What do you think made your application REALLY stand out?

[x3anewdisaster]

Anything in particular?
Like what unique volunteer/work/research/veterinary experiences have you had? Or was it a really really good personal statement?
Maybe you don't have too much on your application, and looked extremely good at the interview?

Or was your application the typical application- plenty of hours but nothing too out of the ordinary?

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[DVMorBust]

I think my GRE score got them to look closer, and I've been told my PS was pretty decent...for one school, I KNOW it was a LOR I had...and both schools were interested in my non-vet background in Linguistics. I even talked about that in my diversity statement for WI (couldn't think of a way that a white middle-class female was traditionally diverse...)

I'm convinced that it's the non-vet/animal experiences that make most applicants unique. Unless you've got an amazing opportunity (like Sumstorm's fellowship) chances are it's been done before. The non-vet, non-animal areas are where you can really set yourself apart and make your application memorable.

 

[TSUJC]

My masters degree and my experience must have done it because it sure wasn't my GPA or GRE

 

[Skillet9886]

My GRE was a little above average, but nothing spectacular. I think my personal statement was really good, but haven't really gotten feedback on it, other than from those I asked to help edit it. I didn't have a ton of extracurriculars, but did have a lot of leadership positions. Work experience wasn't exceptional, but I did have some research experience that might have helped.

I agree with DVMorBust. I think the thing that made my application different from most is that I spent a lot of time substitute teaching, and really focused in essays and interviews about how I love teaching and love the aspects of veterinary medicine that involve education. I think I said in one essay or maybe my personal statement that you can heal animals all day, but if you can't teach your clients why they need to care for their pets, they're not going to bring them in, and the first struggle as a practicing vet is to get the client to walk in the door.

I've heard from a lot of people that vet schools really want to see that you are a real person, and not just pre-vet, so I agree that a lot is based off of non-vet related activities and interests. Of course, this isn't based on any actual data, just an opinion.

 

[Ben and Me]

Where I went to college. I think it's the reason I got into Penn and (one of) the reasons I didn't get into NC State.

 

[Pandacinny]

My lab animal experience/interest. I know it was that because my interviewers talked about it a lot and were very excited about it. Also, it helped me get a scholarship.

My GRE helped, too, I think - it was pretty good.

 

[rugbychick16]

My GPA, my high verbal GRE, and my large animal/growing up on a ranch experience.

 

[turnandburn]

I honestly have no idea. That was a very frustrating thing for me going through this process- after getting waitlisted last year, I was told that my application was good, I was a good applicant, my grades/GRE was good, experience was good, etc, it's just that I happened to be in a bubble of really good applicants where people were being separated by tenths and hundredths of a point. Although I have lots of animal/veterinary experience, I never did anything particularly cool/unique in undergrad like study abroad, feed orphaned giraffes in Africa, or have research published. Were I able to do it all again, I would do things much differently!

This year I continued to gain more "life" experience and also changed the focus of my application and experience to show that I was a well rounded applicant (not just a pre-vet obsessed student ) and I think that was the edge I needed to get accepted.

 

[hlkcirdnek]

I had research published as an undergrad, a lot of diverse veterinary experience (wildlife, zoo, small animal, internal medicine, emergency).

I think the vet experiences are what got me in the second time. That experience also helped fuel a great PS the second time around.

 

[DocDVMD]

I honestly have no idea. That was a very frustrating thing for me going through this process- after getting waitlisted last year, I was told that my application was good, I was a good applicant, my grades/GRE was good, experience was good, etc, it's just that I happened to be in a bubble of really good applicants where people were being separated by tenths and hundredths of a point. Although I have lots of animal/veterinary experience, I never did anything particularly cool/unique in undergrad like study abroad, feed orphaned giraffes in Africa, or have research published.

Agreed! I was told at one school that I was rejected from that I had nothing wrong with my application, just stuck in with lots of other good applicants and there wasn't room for everyone... another school I definitely think I rocked the interview and that's why I was accepted. I got a lot of interviews and wasn't rejected from anywhere I interviewed (got on a bunch of waitlists) so I think my app in general was overall good, but nothing "stood out".

 

[Caninerepro]

I don't have a clue how, or why any of the schools took me, much less as many as did. I had a pretty good GRE, a 4.0 in a Masters program, and a lot of animal experience in a rather unusual but high profile area. I guess I am also OK at writing a personal statement. But honestly, I was as shocked as the rest of you to get accepted; but it did feel pretty good to get my first call the day after my wife told me she wanted a divorce (over the phone as well!).

