What are my chances?- 1st time non-traditional applicant

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I am a 30-year-old female who graduated college in December of 2015, a semester early. I have a few of the science courses to take this summer, which I am signed up for. I left the animal industry for a few years out of financial necessity but was never happy with it and I've made the decision to try to go back to vet school. I do lack research experience but will apply to schools that don't weigh heavily on that. I worked full time while being a full-time student, so I don't have much in the way of extracurriculars, but I do have years of professional experience under my belt. In my explanation statement, I plan to explain away my years away from the industry.

Thinking of applying to these school:
Cornell, Rowan, Ohio, Virginia-Maryland, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Washington

Cumulative GPA: 3.61
science GPA: 3.51
last 45: 3.65

Any degrees achieved

Bachelor's Degree from Delaware Valley University, Animal Science, graduated in December of 2015

Veterinary Experience:
- 2,000+ hours in ER
- Currently working full time in a small animal GP. Will have around 1000 by September
- Plan to shadow an equine vet. 100 hours before September?

Animal Experience:
- Worked for Smithfield and Hatfield in their barns
- years of dairy farm experience
- professional dog walker/babysitter experience
- poultry experience

Research Experience:
- studied human animal interaction in South Africa for three weeks during undergrad

Employment:
- Vet tech at an ER
- Vet tech at a GP
- 6 years of regulatory inspection audits for different types of operations
- 1.5 years as a compliance manager at a large grow house.
Community Service:
- spent 6 years working as a civil servant for my state
- "crochet for a cause"- every year I crochet tons of winter items (hats, scarves, gloves etc) and donate them to the local homeless shelter
 
I think you have decent odds. Your grades are probably average for most pools, but could be a bit below average of accepted students at certain schools (you'd have to compare to any stats the schools publish). You have a lot of veterinary hours which is great. Research is always helpful, but imo the most impactful research experience is hard to come by and often isn't a make or break situation for someone who otherwise is a well rounded applicant. Was the regulatory inspection work animal related?

As always, make sure you knock your PS out of the park, and get excellent letters of recommendation. When someone has average stats, it's hard to lean one way or another in terms of chances. Sometimes it's the written portion of the apps that set you apart.
 
I am a 30-year-old female who graduated college in December of 2015, a semester early. I have a few of the science courses to take this summer, which I am signed up for. I left the animal industry for a few years out of financial necessity but was never happy with it and I've made the decision to try to go back to vet school. I do lack research experience but will apply to schools that don't weigh heavily on that. I worked full time while being a full-time student, so I don't have much in the way of extracurriculars, but I do have years of professional experience under my belt. In my explanation statement, I plan to explain away my years away from the industry.

Thinking of applying to these school:
Cornell, Rowan, Ohio, Virginia-Maryland, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Washington

Cumulative GPA: 3.61
science GPA: 3.51
last 45: 3.65

Any degrees achieved

Bachelor's Degree from Delaware Valley University, Animal Science, graduated in December of 2015

Veterinary Experience:
- 2,000+ hours in ER
- Currently working full time in a small animal GP. Will have around 1000 by September
- Plan to shadow an equine vet. 100 hours before September?

Animal Experience:
- Worked for Smithfield and Hatfield in their barns
- years of dairy farm experience
- professional dog walker/babysitter experience
- poultry experience

Research Experience:
- studied human animal interaction in South Africa for three weeks during undergrad

Employment:
- Vet tech at an ER
- Vet tech at a GP
- 6 years of regulatory inspection audits for different types of operations
- 1.5 years as a compliance manager at a large grow house.
Community Service:
- spent 6 years working as a civil servant for my state
- "crochet for a cause"- every year I crochet tons of winter items (hats, scarves, gloves etc) and donate them to the local homeless shelter
Hi, I’m also a non-traditional student and will be starting this fall at UMN. I scheduled an advising meeting with the school and it was so helpful. Plus, I feel very valued by UMN as a non-trad, and I think UMN would value your work in community service. Might be worth considering if they seem like a good match otherwise.

As said above, make sure you knock your essays and LORs out of the park. They REALLY matter. Reach out to each of the schools on your list and schedule advising appointments if they offer them - in those appts do your research ahead of time so you can ask some targeted questions about how to build the most competitive application for each program. I thought this was really helpful for me.

Best of luck!
 
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