WAMC *UPDATED c/o 2027

[flotus]

AHHH I hope this is not TLDR lol. All help is appreciated. I am an anxious mess

GPA: 3.61

Science GPA: 3.35 (ish? may be 3.4 depending on which school)

Major: Double major in B.S. in Biology w/ cellular physiology track and B.A. in Philosophy with a track in bioethics
and a certificate in Ethics

Schools I am applying to:

Auburn (IS), Purdue, Tennessee, LSU, Mississipi, Tufts, Wisco, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio state
Concerns:

• 3 W’s on my transcript. None were WF’s. All were withdrawn due to scheduling conflicts and have been retaken for a A’s/B’s.
• I took p/f classes in Spring 2020. Only one pre-req/bio course was taken that semester and it was genetics
• Science GPA
• Not enough diversity in experience
• Not enough research
• My interests are in public health and comparative medicine but my experience isnt reflective. I am also interested in mixed animal medicine but I do have 5k experience in that

Vet experience:

• ~ 5,000 hours at mixed animal, single vet practice over 4.5 years (20% large/exotic, 80% small)
• ~ 400 hours at a small animal clinic, two vet practice
• ~ 200 hours at a mobile vet clinic, small animal only

Animal experience:

• 1 year western equine team
• ~ 50 hours volunteering at a no-kill cat shelter
• ~ 100 hours volunteering at a therapeutic horseback riding center for foster children/children with disabilities
• ~ 50 hours of pet sitting experience
• ~500 hours on my family farm (Underestimate)
• ~ 100 hours of trail riding/training/rodeoing (This is an underestimate by A LOT)

Research Experience:

• ~ 50 hours conducting longitudinal research on a graduate project with the school of public health at my university. Project focused on HIV stigma among African American youth in my city and how that relates to incarceration rates.

Internship Experience:

• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Intern ~ 3 hrs (this will go up after app submits tho :/ ) I will be conducting seminars and hosting events with professors/departments/clubs/etc. about how to become more inclusive and fostering an equitable environment for staff and students.

Achievements:

• Trustee’s Scholar (academic admissions scholarship)
• KEES Scholar (academic admissions scholarship)
• Volunteer of the year award, TRIO SSS
• Philosophy Dept. Scholarship recipient
• Dean's list 4 semesters
• GPA award/some academic society awards for GPA

Leadership:

• 1 year, Vice President TRIO SSS program (federally funded program for disadvantaged college students)
• 1 year, social media coordinator for TRIO SSS program
• Hiring committee for University employee
• ~ 10 hours Lead365 Leadership conference
• ~ 15 hours National Conference on Student Leadership

Misc. Extracurriculars and experiences:

• 4 years, Pre-vet society member
• 1 year, TRIO SSS buddy (mentorship program)
• Merck Animal Health presentation on ticks (vet CE class but I was invited to attend)
• TRIO SSS member
• High school academic team
• High school national honor society
• Adding creative writing hobby
• Adding cooking hobby

Other employment history:

• ~ 2,000 hrs, Mcdonalds as a crew trainer (high school)
• ~800 hrs, Olive Garden as a server

Exams:

Not taking

Special Circumstances: low-income (Pell eligible), first-generation, Mckinney-Vento (homeless unaccompanied youth)..do they care about this stuff?

LOR's
1 vet from my long term practice (will write me a fantastic letter)
1 vet from mobile practice (unsure if she will write a very personal letter, but I am her only tech)
1 from microbiology professor (good relationship, B in class and A in lab, has written great letters for me in the past)
1 from philosophy professor (great relationship, A's in multiple classes, has written great letters for me in the past)

Personal Statement:
About being homeless and how I found my way to vet med. Also talks about my defining moment which was when I read a book about how a veterinarian basically helps save humanity/rebuild society after an apocalypse. Talks about my desire to want to help diversify the profession, my interests, and my personal experiences that I think make me a unique applicant

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[battie]

GPA: 3.61

Science GPA: 3.35 (ish? may be 3.4 depending on which school)

You cGPA is right about average, so nice!! The sGPA may be something to watch out for with your school list.

Auburn (IS), Purdue, Tennessee, LSU, Mississipi, Tufts, Wisco, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio state

Def keep Auburn and Illinois on your list! Maybe want to reconsider LSU; when I applied there (6 years ago...) they only interviewed the top 150 out of state applicants. I'm not sure where your sGPA would put you there. Purdue the last several years has had the most applicants, so you automatically would have a lower chance. Again, I'm not sure how your sGPA would be considered.

