Apply this cycle or the next?
Hi all, I applied to 5 vet schools last Fall and was rejected from all of them- I knew I wouldn’t get in, I did not want to apply, my dad was the one who pushed for it. I had a 3.3 cGPA applying and no veterinary experience. The only thing that could even make me a potential candidate in my eyes was my thousands of hours of animal experience- I worked on horse farms for many years, been a cat foster since 2023, and have loads of unusual at home animals that I rescue in my free time- fish, hermit crabs, and loads of unusual inverts like millipedes, shrimp, isopods, snails, and roaches.
I worked really hard my senior year of college and brought my cGPA up to a 3.41, with a sGPA of 3.36 and my last 45 GPA at about a 3.6. I also began volunteering at an equine NICU doing overnights, and I am sitting at 115 hours there currently. My hours aren’t incredibly high, as it’s an on-call position, but they are not shadowing hours- I independently do TPRs on the foals (including blood pressure, assessing lungs/GI, etc), assist them in standing and getting them back down, restrain them for the vets, bottle feed, and do various other tasks to keep the NICU running. I also volunteer at a wildlife rehab (started late April), but with the demand of the NICU and my 18 credit load I am still working my way up to getting more hours (only about 20 right now). My goal is to get a job either in ER or in an equine hospital once the NICU ends (end of June). I feel like my hours might be too low as of now to consider applying again, but I’d like to hear everyone’s thoughts, and where they think I should go from here.