WAMC - Non Trad 1st Time Applicant

[hcampo]

Hey y’all! I’m finally applying to vet school this cycle after a few very long few years and hoping to get some direction as to where I should apply and what I should expect realistically to happen.

My story/extenuating circumstances: I was diagnosed with PTSD my sophomore year of undergrad due to trauma I endured throughout high school. I left my Texas home and went to California to get space from the situation, which helped but it still took me 6 years to graduate and with very subpar grades. According to the VMCAS gpa excel sheet, I graduated with a 2.48 cumulative gpa and 2.19 science gpa. I’ve gotten proper medications, regular therapy, tutoring services, and a service dog and am doing much much better. I am currently in a masters program and just completed my first semester.

First semester of grad school: 2 As, 1 B (9 credits, 3.67 gpa)! Between the summer and spring semesters, I plan on taking 20 credits of classes and acing them all. Assuming that happens, my gpa going into the application cycle will be: 2.71 cumulative gpa, 2.56 science gpa, and 3.25 last 45 gpa.

Experience:
-2000+ hours of small animal vet experience at 2 different clinics, summer internship at horse breeding facility to gain large animal experience
- 200 hours of wildlife vet experience at a South Africa study abroad
-1000+ hours of animal experience: pet sitting for 5 years, training my own service dog/having dogs my entire life, owning turtle and fish, working at aquarium as education specialist (I spoke to guests and taught them about the animals)
-600+ hours of research experience: in lab analysis of microplastics in beach sediment & within invertebrates, led the development of standardizing technique to analyze microplastics using density separations & FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectroscopy; Presentations at SoCal Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry Annual Meeting (2018), Southern California Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting (2019), LMU Undergraduate Research Symposium (2018, 2019)

Extracurricular:
-Founding President for university pre vet club, organized shadowing program for club
-D1 water polo athlete for 2 years
- 3 year member of feminist service organization, served as president for 1 year. At least 15 hours of service per semester, completed 250+ hours of service total at following placements: Itutors: Virtual tutoring for children in LAISD (Spring 2021), Midnight Mission: Safe home for families escaping abuse (2018-2019), El Espejo: Middle school mentoring program (2019)

Work experience:
- Supervisor for Lion Express for 3 years, school shuttle system
- own my own social media management business for pet owners for 2 years
-2 year resident advisor
- Internship at Cardinal Ranch Horse breeding facility (Summer 2024)

Other:
-bilingual (Spanish)
-had to work 3 jobs in undergrad
-official diagnosis of PTSD, major panic disorder, major depressive disorder, and ADHD

Where I’m thinking of applying (suggestions appreciated):
Iowa
Ohio State (submitting extenuating circumstances for sub gpa req)
UC Davis (long long Hail Mary shot I know)
Wisconsin
Virginia-Maryland
Washington
Texas A&M, in state (submitting extenuating circumstances for sub gpa req)
Western
St George
Ross? (not entirely sure I love the program, have heard a lot of negatives)
Arizona
Minnesota
Kansas
Penn (long long Hail Mary shot I know)
Cornell (long long Hail Mary shot I know)

Reguardless of what yall think I’m gonna apply just to see what will happen🤷🏽‍♀️ but I would like to know what you think I should realistically expect, even if you think it’s not worth it to apply. Please be kind, but I appreciate your full honesty. Thank you for taking the time to read through this❤️

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[lianguine]

Hi! I don’t believe I’m qualified to advise much but I wanted to say your experience section looks great! If you haven’t, I would look into Michigan State as they are very holistic in their admissions. Their cGPA min is 2.75 and sGPA is 2.5. You may have to increase your GPA a bit (I believe file review generally proceeds after a 3.0), but once you meet that minimum they usually don’t look at academics much more. Good luck! You can tell you’ve worked hard over the years.

Edit: incorrect info sorry! See Academic Requirements

 

[hcampo]

Hi! I don’t believe I’m qualified to advise much but I wanted to say your experience section looks great! If you haven’t, I would look into Michigan State as they are very holistic in their admissions. Their cGPA min is 2.75 and sGPA is 2.5. You may have to increase your GPA a bit (I believe file review generally proceeds after a 3.0), but once you meet that minimum they usually don’t look at academics much more. Good luck! You can tell you’ve worked hard over the years.