 

[sumstorm]

As DVMorBust mentioned, I had an amazing TJ Watson Fellowship after UG. I think that probably helped, but it was 7 years old at the time of application, so I think what was more important is that all of my experience has related to animal husbandry and veterinray medicine. I had several years of zoo curator work, a year working for NOAA at sea, and a couple of years running my own sucessful dog training business. I emphasized a fascination with science, competence in business and non-profit work, and an inherent sense of adventure. I think my personal statement was pretty good, GRE's ok, and GPA ok. I had also completed honors research in UG resulting in primary authorship on an article (under the PI for a grad program on bio-indicators) and other research in population biology/ecology. I also worked FT+ while in UG and attending FT, which helped explain my 3.4 GPA, which improved as I progressed through UG. Also, while my UG grades were old, I took several pre-reqs recently with a 4.0, and I had included contacts with universities at which I had helped design research programs for UG students.

I think all of it together just showed that I had really considered whether vet med was the right path for me, and demonstrated that I had been slowly progressing towards this point, and that once past this point, I have the dedication, drive, and perseverance to make it through vet school

 

[david594]

I think my cumulative GPA of ~3.2 really stood out(and not in a good way).

I also think what I did in 2008 really stood out. I took 37 credits of almost exclusively science classes with a ~3.85 GPA while working at 2 animal hospitals for a collective 1900 hours.

Classes included. Statistics, Bio 1 & 2 (w/ labs), Orgo 1 & 2 (w/labs), Genetics, Microbio, Microbio Lab, Cell+Molec, Biochem, and English Composition.

 

[incendium04]

My GPA was nyeh (3.58), GRE was bleh (610 v, 690 q), PS ok, LOR great! Or so I hear. I only read one of the three but I know how highly the other two regard me.

Originally, I thought working at an emergency SA hospital helped me stand out... but not so much! I think it helped show the adcom that I was serious about staying in this area of SA med since I worked overnights and long shifts.

I also emphasized my unique experience in animal embryology that I acquired after submitting my application. Including independent research in the embryology class which led to a new experiment for the class to run on domestic cat oocytes.

Another unique thing was my black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

 

[x3anewdisaster]

Everyone who is saying their animal experience made them stand out. Be more specific! I'm sure all of the applicants had animal experience. But what specifically? Like what did you do and what kind of animals did you work with?

 

[Truth74]

My grades were on the way low end and my GRE was slightly above average. I think my personal and explanation statements were interesting, to say the least. As a non-traditional student, I think I had a bit more information to go through as far as employment and other activities are concerned.
I had vet experience that was somewhat unique. There aren't that many pre-vets on RAVS trips, though we do exist. My animal experience that I counted on the VMCAS was all volunteering with a lot of it in LA. I'm still a bit grumpy that I wasn't offered a kennel job at a clinic.
I had a great deal of documentable leadership experience and working in groups to reach specific goals.

 

[susiewaits]

I had a borderline gpa, 3.4 (at a top school), a decent GRE score (if you exclude the terrible writing score) as well as veterinary experience (both large and small, lots of different vets). One thing Tufts mentioned after my first application cycle (got waitlisted) was that I had only short term employments (summers) and they would like to see a long term veterinary experience, so I quit my job to work full time at a SA practice.

From the interviewers, I go the impression that three things set my application apart:

1. Awesome recommondations. I only had a chance to read one of them but it made me cry. The interviewers said that the recs were glowing.

2. They liked all of the intrameural sports and the volunteering (outside of animal stuff) that I had done in college. At two schools they were asking about the broomball championship.

3. They said my personal statement was hilarious (which some of the school that rejected me may habe not appreciated, but I thought I'd take a shot) My statement the first application cycle was more cookie cutter. I found that interesting, as generally I am a TERRIBLE writer.

 

[feadog]

My GPA was below average, but my GREs were well above average for most schools. I think the GRE prevented my application from being tossed before even getting to my experience/PS/LORs in some cases.

As far as experiences, I had a really great research internship with the American Museum of Natural History and spent 6 weeks living on an island with about 6 people and tens of thousands of terns. Since then, I helped with a radiotelemetry study of coyotes in an urban area and I'm currently finishing up a Master's (see: should be writing my thesis right now but I'm procrastinating and posting on here instead) and researched dietary influences on chipmunk hibernation. Also, I've worked at the AMC in New York, which also probably helped.

Also, in one interview (WSU) I was told that where I had gone to undergrad. made them look more closely despite the lower GPA. Some schools seem to factor that in more than others.

 

[sumstorm]

Also, in one interview (WSU) I was told that where I had gone to undergrad. made them look more closely despite the lower GPA. Some schools seem to factor that in more than others.

Yeah, I have no idea whether my UG helped or not. I know it does in med school applications since the curriculem is rigorous, research based, and doesn't participate in grade inflation. Difficult but fair. We have 100% med school acceptance for quite a few years. Only 2 applicants to vet school, and we have both been admitted on first ap, but both as non-trads.

 

[TSUJC]

Everyone who is saying their animal experience made them stand out. Be more specific! I'm sure all of the applicants had animal experience. But what specifically? Like what did you do and what kind of animals did you work with?

As far as my animal experience, I was a full-time artificial insemination technician for two years followed by a job as calf manager on a 1100 head dairy. I have worked at various veterinary clinics and was employed on the school farm as an undergrad. Another thing that probably helped was that I grew-up on a dairy.

