Just quoting for you to get the notification
🙂.
One thing that I will start over. Being a researcher comes along with its whole set of bureaucracy (definitely a different type then that associated with being a clinician, but certainly a bureaucracy). So it definitely sounds based off your description that you are very One Health Focused, which is awesome (I am very big into the One Health side of things).
One thing I will mention is if I am thinking of the job you want at the CDC (and I may be mistaken as there are a couple levels of jobs there), it is hyper competitive. Like we are talking about people from all of the medical/research/ecological professions competing for the same job. Even being the best veterinarian applying for the job by no means guarantees you for the job. One girl at my school has her goals set on that one position, but it's a very tough road.
So I am not an expert on Davis at all, and I will preface with that (and I highly advise, at the beginning of this, to give their admissions person a quick call to schedule a meeting, I know most schools are happy to meet with potential candidates). Given that, your GPA looks great, and assuming science and last 45 gpa are on par with that, you will have no problems on that front. Vet schools work a bit differently than med school admissions given that there is a bit more emphasis placed on experience. Each school usually has some minimum threshold on the number of veterinary hours.
So with regards to experience, this is where you may not be the biggest fan. You definitely want to get experience in the area that you are looking to focus on. But vet schools are looking for you to also get experience in a diverse amount of areas: Small animal, large animal, equine, exotics, research, etc. So, a very easy first place to start would be to do some work/some shadowing at a small animal practice, an equine practice, and a large animal practice. Shelters are very iffy in terms of veterinary experience, as you need to be working directly underneath a vet during your time there, and if a vet is not there while you are getting your hours, its not veterinary experience (and is classifed on VMCAS as animal experience instead).
What I would say is this summer should be dedicated strictly to getting hours in clinics. You are good on the research front right now, so I would highly suggest against spending that time on research if vet school is your goal.
Very few programs allow for you to start a PhD program before or after you start your veterinary training (it is usually a concurrent thing, such that you apply at the same time as your veterinary training). I know that Kansas and Missouri will both allow it under special circumstances. Outside of that, I am inclined based off things that I have heard that special exceptions can be made at VMR based on how you track, but do not know about others that allow it happening at different times.
The other question I have for you is why are you looking to do a veterinary program specifically? I guess, how do you think getting a veterinary degree will benefit your end career goal? (and I don't mean this rhetorically at all, I just am trying to get a feel for what you are looking to get out of this this way I can give appropriate advice).
I am currently in a DVM/PhD program and am absolutely loving it. I am usually pretty good about answering this thread (or thanks to
@finnickthedog now I will be almost perfect about answer here), however, feel free to message me if I am not answering, I will usually respond to those quicker.
