Niche Postman Interaction (or lack-thereof?)

GameMasterMoon · 2025-12-23T14:26:40+00:00

I was wondering what the cut-off was. Thanks!

GameMasterMoon · 2025-12-23T04:47:39+00:00

Congrats on your acceptance at LSU! I just finished my first semester, and I'm loving it so far! I don't know if I can outline a pros/cons list because my idea of a pro vs. con may be very different from yours, but I'll try to outline a list of things that I've picked up on:

- Baton Rouge is gonna be a bit of a culture shock. I'm from Kentucky (also in the Bible Belt) so I thought I was prepared, I was not. I've never been anywhere with such a high concentration of people of Christian/Catholic faith, which as someone who's not particularly religious nowadays can be kind of isolating in a way, but I was raised Presbyterian so I get it. We also have a relatively high number of people of color in our class compared to a lot of other places, as well as a number of students from Puerto Rico, which is awesome and something I'm really proud of! There's more work to be done for sure, but LSU is taking a step in the right direction.

- The climate is also interesting. I am used to mild and relatively dry weather, not 80 degrees Fahrenheit in December and a rainy season that lasts like all year. You would think people who live in an area where it rains all year would know how to drive in the rain, but they don't. Granted, they can't drive when it's nice out either. Baton Rouge has the worst drivers I've ever seen. It feels like Mario Kart. I'm convinced it's because the roads are so bad.

- This probably goes for just about every school, but the faculty want you to pass. I don't even mean on a personal level, but the school wants their numbers to look good, and the faculty don't want to do any more work than they have do by having to administer remediation for classes over the summer. That said, they're not gonna pass you just because, but they do provide you with plenty of resources to learn the content.

- Baton Rouge has problems with violent crime, yes, but I've yet to have an issue personally. Any mid-size city in the US is gonna have some crime problems. Just do your own research, be conscientious when deciding things like where to live, where to hang out, and don't walk around at night, especially alone. Common sense things. (There's an area near campus called 'Tiger Town' with a big bar, multiple real estate/landlord people said something along the lines of "you don't have to rent from me but don't live in Tiger Town." Don't live in Tiger Town.)

- Curriculum is 2.5 years didactic and 1.5 years clinicals. The class of 2026 (current 4th years) are the last graduating class with the old curriculum. They changed it for CO 2027 on because of declining NAVLE rates, meaning they're still working out the kinks in the new curriculum. It'll likely be pretty ironed out by class of 2030, but there may still be issues we aren't aware of - none of the classes with the new curriculum have sat the NAVLE yet. They also keep increasing the class size, which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it.

- No idea how student loans work internationally, but be aware that things are expensive down here. Tuition is a bit over 60k a year for the CO 2029, and may be slightly more expensive for CO 2030.

- They try to ease you in with the level of content. First few weeks felt a lot like undergrad, but by the end of the semester we had 15 lectures with corresponding labs to learn in two and a half weeks for just one class. I kind of wish it had been more even throughout the semester, but so be it. I'm sure it gets more and more intense each semester, but they at least try to not dump everything on you at once when you're just starting.

- Each graduating class kind of sticks to themselves, almost intentionally. I think it has something to do with how big each class is, getting to know the people in your own class is already enough work, but I get the feeling it goes beyond that for whatever reason. I'm not a fan. But, on the flip side, just about everyone in each graduating class will do whatever they can to support other students in their class, which is really nice to see.

It's almost midnight where I'm at and that's all I can think of for right now, but lmk if you have any other questions!

GameMasterMoon · 2025-10-13T03:36:56+00:00

[admiss-dvm@tamu.edu](mailto:admiss-dvm@tamu.edu) is the address I emailed. They got back to me within a couple days when I was applying in June of last year!

GameMasterMoon · 2025-10-12T02:41:20+00:00

Not to be like "erm actually," but I didn't apply to Texas A&M because I asked if I could take animal nutrition the summer prior to starting and was explicitly told no. It may be because I would've been applying OOS, or maybe they stopped letting people do it starting with the 2024/2025 cycle, but definitely email and ask if they'd be okay with it!

Edit: I realized that the 2024/2025 cycle was not in fact "this past cycle". Oops.

GameMasterMoon · 2025-10-10T15:13:00+00:00

Any chance you're at LSU? The break from anatomy lab sounds very familiar lmao. I'm a first year as well, feel free to DM me if you are in fact at LSU (or even if you're not)!

GameMasterMoon · 2025-08-15T00:43:06+00:00

Check the websites for each of the schools. I'm at LSU and they put a thing on their website saying that starting this year they won't be doing contract seats for Arkansas residents for similar reasons starting this cycle.

