Animal Science Pre-Professional Chance me/Match Me [TX resident, 3.891 HS GPA, 4.0 college dual credit GPA, not top 10%, 1270 SAT (1310 super score), low income]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics

  • US Citizen
  • Texas
  • Type of high school Public HS in competitive district
  • Other special factors: One parent died from cancer. I am the second student ever in my district to earn an associate degree by December of senior year

Cost Constraints / Budget
Will likely qualify for Aid. Income falls around poverty level

Intended Major(s)

Animal Science or

Biology with Animal focus

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.891 /4
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.888 /5
  • College GPA: =4.0 (dual credit classes)
  • Class Rank: around 15% (district does not rank outside of top ten percent)
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1270 (1310 super score)

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English: Advanced English 1, 2, AP Lang, AP Lit, Dual Credit Composition
  • Math: Advanced Algebra I, II and Geometry. AP Precalculus, AP Calculus BC, Dual Credit Statistics
  • Science: Advanced Biology and Chemistry, AP Physics, AP environmental Science, Animal Science
  • History and social studies: AP World, AP Human, AP US History, Dual Credit Govt, Dual Credit Econ, Dual Credit Psychology, Dual Credit Speech, Dual Credit Texas History, Dual Credit Educational Psychology
  • Language other than English: Spanish 2 years
  • Visual or performing arts: 4 Years March Band 5 A State finalist, Dual Credit Music Appreciation, Dual Credit Art Appreciation
  • Other academic courses: Survey of Agriculture, Small Animal Management, Livestock Management, Veterinary Medical Applications, Practicum in Veterinary Medicine (Internship)
  • College Coursework (Transfer Applicants)
    I will graduate HS with 60 college credits and a 4.0 from dual credit and concurrent credit, I am core complete.

Awards

AP Scholar with Honors

Member of multiple college level honor society (Phi Theta Kappa etc)

NHS

State Finalist Marching Band

State Finalist Soloist

Extracurriculars
Worked at a Vet clinic for 3 years by graduation date

Certified Veterinary Assistant

Volunteered with NOMV

Volunteered with non profit dog rescue organization for 4 years

Worked and lived away from home over the summer of 2023 and 2024 working at a summer camp

Essays/LORs/Other
Good = Ties in veterinary medicine experience with advocacy speeches that I gave in front of my school board and college board of trustees

Schools

Cornell (via Quest Bridge) -

UC Davis -

Texas A&M (Top choice) -

UT Austin (Biology Major) =

Oklahoma State University -

Texas Tech

Auburn

Purdue

Arkansas

Suggestions for other schools that would be a good fit?

2

Sorry about your patent. If you are WB eligible, a few things:

  1. Use all 15 slots - that’s 15 full ride chances
  2. Remove schools you have near zero chance to afford - Davis, Auburn, Purdue

What can you afford ? If you are QB eligible, I assume no cost so how will you pay for OSU or Arkansas ? How will you pay room and board in state ?

Prairie View will give you a full ride if you get the Regents Student Merit Scholarship.

Budget first and foremost and if you can qualify QB, you have little. So use all 15 slots. Whether schools will choose someo

With an AA I don’t know. But list the easier to get into - Oberlin, Denison, Holy Cross - schools like that.

If you have a decent budget, then you won’t be QB capable financially. Miss State will be a lower cost option with a fine program, but likely not low cost enough.

How about regional Texas schools that might be lower cost. Like a Tarleton State.

UC Davis is $80k per - not gonna get big aid, if any.

See where I’m going ?

You built a list for your major. You need to build a list for your budget.

Good luck.

3

One big question comes to mind: Are you thinking about possibly getting a DVM? If so then the big problem that I see is the total cost of all of this education. Minimizing or if possible avoiding undergraduate debt is important. Whether to go on to a DVM is however something that you can think about 4 or 5 or 6 years from now.

Texas A&M is very good for veterinary medicine, including both undergraduate and also a very good DVM program. It is a great choice for you. Being in-state with strong grades should make your chances quite good there. Also, while we are not from Texas and you probably know better than I, my understanding is that Texas A&M does offer both need based financial aid and merit aid for in-state students. To me this looks like a great potential choice for you.

