Thank you- I wish I had your confidence. (Positive thinking I keep telling myself). If I don't get accepted, first round cuts go out late Jan, official decisions early March, I'll contact schools for file reviews and see what they say.
Hi everyone, I'm new to these forums and feeling a little lost on how to prepare to apply. I decided only a few months ago that I want to pursue vet school. I thought about applying this fall, but I'm really doubting that I'll be ready until the 2018 cycle. Here's where I'm at:
21, female, Washington resident. WSU undergrad, and most likely applying only to WSU.
BS Psychology and Spanish for the Professions, double major. Honors College. Still a senior, finishing my degree online. Technically I finished all my classes last summer, but I'm not finished with my thesis. Ugh.
Cumulative GPA at WSU: ~3.85
Science GPA at WSU: 4.0
Don't know my last 45 yet. I think mostly As but two B+s
I've also taken classes at 3 (!) community colleges through Running Start (I moved while I was in the program) and during a summer break. Currently enrolled again at my local one to take prerequisites. Right now I'm taking Chem 2 and Physics 2, and possibly Physiology through WSU online. I can take Genetics this summer.
By the time fall rolls around, I will still need one more quarter of Physics, two quarters of O-chem, and a semester of Biochem. This is part of why I think I may need to wait until 2018.
Also I'm planning to take the GRE in a few months.
My biggest problem is I don't have enough vet/animal experience yet:
Shadowed 10 hours at a small animal & exotic clinic
Volunteered about 15 hours at animal shelters
Worked as a technical assistant in a reproductive biology lab for 8 months (research was on mice, but my exposure to it was limited)
Member of a puppy raising club for 8 months
Honors thesis is on human-animal interaction and animal-assisted therapy
Other: Research assistant in clinical psychology (might get listed as a co-author on a publication); peer tutor for 3 semesters in biology, chemistry, and statistics; various summer jobs working in hospitality; studied abroad for a semester in Costa Rica. Not sure if it's relevant but I'm half-Jamaican.
I'm trying to get a job as a vet assistant, but nothing's available at the moment in my small town. I wanted to set up regular shadowing at the clinic I was at but I've already asked them about work, and I don't want to come across as desperate!
I might be able to spend the summer in Seattle so I can find a full-time job at a clinic. That would get me close to 500 hours of vet experience. I would plan to shadow and volunteer over there as well to get more diverse experience. My dream is to work with rabbits
There's an opening here in town for a part-time job at a boarding facility in an animal shelter. I could probably get 400 hours of animal experience doing that. And I would like to start volunteering a few hours a month at an equine-assisted therapy center.
So long story short, I think I'm on the right track, but right now I don't have much done! I want to work hard over the next few months to get the necessary experience and finish my prereqs... I just don't know if it'll be enough to be ready to apply by September. I could really use some advice or guidance. Thanks!
in the worst case scenario, if you get rejected from WSU this year, you could do a file review and get valuable advice applying for the next cycle.
Hi everyone, I'm new to these forums and feeling a little lost on how to prepare to apply. I decided only a few months ago that I want to pursue vet school. I thought about applying this fall, but I'm really doubting that I'll be ready until the 2018 cycle. Here's where I'm at:
21, female, Washington resident. WSU undergrad, and most likely applying only to WSU.
BS Psychology and Spanish for the Professions, double major. Honors College. Still a senior, finishing my degree online. Technically I finished all my classes last summer, but I'm not finished with my thesis. Ugh.
Cumulative GPA at WSU: ~3.85
Science GPA at WSU: 4.0
Don't know my last 45 yet. I think mostly As but two B+s
I've also taken classes at 3 (!) community colleges through Running Start (I moved while I was in the program) and during a summer break. Currently enrolled again at my local one to take prerequisites. Right now I'm taking Chem 2 and Physics 2, and possibly Physiology through WSU online. I can take Genetics this summer.
By the time fall rolls around, I will still need one more quarter of Physics, two quarters of O-chem, and a semester of Biochem. This is part of why I think I may need to wait until 2018.
Also I'm planning to take the GRE in a few months.
My biggest problem is I don't have enough vet/animal experience yet:
Shadowed 10 hours at a small animal & exotic clinic
Volunteered about 15 hours at animal shelters
Worked as a technical assistant in a reproductive biology lab for 8 months (research was on mice, but my exposure to it was limited)
Member of a puppy raising club for 8 months
Honors thesis is on human-animal interaction and animal-assisted therapy
Other: Research assistant in clinical psychology (might get listed as a co-author on a publication); peer tutor for 3 semesters in biology, chemistry, and statistics; various summer jobs working in hospitality; studied abroad for a semester in Costa Rica. Not sure if it's relevant but I'm half-Jamaican.
I'm trying to get a job as a vet assistant, but nothing's available at the moment in my small town. I wanted to set up regular shadowing at the clinic I was at but I've already asked them about work, and I don't want to come across as desperate!
I might be able to spend the summer in Seattle so I can find a full-time job at a clinic. That would get me close to 500 hours of vet experience. I would plan to shadow and volunteer over there as well to get more diverse experience. My dream is to work with rabbits
There's an opening here in town for a part-time job at a boarding facility in an animal shelter. I could probably get 400 hours of animal experience doing that. And I would like to start volunteering a few hours a month at an equine-assisted therapy center.
So long story short, I think I'm on the right track, but right now I don't have much done! I want to work hard over the next few months to get the necessary experience and finish my prereqs... I just don't know if it'll be enough to be ready to apply by September. I could really use some advice or guidance. Thanks!
