12/20/2024
What is behind your stats?
It is common and understandable to want to compare gpa, hours of vet experience, animal experience and volunteer hours to other applicants who are getting interviews or even acceptances. But what’s behind those numbers is where the real story lies.
Consider Sandra and Dave; two fictitious applicants.
Here are their stats:
Sandra cGPA 3.9, 1000 vet hours, 1000 animal hours and 2000 extracurricular/volunteer hours.
Dave: cGpA 3.5, 400 vet hours, 600 animal hours, 1000 volunteer/extracurricular
It would seem based on stats alone that Sandra has the higher numbers in all categories and therefore has the better stats.
But what if I told you that Sandra has 1000 vet hours with 500 in one SA GP practice and 500 in an ER clinic all small animal. Dave has 230 hours working in a SA GP, 80 shadowing an equine vet, 50 shadowing a mixed animal vet and 50 shadowing a vet who works for the USDA.
Some admissions committees would say Dave has greater breadth of experience and likely a better understanding of the profession as a whole.
We could do this same exercise for animal hours and volunteer hours. The point being that it is not a matter of more hours is always better, but what did you do in those hours? What were you exposed to? What skills did you learn? What responsibilities did you have? This is why the descriptions you write for each experience are so important!
When I reviewed applications for admissions, I only looked to see if the applicant met the minimum hours. Many schools do not even state a minimum. Beyond that, I was only interested in reading about what they did and not a total number of hours. That being said, a balance between breadth and some depth at one location is important as well.
If you are wanting help in planning your future experiences or improving your descriptions on your application, set up a complimentary 20 min zoom with me and we can discuss how I may be able to help you.
