WAMC: Wisconsin, Illinois, Penn

[ThrowingGooBear]

Hey all, this is my first post so I really hope I'm doing this right lol.

Anyways, I'm planning on applying to veterinary school this upcoming Fall 2021 and I'm feeling a little nervous about where I stand.
So far, I plan on applying to Wisconsin (in-state), Illinois, Penn, and a couple of other schools.

My cumulative GPA is a 3.851 and my science GPA is 3.885. I started off freshman year with a relatively low GPA, but have been able to bring it up since! I'm a part of the Interdisciplinary Honors Program.

So this is where I'm feeling a little bit iffy on: my animal/veterinary experience and GRE.

I'll start off by saying that I have not yet taken the actual GRE. I did take a practice exam to get a baseline and scored a 151 V and 146 Q which is lower than any of the schools I'm looking at. I plan on taking it in April/May so I have a decent amount of time to study, but I'm also feeling very overwhelmed with the intense vocabulary as well as not having done basic math since high school. I'm considering buying a Magoosh self-study program, but have not decided yet. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to bring up those scores, so we'll see!

My animal experience is... very sub par. I'll just list off my experiences.

40 hours - volunteer at pet shop caring for and socializing puppies, as well as introducing them to potential customers. There was also a cockatoo and macaw that I would play with but I don't consider that actual experience

246.5 hours - shadow/volunteer at local small animal hospital doing things such as observing surgeries, wrapping surgical packs, holding for blood draws, drawing up vaccines, customer service, laundry, cleaning up, etc.

157.5 hours - veterinary assistant at the same SA hospital doing basically the same duties as when I was a shadow/volunteer, just with a lot more client interactions. This was during the Summer 2020 with COVID-19 going on so I really didn't get as many hours as I would have liked.

40 hours - volunteer at horse farm feeding, watering, basic horse handling, mucking, etc.

5 hours - local family run farm with farm animals including goats, chickens, pigs, etc. I got to milk a goat!! That was exciting haha. They also taught me about goat reproduction.

Also, I'm not sure if this counts, but I attended a week long summer program July 2019 at PennVet attending lectures/labs, touring their small/large animal hospitals, and observing clinical rotations (specifically Oncology and Dentistry). It was such an amazing experience!!

So that is my animal/veterinary experience. I'm worried because there really isn't much diversity in there-- mostly small animals. I was supposed to have an internship last summer working in lab animal research handling mice. I was excited for that because that would've been so cool and given me a lot more diversity in animal experience but it was cancelled due to COVID, so I just added more small animal hours. I'm hoping to have the same lab animal internship this upcoming summer... fingers crossed!

I'm also conducting research at my school, looking at the genetic basic of hindlimb reduction in squamate reptiles. I have a research fellowship. I couldn't tell you how many hours I have... does that matter? We're currently working on the paper but COVID has made it really difficult to obtain more specimens to analyze.

With all this in mind, WAMC? Especially getting into Wisconsin. This has been the question on my mind for the past 2-3 years and now the application process is just around the corner! Very nerve-racking but exciting at the same time!

Thank you in advance!

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[WonderingStudent]

Hey all, this is my first post so I really hope I'm doing this right lol.

Anyways, I'm planning on applying to veterinary school this upcoming Fall 2021 and I'm feeling a little nervous about where I stand.
So far, I plan on applying to Wisconsin (in-state), Illinois, Penn, and a couple of other schools.

My cumulative GPA is a 3.851 and my science GPA is 3.885. I started off freshman year with a relatively low GPA, but have been able to bring it up since! I'm a part of the Interdisciplinary Honors Program.

So this is where I'm feeling a little bit iffy on: my animal/veterinary experience and GRE.

I'll start off by saying that I have not yet taken the actual GRE. I did take a practice exam to get a baseline and scored a 151 V and 146 Q which is lower than any of the schools I'm looking at. I plan on taking it in April/May so I have a decent amount of time to study, but I'm also feeling very overwhelmed with the intense vocabulary as well as not having done basic math since high school. I'm considering buying a Magoosh self-study program, but have not decided yet. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to bring up those scores, so we'll see!

My animal experience is... very sub par. I'll just list off my experiences.