And I'd be ecstatic to get into WSU -- don't get me wrong, I love it there -- but I also wouldn't mind getting more competitive so I could apply to a couple other schools. Just in case I decide later on I don't want to spend another 4 years in Pullman
I think one of my challenges is figuring out how to get vet experience in my little town. I'm really considering moving for the summer, but obviously I want to start getting more experience before then. Do you guys have any suggestions?
This has all been such good advice! I agree that though I could potentially apply this cycle, I'd certainly be a better applicant if I waited a year. And I know how important it is to keep my GPA high. I'll see how much experience I can get over the next few months, but I won't rush. I basically finished my degree in 3 years (this is my "4th year" now), so I don't feel too pressured to apply as soon as possible. And I'd be ecstatic to get into WSU -- don't get me wrong, I love it there -- but I also wouldn't mind getting more competitive so I could apply to a couple other schools. Just in case I decide later on I don't want to spend another 4 years in Pullman
I think one of my challenges is figuring out how to get vet experience in my little town. I'm really considering moving for the summer, but obviously I want to start getting more experience before then. Do you guys have any suggestions?
It's about 35,000 people. Which is not terribly small, but I'm 3 hours away from any major city. Unfortunately, I'm not living in Pullman this year, so those opportunities are a bit out of reach
That's what I did for the most part (although I volunteer a few hours per week in a shelter clinic).
Most of my hours (just over 2,000) were done over school breaks. If you don't have much else in the way of commitments, you could potentially rock out a LOT of time shadowing/volunteering/working at a clinic or two this summer.
So I'd really like to spruce/ diversify up my experience this summer. I know non-competition clauses are a thing, but do you think my GP would be upset if I shadowed elsewhere during my spare time? He's my main LOR and I reaaaally don't want to make him upset, but different experience would be kewl
I don't see why it'd be an issue unless you're a paid employee and, like you mentioned, there's a non-competetion clause. I volunteered with a zoo vet and also had some smaller stints at other clinics during my free time while still working with my regular GP vet. You could always ask if you're unsure, but again... I can't imagine it being a problem.
Yeah I wouldn't be a paid employee*. I really want to shadow an emergency clinic, there's one 10 minutes from my house, and I think it'd be really cool to see how things varied over there.
Highly doubt it, especially if it was a completely different area of vet med.
Varied experience can go a long way. Pretty sure that's what carried me through this cycle since my stats aren't very impressive, so I'd so definitely look to diversify as much as possible!
Oh, yikes, that's a lot! I would love to spend time at an emergency clinic if they'd have me haha
Yeah, I kind of feel that. This town is mostly just the university, and since we have a vet school, there are more than enough pre-vet kids to go around...
I'm planning on taking a single class over the summer, so I am also hoping I'll have time! (Although I really need a job...we'll see...). Also, I'm a sophomore, so I definetly have some time at least hahaIf you are going to have plenty of time this summer to shadow or work at a vet clinic, I would definitely recommend not doing it now if your academics would suffer. Not sure what year in school you are, but I think you should be able to get plenty of hours only doing if over the summer if that works better for you
Money + hours would be ideal. Between rowing and my internship right now, I feel like I'm working two jobs that I dont get paid for haha
Yes, you will definitely want to get some more experience, and a little more variety.
I have really low amounts of hours in a couple interesting things: Tiger sanctuary volunteer, Cow reproductive research, etc. But like less than 10 hours for each.... But yeah I need some regular veterinary experience hours- have just had difficulty finding a place and the time to shadow...Yes, you will definitely want to get some more experience, and a little more variety.
One thing to consider is that having just a few hours in a million things could suggest that for some reason you cannot hold down a position.
One thing to consider is that having just a few hours in a million things could suggest that for some reason you cannot hold down a position.
Just keep trying, eventually you will get one. Took me 1.5 years to get my current job, despite applying everywhere I could. What helped me was simply getting ~40 hours of shadowing at a clinic. That small amount of shadowing was just enough experience to get my foot in the door and have my application looked at seriously, and I was hired within a few months. The first position is always the hardest.
Whether or not they look weird depends a bit on the experiences themselves, too. I had a lot of stuff that was only a few hours but was also pretty explicit about having volunteered with places on large city-wide volunteer days or on a limited basis related to their busy season etc. I had a lot of non-animal/veterinary volunteering as well that was sometimes <10 hours but the hours were low for obvious reasons like "helped with annual food drive" or similar things where I definitely wouldn't have been able to get a ton of hours unless I did it several years in a row.Yeah, you're right- it does look kind of weird. In reality, I did those things last semester, and then moved home for the summer, and then moved to a new school for fall, etc. My main thing is I worked about 25-30 hours a week as a stable hand last summer, which helped me get my current internship
But the mine thing is just the tigers... I do miss having that sanctuary around, it was a neat place....haha
That's still totally valid though! On your timeline of experiences I feel like I would notice if all of your experiences switched from being in TN to being in WA, for example, even if there was a transition between the two.Mine are just because i moved out of state
Her experience is good! Almost 4200 hours of diverse vet experience, ~5400 hours of animal experience. Last 45 hours GPA is strong, but I'm a little confused on her cumulative GPA, she has it by school, VMCAS will combine them, and the cumulative GPA is the combination of all classes you took at every school. Also, what is her core/ prerequisite GPA?
Mine are just because i moved out of state
Agree here. Depth and breadth are both important for demonstrating an understanding of the field. Not every experience must be a 500+ hour one but you also can't just have fifty 10 hour experiences either. A combination of the two is good, and shows that you understand the variety of things you can do in the field but also recognize a few areas you're really interested in and have spent more time learning about.
Okay! Cool! Both of those are slightly low, depending where she plans on applying. But a good GRE score can always help.
Thank you so much for your help!