Labrador and Dolphin are Friends

I havent posted in awhile since I have been at vet school but this will have to suffice. I hope I see something like this here in Grenada.

The Importance of Grades for Getting Into Vet School

It is unfortunate that grades, as well as GRE scores, are weighed so heavily on admittance into vet school. People that have good GPAs but not 4.0s are not getting into schools solely based on a numbers game. So to help your chances good you need to keep your grades up. I had a 3.5 GPA, 1100 GRE, 2,500 hours of vet experience and didnt even get an interview for any US vet school. Dont get depressed by reading these numbers. There is always an exception to the rule. People get in with other things that could weigh heavily on their application. Such things could be your age, obstacles overcome, or personal disabilities. I will say that being only 22 upon applying probably had hurt me. People going back to school with more life experience are more likely to get accepted, in my opinion, than others straight out of undergrad.

So here are some admissions statistics from a select few vet schools:
UC Davis

• Average GPA’s: Accumulative (3.48), Required Science (3.33), Last 45 semester units (3.61) 
• Average GRE scores: Verbal (79% - 583 scaled score), Quantitative (76% - 721), Analytical Writing (65% - 4.72)
• Average Age: 24 (age range 20-40)

University of Georgia 

• Average GPA’s: Accumulative (3.57), Required Science (3.47), Last 45 semester units (3.63) 
• Average GRE scores: V + Q (1170), Analytical Writing (4.3)

University of Florida

• Average GPA’s: Accumulative (3.51), Required Science (3.56), Last 45 semester units (3.60) 
• Average GRE scores: Verbal (524), Quantitative (679) 1203

So not every school's statistics are easy to find. These are just three that came first to me. But as you can tell there is a similar trend. The averages of these scores is something like this:

• Overall GPA: 3.51
• Science GPA: 3.47
• Last 45 GPA: 3.61
• Overall GRE: 1225

So in order to increase your chances at getting in grades are the most important part of the application. Its sad that it comes down to numbers, its partly due to people going back to school because of the economy. Some advice would be to do the absolute best you can your last 45units because it seems schools rely a lot on those scores as you can see they are higher than the rest. 

As for the GRE? I have a hate, hate relationship with it. I honestly dont know what a test about vocabulary words has to do with veterinary medicine and why it matters how well you score on this particular test. But it is something that you can never change and must accept it. So I recommend getting a book probably a year in advance and study all the time. In addition to taking prep class. It may seem like a lot but if you score really well on the GRE you will probably get into school with an average GPA.

Here are the links to the webpages of the US and International vet schools. Some link to the admissions pages so play around and search for statistics and any advice on their FAQs. 

Please choose the appropriate link to go to that school's website:

Veterinary Medical Schools in the United States
Auburn University	North Carolina State University
University Of California - Davis	Ohio State University
Colorado State University	Oklahoma State University
Cornell University	Oregon State University
University of Florida	University of Pennsylvania
University of Georgia	Purdue University
University of Illinois - Urbana	University of Tennessee
Iowa State University	Texas A&M University
Kansas State University	Tufts University
Louisiana State University	Tuskegee University
Michigan State University	Virginia - Maryland Regional College
University of Minnesota	Washington State University
Mississippi State University	Western University
University of Missouri	University of Wisconsin
International Veterinary Medical Schools
University College Dublin (Ireland)	Murdoch University (Australia)
University of Edinburgh (Scotland)	University of Prince Edward Island (Canada)
University of Glasgow (Scotland)	Royal Veterinary College (U.K.)
University of Guelph (Candada)	University of Calgary (Canada)
Massey University (New Zealand)	University of Saskatchewan - Western College of Veterinary Medicine (Canada)
University of Melbourne (Australia)	University of Sydney (Australia)
Universite de Montreal (Canada)	Utrecht University (Netherlands)
AAVMC Affiliate Member Veterinary Medical Schools*
* Accreditation & Licensure Information
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)(Mexico)	St. George's University (Grenada)
Ross University (St. Kitts)	St. Matthews University (Cayman Islands)

A Little Vet Humor: DVM vs. MD

Traveling to Vet School

Well it has been along time coming now. I left Thursday Aug 5th at 6:10am for my long trip to Grenada for Vet school! I first travelled to Dallas then connected towards Tampa. In Tampa I got to visit some family. I stayed with Grandma Lucy the first night then my cousin Kaitlin the second. It was really great to learn more about my dads side of the family while I was out here. Its nice that I can stop in Florida and see them.

