Hey guys! I am going into my fourth year as an animal science major at UC Davis (I am from socal). I really want to be a zoological veterinarian and work with the AZA TAGs as a veterinarian program advisor to work on conservation and also education! Unfortunately, I didn't know how to study when I came to college and got Cs in three chemistry classes. My grades have been great Junior year (Dean's list twice and 4.0 spring quarter) but I also don't do anything besides school and I don't take heavy units (although during fall I will be taking 17 instead of my usual 13-14). I am also taking two classes both summer sessions (I have done school ever summer).
I barely have the minimum experience because I never had the resources to do it and vets around davis always already had interns and when I applied I didn't get them for whatever reason. I know my career goals are extremely specific and I put them in my essays, but I am open to doing something else if it doesnt work out in vet school (should I sneak that into my essay?). I recognize I am not a strong applicant so I am really concerned.

As of right now I am applying to a lot of schools to try to increase my chances of getting in (I would genuinely go to any of these schools) but obviously don't want to spend $215 on a school I have no chance of getting into. I am applying to schools with exotic/zoological electives, so as of now that is: Davis, colorado, cornell (but should I since they have a million extra essays and Idk what my chances are?), illinois, kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon (potentially won't apply if chances are super low due to extra essays and not wanting to have them pay too much), Western, Wisconsin, RVC, and St. Georges. If you know any others good for zoological let me know! I can only apply to certain ones though because I only took one upper div stats class and two quarters of organic chemistry.

Cumulative GPA: 3.473
science GPA: 3.332
last 45: 3.631

Any degrees achieved

GRE results: Q: 160 (74%)/V: 158 (80%) /W: 4 (59%)
I took it twice and got the exact same scores

Veterinary Experience:
- 135 hours at a surgical small animal clinic abroad in spain (they only spoke spanish)
- 25 hours shadowing one small animal vet
- 12 hours with another small animal vet who also saw exotics
- 16 hours at a clinic with small animals but mostly exotic pets

Animal Experience:
- over 800 hours in high school with rescue groups doing rehabilitation, helping litters that were two young, fostering, etc
- I need to calculate the hours but a lot from my ANS classes working with goats, horses, cows, sheep, and swine
- 18 years of animal ownership
- 50 hours working with a goat (I showed it for a competition)
- 8 hours at a large cat rescue

Research Experience: N/A

Awards/scholarships:
- I earned a scholarship fall quarter freshman year for high school grades
- Dean's list fall 2018 and spring 2019
- should I put valedictorian for high school?

Extracurriculars:
-Sorority
- Vet aide club
- Youth group

Employment:
- Worked at Pacsun for over two years in high school
-
-

I really just don't think I am competitive which worries me. If I don't get in, I am not sure what the next step is. All the zoos I reach out to say they don't even have room for a one day shadow because they already have the vet students. I don't really know how to show the vet schools I really have worked hard to get my grades up and CAN do it in vet school. I study all day every single day, I know I am ready to be able to do that, I have literally been training to get used to that. I just want to know what my chances are for those schools I listed. Thank you!!!

Unless you have a plan to get in a LOT of vet supervised hours this summer before the VMCAS application deadline, your vet hours are very low. With such few hours at each place, have any of the vets committed to writing letters of recommendation for you? And would these be strong letters of recommendation?

Since you don't have any zoo or conservation hours, I'd be very careful how you talk about that in your essays. I'd focus more on wanting to be a vet and that you're excited to have the chance to learn more about other areas of vet medicine that you haven't been able to work directly with to date.

If you've made much higher grades in upper level chemistry classes, you might want to point that out (overcoming the 3 C's in earlier chemistry classes). Do you have a compelling reason for taking a below average course load (working to put yourself through school, athlete, extraordinary family commitments, etc) ? Don't get me wrong, I know it can be difficult and frustrating to find clinics to work/shadow with but since every vet school applicant has to do it I'm not sure what a compelling reason for being unable to do it would be for an admissions committee??? Your non-animal related work experience and the rescue hours are from high school. What have you been doing during your college summers?

Have you considered a gap year that you could use to significantly increase your vet hours? Applying to 10+ schools is going to be expensive all by itself and require a lot of time and effort on your part to complete the supplemental applications/essays.

Not trying to be a Negative Nancy, just trying to help you think through things. Best of luck to you!

 

[justwannabeavet]

Unless you have a plan to get in a LOT of vet supervised hours this summer before the VMCAS application deadline, your vet hours are very low. With such few hours at each place, have any of the vets committed to writing letters of recommendation for you? And would these be strong letters of recommendation?

Since you don't have any zoo or conservation hours, I'd be very careful how you talk about that in your essays. I'd focus more on wanting to be a vet and that you're excited to have the chance to learn more about other areas of vet medicine that you haven't been able to work directly with to date.

If you've made much higher grades in upper level chemistry classes, you might want to point that out (overcoming the 3 C's in earlier chemistry classes). Do you have a compelling reason for taking a below average course load (working to put yourself through school, athlete, extraordinary family commitments, etc) ? Don't get me wrong, I know it can be difficult and frustrating to find clinics to work/shadow with but since every vet school applicant has to do it I'm not sure what a compelling reason for being unable to do it would be for an admissions committee??? Your non-animal related work experience and the rescue hours are from high school. What have you been doing during your college summers?

Have you considered a gap year that you could use to significantly increase your vet hours? Applying to 10+ schools is going to be expensive all by itself and require a lot of time and effort on your part to complete the supplemental applications/essays.

Not trying to be a Negative Nancy, just trying to help you think through things. Best of luck to you!

Post 5

 

[SkiOtter]

You voiced a lot of the concerns I have been voicing to my family about this, and they were the ones who urged me to apply to so many schools because they wanted to "make sure" I was going to get in somewhere so the application would only be done once.

Majority of applicants have to apply more than once, and with you having closer to average/low average cumulative and science GPAs, you may have to apply more than once. CSU is one of the most competitive schools for OOS students. @batsenecal was it you who told me how many applicants they have per seat?
Apply smart, not just to any school you meet the prerequisites for.

 

[justwannabeavet]

Majority of applicants have to apply more than once, and with you having closer to average/low average cumulative and science GPAs, you may have to apply more than once. CSU is one of the most competitive schools for OOS students. @batsenecal was it you who told me how many applicants they have per seat?
Apply smart, not just to any school you meet the prerequisites for.

Okay that is kinda why I posted this! I have done a lot of research on the schools but I don't want to spend money/do extra work for schools I almost definitely won't get into, especially ones like Cornell and Oregon with a lot of extra essays!

 

[SkiOtter]

Definitely look into how many OOS seats they even have and how many applications they get each cycle. I think the AAVMC has this info somewhere on their site if you look around.

 

[battie]

Majority of applicants have to apply more than once, and with you having closer to average/low average cumulative and science GPAs, you may have to apply more than once. CSU is one of the most competitive schools for OOS students. @batsenecal was it you who told me how many applicants they have per seat?
Apply smart, not just to any school you meet the prerequisites for.

Okay that is kinda why I posted this! I have done a lot of research on the schools but I don't want to spend money/do extra work for schools I almost definitely won't get into, especially ones like Cornell and Oregon with a lot of extra essays!

CSU had by far the most applicants per seat, with 14 applicants per available seat. The national average was 7. But that's not taking into account the fact all schools over accept by a certain percentage, too.