What are my chances? Low Hours - Goal: Mixed Practice

[TBD-ToBeDVM]

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Hi, I'm a first time applicant applying for C/O 2030. I wasn't 100% sure about the vet path until last year, so most of my experience and especially my vet experience is all from last summer and a few experiences peppered throughout the school year. The goal is mixed practice, and I'd love to be one of the only (if not the only) veterinarian in my area to see and treat backyard poultry. I have a special interest in birds, especially chickens, but I don't necessarily want to work in the commercial poultry space. I will likely ONLY be applying to Mississippi State (IS) this cycle.

Cumulative GPA: 4.00 (as long as I can keep an A in physics 2 rip)
science GPA: 4.00 (see above)
last 45: 4.00

Any degrees achieved: Associate of Arts in Animal Science, Bachelor of Business Administration (May 2025)

Veterinary Experience: (Will be working on this!!)
190 hours hands-on volunteer at Clinic 1, small animal only (almost all future hours will be here)
20 hours hands-off shadow at Clinic 2, small animal with some exotic
7 hours hands-on volunteer at Clinic 2, feline only spay day

Goal: 500 veterinary hours total

Animal Experience:
1000+ hours caring for and breeding chickens in a backyard hatchery for four years, I was inspected and certified by the state at one point to be able to ship eggs and chicks across state lines.
150 hours caring for and breeding rabbits for two years
100 hours caring for day-old poultry at the farm store where I worked
4 hours shadowing/volunteering at a dairy farm (I will get more hours here, today was the first day volunteering, but unsure how many hours I will be able to get. Hoping for about 100 hours total to feel ok putting it on the application.)

Research Experience:
None :c

Awards/scholarships:
Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship (university)
Academic Merit Scholarship (university) (these two added up to an almost full scholarship)
Full Presidential Scholarship (community college)
Dean's List x3 Semesters (university)
President's List x4 Semesters (community college)
A couple of honor societies
Outstanding Scholar in Animal Science (faculty selection, community college, one per major)
Taylor Medal (university, top 0.45% of the class)
Outstanding Scholar in General Business (faculty selection, university, one per major)

Extracurriculars:
(this section is lacking)
Pre-Veterinary Society Member (tried for a leadership role but sadly the group is very exclusive for leadership roles)

Employment:
+/- 3000 non-veterinary employment (farm store for 3+ years, customer-facing, very customer-service oriented)
(I will not be able to pursue any veterinary employment because I have to keep this job until I finish undergrad for tuition benefits)

LORs:
Vet from Clinic 1
Manager from farm store
Professor from university, bio or chem or both, undecided.

Mostly I am VERY concerned about my limited experience. I've put forth a lot of effort this past summer and over the school year to get as many vet hours as possible. Last summer I was working 50+ hours a week between my retail job and volunteering at Clinic 1 for entire 10 hour shifts. I'm very grateful to have a clinic with awesome vets who will let me be in the way as often as I want, but there is a limit to what I can reasonably do haha! I don't want to burn out before I get in. I think getting about 300 more hours is reasonable for me between now and my application. After this semester I will have 3 more prereqs to finish. Also wondering how my business degree will look when most people have biology, pre-vet, or biochem/other science degrees? I'm not too worried about it overall because I know I can re-apply next cycle, but tis a little scary nonetheless and I'd like to hear what y'all have to say about it!

Also, note the lack of large animal vet hours. The local mixed practice/large animal vet retired a few years ago and no one has stepped up to replace him yet. There is a mixed practice vet in the next town but I have heard not-so-glowing reviews about his practice so I'm not comfortable investing time in shadowing or volunteering with a potentially shady veterinarian. All of the mixed-practice or farm-animal vets in my area (within an hour's drive) are recently retired or retiring very soon, so if all goes well I hope to return to my community in the future and hopefully fill that void before too many animals or farmers suffer.

 

[pp9]

Hi, I'm a first time applicant applying for C/O 2030. I wasn't 100% sure about the vet path until last year, so most of my experience and especially my vet experience is all from last summer and a few experiences peppered throughout the school year. The goal is mixed practice, and I'd love to be one of the only (if not the only) veterinarian in my area to see and treat backyard poultry. I have a special interest in birds, especially chickens, but I don't necessarily want to work in the commercial poultry space. I will likely ONLY be applying to Mississippi State (IS) this cycle.

