Thank you for replying, I appreciate it! The SPAR club is something that my friend and I started up, we do volunteering with the local animal shelters, set up vegan bake sales, provide speakers to speak on campus about how to help animals/go vegan/help conservation. Also do you think if I just get my GPA up I'll need to retake animal physiology to replace the C+?
That sounds like it should be fine then! I don't think retaking a C is ever needed unless your GPA is just abysmally low and you could benefit a significant amount from it. Some of the schools who denied me said I could consider retaking two gen chem classes I got C's in if I really wanted to. But 1) I really didn't want... gen chem is terrible 2) even if I got an A the second time, it would still only average out to a B which isn't a massive improvement with almost your entire undergrad completed.
You'll be getting an interview at Davis as long as you LOR are solid like (99.99999% in my opinion which is not associated with the school at all). Hope I see you then!
Might label it as like kennel assistant/vet assistant or something, but it could be fine just with saying the vet assisting in the description. But yeah the restraining and running labs definitely should count. Some people on here may advise to split your hours up but idk how necessary it is unless you’re like 80/20 kennel/vet.
I think you should look at schools that weight last 45 heavily. I think you said you didn't want to move very far? Unfortunately, I think you have to be willing to sacrifice something, location or time and money by applying and improving. I think Kansas or Iowa would be good addition. Always do your own research too (disclaimer)! Best of luck to you!I'm reposting some stats with updates to help get feedback on where I should apply next cycle. Specifically, which schools would be a good fit based on my stats? I know for sure I'll apply to Cornell, Tufts, and UPenn.
Currently waitlisted IS at Cornell and OOS at Wisconsin.
To preface: I've taken the GRE 3x now and have concluded that I just suck at both taking and studying for standardized tests (same score first 2 times, worse score last time taken). I didn't decide on becoming a vet until sophomore year of college. I also changed my major to biology that year and I hadn't taken a bio class since 8th grade (so I had a lot of catching up to do and bio classes are curved--hence low GPA). I'm also from a low-income family so a lot of hours I could have used to accumulate experience was used to work so I could pay for tuition/rent. I would have liked to work in a clinical setting for my gap year, but few to none of those jobs are paid if you're not a LVT. So I did what I could.
Academics:
BA in Biological Sciences from Cornell, completed May 2017
GPA: 3.34
Science GPA: 3.16
Last 45 GPA: 3.56
GRE Scores:
V: 157 (75th percentile)
Q: 159 (73rd percentile)
W: 5.0 (93rd percentile) <- the one score Cornell doesn't care about!
Vet Experience:***
SA clinic in my hometown, owned by a Cornell alumni (240 hrs)
Wildlife Health Clinic (130 hrs)
Assisting with Cornell Vet School 3rd year class on bovine IVF and AI (4 hrs)
Animal Experience:
Guiding Eyes for the Blind puppy trainer and sitter (320 hrs)
Research:
Student researcher in a neuropsychology lab focusing on neural mechanisms of social behavior in prairie voles (involved animal handling; over 200 hrs)
Current lab tech in Cornell Vet School Research building, studying reproduction and carrying out bovine IVF (mentored by a DVM/PhD; idk like 500 hrs at time of application, now like 1500 hours)
Volunteer/Extracurricular Experience:
Treasurer/House Manager/Alumni Mentor for a co-ed chemistry fraternity, member since freshman year of college
Intramural Bowling
Employment:
Wegmans (grocery chain) for 6 years, started in high school and worked during breaks and holidays while in college
Library assistant in a small library in my dorm freshman year of college
Worked at my college's career center as a resume critiquer/student advisor for 3 years in college
My LORs:
SA vet that I interned with, Cornell alum
Undergrad faculty advisor
Undergrad research advisor from neuropsychology lab
Mentor from current job, current Cornell Vet clinician and researcher (DVM/PhD)
***I will be getting more vet experience through my boss and his resident this summer. I'll be helping with a study on equine reproduction by getting samples from them.
