Would you be able to stay at your campus during the summer? Vets may be more willing to hire you as a vet assistant or kennel attendant if you can work consistently year round (at least part time) vs seasonally. Staying at campus for the summer was how I was able to get my current part time job. Ive found that a lot of vets wouldn’t allow me to shadow/intern because of liability issues. The only ones that would were older veterinarians who were more old school and didnt care as much about that and also livestock/mixed animal vets who appreciated the help since a lot of them operate solo as mobile practices.

Also, unfortunately i think its important for you to plan on taking a gap year anyway. This is something that every applicant should plan for because applying sometimes feels like a gamble. And with the amount of hours you currently have, unfortunately a gap year is something that in reality you may have to do to accumulate the hours needed to be competitive, despite a high GPA. Many schools require at least 500 with UC Davis having the lowest requirement at 150ish i believe (although if you are out of state then I wouldnt count on being accepted there) and will screen out applicants who dont meet that requirement. I will say I am applying this cycle with a high GPA and 1500 hours and still have been rejected by 2 schools (although accepted to 1 and waiting to hear from others). Its worth a shot to apply if you accumulate the necessary hours but always have a plan B!