Your grades and experience are great. Your SAT is low for Cornell. If you get into both Texas A&M and Cornell and if both are equally affordable, I honest do not know which one you should pick, but would probably lean towards Texas A&M. Texas A&M is a great choice for what you want to study, and you do not need to go to Cornell if you get the chance just because it is famous and in the Ivy League.

Same comment as with Cornell. If you get into both UT Austin and Texas A&M then think about which is the better choice for you. Do not just go to UT Austin because it is higher ranked.

All three of these schools are great choices. The question is not which is better for me, or for some kid down the street, or which is ranked higher by US News. The question is which is a better choice for you.

My primary recommendation is that you take the total cost of attendance into consideration as a very important issue, and try if you possibly can to avoid debt for your bachelor’s degree. Veterinary Technicians do not make much money. You would have a much easier time supporting yourself as a vet tech if you graduate university with very little or if possible no debt.

By the way my older daughter worked as a vet tech for three years after getting her bachelor’s degree, then went to veterinary school to get her DVM, and is currently working as a veterinarian. She was very glad that she was able to get her bachelor’s degree with no debt, and get her DVM with a debt that is very well under control (we were able to help her). The cost of education is important for someone taking on this career path.

My daughter is interested in large animal veterinary medicine. One thing that she has mentioned is that it is very common on commercial farms / ranches that many of the staff speak Spanish. She studied Spanish while getting her DVM. This is something that might be useful for someone interested in veterinary medicine, whether as a vet tech or as a DVM.

I wonder whether staying with an in-state public university makes it more likely that you can graduate university in less than 4 years. One issue here is that this can reduce the total cost and possibly help to minimize debt. However, another issue is that the pre-vet required classes are the same as the premed required classes, and you don’t want to rush to take the most difficult classes. Spacing things out can be helpful.

My condolences. This might particularly hit me since I had a multi-year struggle with cancer myself. I was lucky. After three rounds of treatments over 6 3/4 years, a bit more than 3 years ago my cancer became undetectable. It has remained undetectable ever since. My oncologist has mentioned some research results that suggest that radiation treatments for cancer can spur the immune system to fight the cancer. Apparently the research behind this was primarily done with animals and veterinary oncology, perhaps partly because it would not be considered ethical to have done the same research with people. Some of this was done at Colorado State University, which has a great pre-vet and animal science program, a great DVM program, and a great veterinary oncology program. The main issue I see however is that since you are in-state in Texas, and out of state for Colorado, to me it seems highly likely that Colorado State would be more expensive. I do not see any reason to take on this expense.

And I would be very surprised if UC Davis was affordable for you as an out of state student (unless I am missing something).

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I think if he’s applying to any school via QB it will be a full ride - hence if he’s truly WB eligible, he needs to use all spots as he might not be able to afford college otherwise.

He noted Cornell QB. I don’t know if it’s auto merit or competitive but qualification wise OP can get one at Prairie View. He should check if it’s assured.

Whether they want the school or not, when you have a limited budget, you often don’t get to choose.

5

Colorado State has automatic merit scholarships based on GPA, so I expect the total cost would be a bit under $50k. Here’s the scholarship page. Green and Gold Scholarships for Nonresidents | Admissions | Colorado State University

UC Davis would be expected to cost about $85k/year.

Most public universities don’t offer need based financial aid to nonresidents, so if family income is around poverty level (as stated in original post), the best choices would likely be either in-state with financial aid, or private universities that offer financial aid.

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While I think you would be a great candidate at CSU (or anywhere), I would not take on the debt for CSU. You will get little beyond Green and Gold, and as you would come in with AP credits, you’d also hit differential tuition sooner. They also just had a pretty significan OOS tuition hike and I suspect there will be another one in the near future. I’d wait and apply for vet school there. They have an amazing vet school, but I think Texas A&M is just as strong in animal science for undergrad.

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Absolutely. Also, Texas A&M has a great DVM program.

CSU and Texas A&M are both great schools for pretty much anything related to veterinary sciences. For a few specialties such as veterinary oncology, they might differ. For undergraduate studies or a regular DVM program you are comparing excellent with excellent, and I would go with whichever is affordable.

8

OP is applying for Questbridge.

We shouldn’t, in my opinion, really be talking outside of QB or other schools that are free.

The student should use the entirety of the QB roster - all 15 - even if they are adjacent majors and not animal science itself.