WAMC: Non-trad, low GPA, first-time applicant

[HappyCappy]

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Hi there! I'm a first-time applicant looking for a blunt review of my information to see if I have a chance. I started off my undergraduate journey wanting to go to law school, then changed 3/4 of the way through to switch to the veterinary field. I have completed all my prerequisites, and I submitted my VMCAS last month. I have only heard back from two schools (Bristol sent me the SAQ and Glasgow said they were "reviewing applications"). So I'd love to hear from others if I have a shot because my grades are so poor.

Cumulative GPA: 3.12
science GPA: 3.47
last 45: 3.71

Any degrees achieved: Bachelor's of Arts in Political Science, with a minor in English Literature. Graduated in 2023.

Veterinary Experience:
-General Practice Veterinary Technician: 1820 hours.
-ER/ICU Veterinary Assistant: 2340 hours.

Animal Experience:
-Did an internship with an AZA accredited zoo for a semester (5 months) totaling 96 hours. I worked with several kinds of small mammals, reptiles, and exotic birds. I count this as non-veterinary experience because I didn't directly work with the vet there, but she would tell me when she was doing cool procedures that I could watch for fun!
-Volunteer at a friend's horse farm for around 6 months. This is the only equine experience I have, and she taught me how to handle horses, and do lots of husbandry work. Totaling 50 hours if I had to guess.

Research Experience: Nothing published, but I did have to write a senior thesis paper for my political science degree. I wrote it on the legal analysis of Munchausen by Proxy, and if it should be considered "legally" a psychological disorder or not.

Awards/scholarships:
-Dean's List for 2 semesters in undergrad (my first and last semesters, ironically).
-Have been in MENSA since the age of 4.

Extracurriculars:
-Was in a national sorority in undergrad, and was a delegate for the panhellenic council.
-Was the social media manager for the Environmental Activism and Recreation club at my college. Did this for 3 years.
-This sounds dumb, but I've been a Dungeon Master in a local DnD campaign for a year. I included that because that requires creativity, good writing skills and collaboration haha.

Employment:
-Currently employed at a small animal GP as a technician and I do both appointments and am the person in charge of all the non-DVM tasks in surgeries.
-English Teacher for 2 summers at a camp for elementary school kids who were falling behind in school due to the pandemic.

Schools Applied To:
Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Liverpool, Minnesota

Summarize any concerns you have: I truly am stressed about the weakest part of my application, which are my grades. In the second year of undergrad, I had a severe bout of depression at the peak of the pandemic and realizing I wanted to change careers entirely but had already sunk tens of thousands of dollars into a political science degree. I failed all my classes and took a semester off. After petitioning and having several staff members vouch for me, those F's were changed into C's for the first time in the university's history. I wrote about this in-depth in my explanation statement in my VMCAS (I can share that explanation statement if you guys would like/if I'm allowed to), and I'm really worried that my numbers alone qualify me to get cut from progressing to any interviews. One of my letters of recommendation are from the undergrad advisor who I love to death, and he said he wrote it to reflect how I'm truly a good student and an intelligent thinker. The other two are from an ER doctor I'm close with, and the final is from the current GP I work for, and he told me he concluded it with how he wants to have me come back after vet school to be his associate doctor.

Sorry if this is super long, I just wanted to be as thorough as possible due to my worries. Everyone I know in and out of vet med say they're confident I'm going to get in because they know me, and I'm just like...but my grades are terrible. So PLEASE, I'm looking for people here to be completely honest if I have no shot.

 

[pp9]

I agree that academics might be your biggest holdup, but I don't think anyone has 'no shot.' There is definitely the potential for your academics to keep you from progressing to interviews (or keep you from getting an admissions offer), it just depends on the individual schools and their processes. Your best bet is to have chosen schools that look at science GPA (what is your prereq GPA?) and last 45 only.

Idk the international schools at all, but Minnesota looks at pre-req and last 45 GPAs. Minnesota evaluates academic + nonacademic portions before deciding whether or not you get an interview, so if your subjective stuff (essays, experiences, LORs) knock it out of the park you might get an interview. They look at everything, academics included, when deciding on final admissions offers. Whether or not you get an interview probably depends on how competitive the rest of the applicant pool is this year. It also matters whether Minnesota is IS or OOS for you - OOS is generally more competitive based on number of applicants alone. Last year, 3% of Minnesota's OOS applicants got a seat, so one would assume that the 3% were really competitive applicants.

I am also confused as why you'd be explaining your previous F's if they are now showing up as C's on your transcripts? Do your transcripts look weird as a result or something? I'm not sure if you actually needed to do that, especially if the school doesn't look at anything but last 45/prereq (or science), unless some of those courses are still in your last 45. Theoretically, if the school doesn't consider cGPA, they voluntarily blind themselves to everything but last 45 and science/prereq gpas. Just something to consider if you do need to apply again.

I don't think you can count a senior thesis as research, but I also don't think a school would 'ding' you for putting it there. That's not the kind of 'research' the schools are looking for.

Also idk, I've never played DnD but I know being a dungeon master is actually a legit commitment and requires organization and planning at the very least!

 

[HappyCappy]

Thank you so much for the reply! My prereq GPA is 3.47, as the only STEM classes I took were my prereqs. I got all A’s and two B+, with the only C+ being inorganic chemistry 2.

I explained the reason for C’s in my explanation statement, because on my transcript for that semester the C’s have a little asterisk that says the grades were replaced, so I wanted to clear up any confusion. This was in the fall 2021 semester, so thankfully it was years ago. And yes, I am OOS and don’t have an in-state school (Connecticut).

This was all good feedback, and definitely gave me hope, so thank you!

 

[supershorty]

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