🥹❤️ thank you so much, it means a lot to me that a stranger said that😭

 

[eleanor713]

I would just make sure you check the minimum requirements for each schools GPA. I believe from what I’ve heard this cycle, Iowa isn’t looking at applicants with science GPA lower than 2.8 and Wisconsin factors GPA into 60% of the overall applicant score. Penn, UC Davis, Cornell are all schools with high average GPAs. While it may seem better to just apply to many schools - application costs add up fast as each school on VMCAS has a fee and then most schools have an extra fee. It’s not worth wasting the money for schools that value GPA and won’t even look at your application. Michigan State would definitely be a good one to look into! And I know there are other schools that only look at GPA to make sure you meet requirements but I can’t remember which ones they are off the top of my head. The rest of your application is definitely competitive so finding those right schools to apply to will help you a lot!

 

[Georgethecat]

You might want to look into which schools use only their science pre-req's to calculate the science gpa. And which schools use grade replacement as opposed to averaging. Improving your pre-req grades would also boost your last 45 gpa.

 

[miranda920]

Hi! I don’t believe I’m qualified to advise much but I wanted to say your experience section looks great! If you haven’t, I would look into Michigan State as they are very holistic in their admissions. Their cGPA min is 2.75 and sGPA is 2.5. You may have to increase your GPA a bit (I believe file review generally proceeds after a 3.0), but once you meet that minimum they usually don’t look at academics much more. Good luck! You can tell you’ve worked hard over the years.

This isn’t correct, there is no cGPA or sGPA minimum for Michigan State.

For your application to go into file review for an interview you must have a 3.0 in their listed prerequisite courses and a 3.0 in your last 36 credit hours.

 

[lianguine]

This isn’t correct, there is no cGPA or sGPA minimum for Michigan State.

For your application to go into file review for an interview you must have a 3.0 in their listed prerequisite courses and a 3.0 in your last 36 credit hours.

Oh I am very sorry OP, I did a quick search to get info from the MSU CVM website and I think I landed on the vet nursing admissions info instead.

If you are able to raise your GPAs to at least a 3.0, then Michigan would be a good school to apply.

 

[miranda920]

Hey y’all! I’m finally applying to vet school this cycle after a few very long few years and hoping to get some direction as to where I should apply and what I should expect realistically to happen.

My story/extenuating circumstances: I was diagnosed with PTSD my sophomore year of undergrad due to trauma I endured throughout high school. I left my Texas home and went to California to get space from the situation, which helped but it still took me 6 years to graduate and with very subpar grades. According to the VMCAS gpa excel sheet, I graduated with a 2.48 cumulative gpa and 2.19 science gpa. I’ve gotten proper medications, regular therapy, tutoring services, and a service dog and am doing much much better. I am currently in a masters program and just completed my first semester.

First semester of grad school: 2 As, 1 B (9 credits, 3.67 gpa)! Between the summer and spring semesters, I plan on taking 20 credits of classes and acing them all. Assuming that happens, my gpa going into the application cycle will be: 2.71 cumulative gpa, 2.56 science gpa, and 3.25 last 45 gpa.

Experience:
-2000+ hours of small animal vet experience at 2 different clinics, summer internship at horse breeding facility to gain large animal experience
- 200 hours of wildlife vet experience at a South Africa study abroad
-1000+ hours of animal experience: pet sitting for 5 years, training my own service dog/having dogs my entire life, owning turtle and fish, working at aquarium as education specialist (I spoke to guests and taught them about the animals)
-600+ hours of research experience: in lab analysis of microplastics in beach sediment & within invertebrates, led the development of standardizing technique to analyze microplastics using density separations & FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectroscopy; Presentations at SoCal Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry Annual Meeting (2018), Southern California Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting (2019), LMU Undergraduate Research Symposium (2018, 2019)

Extracurricular:
-Founding President for university pre vet club, organized shadowing program for club
-D1 water polo athlete for 2 years
- 3 year member of feminist service organization, served as president for 1 year. At least 15 hours of service per semester, completed 250+ hours of service total at following placements: Itutors: Virtual tutoring for children in LAISD (Spring 2021), Midnight Mission: Safe home for families escaping abuse (2018-2019), El Espejo: Middle school mentoring program (2019)