I am currently in the Tampa airport waiting for my flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I really dont know what to expect when I get there. Will it be Spanish or English? I am a little rusty with my Spanish so it will be an interesting experience. When I arrive I need to find the correct bus to take me to Old San Juan to find my hostel where I will be staying. Tomorrow I will hopefully get to go to the El Yunque rainforest to see some wildlife but we will see what happens. It was hard to find a tour on such short notice and with only 1 person. I will update this periodically when I arrive at different destinations.

Update #1:
I have landed in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is 10am. I have gone to find a bus to take me to my Hostel in Old San Juan. Turns out I cant find it and end up taking a taxi for $20 which took about 10min. On the way back I will just take the bus hopefully, even though it takes a few hours.

I got to my hostel and had to go hang out around town before I could check in at 1pm. I went to Cafe Berlin. The staff was really friendly and spoke english. They let me stay there for over an hour just using the wifi and hanging out. Badnews is that they charged for refills on tea and didnt tell me beforehand. Anyways I found this little plaza and took a picture of a Chris Columbus Statue in a fountain. It is really huge.


Update #2: 

It is ridiculously hot here now. The humidity is a killer. There is no way to cool off. I am tired so I will probably pass out soon. I had 2.5 hours of sleep last night and have been up since 4:15. I went for a walk around Old San Juan today and I got to see one of the forts. Around the fort there is a bunch of shops, food stands, and cool old architecture. There are many unique statues that look like the belong in Rome or Greece. The streets are pretty much all cobblestone. It feels like what I imagine Europe is like with the old designs.

I went to the Old Harbor Brewery in Old San Juan today. I had the taster set but wasn't feeling well so just had the samplers then left. I'm going to just stay in and sleep tonight and try and get use to the time zone again.

Update #3:

Today I woke up at 8am to go to El Yunque. I got ready and headed over to the Christopher Columbus Plaza where that big statue of him in the picture is. I was to meet a man named Roberto in an unmarked white van with tinted windows at 8:45am. I hadn't talked to him specifically but his buddy is a tour guide also and he set this up for me. So at about 9am the van rolls up. I head over and meet Roberto. He was a very charismatic native Puerto Rican but somehow managed to have no accent what so ever. We introduce each other then drive a few miles away to pick up the rest of the people on the tour. It was me and a family of 4. The dynamic was great for the type of tour it was. He let us wander around and do our own thing for a certain amount of time, then would get us together to go to the next site. 

The first stop was the information center, El Portal, for El Yunque. Here we saw some bugs, plants, and the very rare Puerto Rican Parrot! We proceeded to watch a 20min documentary about the rainforest narrated by the great Benecio del Toro. We left the ranger station and headed out to the car and found these massive caterpillars that were eating this plants.

Next stop was the La Coca waterfalls. They were pretty unique. They flowed down the side of a giant boulder. It reminded me of some decoration in a Vegas hotel or a Chinese restaurant.

Then we travelled to the Yokahu Tower. This observation tower has a great view of the whole side of the island. You can see all the way down to Luquillo beach where we had lunch as well as the valleys surrounding the tower and the peaks of the rainforest behind it.

The last stop on the tour was La Mina Falls. This waterfall was excellent as you can see. The only problem is that it started to pour on us right when we got to it. It was still a blast though.

Lastly we stopped here for lunch. I had something called Mofongo de Pollo. It was good. Dont know what it was, I think it had plantains in it.

I am now back at my hostel sweating and surfing the web. I am exhausted from today and travelling. I will be in Grenada in less than 24 hours. I will make sure to post when I have arrived. 

Update #4:

I have arrived to Grenada. I got in Monday Aug 9th at 11pm. I was supposed to land at 9pm but there was a delay in St. Vincent. Turns out you cant depart an airport if there is lightening on the tarmac. I arrived in the dark and got picked up by some new friends who took me to my house. I got in and met the roomates and their dog. 

The next day I was surprised with the same friends that picked me up from the airport at my door ready to pick me up to go eat and swim. I didnt have a phone yet so it was hard to communicate to people before. 

This morning I got picked up and went to campus to get my ID card and register for classes with the orientation. I must say that Grenadians are a slow working people. Very disorganized and just plain dont care about what they are doing. So what would have taken probably 30min to complete everything took 3 hours. To make up for it we ate at a great place on campus that had chicken wraps. So close to a burrito. It made me miss home a bit. Then I got a new phone so I can contact people in Grenada. Its from Digicel and was only $20. Phones are cheap the first week of school. Also all phones down here have flashlights on them, its so random.