What are my chances? 5 rejections, no interviews

[wzue542]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I applied ever-hopeful, and yet here I am, trying to begin to embrace my gap year in the coming months. Below are my stats. Any and all advice helpful, I thought I had a competitive app.
Applied to: Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Purdue, Florida (IS Purdue)

GRE: 301 (Illinois only)

Below are my GPAs. I feel like I should have pointed out that I earned 42 credits in highschool. I spread myself thin because I didn't think I could afford college (I ended up getting a full-tuition scholarship). I feel like my high school grades bit me in the butt. I know my GPA was my weak point. I didn't explain because I didn't want to whine... they're my grades. I just earned them over 5 years instead of two or 3 like most people applying.

Copied everything below. GPA hours/credits earned = GPA; HS= Highschool; J= junior; S = senior; i.e 5SU = Fifth semester of undergrad)

OVERALL SCIENCE GPA: 3.22
INDIANA UNIVERSITY - BLOOMINGTON School: 51.1/16.00 =3.19 (J/S HS)
IVY TECH: 105.0/32.00 = 3.28 (J/S HS)
(UNDERGRAD HOME) MARIAN UNIVERSITY (INDIANA) School: 305.4/89.00= 3.43 (Undergrad)
Biology/Chemistry/Physics/Life Science Subject: 209.4/65.00= 3.22
Freshman Year: 78.2/25.00 = 3.13 (J HS)
Sophomore Year: 121.1/35.00 = 3.46 (S HS/1SU)
Junior Year: 99.9/31.00 = 3.22 (2SU)
Senior Year: 162.3/46.00 = 3.53 (5SU)
Baccalaureate Year: 461.5/37.00 = 3.37
Cumulative Undergraduate Year: 461.5/137.00 = 3.37
Overall Year: 461.5 137.00 = 3.37
Baccalaureate Science Year: 209.4/65.00 = 3.22 (Includes S HS)
Cumulative Undergraduate Science Year: (same as above)
Overall Science Year: 209.4/65.00 = 3.22

Animal Experience (w/o vet) = 2,030 hrs.

• Sea turtle nesting internship in FL (440 hrs)
• Mega adoption event (companion)
• Turtle Tracker volunteer
• Cat rescue volunteer
• Wildlife caretaker
• Dog rescue volunteer
• Feral cat colony feeder
• Cat caretaker
• Pet sitter
• Foster & Assitant Adoption (2012-2017) 1216 hrs

Extracurricular = 4,176 hrs

• Travel Soccer (3,776)
• Animal Care & Education club (founder/president) *affiliated with APVMA!
• Alpha Class founding member of a sorority
• Sigma Zeta National Science and Mathematics honor society

Experience = 1,547 hrs

• Pharmacy Tech = 560 hrs
• Tutor (math/science/English)
• Soccer Referee = 400 hrs
• 3 Research Projects (biology)
• Head Soccer coach for U7/8
• Small group leader at church for 5/6 graders
• judge at science fair

Animal Experience w/ vet = 1,806 hrs

• Clinical observer (companion) = 166 hrs
• Kennel Attendant (trained as step-in vet assistant) = 1640 hrs

References: 2 vets, biology department chair/advisor, soccer referee assignor

Future career goals
To make an impact on people/animals. I talked about how I decided to become a vet during my dog's euthanasia. Feel called to become a hospice vet, but wherever the LORD leads me I am open to it.

How do vets contribute to society?
Supporting the human-animal bond. Related to my experience in Georgia (The country, not state) and how the human-animal bond is the same, even though the dogs run the streets.

Attributes to be a successful vet. Which do you possess?

Compassion for people and animals, however, compassion cannot cloud one's judgment. Open-mindedness because of grey areas and differing values. Take on other's viewpoint. Talked about city shelter. Talked about outreach fo rehoming cats

*After typing all this out, I realized that maybe I need more practice explicitly shadowing? I worked and shadowed at the same place. Small practice, kennel attendant but learned so much rVT things.

 

[LetItSnow]

Well, there are two obvious weaknesses that I see.

The first is your experience - you have the hours, but it's basically all in one spot. That doesn't show diverse exposure to the field. You probably need broader experience.

Second, your grades aren't really that bad, but if they are spread out over 5+ years some places may view that (especially with them being average) as insufficient evidence you can manage the academic workload.

If you had an essay about how vets contribute to society, you need to talk about more than the human-animal bond. What about supporting research? What about monitoring and protecting our food supply?

If you had an essay about being a successful vet ... compassion is important, but it's actually pretty low on the list of attributes a <successful> vet has to have. And, some could argue, being too compassionate in the absence of other important attributes may make it harder to be successful.

So you might want to think more deeply about those last two questions. It's your essays, and you have to highlight what you think is important, but if your answers circled around those topics I could imagine someone scoring them being unenthusiastic.

Lots of neat animal experience and other experiences, though. Plenty to draw from!

 

[wzue542]

Ok, thank you. Even though I had a sea turtle internship, do you think it would be smart to do another internship this gap year with exotic/wildlife, or get a job as a vet assistant, so more doctor shadowing but less broadness.

And even though it's the san of five years, does it matter that I graduated high school in 2016? It's not like I am a fifth-year senior (nothing wrong with that)

And for the essays, that is a great point. I think my experience with companion animals sort of blinded me to the other aspects of possible answers.

Thanks for your response, it defiantly helps to have a second set of eyes.

 

[PippyPony]

I'm sorry, I'm a little confused by the breakdown here...if you took the classes while high school was still going on, were they in-person college level classes? Or were they online classes through an extension school (or similar?)

Some schools are picky about where they accept coursework from (or even which version of different extension school courses qualify, e.g. Physics 80 might not be the same as Physics 102), so if you haven't already done this, it's probably a good idea to contact the schools you're interested in to make sure all of the coursework meets their criteria.