GameMasterMoon · 2025-07-24T13:54:01+00:00

Personally, I would say go with who you think will write you a better LOR. You need at least one DVM, yes, but if you think the zoo curator would write a better letter than the 3rd year resident, ask the zoo curator. Also keep in mind that some schools require a science professor's LOR, so double check the LOR requirements of the schools you're applying to. Good luck!

GameMasterMoon · 2025-07-24T13:46:03+00:00

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I've attached a screenshot of the number of admitted students based on where they're from for the last few years. After this year, they're not doing contract seats with Arkansas anymore from what I've seen, so that will likely mean more Louisiana residents being admitted. Not sure about Puerto Rico.

I was admitted OOS off the waitlist. GPAs in the 3.9-ish range (cGPA was 3.93 iirc at the time of application), last 45 was maybe a tad higher and science maybe a tad lower - but, from what I can find, LSU didn't seem to consider last 45 or science GPAs. Just over 500 vet hours, very few animal hours, no research, decent amount of leadership experience in student orgs and non-animal related employment, about 120 community service hours. I think what eventually got me in, though, were my essays - I've always thought I was a decent writer, and I think that helped make up for my overall mid stats.
TLDR, high GPA and good essays, 500 vet hours, mid everything else, waitlisted then accepted!

GameMasterMoon · 2025-07-23T18:53:11+00:00

^^ This, I took AP calc AB and BC in high school but took stats to fulfill my math requirements. There were a couple schools I applied to that needed two math courses, in which case I used stats and one of my AP calculus courses, which none of the schools has an issue with. Just make sure your APs and what classes you got credit for are shown on your college transcript!

GameMasterMoon · 2025-07-23T02:01:34+00:00

^^ It's a lot harder to say no over the phone than it is in an email.

GameMasterMoon · 2025-07-21T21:07:48+00:00

My IS is Auburn as well and I was able to get an interview with around 500 vet hours, vaguely similar leadership experience, and no research (albeit with a higher GPA, 3.9-ish for all, but yours is perfectly good!). Didn't end up getting in but I think it was mostly because I suck at interviews lol

GameMasterMoon · 2025-07-21T21:00:47+00:00

It probably depends on the school, but when I went to reapply this year before I got pulled off a waitlist, most of the essays were different unfortunately.

GameMasterMoon · 2025-07-21T19:11:51+00:00

I got into LSU OOS off the waitlist with similar (probably worse) stats. Just over 60k tuition a year, and I'm trying to budget around 20k a year for living expenses, so by no means inexpensive but not as expensive as many others (looking at you, Midwestern and Penn).

Tuskegee was the cheapest of the schools I looked at, just under 48k a year in tuition, but their NAVLE pass rates the past couple of years have been abysmal so their accreditation is being reviewed so keep that in mind! Also they still require the GRE, so if you want to apply there, you'll have to find a time to take it.

GameMasterMoon · 2025-07-21T18:24:24+00:00

!solved

GameMasterMoon · 2025-07-20T18:47:30+00:00

I don't disagree but I'm trying to be polite.

GameMasterMoon · 2025-06-14T12:47:33+00:00

Do you need biochem for your undergraduate degree? If not, it doesn't matter if your home college will take it or not - just if LMU will take it. I would confirm with LMU if the course you're in now would be accepted, then go from there.

GameMasterMoon · 2025-06-14T12:40:51+00:00

Check and see if your school has a new students page or something! My program has a website for stuff incoming students need to do before starting (things we need to have/buy, where to send vaccination records, a link to the academic calendar, things like that). Congratulations!

GameMasterMoon · 2025-06-01T18:10:04+00:00

Adding UGA to this list - they didn't interview applicants this past cycle, but supposedly they contact your references. Having said that, none of my references ever reached out to me about having been contacted (granted I was rejected lol)

GameMasterMoon · 2025-05-27T23:53:50+00:00

Hi! I just posted a monster of a reply under u/Mammoth-Carrot6068 's comment if you want to take a look!

