WAMC- non traditional applicant

[nwilliams9465]

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Hi everyone! I am a 30F who will be applying to schools this coming cycle. I was hoping to get some feedback on my app as a nontraditional applicant. I know I need diversity in my veterinary experiences and plan on being a veterinary assistant at a local small animal clinic starting in May. I also am debating whether I should retake some older prerequisites to boost my GPA. I currently do not have an IS school (RI resident) but am debating on moving to MA to have a better shot at my dream school, Tufts. I am also planning on attending an advising meeting at Tufts in March.

Graduated undergrad in 2017 from a small liberal arts college in CT
Major: Neuroscience, graduated with Dean's Honors
Overall GPA: 3.61
Science GPA: 3.55
Last 45 GPA: 3.64

Veterinary Experience
Equine (employed): 2400 hrs
Large Animal (employed): 200 hrs
Small Animal (shadow): 50hrs, hoping to be at 500 by the end of the summer

Animal Experience
Equine (employed): 29,500 hrs
Large Animal (employed): 1000hrs
Pet sitting (employed): 100hrs
Lab animal (academic credit): 50hrs

Research Experience
Undergraduate research assistant: 40hrs
High School research assistant: 30hrs

Other Work Experience
200hrs working under a private investigator
300hrs as a private tutor

Volunteer
Equine Rescue: 50hrs
Therapeutic riding center volunteer: 300hrs

Extracurriculars
College EMS service: 100hrs working as an on campus EMT
Spanish Club: 60hrs
Collegiate Equestrian Team: 800hrs

Thank you!!

 

[rhinolovergirl]

Tufts will most likely suggest that you retake any pre-requisite courses with low grades. The advisor for tufts is super helpful and very nice, but they are very GPA heavy and really appreciate students trying to improve their app academically. I am not sure if they favor 4-year university courses over cc's, some do and some don't care. Also since you are missing a decent amount of vet hours (hard to tell but seems like you have worked part time for <1 year?), make sure your essays and eLOR's are really strong towards what makes you a good candidate for veterinary medicine. And make sure it is clear why you want to be a vet and not just work with animals in any other capacity (especially that of your non-veterinary experiences)

 

[nwilliams9465]

Tufts will most likely suggest that you retake any pre-requisite courses with low grades. The advisor for tufts is super helpful and very nice, but they are very GPA heavy and really appreciate students trying to improve their app academically. I am not sure if they favor 4-year university courses over cc's, some do and some don't care. Also since you are missing a decent amount of vet hours (hard to tell but seems like you have worked part time for <1 year?), make sure your essays and eLOR's are really strong towards what makes you a good candidate for veterinary medicine. And make sure it is clear why you want to be a vet and not just work with animals in any other capacity (especially that of your non-veterinary experiences)

Thank you for the feedback!! Explaining why I want to be a vet vs just working in the animal industry is definitely something I will take into consideration when writing my personal statement. Thanks for pointing that out! As for my veterinary experience, the ~2700 hours has been scattered across the last 5 years. I'm hoping this will show a more long term commitment to veterinary medicine even though it is a relatively small number of hours in comparison to my animal experience. In your experience, what would be a good number of vet hours to have before applying?

 

[JaynaAli]

You didn’t ask me, but in general, 2400 is a good number of hours. However, I think a committee would like to see some more experience with small animals, whether that’s in a small animal clinic or in a mixed practice. At least a couple hundred, though as many as you can get is good. You don’t say what your eventual career goals are (and that’s okay not to know!), but your experience seems to lean equine heavy and if you’re trying to be an equine vet, fact is, a lot of equine vets to eventually turn to small animal because it often offers higher pay and a better/different lifestyle (less/no call, less injury risk compared to horses, etc). So if I’m making admissions decisions, I’d want to see that someone has been exposed to some of the realities of small animal medicine too.

Your GPAs aren’t bad but they are on the lower side of average compared to trends we’ve been seeing the past couple of years. Some schools are more GPA heavy than others. It’s fair to have a dream school, but in the grand scheme of things, where you went to school doesn’t matter much. Do your research and apply to the places you have a realistic shot at based on previous year admitted student stats. And also keep cost in the forefront of mind, especially if you’re wanting to go equine since that’s a notoriously underpaid branch of vet med.

 

[mw1356]

And also keep cost in the forefront of mind, especially if you’re wanting to go equine since that’s a notoriously underpaid branch of vet med.

I'll say, as a MA resident, Tufts' in-state tuition rate is kind of a joke. Of the 8 schools I applied to outside of Tufts, 6 are predicted to have a cheaper overall cost of attendance (I use this map to check), even with me being OOS at those schools and IS at Tufts. They also seem to save way fewer seats for IS students than any other school that takes residency into consideration (1/3 vs 1/2 or upwards). If you're willing to move for vet school apps, I might look into some other states too.

 

[nwilliams9465]

You didn’t ask me, but in general, 2400 is a good number of hours. However, I think a committee would like to see some more experience with small animals, whether that’s in a small animal clinic or in a mixed practice. At least a couple hundred, though as many as you can get is good. You don’t say what your eventual career goals are (and that’s okay not to know!), but your experience seems to lean equine heavy and if you’re trying to be an equine vet, fact is, a lot of equine vets to eventually turn to small animal because it often offers higher pay and a better/different lifestyle (less/no call, less injury risk compared to horses, etc). So if I’m making admissions decisions, I’d want to see that someone has been exposed to some of the realities of small animal medicine too.

Your GPAs aren’t bad but they are on the lower side of average compared to trends we’ve been seeing the past couple of years. Some schools are more GPA heavy than others. It’s fair to have a dream school, but in the grand scheme of things, where you went to school doesn’t matter much. Do your research and apply to the places you have a realistic shot at based on previous year admitted student stats. And also keep cost in the forefront of mind, especially if you’re wanting to go equine since that’s a notoriously underpaid branch of vet med.

Thanks for the feedback! I completely agree with what you had to say about my small animal experience. I do want to be an equine vet but am definitely still very interested in small animal if my plans change

I'll say, as a MA resident, Tufts' in-state tuition rate is kind of a joke. Of the 8 schools I applied to outside of Tufts, 6 are predicted to have a cheaper overall cost of attendance (I use this map to check), even with me being OOS at those schools and IS at Tufts. They also seem to save way fewer seats for IS students than any other school that takes residency into consideration (1/3 vs 1/2 or upwards). If you're willing to move for vet school apps, I might look into some other states too.

Thanks! I have looked into moving to other states but didn't want to be out of New England while I apply, so MA is really my only option 🙁

 

[DVM882029]

You could also consider Cornell if you have 30 hours of your courses at an upper level institution (the specifics are on their website)

 

[indysadventures]

Hey, just saying I think you have a great shot, but I’d be careful and maybe double-check your equine experience hours. Is that 29500 a typo? That’s nearly 15 years paid full-time experience, 6-7 if you worked 80 hr weeks with no days off.

Considering that would have you working paid full-time since ~15, schools may raise their eyebrows at that, considering your other accomplishments. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, just drawing attention to it - one school commented during an advising appt that they didn’t put a lot of stock into animal experience because they feel a lot of people over-exaggerate it.

Just my two cents- better to slightly underestimate than produce a figure that makes the schools question the veracity of your other reports. You’ll still have a ton of hours!

Definitely suggest you make an advising appt with Tufts- Ford in admissions is amazing!!! Best of luck!