40 hours - volunteer at pet shop caring for and socializing puppies, as well as introducing them to potential customers. There was also a cockatoo and macaw that I would play with but I don't consider that actual experience

246.5 hours - shadow/volunteer at local small animal hospital doing things such as observing surgeries, wrapping surgical packs, holding for blood draws, drawing up vaccines, customer service, laundry, cleaning up, etc.

157.5 hours - veterinary assistant at the same SA hospital doing basically the same duties as when I was a shadow/volunteer, just with a lot more client interactions. This was during the Summer 2020 with COVID-19 going on so I really didn't get as many hours as I would have liked.

40 hours - volunteer at horse farm feeding, watering, basic horse handling, mucking, etc.

5 hours - local family run farm with farm animals including goats, chickens, pigs, etc. I got to milk a goat!! That was exciting haha. They also taught me about goat reproduction.

Also, I'm not sure if this counts, but I attended a week long summer program July 2019 at PennVet attending lectures/labs, touring their small/large animal hospitals, and observing clinical rotations (specifically Oncology and Dentistry). It was such an amazing experience!!

So that is my animal/veterinary experience. I'm worried because there really isn't much diversity in there-- mostly small animals. I was supposed to have an internship last summer working in lab animal research handling mice. I was excited for that because that would've been so cool and given me a lot more diversity in animal experience but it was cancelled due to COVID, so I just added more small animal hours. I'm hoping to have the same lab animal internship this upcoming summer... fingers crossed!

I'm also conducting research at my school, looking at the genetic basic of hindlimb reduction in squamate reptiles. I have a research fellowship. I couldn't tell you how many hours I have... does that matter? We're currently working on the paper but COVID has made it really difficult to obtain more specimens to analyze.

With all this in mind, WAMC? Especially getting into Wisconsin. This has been the question on my mind for the past 2-3 years and now the application process is just around the corner! Very nerve-racking but exciting at the same time!

Thank you in advance!

For the GRE, I bought a GRE review book and read through that. I used Magoosh a little with their free trial I believe. That book spoke about the unlikely ability that you would be able to study and learn the definition of all of the vocabulary that could show up on the exam. It suggested to just get a sense of word's feeling (positive or negative, etc) and knowing common prefix, suffix and roots. Each section (writing, verbal and quantitative) has some tricks and common questions that the test makers utilize. If you think quantitative will be an issue for you, you can get books with a lot of example questions. It's good to have an understanding of your starting point so you know how much you were able to improve with the study materials! The ETS website has a few free full length exams that I suggest taking closer to the end of your studying (maybe a week before you take your actually exam) to get a sense of where you are and what you should work on.

Definitely working on gaining more hours this summer and next year will help your application. An administrator at a vet school told me that I can add onto my current amount of hours the estimate of the amount of hours that I will gain in the next year from an experience on VMCAS.

 

[battie]

Illinois student here. Most of this advice is not Illinois specific by any means, particularly since I'm several years out from my application cycle.

My cumulative GPA is a 3.851 and my science GPA is 3.885. I started off freshman year with a relatively low GPA, but have been able to bring it up since

Awesome! Good for you on the rebound! One of my vet med besties did the same and is doing great in vet school. Definitely a positive highlight to your app.

I plan on taking it in April/May so I have a decent amount of time to study, but I'm also feeling very overwhelmed with the intense vocabulary as well as not having done basic math since high school.

Make yourself a study plan. Devote a set amount of time to each section each day and learn *how* to take the GRE. The content isnt that bad; its learning to read the questions and figure out how to answer it, particularly the quantitative section. I had to get a separate review book for the math that went through how different questions were asked.

For the vocab stuff, latin/Greek roots/suffixes/prefixes may be worth your time to learn/study. That's how I got through the harder words.

So that is my animal/veterinary experience

You'll want to expand, as you've already stated. That can be anything. Shelters, applying to be a vet assistant, doing ride alongs with mixed/rural vets. May be difficult to find though, and as always be safe.

couldn't tell you how many hours I have... does that matter? We're currently working on the paper but COVID has made it really difficult to obtain more specimens to analyz

This absolutely matters and can be a balance for your lower vet/animal hours. Calculate a realistic amount of hours and put this on your app. Bonus if you guys end up publishing and your name is a part of the author line.

Overall, you would be middle of the pack for the people I know at my school. You have way better grades and more research than me. You have way fewer hours than me and some of my tech friends.