Work experience:
- Supervisor for Lion Express for 3 years, school shuttle system
- own my own social media management business for pet owners for 2 years
-2 year resident advisor
- Internship at Cardinal Ranch Horse breeding facility (Summer 2024)

Other:
-bilingual (Spanish)
-had to work 3 jobs in undergrad
-official diagnosis of PTSD, major panic disorder, major depressive disorder, and ADHD

Where I’m thinking of applying (suggestions appreciated):
Iowa
Ohio State (submitting extenuating circumstances for sub gpa req)
UC Davis (long long Hail Mary shot I know)
Wisconsin
Virginia-Maryland
Washington
Texas A&M, in state (submitting extenuating circumstances for sub gpa req)
Western
St George
Ross? (not entirely sure I love the program, have heard a lot of negatives)
Arizona
Minnesota
Kansas
Penn (long long Hail Mary shot I know)
Cornell (long long Hail Mary shot I know)

Reguardless of what yall think I’m gonna apply just to see what will happen🤷🏽‍♀️ but I would like to know what you think I should realistically expect, even if you think it’s not worth it to apply. Please be kind, but I appreciate your full honesty. Thank you for taking the time to read through this❤️

As someone who got into vet school with a sub 3.0 GPA, I’ll give you my thoughts because it is possible!

You have a lot of great and unique experience, which is excellent! But your last 45 is not strong, which if you can pull this up with your graduate program and possibly retake prerequisite courses you got Cs in, it will help you tremendously. A cGPA is hard to move, but a last 45 can really change things! Also look at programs that do grade replacements.
I know GPA does not define how a student can perform, but there needs to be some evidence that you can be successful in a rigorous program. It sounds like you’re on the right track, so keep going.
For example my cGPA was like a 2.8, but my last 45 was a 3.7. For what it’s worth, I’m doing very well in vet school despite having a low undergrad GPA.

Explain what you went through in your explanation statement while also discussing how you’ve grown and overcome those struggles. You need to show that you are ready for veterinary school because it’s not just academically challenging, it can be very isolating and hard on your mental health.

As far as your list, you need to look very closely at the requirements for each of these schools because they are all different. I made some comments for your list from what I remember. You need to apply smart and be willing to cast your net wide. But also be realistic with a budget and where you would actually go. If you can’t see yourself actually packing up and going somewhere, don’t apply.

Iowa - worth it if your science pre-req GPA for them is above a 2.8 (this is usually what the cut off is)
Ohio State - I don’t know that you would be able to appeal the minimum, but you could ask before applying. Usually if there is a minimum published, it’s a hard minimum.
UC Davis - only apply if it’s your IS, if your OOS it’s a waste of money
Wisconsin - I’d remove
Virginia-Maryland - they don’t have minimums, worth applying IMO
Washington - I don’t know enough
Texas A&M - this was also my IS, I don’t think they’ll budge on their GPA min. ask before paying for your application. They also have 3 GPAs you have to meet.
Western - you need a cGPA 2.75 and a science GPA of 3.0. They do take grade replacements.
St George - only if you are actually willing to go
Ross - same as SGU, only if you’d actually go
Arizona - apply if you meet the requirements and are okay with a 3 year program
Minnesota - high GPA cut off, I’d take out
Kansas - they value a strong last 45, I interviewed here. You said you’ve been removed from undergrad for a while, FYI their prerequisite courses must be completed within 6 years prior of matriculation to the program. I believe you also need to have a minimum 2.8 in their science pre-req classes.
Penn - if you have the money, couldn’t hurt
Cornell - if you have the money, couldn’t hurt

If it were me…
Remove: OSU, UC-Davis, Wisconsin, TAMU, Minnesota
Add: Michigan State if your GPAs work out, also look at Mississippi if you’ve done any retakes. They do complete grade replacement, could be worth it if replaced grades bring you to a 3.0.

Good luck, I hope this was helpful! If you ever need any advice or support, please feel free to reach out.

 

[hcampo]

As someone who got into vet school with a sub 3.0 GPA, I’ll give you my thoughts because it is possible!