Yeah, I think I'm going to have to sacrifice the location part. If anything, I'd like to be near a big city so that my boyfriend can join me when he's done with his PhD in electrical engineering. He's looking for larger companies to work for since he'll have a PhD (Qualcomm, Microsoft) and those jobs tend to be in cities.
You might consider VA tech since their application does seem more holistic than many places. And good LORs and essays could possibly land you an interview despite a lower GPA.
I’m not entirely sure your brother would need to retake the gre. His scores are above the average for most schools, but if there’s a particular school he’s interested in that in the class stats there’s a higher gre, he could take it again, but it’s not really necessary. Since he has high GPAs and a high gre, he probably stands a decent chance at most places to at least get an interview. If CT doesn’t have a school that offers contract seats to CT residents, I’d recommend applying to schools that would allow him to change his residency after the first year so that his tuition costs could stay lower than if he were OOS all four years. Afaik, the only ones that do that are Davis (likes a high last 45, high Q gre, and high science gre I believe? @Coopah), Washington State, mizzou, Ohio State, and NCSU (doesn’t interview OOS afaik?). He could also apply to some other schools if interested to increase his chances of getting in somewhere the first round, I would just highly recommend that he goes wherever is cheapest if accepted to multiple places.
Minnesota also does
Was not aware they did!Minnesota also does
If they don’t require the gre, don’t waste your money taking it when you’re not applying anywhere else this cycle. If you don’t get in this year and feel like branching out next year (which you don’t have to, you definitely can apply to only your IS each cycle you apply if it takes more than one and just keep strengthening your app between cycles bc in state tuition >>> oos tuition) you can worry about taking it then.Hi! I have been a long-time SDN lurker, but I just now created an account because I have started to freak out about my vet school application.
I just got my grades back from my spring semester of my junior year and they are really disheartening. I took 18 credits consisting of physics (C+), o-chem II (C), a senior level biology course (A), a senior level animal science course (A-), and an agronomy elective (B)... in addition to a heavy course load, I worked 2 part-time jobs.. this semester alone sent my cGPA from a 3.6 to a 3.4
I am an Iowa resident and will be applying to ISU only (my soon-to-be husband is a farmer and we have cattle so I can’t really leave).
I am now a senior at Iowa state, I just finished all my prerequisites but am graduating with my BS in Biology in December. I have a few classes left to take in the fall, and they are all animal-related, so hopefully I can up my GPA a little.
As of now:
cGPA: 3.4
Last 45: 3.4
Research experience: Lab assistant at VMRI (mainly work with swine: porcine viruses and vaccines).. Assist with necropsies, sampling, general lab work, etc. ~120 hours
Vet experience:
Vet assistant with a small animal veterinarian and canine reproduction specialist ~250 hours
Job shadowing livestock veterinarians ~20 hours
Job shadowing at mixed animal practice ~7 hours
Job shadowing surgeons at referral clinic: orthopedics, opthalmetry, and oncology ~7 hours
Animal experience:
Training/showing horses (4H, AQHA) ~2000+ hours
Cow herd (AI, calving out cows, shots, tagging calves, banding bull calves, general management stuff) ~1500+ hours
Canine obedience training (trained dogs to pass AKC canine good citizen tests) ~100 hours
Assisted with breeding dogs and whelping puppies for a (responsible) Labrador breeder ~200 hours
Dog sitting ~100 hours
(I’m probably forgetting some little ones that I’ll include in my application, but you catch my drift).
Work experience: a few unrelated jobs, good references nonetheless
Letters of recommendation:
-animal science professor
-small animal vet (ISU CVM alum)
-former employer, not an animal-related job
-post-doc I worked for at the research lab
-accomplished surgeon who I job shadowed with, ISU CVM alum (He is also my uncle. Is that frowned upon? I can’t find anywhere that says it’s against the rules.)