Cumulative GPA: 4.00 (as long as I can keep an A in physics 2 rip)
science GPA: 4.00 (see above)
last 45: 4.00

Any degrees achieved: Associate of Arts in Animal Science, Bachelor of Business Administration (May 2025)

Veterinary Experience: (Will be working on this!!)
190 hours hands-on volunteer at Clinic 1, small animal only (almost all future hours will be here)
20 hours hands-off shadow at Clinic 2, small animal with some exotic
7 hours hands-on volunteer at Clinic 2, feline only spay day

Goal: 500 veterinary hours total

Animal Experience:
1000+ hours caring for and breeding chickens in a backyard hatchery for four years, I was inspected and certified by the state at one point to be able to ship eggs and chicks across state lines.
150 hours caring for and breeding rabbits for two years
100 hours caring for day-old poultry at the farm store where I worked
4 hours shadowing/volunteering at a dairy farm (I will get more hours here, today was the first day volunteering, but unsure how many hours I will be able to get. Hoping for about 100 hours total to feel ok putting it on the application.)

Research Experience:
None :c

Awards/scholarships:
Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship (university)
Academic Merit Scholarship (university) (these two added up to an almost full scholarship)
Full Presidential Scholarship (community college)
Dean's List x3 Semesters (university)
President's List x4 Semesters (community college)
A couple of honor societies
Outstanding Scholar in community college (faculty selection)

Extracurriculars:
(this section is lacking)
Pre-Veterinary Society Member (tried for a leadership role but sadly the group is very exclusive for leadership roles)

Employment:
+/- 3000 non-veterinary employment (farm store for 3+ years, customer-facing, very customer-service oriented)
(I will not be able to pursue any veterinary employment because I have to keep this job until I finish undergrad for tuition benefits)

LORs:
Vet from Clinic 1
Manager from farm store
Professor from university, bio or chem or both, undecided.

Mostly I am VERY concerned about my limited experience. I've put forth a lot of effort this past summer and over the school year to get as many vet hours as possible. Last summer I was working 50+ hours a week between my retail job and volunteering at Clinic 1 for entire 10 hour shifts. I'm very grateful to have a clinic with awesome vets who will let me be in the way as often as I want, but there is a limit to what I can reasonably do haha! I don't want to burn out before I get in. I think getting about 300 more hours is reasonable for me between now and my application. After this semester I will have 3 more prereqs to finish. Also wondering how my business degree will look when most people have biology, pre-vet, or biochem/other science degrees? I'm not too worried about it overall because I know I can re-apply next cycle, but tis a little scary nonetheless and I'd like to hear what y'all have to say about it!

Also, note the lack of large animal vet hours. The local mixed practice/large animal vet retired a few years ago and no one has stepped up to replace him yet. There is a mixed practice vet in the next town but I have heard not-so-glowing reviews about his practice so I'm not comfortable investing time in shadowing or volunteering with a potentially shady veterinarian. All of the mixed-practice or farm-animal vets in my area (within an hour's drive) are recently retired or retiring very soon, so if all goes well I hope to return to my community in the future and hopefully fill that void before too many animals or farmers suffer.

I'm not familiar with Mississippi's admissions culture, but if you can get to that 500 hour mark by the time of application submission, I'd say your odds seem good given your academic stats. Large animal hours would be great. I would also consider getting some small animal ER experience if you can. If you plan to express your interest in backyard poultry in your PS/any essays, I would suggest you back that up with life/veterinary experience somehow too if you don't already have that.

Vet schools don't care what you majored in, if they care that you have a degree at all. Most applicants do not have significant research experience, either.

 

[kfbrcr8]

Hi, I'm a first time applicant applying for C/O 2030. I wasn't 100% sure about the vet path until last year, so most of my experience and especially my vet experience is all from last summer and a few experiences peppered throughout the school year. The goal is mixed practice, and I'd love to be one of the only (if not the only) veterinarian in my area to see and treat backyard poultry. I have a special interest in birds, especially chickens, but I don't necessarily want to work in the commercial poultry space. I will likely ONLY be applying to Mississippi State (IS) this cycle.

