WAMC - UK schools + Guelph

[elephants&cows]

Hello!
I am a Canadian, Animal Biology student applying to Guelph (for the second time) as well as a couple of schools in Europe for the Fall 2020 intake. I would love to know if anyone had thoughts on how I compare to applicants/admitted students. I am applying to the following schools: RVC, U of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Guelph. Guelph would be my first choice but I would like to have backups, i made it to the interview this past round but was refused admission after interviews (GPA was on the lower side of the admitted applicant so I needed a stellar MMI score, did not do great..). Also wondering if people think it's worth me applying to Ross.


Grades:
cGPA: 3.43
pre-req science gpa: ~3.50-3.80 depending on the school's pre-reqs
science GPA: ~3.40
last 45 credits: 3.85
GRE: 150 V, 155 Q, 4.0 AW

Vet Experience:
~ 800 hours as vet/tech assistant in small clinic, sometimes reception
~ 50 hours exotic clinic
~ 100 hours large animal

Animal experience:
~ 300 hours as rescuer/guardian in wildlife rehabilitation center
~ 40 as volunteer in an elephant rehabilitation center

Employment:
~ 3000+ hours, 6 summers full time canoe trip guide at ontarian summer camp
~ 250 hours receptionist at a health clinic
~ 50+ hours babysitting

Extracurriculars:
~ national/international level rugby player
~ university/club ultimate frisbee player

Achievement:
~ bronze medalist at 2015 rugby world cup

LORs:
- two vets i have worked with for the last two years
- director at the summer camp i worked at
- professor i took two courses with over my time at university
- (if needed) science professor for one of my classes

Personal statement: i've heard we can re-use answer from previous cycles so i plan to do so. My answers were quite short, does anyone feel it's crucial to use up the space we have? Also, if anyone had advice on how to answer RVCs questions, let me know because i'm finding them incredibly difficult!

Comments:
1) I am kind of worried about my GRE, and having a really hard time understanding if they matter for University of Edinburgh. I wrote them an email asking if there was a range they could give me that they're looking for and they gave me zero info on that unfortunately. It's the only school i'm applying to that requires it, so if someone had thoughts on whether i should retake i would love some input!
2) RVC requires 70 hours of non-veterinary animal experience after March 2018.. does anyone know if university lab courses could count, or if there is something easy i could do just to fill this requirement? i feel pretty strong about the rest of my experience, the non-vet setting just happened to take place before March 2018.. any thoughts would be welcome!!


Thank you in advance, sorry for the long post!

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[isocitrate dehydrogenase]

Hey! I'm also a Guelph student who didn't make the cut for OVC this year aha. Anyways I'm applying to RVC and Dublin mostly because they don't need the GRE. I made a post a little while back with my stats if you want to take a look at what I'm going into the next admissions cycle with. For RVC's requirement, I reached out to a place I volunteered before. I was very open with them and just told them I need 70 hours of volunteering and a reference letter to show for it before the end of August. They were cool with it so I guess that's what I'm doing. If that's not an option you could try Foal Watch- I'm not sure when/ if the application for the summer team is starting but you could certainly reach out to see if you can volunteer there. The Caribbean schools apparently have pretty good curriculums according to the prof I'm working with this summer, and I have shadowed a St George's vet who interned at Cornell so it is definitely an option.

For the VMCAS essay prompts, I re-wrote everything and got pretty close to the word limit. I used the same points I included in my OVC essay and used the extra word count to articulate some ideas in more detail. I'm not sure what RVC is looking for with their prompts so I'm just going to answer everything as honestly and directly as possible.

 

[elephants&cows]

Hey! I'm also a Guelph student who didn't make the cut for OVC this year aha. Anyways I'm applying to RVC and Dublin mostly because they don't need the GRE. I made a post a little while back with my stats if you want to take a look at what I'm going into the next admissions cycle with. For RVC's requirement, I reached out to a place I volunteered before. I was very open with them and just told them I need 70 hours of volunteering and a reference letter to show for it before the end of August. They were cool with it so I guess that's what I'm doing. If that's not an option you could try Foal Watch- I'm not sure when/ if the application for the summer team is starting but you could certainly reach out to see if you can volunteer there. The Caribbean schools apparently have pretty good curriculums according to the prof I'm working with this summer, and I have shadowed a St George's vet who interned at Cornell so it is definitely an option.

For the VMCAS essay prompts, I re-wrote everything and got pretty close to the word limit. I used the same points I included in my OVC essay and used the extra word count to articulate some ideas in more detail. I'm not sure what RVC is looking for with their prompts so I'm just going to answer everything as honestly and directly as possible.

Thanks for your reply! I'm actually not a Guelph student, I just graduated from McGill University so i'm not sure foal watch works for me. But i have some avenues i'm working on, and am hoping the toronto wildlife centre has something open!

Thanks for the advice, very helpful! I actually ended up working on the RVC ones over the weekend and feel okay about them now.

Regarding grades, my cGPA for RVC is really borderline (the minimum is 3.40), do you have any idea if they look at progression of grades? Is GPA weighted heavily when finalizing decisions? The admissions people I am in contact with are very vague so was just wondering if you had any idea!

Thank you again!

 

[isocitrate dehydrogenase]

Hmm yeah that's a good question, I'm not sure. I knew someone last year who got in with grades very similar to yours if that helps?