What are my chances of acceptance?

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prevet1265

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Hi everyone! I've been thinking about my grades recently and was wondering if you could help figure out my chances of getting accepted into vet school and if I should continue on the pre-vet track or think about switching my major. I'm currently a first-semester sophomore and my GPA right now is 3.531. I got a B in Gen Chem 1 and a C in Gen Chem 2 last year. I am currently in organic chemistry and it's looking like I might get a C but will probably get a D in which case I would have to retake it. I am also in Bio 1 right now and will probably get a B but have a small chance of getting an A if I perform really well on the final. My final GPA this semester will probably be around 3.2-3.3. I am hoping to go to Auburn but with my grades, I'm wondering if any vet school will take me because from how bad my grades are now I can only imagine that they will be worse in Organic 2, Bio 2, and Biochem. Any thoughts? Should I continue with pre-vet or change my major? What are my chances of being accepted with these grades?

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As a first-time vet school applicant, I don't feel particularly well-equipped to tell you what your chances are, especially since you don't include any other factors (vet experience, animal experience, leadership, etc.) and a lot of your questions involve hypothetical future grades. The one comment I'll make is that Auburn apparently calculates and considers four different GPAs, two of which are science (one seems to be general science and the other is comprised of Organic, Biochem, and Physics). A quick glance at the stats I have only provides averages of admitted students for overall GPA (3.6) and science GPA (3.5), but that might give you a general idea of how you'd probably like to be doing.

As a long-time tutor, particularly in science courses, I feel a little more comfortable addressing some of your other concerns. First of all, I wouldn't automatically assume that things are going to get worse - that sets you off with the wrong mindset, and it's not always true. Organic 2 is obviously similar to Organic 1, but some people do find it easier because they're starting to adapt to the way of thinking that organic chemistry demands. Biochem is definitely hard, but it's a different sort of approach than organic, so I've also worked with a lot of people who find it more mentally accessible than organic chemistry. I'm not sure how things are in your state, but my experience is that in most places Bio 2 is a very different type of course than Bio 1. They're both challenging, but in different ways, and people tend to take to one course more than the other.

That said... given your grade history to this point, you might want to look a little more closely at your study habits. I've found that a lot of people have to learn to study for science courses, and while that can look a little different for everyone, your struggles suggest to me that you haven't quite found your rhythm yet. You might need to be honest with yourself about what's going on in your particular situation. Are you putting enough study time in? It tends to take a lot more time than you expect, especially in your freshman and sophomore years when you're still making the mental switch from high school to college. If you aren't putting the time in, figure out why. If it's because you didn't realize how much was required, or because you feel like your studying isn't productive, that can be fixed. If it's because you genuinely don't like these subjects, then you might want to consider a different field. There are certainly plenty of vets who hated Organic, and that's fine, but if you aren't excited about most of your science classes, it's probably not a good major for you.

If you actually really like most of your science courses but continue to struggle, you probably just need to find different ways to study. I've known a lot of people who work really hard and put in the hours, but they don't study very effectively. I've found a lot of students I've tutored get caught up in trying to memorize information for exams, but they don't understand general concepts. There are a ton of resources that present the material in different ways - I've liked the "For Dummies" books for particular subjects, there are lots of YouTube videos that are incredibly helpful, Khan Academy is great in a lot of subjects, and there are a ton of fantastic organic chemistry resources that are discussed on another subject in the Pre-Vet forum. My experience is that students who understand concepts but don't remember all the details tend to do a lot better than students who memorize details but don't get the concepts.

Added incentive... If you really understand the main concepts in your lower level courses, your upper level courses will probably seem easier to you by comparison. If you don't understand the concepts and just scrape by, those things will come back to haunt you in later classes. Sort it out now while you're still in the intro courses.

Hang in there. If vet school is something you really want to do, re-evaluate and move forward. There's a lot of help here.
 
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