Concerns:
I transferred twice as a freshman. Did the first semester as a nursing major at an out of state school, did the second semester as a bio major at a tiny, expensive private school, and then went to ISU my sophomore year and stayed for good. Surprisingly I kept good grades through all that transferring, but I hope just the fact that I bounced around a bit as a naive 18-year-old doesn’t hinder my chances too much.
I also don’t know exactly what my career goals are. I’ve loved raising cattle but I also love the companion animal side of things, and to add to the confusion, my heart belongs to equine! I will probably end up doing a lot of livestock just because of the area I’m going to live/work in. Should I just go with that? Or do the admissions people like students who come in open minded?
This will be my first time applying. I just learned that ISU no longer requires the GRE. Should I take it anyway even though I’m not planning on applying to other schools?
If any of you would be interested in giving me a dose of reality—how much of a shot I have at making it in this cycle—I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance!
Hi, posted this a few months ago but I think I got skipped over!
Hi everyone! I'm very excited to be applying for the first time this upcoming cycle- planning to apply to Cornell, UPenn, Tufts, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Virginia-Maryland, and possibly a few others. Looking for areas to improve my application, any advice is greatly appreciated
NY resident
Female, 24
B.S. in Integrative Neuroscience with minors in Biological Anthropology and Evolutionary Studies
Cum GPA: 3.59
Sci GPA: 3.53
Last 45 GPA: 3.50
GRE: 160v (86%), 157q (66%), 4.5a (82%) -- took this November 2014, probably taking it again in May
Veterinary Experience:
2,000 hours at a SA clinic as an assistant- working full time currently so this number will be increased by time of application
300 lab animal- worked in a research position where I worked with a DVM and LVT to maintain the health of our mouse colony*
50 hours shadowing at an emergency clinic- mostly SA but saw a couple exotics
Animal Experience:
700 hours at SPCA walking and training dogs
50 hours petsitting cats, bunnies, rats, mice
Research Experience:
3,500 working as a research technician in a lab studying axon regeneration
500 volunteering in a lab in undergrad studying the prevalence of Lyme disease in built environments
Extracurriculars:
Delta Epsilon Mu National Professional Pre-Health Co-Ed Fraternity- member for 3 years, served as Education Chair, Public Relations Chair
Honors/Awards:
Graduated Cum Laude
Nu Rho Psi Neuroscience Honor Society Inductee
Undergraduate Research Award in Biological Anthropology
Selected to give a presentation at ENDO 2017- The Endocrine Society annual meeting for an abstract submitted on my lab project regarding treatment strategies for mice with stunted growth
Letters of Rec:
Research PI from the lab I worked in
DVM from SA practice - probably going to ask two DVMs from this practice
Thinking of asking the trainer from the SPCA
Concerns:
GPA- wondering if I should try to take a couple classes this summer/fall to try to improve the last 45
Variety of experience in both veterinary and animal disciplines
*For the lab animal experience, I mainly worked with the LVT, she would asses the health of the animals and consult with the DVM regarding the treatment plan, but I only had email correspondence regarding certain issues with the DVM. Is it okay to count this under veterinary experience? I was responsible for carrying out treatments on the mice on a daily basis, including performing subcutaneous and IP injections, administering oral medications, using a tonometer to test for IOP, expressing bladders, treating wounds, and sedation and anesthetic monitoring of mice- I also took a lab animal surgery course to be approved in these disciplines
@Op
My personal advice is not to over extend yourself. I would concentrate on the final credits you have. Then focus on experience and what will make you stand out as a candidate.
Tbh idk if I’d apply to SEVENTEEN schools. That’s a LOT of money to spend. In JUST vmcas fees that’s close to 2 grand and that’s not including sending your gre or supplemental school fees or money to travel for interviews if you get any. Focus more on schools that you fit their average stats or exceed them, than just ones you meet the prereqs of.
1. Do not take Nutrition and Microbio if you think it will hurt your GPA, unless one of the schools you listed as requiring those courses is your IS school.
