029: How To Stand Out With Your Vet School Application w/ Gretchen Delcambre
Two of the most common holdups potential students have before applying to vet school are how to make sure your application stands out, and whether or not vet school is the right path for you in the first place. Today, Gretchen Delcambre, director of vet school admissions to Colorado State answers everything you need to know before you submit your application to vet school.
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Show Notes:
Gretchen describes the application process, how to set your application apart from the crowd, and why grades aren’t everything. Gretchen focuses on Colorado State’s selection process and the criteria they are looking for, breaks down how they narrow down the 2200 annual candidates, and the importance of hearing the whole story of an applicant. She will put to rest your worries about having a perfect 4.0 GPA, why you should focus on what makes you different and highlights the other things on your application that can be even more important than grades.
In this episode:
- A breakdown of the vet school application process
- Why it's not a bad plan to apply to multiple schools
- The ‘holistic review process’
- What it's like to be in a relationship with another veterinarian
- The importance of experience over grades
- Perseverance and why you should keep applying even if you don't get in the first few times
Quotes:
“Even though I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, it was just going to open more doors. So that's why I jumped into vet med.” (6:49)
“When this admissions position came up there was someone who sort of rang the bell and said ‘hey you should really look at this’ and I did and it was the right fit for me because the admissions position, i am really advocating for our profession and needing a diverse group of students coming in to go and fill all the crazy niches in the profession” (23:14)
“Part of our holistic process is we can look at stories even within transcripts. We understand that sometimes college is a hard transition for students coming out of high school. So sometimes you might not rock out those A’s and B’s in the first semester or second semester. What we are looking for is those upper division sciences… we are really looking at upper trends towards those last years. It's not about that shiny 4.0 it's more about the growth.” (30:49)
“Once you get into vet school, take that pressure off yourself, it's about learning the material not making the grades.” (34:38)
Links:
For DVM Admissions questions, email DVMAdmissions@colostate.edu
For tours and advising appointments for anyone not currently a CSU undergraduate and within 1 year of applying, email DVMTours@colostate.edu
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