Veterinary Grades

A strong candidate for veterinary school has an overall GPA of 3.6 or higher with at least that GPA in the pre-requisite coursework.  Many schools will not accept pre-requisite coursework in which the grade is lower than a C-.  There is a lot of student angst concerning GPAs and admissions standards.  While it is true that grades do not tell the entire story about an applicant, they are an important tool for admissions committees to assess your potential success as a veterinary school.  Aim for a 3.8 or higher, if possible, with high grades in all of your pre-requisite courses.  If you are having trouble in a particular class, get help as soon as you realize you need it.  While a single poor grade can be explained, a trend of low grades signals to an admissions committee that you may not have the academic perseverance or skill needed to succeed in veterinary school.

Extra-curricular activities and pre-veterinary animal experience

During your four years of undergraduate education, you should accumulate at least 400-600  hours of pre-professional veterinary medical experience through employment, volunteering, internships and participation in research.   Veterinary schools will evaluate not only the amount of time you have spent, but the depth, breath and quality of the experiences you have had.  Vary your experiences by working with a range of animals including companion animals, livestock, lab animals, zoo animals and wildlife.  To the extent you are able, try to work directly with veterinarians to learn more about the field and to cultivate potential references for your application.  Additionally, try to attain high quality experiences that allow you to participate in a research project or work on a project semi-independently to be able to demonstrate your skills, maturity and responsibility.  It might be useful to keep a journal of the different experiences you have, what you have learned and your mentors to keep as a reference when you prepare your application. 
Finally, in selecting extra-curricular activities, note that it is better to show a long-term commitment to a few endeavors rather than short-term participation in many activities.

References

All veterinary schools will require two or three people to write letters of reference on your behalf.  Typically, these references are professors, veterinarians for whom you have worked, and sometimes academic deans or other administrators.  Veterinary schools want
to know:

•  Have you carefully considered why you want to go to veterinary school?  
• Are you likely to do well in veterinary school?
• Do you possess the qualities of a good veterinarian?
• Do you have something to contribute to the veterinary school?
• Do you have something to contribute to the veterinary profession and society in general?

Getting a good recommendation is not just a question of asking someone for a reference.  Recommenders will need time to get to know you so that they can write a personalized letter that comments favorably about your intellectual abilities, creativity, motivation to become a veterinarian and the possible impacts you will have once you are in practice.  Cultivating relationships with potential references should start as soon as you know that you want to go to veterinary school.   While you should strive to do your best at any endeavor, you should go out of your way to excel in courses, internships and jobs that may lead to a reference.