You have a lot of great and unique experience, which is excellent! But your last 45 is not strong, which if you can pull this up with your graduate program and possibly retake prerequisite courses you got Cs in, it will help you tremendously. A cGPA is hard to move, but a last 45 can really change things! Also look at programs that do grade replacements.
I know GPA does not define how a student can perform, but there needs to be some evidence that you can be successful in a rigorous program. It sounds like you’re on the right track, so keep going.
For example my cGPA was like a 2.8, but my last 45 was a 3.7. For what it’s worth, I’m doing very well in vet school despite having a low undergrad GPA.

Explain what you went through in your explanation statement while also discussing how you’ve grown and overcome those struggles. You need to show that you are ready for veterinary school because it’s not just academically challenging, it can be very isolating and hard on your mental health.

As far as your list, you need to look very closely at the requirements for each of these schools because they are all different. I made some comments for your list from what I remember. You need to apply smart and be willing to cast your net wide. But also be realistic with a budget and where you would actually go. If you can’t see yourself actually packing up and going somewhere, don’t apply.

Iowa - worth it if your science pre-req GPA for them is above a 2.8 (this is usually what the cut off is)
Ohio State - I don’t know that you would be able to appeal the minimum, but you could ask before applying. Usually if there is a minimum published, it’s a hard minimum.
UC Davis - only apply if it’s your IS, if your OOS it’s a waste of money
Wisconsin - I’d remove
Virginia-Maryland - they don’t have minimums, worth applying IMO
Washington - I don’t know enough
Texas A&M - this was also my IS, I don’t think they’ll budge on their GPA min. ask before paying for your application. They also have 3 GPAs you have to meet.
Western - you need a cGPA 2.75 and a science GPA of 3.0. They do take grade replacements.
St George - only if you are actually willing to go
Ross - same as SGU, only if you’d actually go
Arizona - apply if you meet the requirements and are okay with a 3 year program
Minnesota - high GPA cut off, I’d take out
Kansas - they value a strong last 45, I interviewed here. You said you’ve been removed from undergrad for a while, FYI their prerequisite courses must be completed within 6 years prior of matriculation to the program. I believe you also need to have a minimum 2.8 in their science pre-req classes.
Penn - if you have the money, couldn’t hurt
Cornell - if you have the money, couldn’t hurt

If it were me…
Remove: OSU, UC-Davis, Wisconsin, TAMU, Minnesota
Add: Michigan State if your GPAs work out, also look at Mississippi if you’ve done any retakes. They do complete grade replacement, could be worth it if replaced grades bring you to a 3.0.

Good luck, I hope this was helpful! If you ever need any advice or support, please feel free to reach out.

This was so so helpful thank you! You are so so inspiring ❤️

Yes I hear you about the last 45 gpa, it’s just I will only have 35 credits for my grad program in the last 45 and the rest come from my uh def grad which isn’t great :/ I did want to ask if you knew, my last semester of undergrad I only took 8 credits so the last 2 credits would be pulled from my second to last undergrad semester. Any idea how they choose which class gets factored in? Do they just do them all or pick the highest or lowest?
Thank you again!❤️

 

[supershorty]

Any idea how they choose which class gets factored in? Do they just do them all or pick the highest or lowest?

Pretty sure the whole semester would be counted, not cherry-picking classes from it.

 

[miranda920]

Any idea how they choose which class gets factored in? Do they just do them all or pick the highest or lowest?

Exactly what Shorty said, whichever semester where that 45th hour lands they count the entire semester!

 

[thenontraveler]

I want to add that if you go to a school on a quarter system, they will look at the last 60 quarter credits NOT the last 45. 45 credits is for semester systems only. I would definitely say to remove Minnesota. They didn't even look at my entire app, just the grades last year and I felt like I just wasted a lot of money. Really think about where you want to move. If you have concerns about living in a particular state or a large city, then don't apply to those schools. As someone with a low GPA and extenuating circumstances also trying to get into vet school, I know how tempting it is to cast a wide net and deal with it later, but you don't want to waste time and money on a place you don't actually want to go to. This includes the island schools. Read forums (like SDN) and read up on what it is actually like to live in those areas. Take a look at cost of living and the local communities. You will be spending a lot of time there and should be prepared for what you get.