Applying 2019-2020 cycle - WAMC?

[tanlemur]

Hey guys I was wondering if you could give me a rough idea on what my chances are and what I still need to work on before the application deadline this fall.

21 years old, female, international

Degrees:
B.S. in Biology, B.A. in Music, Emory (c/o 2020)

Cum GPA: 3.82
Science GPA:3.67
I am still finishing up some prereqs (microbiology, genetics, ecology, and physics) next year.


Veterinary Experience:
-100 hours experience SA
-400 hours experience with zoo vets

Animal Experience:
-60 hours volunteering at a theraputic riding facility for special-need riders.
-30 hours volunteering at a riding facility for health checks on horses
-60 hours volunteering at an animal shelter

Research Experience:
-200 hours on songbirds' learning abilities and neuroscience

Extracurricular activities:
-Vice president of a bilingual newsletter
-Design Editor of an on campus journal
-New student orientation leader
-Mentor at school's chapter of American society for biochemical and molecular biology
-Principal percussionist in multiple ensembles
-Species manager at the university herbarium
-Also I shadowed a gynecologist over a summer

Letters of Recommendation
-Comparative Anatomy Professor
-Latin professor
-Veternarian A I am shadowing
-Vetenarian B I am shadowing

GRE: 321: 153 verbal; 168 quant, 4.5 writing. I am retaking it in the summer and hopefully I will get a 160+ on verbal.

My concerns:
-I think I am still lacking some hours veterinary experience, as well as in different specialties (large animals, and large animals that are not horses)
-As I am a double major in music, a lot of the coursework is very taxing. Therefore, I don't have as much time dedicated to volunteering or shadowing as others might have. Also, since I am a double major, there are a lot of music classes on my transcript, and I don't have as much time during my college years to take biology or vet med related courses

I am applying this upcoming cycle to: UPenn, Cornell, Colorado State, RVC, Washinton State, Ohio State, UGA and maybe a few other schools. Cornell and UPenn are my top choices (RVC is too but as I am studying in the US moving across the pond could take a lot of work), but I feel like if I could get into any school I would be thrilled.

Thank you so much!

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[ajs513]

You can definitely get in somewhere. I think your concerns are based in reality, but it seems like what you lack in hours you make up for in originality. Zoo hours aren’t super easy to come by or common. I don’t know many people who had zoo hours. If you can get more hours, do it, but you’re not at a place where it’s going to be the end all be all of your application. Your GPA is great, your science GPA is very good, and your double major in music actually makes you very unique. The fact that you can balance two majors, get a well-rounded education, and still do a lot of other things is impressive. Get that 153 verbal score up to at least 157 (Penn’s average) and you’re golden.

I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Schools are becoming very holistic as well, so even if your academics weren’t what they are, you’d still have a good chance. I got into Penn with a 3.3 GPA, and a 157/161/5.0 Q/V/W GRE. I had a ton of experience but only in small animal GP (3,000 hours), had average research hours (~200) and below average animal experience (I had around 600 hours?). Schools nowadays care about what you got from your experience rather than the pure number of hours. As long as you can write about why your experience mattered, the number of hours will matter less.