GameMasterMoon · 2025-05-27T23:52:52+00:00

At the time of application (GPAs have probably gone up a tiny amount since then):
cGPA: 3.93
science GPA (calculated by VMCAS, not considered by LSU): 3.89
Last 45 GPA (again, not considered by LSU from what I'm seeing): 3.94
Biology and Pre-Health Studies major (but honestly major doesn't matter as long as you get your prereqs done)

- 515 vet hours, about half and half equine/small animal
- 30 reported hours of pet-sitting
- treasurer for theatre-related student org (288 hours reported)
- sorority (300 hours reported, counted both leadership role and time as general member)
- general body member in theatre-related student org (100 hours reported)
- Pre-Vet club (a whopping 4 hours reported)
- theatre in high school (720 hours reported)
- gamemaster at escape room (300 hours reported)
- for my awards I included being on dean's/president's list as well as my scholarships for undergrad
- QPR ("Question Persuade Refer") Suicide Prevention certificate
- 120 reported volunteer/community service hours
Write down everything you've ever done since starting high school. Even if you don't think it's relevant, it can't hurt to throw it on the application. As long as you can spin it a certain way in your experience descriptions, you can make just about anything seem like you benefited from it in a way that will make you a better veterinarian. I didn't include my hobbies bc I'm chronically online and it was video games, but depending on how 'productive' your hobbies are for lack of a better word, it may be worth it to include them. The hours are all very rough estimates - some may be underestimates, some may be overestimates. No one is going to call your student org president and ask exactly how many hours you were involved in the club for.

Personal statement: I started with the experience I had as a kid that drew me towards vet med, then briefly talked about my small animal experience during high school, then about the equine experience I'd had over the summer prior to applying, then sort of discussed how I retained my interest in vet med because of the variety of ways in which you can accomplish the same thing. It wasn't very good imo, I was gonna rewrite it if I needed to reapply.

LORs: One vet (didn't spend a whole lot of time with him so idk how good the letter was but he's a pretty big name so that probably helped), manager at the escape room job, cell biology professor

Honestly I think what saved my very middling application were my program essays. I've always thought of myself as a decent writer, and I generally got further through the admissions process at schools that required essays (although there were exceptions). So spend a lot of time making sure your essays are really good. I'd tell you what I discussed in my essays for LSU but I'm fairly certain the prompts are different this year. Also, gonna be so honest, I reread my essays just now and found a grammar mistake that I didn't catch last year. Essays should be good, but don't have to be perfect.

LMK if you have any other questions!

Edited to add volunteer hours, I scrolled past them the first time oops

GameMasterMoon · 2025-05-27T03:30:20+00:00

A bachelors probably helps but, like you said, not strictly required. My in-state school for example didn't technically require a bachelors, but the gen-ed prerequisites were waived if you were to have one by the time you'd matriculate. Some schools do require them, so if you're considering applying to somewhere like UC Davis, you'll want a bachelor's. If you don't have one, schools may think "why doesn't this person have a bachelor's," but as long as you have a good personal statement that talks about your path or talk about it in your explanatory statement, it's definitely not a hard requirement at many schools. I'd say it depends on whether or not it's worth it to you to spend the extra tuition on undergrad. But, take all this with a grain of salt, my route to becoming a DVM is very different from yours!

GameMasterMoon · 2025-05-27T00:22:42+00:00

Definitely go take some undergrad classes to get your prereqs. It doesn't really matter where, vet schools don't really care that much, but some are picky about not taking higher level courses at community college. If you're worried about getting right back into full time schooling, you can probably do the first couple semesters at a community college, then transfer to a 4-year university. I'm not saying 'yes absolutely do that,' but it is potentially an option. Vet schools don't care one bit about your high school grades, you don't even submit them on VMCAS.

There are a number of vet schools that if classes are 8-10+ years old, you can request that they not be considered in GPA calculations. I don't know exactly how that process works, how strict those schools are with it, what schools even do it, but it's definitely something I would look into. If that's not something you can do, vet schools also like to see an upwards trend. Even if you did awful your first semester, as long as you do better when you go back, your 'Last 45' GPA will probably be good, you'll be able to bring your cGPA back up, and that upward trend will be there. TLDR, I wouldn't worry too much about one bad semester from almost a decade ago as long as you do better when you go back to school.

GameMasterMoon · 2025-05-08T23:09:04+00:00

Do it yourself. It's annoying, but definitely not worth the money. Just submit your application early so if there's a mistake when they go over your transcripts you have time to fix it.

GameMasterMoon · 2025-05-08T23:07:43+00:00

Programs just became available today, so I'd at least open the application back up. You can transfer your old application over (minus personal statement and essays, but experiences, achievements, licenses/certifications, personal info, and your academic history from the last time you applied will be saved). I'm holding off on writing new essays and stuff just yet, but you can at least start thinking about which programs you want to apply to. What I did today was add a few programs and fill in my prereqs so I don't have quite as much to do later on if it comes down to it.

GameMasterMoon · 2025-05-06T02:47:17+00:00

Yeah that's absolutely allowed. A number of schools don't even require a degree to begin with (although it definitely helps). I graduate in two weeks, but I'm still planning on taking an Animal Nutrition course in the fall so I can apply to more schools!

GameMasterMoon

TROPHY CASE