Rejected from 11/12 schools as a second-time applicant. How should I improve my application?

[weakassistance]

Hi, guys. I got rejected from 10 schools and today I was just notified I got rejected from my IS school after interviewing. This is pretty discouraging considering the interview went very well and I thought I would be accepted.

For reference, my GPA is a 3.4 and I have 2500+ hours of vet experience (small animal and exotics) from working as a vet assistant for 3 years. I was also founder and president of my school’s first pre-vet club. I’m not sure what my last 45 GPA is, but I know it’s high because I had mainly As and maybe 1 or 2 Bs. I took the Casper test and literally ranked in the lowest quartile. Not sure how I did that bad lol. My GRE score wasn’t great either, but only one school I applied to required it. I also did not have a lot of volunteer hours, however, I do have more now since I have been volunteering and fostering for a rescue.

I know my GPA isn’t great, so I’m planning on retaking some classes I didn’t do well in (I was a student-athlete my first two years of college and it was very toxic/overwhelming). I know if I improve my test scores that will probably help as well.

I say all of this to ask, do you have any advice on what I can do to make myself a more desirable applicant? Could you give me some examples from your application (essays, experience, etc.)? I have seen some people saying they listed each experience and say what they learned from them and I didn’t do that. I’m just looking for some insight because I have seen numerous people on here saying they got into multiple schools with a GPAs significantly lower than mine and I want to know how they stand out more than someone with a higher GPA.

Thanks in advance!

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[skylarswann]

Community service and research are great assets. I’m on my third application cycle and feel like I am finally getting somewhere after having done those and retaking classes I didn’t do so well on. I also took multiple upper level science classes like immunology and histology to boost GPA and feel more prepared for first year classes. I made sure to have a variety of vet hours, exotic, companion, equine, livestock etc. do the best you can with what you have and be as proactive as possible in case this year doesn’t work out. But keep your head up, everything will work out how it is supposed to!

 

[ks1034]

I have similar stats, 3.4 cumulative gpa with a higher last 45. I also have about 4000 hours vet experience as an assistant. This past cycle I got into CSU and Iowa.

I think what helped me was that I have significant research experience, specifically working a lot with animal models. I have a few publications from it as well. I did get fourth quartile on the Caspar test ( no idea how, I thought I did awful) but tbh I don’t think they rely on that too much, I’ve heard of people in the first quartile getting in as well.

I would say your vet experience seems pretty solid. Do you have any large animal experience? Adding that could definitely help you. If you can join a lab and get some research experience I definitely think that will help boost your application. I don’t think I would have gotten in without my research experience. I also had 4 extremely solid LORs from veterinarians as well as one MD and one PhD. I feel that having just vet assistant experience, even if you have a lot of it, isn’t always enough with a lower gpa. You need to have something that makes you stand out.

Also- what schools are you applying to? I will say there are several schools that I don’t think even looked at my application due to my gpa- Illinois, Missouri, and UF. Definitely focus more on holistic schools such as Arizona, Iowa, Michigan. I’ve also heard Mississippi and Kansas are pretty holistic as well although I didn’t apply to them so I can’t say for sure.

Best of luck with your next app!

 

[Doctor Ham]

Hi, guys. I got rejected from 10 schools and today I was just notified I got rejected from my IS school after interviewing. This is pretty discouraging considering the interview went very well and I thought I would be accepted.

For reference, my GPA is a 3.4 and I have 2500+ hours of vet experience (small animal and exotics) from working as a vet assistant for 3 years. I was also founder and president of my school’s first pre-vet club. I’m not sure what my last 45 GPA is, but I know it’s high because I had mainly As and maybe 1 or 2 Bs. I took the Casper test and literally ranked in the lowest quartile. Not sure how I did that bad lol. My GRE score wasn’t great either, but only one school I applied to required it. I also did not have a lot of volunteer hours, however, I do have more now since I have been volunteering and fostering for a rescue.

I know my GPA isn’t great, so I’m planning on retaking some classes I didn’t do well in (I was a student-athlete my first two years of college and it was very toxic/overwhelming). I know if I improve my test scores that will probably help as well.

I say all of this to ask, do you have any advice on what I can do to make myself a more desirable applicant? Could you give me some examples from your application (essays, experience, etc.)? I have seen some people saying they listed each experience and say what they learned from them and I didn’t do that. I’m just looking for some insight because I have seen numerous people on here saying they got into multiple schools with a GPAs significantly lower than mine and I want to know how they stand out more than someone with a higher GPA.

Thanks in advance!

It's not your GPA. A 3.4 is fine. But....what classes did you struggle with? There's a big difference between an applicant who has a high GPA but performed poorly in upper division science, and an applicant with an average GPA but consistent, decent performance in those classes.

2500+ vet hours is great. What does the diversity of that experience look like? Was it all at one clinic? Any large animal experience? Having depth of experience is good, but have you explored vet med outside of that? How does your experience align with your career goals? What sort of animal experience do you have?

Speaking of experience, what else do you have? Research? Employment? I love seeing applicants who have worked in customer-facing positions (retail, food service, etc). You don't need to detail what you learned from an experience - just tell me what you did there. Your application is not all about GPA.