I would say overall nothing is really persay limiting you as long as you apply smart. ex: schools with emphasis on last 45 or just a benchmark for GPA (MI is a great example). I don't know specifics of UT or LA. I would caution you to truly think hard about this decision and really evaluate both sides. You have a PhD offer which is amazing. What would you do with that PhD after you finished? What would you plan to do with a DVM when you finished. Assuming you have a decent PhD offer, yeah you would make pennies for a few years but you won't have the crushing debt of what a DVM would bring. You seem to have the experiences, so I encourage you to have a real conversation with your veterinary and PhD mentors. Ask yourself why DVM aside from the childhood dream?
Thank you so much for your reply. I will be taking all of your advice!!
So you're not as bad off as it seems. You definitely need your prerequisites and I suggest you do your research for the schools you would like to apply to for veterinary school and see what they would like for classes. When I decided I finally wanted to be a vet I also had very little science classes. Lots of math but no one really cared about math. I went to school at night for my prerequisites while I worked full-time during the day. Then I found vet experience on the weekends. I did it all in 3 years with my last being the application year. It's not fun, but if you worked at a vet practice you could combine work and experience. It's not going to be easy, but if you want to be a vet you can. The nice thing is, all the GPA they really care about (prereq, last 45, science) you can take now, with the full knowledge that these classes are pivotal. If you ace them you'll have no trouble getting acceptances.
Why apply to PhD programs if you don’t want to do them
Yes we always encourage the cheapest school-sometimes that's not always possible with some stats but apply to your IS you never know. Rankings don't matter. Please see @SkiOtter signature. Definitely don't do PhD if you're not going to be happy that's alot of school and research. It's OK to take a gap year(S) to figure it out. Also remember to look at being a dvm for what it is. It's not the same as a tech so while you may enjoy teching as a dvm your skill set and role will be different. Is the dvm role something you could be happy with? Good luck!
Your last 45 looks great so I definitely recommend focusing on schools who look at the last 45 instead of cumulative. Still would apply to your IS, regardless of whether they care about last 45 or cumulative more because in state tuition>>>>Hello everybody!
Anxious that VMCAS is now open. I'm finishing my B/S in biology this summer semester and getting a little nervous.
I had a couple hiccups with Physics 2 so my overall GPA is suffering from it but:
Overall GPA 3.42 (should be closer to 3.48 after this summer semester)
Last 45 GPA 3.85
Haven't calculated science GPA (not sure which classes to include in this)
Vet assistant at small animal hospital ~1500 hrs
Volunteering at birds of prey rescue ~40 hrs
Volunteering at animal shelter in high school ~50 hrs
Starting to volunteer at equine hospital next week
LOR
Undergrad professor (Microbio professor- only have known for one semester )
Undergrad professor (animal behavior & experimental biology professor- so have known for two semesters)
Undergrad professor (organic chem 2 which I only got a B in the class and have only know for one semester so I might cross this letter off)
Veterinarian (Vet who works at SA hospital I work at- have known for 3 years)
Veterinarian (Have known for 3 years- on a more personal level)
ZERO research
I'm sure I'll have better luck with schools that have higher consideration of last 45 hour GPA. (Florida resident)
Illinois doesn’t care about gpa once you make it to interviews. I made it both years I applied (and was accepted from the waitlist the second) and didn’t have super high GPAs. Could think about adding them to your list. They make admissions decisions based on your experiences and your interview and grades are not a factor at all in decisions. (Not exactly east coast but is at least in this half of the country)
LSU, Minnesota and Iowa State are also focused on last 45 hour / required courses GPA. LSU will also include any science or animal science class you made an A in into your required courses GPA so that helped me a lot.
Too funny. Checking my news feed, this rolled across: Grit vs. grades: Veterinary schools face potential flaws in admissions systemYour GPA is pretty set if you're finished with school and the Masters can probably help there, but the biggest thing I see is that I am missing who you are outside vet med. What outside life experiences have you had that would make you a more interesting candidate? This is what can push you over that edge that you might be stuck on currently with lower GPA and mostly SA experience to stand out from everyone else.
Interrrrrstin