My masters is in Veterinary Parasitology (a field that few people are in) and I have a vast amount of research experience. In addition to my graduate teaching assistantship at a veterinary school, I also work as a technician for the clinical pathology lab at the veterinary teaching hospital.

My letters of recommendation were really good, one of them was from the president of the World Veterinary Medical Association. He is on my graduate committee.

I know these things are what made me stick out, because like I said earlier it wasn't my grades!

 

[sumstorm]

Animal Experience:

grew up on an organic farm with cattle, dairy, meat, and coat goats, meat and wool sheep, a few pigs, lots of chickens (meat/egg) and rabbits (meat/wool)

parents ran a side business training working herding dogs. dad also was a conformation handler. I helped with both the farm and the dog training.

Mom also worked for a SA vet as a groomer and surgical tech.

So I grew up surrounded by animal based businesses, and helped out at the vet clinic (dog walking, filing, kennel cleaning, dish washing) and learned to read fecals, clip nails, etc. I also started training early, and did well in 4-H dog, horse, and livestock projects, including vet sci. I also sat on a couple of state fair boards as a teenager.

I had herps as pets in elementary and middle school, and my parents ran a parrot rescue while I was in HS and college. I helped with that rescue as well.

In college, I volunteered at a County Shelter training dogs. I also participated in research on several animals (behavior, physio, ecology.) Completed an internship at a zoo working with the vet and a lead keeper.

After college; research on international animal/environment conservation, zoo work, volunteered with humane socieities and non-profit training clubs, then NOAA and stranding team volunteer, then SA practice.

 

[x3anewdisaster]

What advice would you give to people who didn't grow up all around animals? Would you still have a good chance to get into vet school if you didn't grow up on a farm or didn't have any professional/formal experience as a high schooler?

 

[sumstorm]

Breadth and Depth. Ask for exposure, ask to learn any chance you get. Ask people to ask thier friends and associates. I learned horse grooming from a client at a stable where my grandfather mows the grass for a client that owns the property (not the client who taught me.) Try to get at least 100 hours with exposure to different areas of vet med, under a vet.

I do think you have a chance, but that it may take a bit more aggressive pursuit of opportunities. I think vet experience is more important than animal experience in applications, but that comfort level comes from time around different types of animals. Vet experience does NOT have to be paid. I think academics may become more important if you don't have the alot of experience. Some schools have minimum vet experience requirements.

 

[CatVet2Be]

I didn't grow up on a farm or have any experience in high school other than my own pets. All the experience I posted for my apps I got in college and beyond. For me I think consistency in the kind of work I focused on with a variety of organizations made my app a strong one. I've done a lot of work with spay/neuter organizations and even though it's the same focus, I had a variety of groups I worked with including one in which I went to another country for a couple of weeks. This was brought up in my interview and I really think it helped me stand out from other applicants. Showing you can ue your skills to give back to the community always goes over well. I still made sure to get experience in other aspects of the field, lab animals, SA clinic, and a small amount of horse experience shadowing a local vet.

 

[ckgilabert]

i have everyone telling me it's the whole package that they look at. i got rejected by 6 schools, waitlisted at michigan, and then got accepted for the vet prep program at CSU. The CHANCES of getting into that program is less than 1%.

anyway, i did really crappy before i decided i wanted to be a vet. once i decided, i joined clubs, took all my science classes, did workshops, made study groups, got a job working with animals (petsmart...cuz that was all that was available near me) and volunteered at a petting zoo. i transfered to cal poly pomona and worked with the animals in class, volunteered out of class, joined clubs where i had leadership positions, and took advantage of everything they had to offer.

i wrote about all of it in my paper and in my experience. i was detailed about what i did.

i also learned that you should show IMPROVEMENT or some time of PROMOTION. you know? so i wrote that i was a kennel assistant and moved up to veterinary assistant and that i had more responsibilities.


GOOD LUCK!

 

[DollyyLlama]

My talent show performance was lackluster but I blew them away at the swimsuit competition.

 

[triceratops]

My talent show performance was lackluster but I blew them away at the swimsuit competition.

that is fantastic!!

 

[hlkcirdnek]

my talent show performance was lackluster but i blew them away at the swimsuit competition.

love. It.

 

[Catnapper]

I'm convinced that my research benchwork got me in.

 

[rileyroo]

My talent show performance was lackluster but I blew them away at the swimsuit competition.

i can't even handle this!

 

[dvm2013]

I think it was just the overall package for me. I didn't have anything amazing, just high grades, good GRE score, not an incredible amount of hours although I did have some varied types of experience including a zoo internship. I made sure to list all the different procedures and hands on things that I did at my small animal clinic in my VMCAS. I'm sure having something amazing that stands out can definitely help you to get in but I think being well rounded in the different areas can also be what they're looking for- worked for me I got into 6 schools!