WAMC - UF, Auburn

[sesi229]

Hello! First time applicant here. I'm applying to Auburn (IS) and UF (OOS). UF is my top choice! Curious for input from previous or current applicants

Bachelors degree in Animal Sciences, biology minor
Cumulative GPA: 3.38
Last 45: 3.8

MS in biology (thesis track) - in progress
Cumulative: 4.0

With both degrees my science GPA will be ~3.2
I had a semester in undergrad where I got C's in a chemistry course, physics, and withdrew from biochem - obviously blew my science GPA. I explained this semester in the VMCAS statement (personal reasons).

GRE: 154 quant, 156 verbal, 4.5 writing.

Vet experience:

~4,680 hours equine. I worked in an equine hospital throughout undergrad and pick up shifts when I can in grad school. I have served in 4 positions: veterinary assistant (majority - perform all duties of a vet tech, just not licensed), cold laser therapy technician, medication dispensary technician, hematology lab assistant.

~400 from a mixed practice (small, large/food animal, exotics)

~700 small animal clinic

~1000 small animal and exotic hospital

36 working a CE event for equine veterinarians

Animal experience: roughly 3000 total
Dog adoption group (volunteer + foster)
Compete with my dog in barn hunt
Shadowed two biologists from fish and wildlife (assisted with data collection on animals)
Thoroughbred broodmare groom (paid)
Thoroughbred weanling handler (paid)
Volunteer at a middle school/high school level horse show (warm up rider, tacking/untacking, etc)
Block and bridle club member (trained a dairy cow to be handled, competed in a show)
Rider, safety officer, public relations chair on university equestrian team
Participated in a class to learn proper handling of beef and dairy cattle, swine, poultry, and sheep

Research:
Undergrad:
1. Presence of Sarcocystis neurona and Neospora hughesi antibodies in the university equine herd. (protozoal parasites that cause equine protozoal myeloencephalitis or EPM)

2. Museum curation and field ecology techniques. - live trapped small mammals in wildlife management areas to determine species presence, used trail cams to detect presence of endangered species in our area, curated university vertebrate teaching collection (cataloged specimens, collected data, etc.)

Graduate:
1. Evaluation of interspecific variation in african egg eating snake vertebrae. (they have specialized vertebrae to crack eggs in their throat)

2. Continuation of small mammal live trapping population study from undergrad

3. Thesis work - in progress. Project is physiology based, working with organ function data and immunohistochem on tissues.

Awards/achievements:
I worked full time through undergrad so not much! haha. Dean's list here and there, various scholarships.

Extracurriculars:
Played in a local soccer league (undergrad)
Indoor and outdoor rock climbing
Crochet (donate stuffed animals to a group that distributes to children with rare diseases)

Employment:
All vet clinics mentioned above.
Currently employed by the university as a teaching assistant. I instruct labs in undergraduate biology courses.


My main concern is that my undergrad and science GPAs aren't great, and most of my experience is equine. I'm probably overthinking this, but UF is so competitive OOS that I can't stop worrying about it.

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[SkiOtter]

I'm applying to Auburn (IS) and UF (OOS). UF is my top choice!

Why is your in state school not your top choice? Auburn is about 25 THOUSAND dollars cheaper than UF and that’s JUST tuition and not taking into account cost of living in the area. That difference is more than a year of tuition at Auburn, which is about 20k.

 

[sesi229]

Why is your in state school not your top choice? Auburn is about 25 THOUSAND dollars cheaper than UF and that’s JUST tuition and not taking into account cost of living in the area. That difference is more than a year of tuition at Auburn, which is about 20k.

The main reason is being able to live with a family member (+ close to other family) and my fiance has a job there. I was told that after your first year you can request to reclassify your residency status.

 

[JaynaAli]

I am fairly certain that OOS UF students can't be reclassified once you matriculate. The UF website says "Non-Sponsored tuition and fees is fixed for all four years of your DVM education regardless of any increases in tuition or changes in applicant residency status." I'll let someone else assess your stats since I'm less familiar with that sort of thing.

 

[SkiOtter]

The main reason is being able to live with a family member (+ close to other family) and my fiance has a job there. I was told that after your first year you can request to reclassify your residency status.

Yeah, afaik they don’t let you change residency for vet school and get in state tuition.
If your fiancé has a job there, is it possible for you to move and establish residency in Florida to apply as an in state applicant instead? It still will be more expensive to go to UF in state than Auburn in state, but less of an outrageous difference.

 

[sesi229]

I am fairly certain that OOS UF students can't be reclassified once you matriculate. The UF website says "Non-Sponsored tuition and fees is fixed for all four years of your DVM education regardless of any increases in tuition or changes in applicant residency status." I'll let someone else assess your stats since I'm less familiar with that sort of thing.

Ah I see that now. I was told by a previous student that you could reclassify after your first term so I guess that's not a thing anymore. Joke's on me for taking someone's word for it

 

[JaynaAli]

Ah I see that now. I was told by a previous student that you could reclassify after your first term so I guess that's not a thing anymore. Joke's on me for taking someone's word for it

Hey, better to realize it now than later! Regardless, just really think about it and decide if the additional debt is worth it. Maybe for you it is, but 100,000 extra debt obtained going to an OOS veterinary school can seriously impact your life for 20-25 years after veterinary school. Auburn isn't so far from Gainesville that you couldn't still visit your family regularly. Explore the VIN loan repayment simulator for various scenarios and just be as educated as you can about the debt. There is a reason that we vets (and astute vet students) strongly recommend going to your in-state if at all possible.

 

[sesi229]

Thanks, I didn't know VIN had a loan repayment simulator! Applying to UF was a last minute (last week lol) decision on my part after my fiance got his job lined up, so clearly I need to do some more reading before I make any final decisions down the road.

I dug around on UF's residency page and see this: "Once you have completed your first term at UF, you can request a reclassification of your residency status. You must contact the Office of the University Registrar to initiate this process." Maybe that's they were referring to, but they were IS so would have had to get info about reclassifying secondhand from a classmate.

 

[JaynaAli]

I'm sure you could contact the admissions office to confirm either way!

 

[DVMoftheFuture]

Thanks, I didn't know VIN had a loan repayment simulator! Applying to UF was a last minute (last week lol) decision on my part after my fiance got his job lined up, so clearly I need to do some more reading before I make any final decisions down the road.

I dug around on UF's residency page and see this: "Once you have completed your first term at UF, you can request a reclassification of your residency status. You must contact the Office of the University Registrar to initiate this process." Maybe that's they were referring to, but they were IS so would have had to get info about reclassifying secondhand from a classmate.

As an OOS student at UFCVM, I can tell you that I literally had to sign something acknowledging that I would be paying OOS all 4 years, regardless of changes in my residency status. Unless something has changed in the last year (which I haven't heard about), you cannot switch your residency.

 

[SkiOtter]

Unless something has changed in the last year (which I haven't heard about)

I doubt it’d change within a year because they’d have the other three classes in an uproar if they signed something saying they couldn’t change and then the next class was allowed.

 

[sesi229]

Hmm well that’s annoying that they gave me false hope then haha. I thought it was too good to be true. Maybe worth just moving down there with my fiancé first, or seeing if he can transfer to auburn (he’s in a government ag job that’s fairly good about transfers)