Concerns:

• 3 W’s on my transcript. None were WF’s. All were withdrawn due to scheduling conflicts and have been retaken for a A’s/B’s.
• I took p/f classes in Spring 2020. Only one pre-req/bio course was taken that semester and it was genetics
• Science GPA
• Not enough diversity in experience
• Not enough research
• My interests are in public health and comparative medicine but my experience isnt reflective. I am also interested in mixed animal medicine but I do have 5k experience in that

Ws should be fine

Not sure how the pass/fail will work tbh :/ I would check with the schools.

SGPA will depend purely on the school. Definitely look into how much it matters.

Your experiences are good to me!!

• ~500 hours on my family farm (Underestimate)
• ~ 100 hours of trail riding/training/rodeoing (This is an underestimate by A LOT)

Please give accurate recounts of this. My family owned pet stores that sold animals and I started working at 10 years old. I put down all the estimated hours and explained it was a long time (100+ years, 5 generations strong) family business that I was heavily involved in.

Special Circumstances: low-income (Pell eligible), first-generation, Mckinney-Vento (homeless unaccompanied youth)..do they care about this stuff?

If you can put this info *anywhere*, please do!!

1 vet from mobile practice (unsure if she will write a very personal letter, but I am her only tech)

If you only need 3 letters, don't include this one.

 

[flotus]

You cGPA is right about average, so nice!! The sGPA may be something to watch out for with your school list.

Def keep Auburn and Illinois on your list! Maybe want to reconsider LSU; when I applied there (6 years ago...) they only interviewed the top 150 out of state applicants. I'm not sure where your sGPA would put you there. Purdue the last several years has had the most applicants, so you automatically would have a lower chance. Again, I'm not sure how your sGPA would be considered.

Ws should be fine

Not sure how the pass/fail will work tbh :/ I would check with the schools.

SGPA will depend purely on the school. Definitely look into how much it matters.

Your experiences are good to me!!

Please give accurate recounts of this. My family owned pet stores that sold animals and I started working at 10 years old. I put down all the estimated hours and explained it was a long time (100+ years, 5 generations strong) family business that I was heavily involved in.

If you can put this info *anywhere*, please do!!

If you only need 3 letters, don't include this one.

Thank you so much for your detailed and thoughtful reply <3 It helps me a lot!

I will definitely reconsider LSU. I do not want to waste money on those application fees!! As for Purdue, it is totally my dream school. The vet who I have worked the last 5 years for graduated from there and because of that I have a deep emotional attachment to it.

I will also try to reconsider my hours for my farm work and horseback riding. I just don’t want it to seem like I’m milking for hours. It isn’t a commercial farm or anything, just basic farm animals for pets. I also never kept record, so I also don’t want to like grossly overestimate..but it has been my whole life.

I did mention my circumstances in my explanation statement and wrote my personal statement about some of them!

I also called some schools and looked at their p/f guidelines — all but Penn accept them with no further hoops to jump through. I just didn’t know if taking the W’s (only science course was genetics/lab) might make me less desirable? No one has really told me yes/no.

I’m also going to use the explanation statement to state why I only take 12-15 credit hours (working nearly full time to support myself), because I think they might also not like that I haven’t taken very heavy course loads.

 

[battie]

I just didn’t know if taking the W’s (only science course was genetics/lab) might make me less desirable? No one has really told me yes/no.

The Ws should be okay cause they don't affect the GPA and they aren't a huge pattern throughout your college career. Things happen where completing a course just isn't feasible, and admissions understand that.

I’m also going to use the explanation statement to state why I only take 12-15 credit hours (working nearly full time to support myself), because I think they might also not like that I haven’t taken very heavy course loads

Likewise, it's better to have done better with fewer credits than do worse with more. Especially since you can show where those extra hours went.

 

[flotus]

The Ws should be okay cause they don't affect the GPA and they aren't a huge pattern throughout your college career. Things happen where completing a course just isn't feasible, and admissions understand that.

Likewise, it's better to have done better with fewer credits than do worse with more. Especially since you can show where those extra hours went.

Brain fart, I meant pass/fail not W’s. I have 3 W’s in 3 different semesters which none were due to the content in the course.

Thank you again ))

 

[DrBoopSnoot]

I would say you’d be competitive for Tufts. If you’re interested in public health, I would look into Tufts at Tech, which is a clinic they run out of a high school in Worcester aimed at providing affordable care to the community. it would be a good topic to discuss in interviews or mention in your essay.

 

[flotus]

I would say you’d be competitive for Tufts. If you’re interested in public health, I would look into Tufts at Tech, which is a clinic they run out of a high school in Worcester aimed at providing affordable care to the community. it would be a good topic to discuss in interviews or mention in your essay.

Thank you so much 😊