How I Got Into Vet School

Tips For Students Who Want to Apply to Veterinary School

Introduction

Becoming a veterinarian has always been my dream, and I knew that I would have to overcome the daunting challenge of earning acceptance into vet school in order to achieve this goal. I want to put a disclaimer that this is from my personal experience, but every person and vet school is different. Some people graduate from college early to start vet school, some get into every vet school they apply, some don’t get into any vet schools, some take a gap year to get more experience, some work in another career for years before they decide to go to vet school. Everyone is on their own path, so listen to the advice of others while also keeping in mind what is best for you on your own journey. I applied to 8 schools in the U.S., got interviews at 4 schools, and got accepted to those 4 schools. I will be starting my first year at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine this fall (August 2020). I want to tell you everything I did to make this dream a reality.

High school

High school experience is not necessary but definitely can be helpful! If you are even considering going to vet school, start volunteering at animal shelters and shadowing veterinarians as soon as you can, not only to help you decide if this is the right path for you, but also to start learning as much as possible. One piece of advice my mom gave me at a young age was to log my hours in a journal. Write down the date of your experience, how many hours you spent there, and what you did/ learned during each experience. It might also be helpful to write down your mentor/ leader’s contact information. When you apply to vet school, you will have to list all of your animal experiences, how many hours you spent participating in each experience, and ask for letters of recommendation, so getting these early experiences and keeping a log of your hours will be tremendously helpful!

Personally, I began volunteering weekly at my local animal shelter when I was in middle school. I walked dogs, cared for cats, and cleaned kennels. I started shadowing my dog’s veterinarian when I was a freshman in high school. This experience showed me that not only do I love being around animals, but I also love surgeries and the process of diagnosing patients. Finally, I got out of school early once a month to participate in an apprenticeship at the Pittsburgh Zoo. I went behind the scenes with zookeepers and veterinarians as they worked with tigers, penguins, elephants, and giraffes. It was an amazing opportunity that helped get me started on the right path of gaining experience with a wide variety of animals.

College: GPA

Unfortunately, spending lots of time with animals is not the only thing required to get into vet school. Grades have to be a priority! You need to study a lot! Vet schools require you to take lots of difficult courses (organic chemistry, physics, calculus, statistic). Your friends with easier majors or lighter course loads might be asking you to go out every weekend, and sometimes you can go, have fun! But if you know you should be studying for an upcoming exam, you need to resist the peer pressure and think about the big picture. “C’s get degrees" is a popular saying, but C’s will not get you into vet school. I would recommend aiming for at least a 3.5 GPA, although this is not a deal breaker. Vet schools will also need your science GPA specifically, which you can’t balance out with easy elective courses like art or yoga, so make sure you’re doing well in all of your chemistry and biology classes. I would also suggest going to teachers before exams to ask questions. Meeting with professors individually will help you understand the material better, improve your performance on exams, and help you build relationships with those professors so you can ask them for a good reference letter when you apply to vet schools.

From my own experience, making study guides with the important information from my class notes, making Quiz-let flashcard review questions, studying with other students, attending review sessions, and going to professors office hours helped me do well on exams. The main advice I can give you is to prioritize, manage your time, stay organized, learn from your mistakes, and don’t be afraid to ask for help. My freshman year, I loved biology and chemistry, and the material was fairly easy to learn since it was a review from my AP bio and AP chemistry classes in high school. Earning all A's freshman year helped me build a GPA cushion that saved me later on. Physics was extremely difficult for me because I wasn’t interested in the material, so the information didn’t click easily. Attending the professor’s review sessions helped me earn an A- in the course, but it definitely required a lot more study time than I had been used to.

Organic chemistry is where it went down hill. Since I had excelled in general chem courses, I decided to take the more challenging option of the o chem courses offered at my school. I struggled with this class like i never had before. I spent all my time studying o chem, i did all the practice questions, made study guides, studied with classmates, went to all the review sessions, and even hired a private tutor. I had been used to the idea that “the more you study, the more you’ll succeed,” but that was not the case in this class. I ended up getting a C+ in organic chemistry, and since I had spent all my time trying to pass o chem while neglecting my other classes, i ended up with B’s in the rest of my courses that semester. I saw my GPA drop, and I felt like a failure. What if this kept me back from getting into vet school? One poor grade will not ruin your chances of vet school acceptance! Don't let one poor grade defeat you; use it to motivate you to work harder! In the organic chemistry lab, I worked extremely hard to end with a B in that class and A’s in the other classes I was taking at the time. So instead of letting my poor performance in one class hold me back from pursuing my dream, I used that experience to talk about resiliency on my vet school applications.