Similarly, when did your extracurriculars and work experience all take place? High school is prooobably ok...? But if they stretch further back than that, I'm not sure schools will know what to do with them since your path to school is a bit atypical.

Did you carry a full credit course load throughout undergrad?

Lastly, perhaps consider re-taking the GRE if you're dead set on applying to Illinois. If I'm not mistaken, 301 is around average or a bit below mean percentile for all the people taking the GRE for grad school admissions, so in the face of having some lower grades on your app, a middle-of-the-road GRE score might hurt your application. An alternative would be to drop Illinois off your list, which is a valid option and may allow you to apply somewhere else that doesn't require it.

One other intangible element that may hurt your app is perceived maturity...if you just graduated high school a couple years ago, it may cloud how reviewers read your personal statements, etc. But the good news is that I think you might actually be able to work the earlier classes into your app as a strength -- I think it takes a lot of maturity to realize you may not be able afford college, seek out your own opportunities to complete the coursework anyway, and show that you've remained dedicated enough to your education to later receive a scholarship.

Good luck!

 

[wzue542]

I'm sorry, I'm a little confused by the breakdown here...if you took the classes while high school was still going on, were they in-person college level classes? Or were they online classes through an extension school (or similar?)

Some schools are picky about where they accept coursework from (or even which version of different extension school courses qualify, e.g. Physics 80 might not be the same as Physics 102), so if you haven't already done this, it's probably a good idea to contact the schools you're interested in to make sure all of the coursework meets their criteria.

Similarly, when did your extracurriculars and work experience all take place? High school is prooobably ok...? But if they stretch further back than that, I'm not sure schools will know what to do with them since your path to school is a bit atypical.

Did you carry a full credit course load throughout undergrad?

Lastly, perhaps consider re-taking the GRE if you're dead set on applying to Illinois. If I'm not mistaken, 301 is around average or a bit below mean percentile for all the people taking the GRE for grad school admissions, so in the face of having some lower grades on your app, a middle-of-the-road GRE score might hurt your application. An alternative would be to drop Illinois off your list, which is a valid option and may allow you to apply somewhere else that doesn't require it.

One other intangible element that may hurt your app is perceived maturity...if you just graduated high school a couple years ago, it may cloud how reviewers read your personal statements, etc. But the good news is that I think you might actually be able to work the earlier classes into your app as a strength -- I think it takes a lot of maturity to realize you may not be able afford college, seek out your own opportunities to complete the coursework anyway, and show that you've remained dedicated enough to your education to later receive a scholarship.

Good luck!

Thanks for taking the time to read this, much appreciated!

I only included two EC that extended before HS because I maintained them into highschool/and beyond. Travel soccer I put 2005 becuase I played until college. (Idk if that was ok to put?) and ReTails, my first rescue volunteer gig where I got over 1000 hrs, started when in 2011 when I was an 8th grader.

Clarification: They were 'duel credit' meaning my high school teachers used the same syllabi as the in-person college class. We even took the same exams as some of the college classes and my final grade went straight to my transcript for said college. All of them transferred correctly to my undergrad as I was in the same state for where Iorgianlly acquired them. I inquired about a few classes concerning eligibility to meet the pre-req standards for two schools I was unsure of, and I got the all-clear.

I have been a fulltime student entire undergrad, as per my scholarship. In my sophomore year, I did 12/13 credits because I had a heavy course load. (Physics (2 sem), Organic chem (2 sem), genetics, and cell biology).

I am thinking of taking Illinois off. I applied because of the larger OOS class and location, I live in Indiana. Other than that, it was at the bottom of my list.

Concerning your last comment, do you mean that reviewers might have something like an subconscious prejudgement about how old you are?

 

[LetItSnow]

Ok, thank you. Even though I had a sea turtle internship, do you think it would be smart to do another internship this gap year with exotic/wildlife, or get a job as a vet assistant, so more doctor shadowing but less broadness.

And even though it's the san of five years, does it matter that I graduated high school in 2016? It's not like I am a fifth-year senior (nothing wrong with that)

And for the essays, that is a great point. I think my experience with companion animals sort of blinded me to the other aspects of possible answers.

Thanks for your response, it defiantly helps to have a second set of eyes.

1) Tough call. I think either may be appropriate, but I would additionally make sure that you got some non-SA veterinary experience to bulk out what you already listed.

2) I don't know the answer about the graduation. I'm inclined to say it doesn't matter. And anyway, what can you do about it? 🙂 Don't sweat the stuff you can't change.

I think you're right about it blinding you a bit. And that's not criticism - I understand why it would. I often answers here from a very SA perspective, forgetting the broader picture. Most of us in SA at least <sometimes> forget there is a much bigger picture. But yes, the school is going to want to see a broad-based understanding of the field in addition to a sharper focus on the area you state as your interest.

Best of luck. You really can do it; just keep working.

Finally, talk to the schools that didn't invite you!!! Ask what they felt was deficient.

 

[wzue542]

1) Tough call. I think either may be appropriate, but I would additionally make sure that you got some non-SA veterinary experience to bulk out what you already listed.

2) I don't know the answer about the graduation. I'm inclined to say it doesn't matter. And anyway, what can you do about it? 🙂 Don't sweat the stuff you can't change.

I think you're right about it blinding you a bit. And that's not criticism - I understand why it would. I often answers here from a very SA perspective, forgetting the broader picture. Most of us in SA at least <sometimes> forget there is a much bigger picture. But yes, the school is going to want to see a broad-based understanding of the field in addition to a sharper focus on the area you state as your interest.

Best of luck. You really can do it; just keep working.

Finally, talk to the schools that didn't invite you!!! Ask what they felt was deficient.

Thank you so much!! This has all been very helpful