WAMC

[agunn01]

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Hello all,
I am wondering if anyone would be willing to give me an advice, tips, words of encouragement, etc.
I am a 24 year old undergrad student with one year left after this semester ends. I plan to apply to vet school possible next year. My current GPA is 3.66, but after this semester I am estimating a 3.46 (I am really struggling with gen chem 1 and am sitting at a C). I only have a few more classes left to take, (organic chem, biochem, and physics). I have not yet taken the GRE. I am currently searching for a tutor for chem, as I know it will only get more difficult from here.
As far as experience, I have worked with or around animals for my entire life. My mother was a director of a local shelter, so I was always helping her out when I was young (is that acceptable as experience?). I shadowed a veterinarian this summer, and plan to do so over winter break, as well as next summer. I am a registered foster for cats. I have a personal horse farm, rabbit farm, and own ducks (as well as many other typical pets such as cats, dogs, birds, etc.) I just recently joined the Pre-Vet club at my school, as well as an agriculture honor society.
My school of choice is University of Illinois, and I am worried my gpa will not be competitive enough. Also, does "fundamentals of ____" chemistry courses count as being high enough level (still 200-300 level courses, but not considered general).
Any recommendations on what else I should be doing to prepare?

 

[battie]

Hey! Current U of I 3rd year student. You've got a lot of different things going on, which is good. If you go to the top of the forum, you'll see we have a "What are my chances?" sub-forum. Take a gander at those threads to see the format that is used in general. Knowing more specifics, like how your hours are divided up, your science/pre-requisite GPA, etc. would help us help you. 🙂

 

[Georgethecat]

Welcome to SDN!

Getting a tutor for gen chem is a great idea. I'd also suggest living in your professor's office during office hours so you can ask questions and he/she can see that you are making an effort. You'd have to contact each school you are interested in regarding whether or not they will accept the "fundamentals of _____ chemistry" courses. Most places want to make sure the chemistry classes are classes for science majors. Here are links for Illinois.

Prerequisites - Veterinary Medicine at Illinois

There are two tracks to go about admission into this professional program. The prerequisites for each track are listed here.

vetmed.illinois.edu

Standards for Admission - Veterinary Medicine at Illinois

There are minimum academic requirements for admission to this program, including GPA and coursework completion.

vetmed.illinois.edu

Note that Illinois states: No more than two prerequisite courses may be incomplete during the spring term.

It doesn't look like you will have only 2 remaining pre-req's for the spring semester. You might want to consider spacing out those classes over next spring, summer and fall. Organic, biochem, and 2 semesters of physics are tough classes for a lot of people.

Your shelter hours would count as animal experience. Your shadowing hours with a vet would count as veterinary experience hours.

From Illinois's website:

The competitive applicant at our college in recent years has had:

• An average Cumulative GPA of 3.59
• An average Illinois Science GPA of 3.49
• An average GRE composite percentile of 63%
• A wide variety of experience with both large and small animals
• Experience working for several veterinarians (We do not specify a number of contact hours required for admission.)

Best of luck to you!

 

[DVM-2023]

You mentioned you have one year left of college and you still need to take o-chem, biochem, and physics. Are you planning on taking those all in the same year on top of studying for the GRE?

If so I would consider spreading that out over two years and maybe even a summer. Protect that GPA.

 

[mmmdreamerz]

You mentioned you have one year left of college and you still need to take o-chem, biochem, and physics. Are you planning on taking those all in the same year on top of studying for the GRE?

If so I would consider spreading that out over two years and maybe even a summer. Protect that GPA.

I took ochem II, biochemistry, and physics II in the same semester...it’s possible. Maybe not the easiest or most intelligent move, but doable🙂