Cumulative GPA: 4.00 (as long as I can keep an A in physics 2 rip)
science GPA: 4.00 (see above)
last 45: 4.00

Any degrees achieved: Associate of Arts in Animal Science, Bachelor of Business Administration (May 2025)

Veterinary Experience: (Will be working on this!!)
190 hours hands-on volunteer at Clinic 1, small animal only (almost all future hours will be here)
20 hours hands-off shadow at Clinic 2, small animal with some exotic
7 hours hands-on volunteer at Clinic 2, feline only spay day

Goal: 500 veterinary hours total

Animal Experience:
1000+ hours caring for and breeding chickens in a backyard hatchery for four years, I was inspected and certified by the state at one point to be able to ship eggs and chicks across state lines.
150 hours caring for and breeding rabbits for two years
100 hours caring for day-old poultry at the farm store where I worked
4 hours shadowing/volunteering at a dairy farm (I will get more hours here, today was the first day volunteering, but unsure how many hours I will be able to get. Hoping for about 100 hours total to feel ok putting it on the application.)

Research Experience:
None :c

Awards/scholarships:
Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship (university)
Academic Merit Scholarship (university) (these two added up to an almost full scholarship)
Full Presidential Scholarship (community college)
Dean's List x3 Semesters (university)
President's List x4 Semesters (community college)
A couple of honor societies
Outstanding Scholar in community college (faculty selection)

Extracurriculars:
(this section is lacking)
Pre-Veterinary Society Member (tried for a leadership role but sadly the group is very exclusive for leadership roles)

Employment:
+/- 3000 non-veterinary employment (farm store for 3+ years, customer-facing, very customer-service oriented)
(I will not be able to pursue any veterinary employment because I have to keep this job until I finish undergrad for tuition benefits)

LORs:
Vet from Clinic 1
Manager from farm store
Professor from university, bio or chem or both, undecided.

Mostly I am VERY concerned about my limited experience. I've put forth a lot of effort this past summer and over the school year to get as many vet hours as possible. Last summer I was working 50+ hours a week between my retail job and volunteering at Clinic 1 for entire 10 hour shifts. I'm very grateful to have a clinic with awesome vets who will let me be in the way as often as I want, but there is a limit to what I can reasonably do haha! I don't want to burn out before I get in. I think getting about 300 more hours is reasonable for me between now and my application. After this semester I will have 3 more prereqs to finish. Also wondering how my business degree will look when most people have biology, pre-vet, or biochem/other science degrees? I'm not too worried about it overall because I know I can re-apply next cycle, but tis a little scary nonetheless and I'd like to hear what y'all have to say about it!

Also, note the lack of large animal vet hours. The local mixed practice/large animal vet retired a few years ago and no one has stepped up to replace him yet. There is a mixed practice vet in the next town but I have heard not-so-glowing reviews about his practice so I'm not comfortable investing time in shadowing or volunteering with a potentially shady veterinarian. All of the mixed-practice or farm-animal vets in my area (within an hour's drive) are recently retired or retiring very soon, so if all goes well I hope to return to my community in the future and hopefully fill that void before too many animals or farmers suffer.

Unless you have extenuating circumstances preventing it, I would urge you to add a couple more schools (look at gpa heavy schools like UGA, UW, Illinois, NC State) only because MS state seems much more holistic and with your hours, I would be cautious about only applying there. Obv thats your best chance as in state but it cant hurt if possible to add 2-3 more gpa heavy schools just to play to your strengths.

 

[Georgethecat]

Agree with pp9 of getting to the 500 hour goal and diversifying your experiences if possible and being very careful about expressing career goals if you are unable to obtain any hours in that area. So many vet students change their minds about what they want to do while in school, so it's okay to not be definitive on what you want to do. If you can tie in your interest with your animal hours experience, that might work. Take advantage of those who read over PS/essays. Wait until September to submit your application to max out your hours etc.

Look over Miss St's admissions pages. Highlight for yourself how your application will be best presented to meet what they value. For example, point out what you've learned from your non vet employment in terms of communication skills, customer service, strong work ethic, etc. Think about how you will address the areas that you feel you might be lacking.

At this point, I agree with your plan to only apply to your IS for this cycle. It's your best option for cost and probably odds of getting in. I would plan to use the next year to work on the areas of your application that you feel are weaker in case you need to apply again the next cycle. If so, then you could expand to other schools. I'd still focus on the most cost effective options.

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