College: Extracurriculars/ animal experience

My first advice is to get involved early on in your freshman year! Join your school’s pre-vet club, find a job in a research lab, volunteer at animal shelters, or do whatever you think you will enjoy that could also help you gain experience for vet school. You don’t have to stick with every extracurricular if you don’t enjoy it or find that you’re too busy, but staying involved in at least one activity throughout your college career can help show commitment when it’s time to apply for vet school. For example, I joined the club Project Paws when i was a freshman, which is the club in charge of organizing fundraisers for local animal shelters. I became the public relations chair for this club my sophomore year, maintained this position junior year, then became president senior year. This was a great way to show leadership, dedication, and a passion for animal welfare. Vet schools want well rounded student so on top of serving as a leader of Project Paws, I also worked in 2 research labs, joined a sorority, and was a member of a THON committee while at Penn State. This shows that I have interests outside of veterinary medicine and that I can balance time effectively between class work and extracurriculars.

My next piece of advice is to make sure you get experience with all types of animals (small, large, and exotic if you can) then dive deepest into your main area of interest. I go into more detail on each of these categories in the "Veterinary School Applications" section under "Hours" later on in this blog post. I highly recommend applying for an undergraduate research position at your university. The hours were great! I was able to pick my own hours and go in between classes since the labs were right on campus. It’s also a very valuable experience that lots of vet schools desire.

Since you’ll be really busy studying during the school year, I definitely suggest using your summers to get as many hours of experience as you can. Try to get a summer job in your intended field if you can so you can make money, gain valuable hands on experience, and accumulate the hours necessary for vet school applications. I worked as a veterinary assistant at a small animal clinic and volunteered at animal shelters during my summers. Ask the veterinarians you work with lots of questions and don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty cleaning up feces and wiping kennels. This will show the vet your interest and dedication. Since you need at least one letter of recommendation from a veterinarian to apply for some vet schools, it’s important to form a close relationship with a vet. I also spent one month participating in an animal science study abroad in Switzerland and a one month study abroad in Thailand. Gaining hands on veterinary experience with elephants in Thailand definitely helped me stand out amongst other applicants, so i would suggest gaining unique animal experiences if possible.

Veterinary School Applications

GPA

Now I’ll go over aspects of the vet school apps. The first thing a lot of schools will look at is your GPA. I had a 3.6 cumulative GPA and a 3.7 science GPA. I believe i googled “science GPA calculator” and plugged in the grades I received in each of my science courses to determine this when filling out my apps. They account science GPA to make sure you did well in the courses relevant to vet school, not just in the general electives. GPA serves to show vet schools that you’re an achiever who is hardworking, teachable, intelligent, hardworking, studious, and eager to learn, all of which are crucial in vet school. I would aim for at least a 3.5 GPA because many vet schools will have a minimum GPA before even considering the rest of your application. However, if your GPA is not as high as you’d like, don’t get too discouraged! That doesn’t mean your dream of vet school is over! Just use that as motivation to make sure the rest of your application is stellar!

GRE

I’ll be straight forward, the GRE is not a fun exam! It took hours with very short breaks. It was so draining. It’s broken up into writing, verbal, and quantitative sections. So when I took it, the writing was first and I just typed essays. Then it went back and forth between reading and math the rest of the exam. I would suggest looking up the average GRE scores for admitted students to your intended veterinary schools so you have a goal in mind. I also suggest looking up which schools you’re applying to require GRE scores because not all schools need them. After the GRE, I was able to send my scores to some of my schools in the exam room without an additional fee that you get for sending the scores later. You don’t have to send any scores while still in the exam room, but you do have the option. I would also recommend taking the exam at least 3 months (preferably even earlier) before vet school applications are due so you have time to take the exam again if you aren’t satisfied with your scores.

