WAMC 2nd Time Applicant

[cvetmed]

I am a reapplicant looking to go into small animal GP or internal medicine or wildlife med. I am hoping to get some feedback on how i can improve to be a more competitive applicant and what schools on my list others think I have a decent shot at. I think my biggest strength is in interviews and my weakness is maybe my GPA and relatively narrow area of vet experience in small animal medicine although i have been working to correct that by working at a wildlife rehab center, but no veterinarian is on staff. I have a handful of hours in the week not filled right now and would love to get some feedback on what would be most beneficial to fill those with.
Here are the schools I may want to Apply to. Highlighted are my top schools.

• University of Arizona
• Colorado State University
• Oregon State University
• Washington State University
• Midwestern University
• UC Davis
• Western university
• Florida
• Auburn University
• University of Melbourne?
• Cornell
• University of Illinois
• University of Georgia

Last Application Cycle Results;
University of Arizona - interveiwed, waitlisted currently
Oregon State- does not do OOS interviews, denied
Colorado State- does not do OOS interviews, denied
Washington state- Not offered an interview denied
Cumulative GPA: 3.61
science GPA: 3.5

Any degrees achieved
- Associates of Arts (obtained while in HS)
-Bachelors in Biology with a Pre-Vet Specialization w minors in History, Environmental Humanities and Professional Foundations and Enhancements

GRE results: did not take

Veterinary Experience:
- 1000 hours in Small animal medicine as a Veterinary Assistant
- 20 hours of small ruminant
-20 hours of Volunteer surgery recovery at shelter

Animal Experience:
- 300 Hours of Baby bird rehabilitation

Research Experience:
- Research on the effects of urbanization on wild bird populations in BCS Mexico. Selected to present research at the student research conference at my college.
Awards/scholarships:
- Gipson Presidential Scholar (15,000 a yr)
-Kathryn Albertsons Competition Scholar ( 2500 a yr)
- Deans List 4 semesters

Extracurriculars:
College
- President of Kappa Alpha Theta ( 3 yrs in leadership, 4 yrs of membership)
- Elected Student Body Senator ( 2 years)
- Gipson Honors Program
- Founder of C of I cooking club
- College cheer and Dance (2 yrs)
- Founder of C of I Arabic club as a non native speaker ( 1 yr)
- Volunteer Student Ambassador 4 yrs
- Yotes Tradition Council 2 yrs
- Committee chairman for Community Outreach Committee in Student Gov
- Greek council president 1 yr
- Panhellenic Council president 1 yr
- Lots of Service hours for Court Appointed Special Advocates, Women's Health Shelters, Blanket Making for Local Pantry's during the winter, Planting trees at underserved elementary schools in Mexico, doing community touch tanks and wild life education in Mexico
HS
- 4 yr varsity dance
- Language Tutor 2 yrs
-Mayors Youth Advisory Council 2 yr
- Arabic Honors Society 3 yrs

Employment:
- Veterinary Assistant (6 mo/ current)
-Kennel Attendant (6 mo then promoted to VA)
- Physical therapy technician ( 1yr)
- Lifeguard (4 yr) HS


Trying to figure out what schools I should put effort in applying to. I have no IS school so i am and OOS applicant everywhere which sucks. Also looking to know where it would look best to devote more time too before my reap: volunteering in shelter medicine, Volunteering at the English language center for refugees, Shadowing in a mixed animal practice, Working on a sheep farm and shadowing WSU Vet students on their small ruminant rotations.

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[cvetmed]

any and all feedback appreciated

 

[orcafin]

If you are not from California, then don’t apply to Davis. You basically have to have a 4.0 cumulative and science gpa to get in OOS. I also read Illinois had a 3.7 gpa cutoff last year. Georgia also apparently accepts very few OOS students like single digits, so just keep all this is mind since applications are veryyy expensive

 

[Crocodial]

If you want to cut down on applications you could scrap Davis and maybe Oregon. Davis does not take a lot of OOS students and most OOS students need high grades to get in. Oregon has one of the smallest class sizes but still gets tons of applications each year. For experience you should try to gain as much and as varied veterinary (not just animal ) experience as possible. Of the options you listed the shelter medicine, mixed animal practice, and shadowing vet students sound decent. Overall your experience covers bird species, small animals, and a teeny bit of large animal, so maybe try to get more large animal. How many hours did you apply with last year?

Your extracurriculars look good and it's good that you're trying to get more varied veterinary/animal experience with the bird rehab. You listed the vet assistant and kennel attendant positions under employment here but both of those should only go under the veterinary experience label on the application. Your research experience is good, although I'm not sure how many hours you had.

 

[justforfun1221]

Do you mind sharing the schools you applied to last time & some things that are different now?

 

[woofers7]

I agree with everyone above. I would cross off UofI, Davis, Georgia, CSU, and UGA. Davis alone is hard to get into as an IS and since they eliminated the GRE, the admission process is going to be different so keep that in mind. Iowa, LMU, and tOSU would be schools I would look into. I saw that you thought about going international, have you thought about RVC or Dublin? If I did not have commitments in the States, I would have applied there. Did you do file views for the schools you were rejected from? If I was in your situation, I would look into getting more large animal experience.

 

[cvetmed]

Do you mind sharing the schools you applied to last time & some things that are different now?

I have the schools I applied too last cycle listed and the results. I just applied to my top four last cycle, expecting not to get in, to get the experience of the application under my belt. For my application last year I applied with only 300 hours as a kennel attendant and a few hours shadowing vet students at a vet schools sheep facility. Last cycle I had not had the listed research experience, study abroad, experience, or my bird wildlife refuge hours.

 

[cvetmed]

I agree with everyone above. I would cross off UofI, Davis, Georgia, CSU, and UGA. Davis alone is hard to get into as an IS and since they eliminated the GRE, the admission process is going to be different so keep that in mind. Iowa, LMU, and tOSU would be schools I would look into. I saw that you thought about going international, have you thought about RVC or Dublin? If I did not have commitments in the States, I would have applied there. Did you do file views for the schools you were rejected from? If I was in your situation, I would look into getting more large animal experience.

Thank you for your feedback! A limiting factor to what schools I can apply to right now is that I don’t have an animal nutrition course, nor does my local State school offer it. That eliminates a lot of the southern schools from the list of schools that I’m eligible to apply to. I have not looked into RVC but am open to it! I requested file reviews from Washington, Oregon, and Colorado. Arizona does not do file reviews for waitlisted applicants. All said that they don’t have the admission staff to perform file reviews.

 

[cvetmed]

If you are not from California, then don’t apply to Davis. You basically have to have a 4.0 cumulative and science gpa to get in OOS. I also read Illinois had a 3.7 gpa cutoff last year. Georgia also apparently accepts very few OOS students like single digits, so just keep all this is mind since applications are veryyy expensive

Thank you I hadn’t know that about Georgia!

 

[Alicat9152]

My one question would be are you currently still working on gaining vet and animal experience while working on your application?

If you can continue to work on those hours I think you would be a competitive OOS applicant with those gpa's and extracurriculars for Mizzou's program!