All right, I may be doing this a little early, but I don’t feel like I can wait any longer. Just want some feedback on how my chances are looking before the semester starts back up again and I can ask the health professions’ office.
23 year old female TX resident, neither of my parents attended college (although I can’t truthfully say that I am “first gen” as one of my grandparents has a degree). Obtaining my BS in biology w/a concentration on animal science.
I would really, REALLY like to attend my IS, TAMU. It’s been my dream since I was a little kid. I currently attend one of the most highly regarded universities in Texas (only mentioning because TAMU lists on their website that rigor of the institution attended is taken into consideration). I will graduate next year (Fall 2019).
Cum. GPA: 3.28
Can’t be sure of the last 45/science GPA yet, but can say that my average semester GPA for my UD courses for the past year (3 semesters) thus far is a 3.8.
Haven’t taken the GRE yet, but am preparing to as soon as I can.
Veterinary experience:
850 hrs and counting working as a veterinary assistant for an integrative small animal general practice
100 hrs and counting working as volunteer veterinary staff in a specialized shelter parvo clinic
145 hrs working as a medical intern in a specialized shelter neonatal kitten nursery
30 hrs working in a shelter surgery recovery clinic
(Can you tell I’m interested in shelter med?)
3 hours helping vaccinate goats with a veterinarian (the sad extent of my LA exp)
Animal Experience:
4,000+ working at a dog boarding grooming facility as the senior kennel tech/shift leader on staff (yes, that amount of hrs is accurate as I was FT for a long time while there)
1000+ hrs as a foster for the local shelter
3-4,000+ hrs working as an in-home pet sitter
Research experience:
200 hrs working as a research assistant in an animal cognition lab on campus
Extracurriculars:
Undergrad TA/peer mentor for general chemistry
Officer (volunteer coordinator) in the pre-veterinary association
LORs:
I know that the veterinarian I work for will write me a stellar LOR, as will my organic chemistry professor, the pre-vet faculty advisor, and my employers from the dog boarding facility. I have a good relationship with all of them and have spoken with them about LORs in the future.
The explanation for my lower than average GPA is kind of a mess, because my personal life in college has been nothing short of a mess—I was an “at risk” (due to mental and subsequent physical illnesses) teenager who went to a high school for at risk teenagers. While I excelled in both classes in high school and w/ECS, I didn’t have a college counselor, and I didn’t have parents that knew anything about life in college. I also didn’t/don’t have a phenomenal relationships with my immediate family, so had been expected to work full time in order to pay my own bills/rent/groceries/gas/etc at 18 years old—without taking out loans, per the request of my parents. This resulted in me taking measly 6 hour semesters during freshman year and doing poorly to mediocre in all of them—I had almost no time to study, much less go to office hours etc, when working 8 hours days and weekends. In conjunction with my unmedicated, but diagnosed ADD (that I wasn’t receiving accommodations for), my GPA plummeted. It was really heartbreaking for me, because I had no clue how to get myself out of it, or who to even reach out to, and I wasn’t even being an irresponsible college kid wrapped up in my social life while having a subpar performance. I was constantly exhausted, devastated, and disappointed in myself. It wasn’t until I took out student loans against the wishes of my parents and got better paying job(s) that I was able to take 14-16 hr semesters (and finally obtained accomodations for my learning disability). When I did, the difference in my grades was night and day. I have As in all my UD sciences, including notorious “weed out” classes. I also endured a traumatic event that lead to an abrupt major life transition last year, and STILL made an 3.9 avg GPA every semester afterwards. Having the time to allocate to my studies and being properly treated for my learning disability made all the difference. I’m personally very proud of myself, but worried it’s still not enough.
Anyways, I plan on the following:
-Obtaining large animal/veterinary experience. I am already scheduled to start volunteering with a horse riding therapy center and am in contact with an equine veterinarian who has offered to let me to shadow her. Still need to try to find more varied experience with bovine/poultry/swine, which is proving difficult.
-Shadowing with more specialized veterinary facilities. I am already on my way to working with a veterinary radiologist, but am seeking more.
-Taking the GRE this spring/summer and making high marks.
-Getting exotic experience somehow. Again, difficult, as there’s very little that local facilities around me offer in terms of interacting at all with the animals.
-Volunteering on a trip with RAVS (Rural Area Veterinary Services) this spring
I would love to hear opinions/advice from those who have applied to TAMU and/or are current students. It’s definitely not the only place I’m applying, but given that it’s an incredible school that also happens to be my IS, it’s my top choice. Thanks!
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