I don’t remember my exact scores, but mine were around the average for my vet schools, so luckily I only took the GRE once. I probably started studying for the GRE 3 months before I took the exam, but I only studied for about 1-3 hours 1-3 times a week. I think this was more effective than people who try

to cram everything in right before the exam because I had time to figure out my strengths and weaknesses. To study, I bought the official GRE practice book, which I highly recommend because it was extremely helpful (click on image for the link to the book).

It went over each of the sections and had practice questions with the corrects answers and

explanations. I also took an online course for the math part because I wanted to excel on that part of the exam since that is most important for vet schools. One thing I wish I did differently was time myself while going through practice exams because I definitely struggled to finish in the time allotted during the actual exam, especially on the math sections.

Reference Letters

I believe 3 letters of recommendation were required when I submitted my vet app, and at least 1 had to be from a veterinarian for most schools. It doesn’t hurt to have additional reference letters, but make sure each person you ask knows you well enough to write a good letter. My dog’s veterinarian served as one of my references because I had known him for years, I had shadowed him since high school, and I worked for him one summer during college. My college advisor also wrote me a letter of rec because I had met with her multiple times each semester since freshman year to make sure I was in track for vet school, and she tracked all of my grades, so she knew I excelled academically. She was also my professor in 2 animal science courses. My third letter was from the lab manager who oversaw one of the research labs I worked in since I reported to her everyday since I started this position my sophomore year. My fourth letter was from the professor who ran the other lab I worked in. He had taught 2 of my animal science classes and had reached out in recognition of my hard work to ask if I would consider working in his research lab beginning my junior year. Finally, my fifth letter was from a professor who taught 2 of my animal science courses and was the leader of my animal science study abroad trip to Switzerland the summer before my sophomore year. As you can tell, I selected people who have seen me in various aspects of my journey towards vet school, but all of these people knew how hardworking, dedicated, and passionate I was about reaching this goal. I wrote each of them a very professional email 3 months before applications were due asking if they would consider writing me a reference letter and attached my resumé to the email. This gave them plenty of time to write the letter of rec with their busy schedules. Afterwards, I wrote each of them a handwritten thank you note to show my appreciation.

Leadership Experience

A lot of vet schools will look for leadership experience, whether they’re asking for an essay describing your experience as a leader or they’re looking for leadership positions on the vet school application where you list your extracurriculars. I served as a President of my university’s club in charge of organizing fundraisers for the local animal shelters, and I served as a member of a THON committee for our 46 hour dance marathon in which we raised money to fight childhood cancer. I tried to talk about both of these experiences on my application to show I have experience working as both a leader and a team member. Veterinarians must be able to do both since they will work as a team with other staff members but also lead veterinary nurses.

Hours

Regarding hours, most vet schools (at least the ones I applied to) don’t have a minimum requirement. Usually, more hours of experience would give you more of an advantage, so definitely try to spend as much time getting experience as you can. Also, many vet schools consider breadth and depth of experience. “Breadth” would entail hours in as many of the following categories as you can: small animals, large animals, exotic animals, and research experience. Vet schools would like to see that you have experience in several areas of the veterinary field. “Depth” would entail how deeply involved you are in your specific area of interest. For example, my goal is to become a small animal veterinarian, perform general surgeries and routine check-ups at an animal clinic, and ultimately open my own veterinary clinic. Therefore, I spent most of my time with small animals. You want to focus on veterinary-specific hours (experience with a veterinarian) more than animal hours (working with animals but without a vet present), but both are important.

For my vet experience with small animals, I shadowed veterinarians and worked as a veterinary assistant at small animal clinics. For my animal experience with small animals, I volunteered at various animal shelters with cats and dogs. To hit the other categories, I assisted on my university’s dairy farm to collect milk samples (large animal experience), participated in an apprenticeship at a zoo and worked with elephants in Thailand (exotic animal experience), and worked in 2 animal science research labs (research experience). I believe Thailand was one of the keys to helping me get accepted to vet school since it was such a unique experience! I got hands-on experience with elephants and horses while staying at an elephant sanctuary. I also practice small animal clinical skills while working at an animal shelter: scrubbing into surgeries, making the surgical cut during a dog neuter, performing injections, placing intravenous catheters, monitoring anesthesia, administering subcutaneous fluids, and performing blood draws on dogs and cats. I highly recommend checking out Loop Abroad’s programs since they have veterinary experiences in many different countries with many different species! (linked on image below)

Essays

The general application required 3 essays, then most vet school required 1-6 of their own essays. I’d recommend working on these essays as early as possible! It took a lot of time brainstorming ideas for each prompt, writing them, editing them, getting my parents to review them, rewriting them, proofreading them, and perfecting them before I was happy with them. I was so glad I finished all of my essays before the start of my senior year; I did not want to worry about writing these essays on top of the stress of schoolwork. I would also suggest that you have at least 1 or 2 people proofread them. My parents were able to catch a few errors I missed and come up with a few suggestions I hadn’t thought of. For several of the prompts, I would also try to make it more of a story rather than simply listing experiences straight off your resumé. An example would be a prompt that read “How did you decide to pursue veterinary medicine.” I wrote in the perspective of my childhood self when a veterinarian performed emergency surgery to save my dog's life and talked about how I felt in that moment. Use your voice to tell your individual story from your perspective to help show your personality so you can stand out amongst other applicants who have all volunteered at shelters, shadowed veterinarians, etc. One of my favorite parts of the Tufts application was that they gave us the option to submit a 2 minute video essay. I’ve always loved editing together videos, so instead of just sitting in front of a camera talking for 2 minutes, I gathered up a bunch of my favorite footage that fit the prompt, edited together a unique video, recorded my answer to the prompt, and put my voice recording over the video clips. I really think this helped me stand out as an applicant since the faculty members that interviewed me talked about how much they liked my video during my in person interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPqSB051BgY

Interviews

The interview process was definitely the most stressful and nerve wracking part of the process for me! If you’re interviewing at schools that use the multiple mini interview format, I would highly recommend purchasing a book to guide you through the unusual format and looking up practice prompts online to help you prepare. For schools that use the typical interview format, I would suggest reviewing over your application and resumé to think about what you learned from each experience. Googling possible vet school interview questions helped me think of experiences I’ve had that I could apply to several questions. Be sure to have answers ready for “tell me about yourself,” “why did you pick veterinary medicine,” “what leadership experience have you had,” “what’s a conflict or challenge you faced in your life and how did you overcome it,” “how do you handle stress,” and “why this vet school over your in state school?” I would also prepare at least 2-3 questions specific to that vet school to ask at the end of the interview to show your interest in that school and that you’ve done your research. Some schools will tell you if their interview is open or closed file. “Open file” means the interviewer has looked over your resume/ application and will likely ask you questions based on it, so be prepared to expand upon what the interviewer has already read rather than just reciting your resumé. “Closed file” means that the interviewer has not seen your application and will likely ask you more general prompts, so you can use experiences from your application to answer these questions as the interviewer will not be aware of your experiences.

Summary

This was really long and detailed, but I hope it can help guide pre-vet students! Keep in mind that everyone’s journey to vet school is different! You and your friends will probably apply to some of the same vet schools. Someone might hear they got an interview before you, someone might get accepted to a school before you hear back from them. As hard as it might be, try to be patient and don’t compare your journey to anyone else’s! Lots of people don’t get into vet school the first time they apply, but don’t let that discourage you from applying again! Many of the best vets today had to apply to vet school twice, so do whatever it takes to reach your dream!

Applying to vet schools is expensive and time consuming! I’m glad I applied to 8 schools because I knew, while I would take a gap year and reapply if I had to, my goal was to only go through one round of vet school applications to start vet school immediately after graduating from college. I was extremely happy to hear that I got 4 interviews. After my interviews, I was ecstatic that all 4 of those schools offered me a place in their programs! Ultimately, my top 2 choices were Tufts and Ohio State. Both of these schools are incredible programs with amazing hospitals and both do not have students specialize, which I liked even though I want to go into small animal medicine, I think it is important to have a solid understanding of as many species as possible. I chose Tufts because I’ve always dreamed of living in New England, I loved how the faculty made me feel at ease during the conversation-like interview, their curriculum matched my goals, and I fell in love with the campus on my tour!

If you want a much shorter summary of my journey to vet school, check out the link below! Also feel free to message me questions on Instagram @DogtorBella any time! I really do think everyone will end up where they belong, and I can’t wait to start vet school! Getting into vet school is challenging, but worth it! Good luck!