How Many Vet Schools Should I Apply To?

The Question is How Many Vet Schools Should I Apply To?

If you have asked yourself this question then you are in the right place. More importantly, knowing the right number of vet schools to apply to is unique to each student. Unfortunately, there is not just one definitive answer on how many vet schools you should apply to each cycle.

On the other hand, our research on the topic “how many vet schools should I apply to” is extensive! We will feature various students from all over the US, and layout how many schools each one chose to apply to. How expensive is it to apply to vet school? As of 2021, it is $220 to apply to one school and then $115 for each additional vet program that you add.

Once you get into a veterinary program there are plenty of things you will need to buy. First and foremost you’ll need a veterinary stethoscope. Some other items you’ll need to buy are textbooks, laptops, binders, note taking pad, (like an iPad or something similar), and vet coveralls.

We will go over how many vet schools a few other students applied to below. Next, we will cover how many cycles each of these particular students had to apply to before being accepted into a veterinary program.

If you’ve been asking yourself the question “What are my chances of getting into vet school?” then this case study is for you.

Case Study on: How Many Vet Schools Should I Apply To?

Some pre-vet students apply to 8 veterinary colleges each cycle while others apply to only 1. 

Things to consider when figuring out how many vet schools to apply to.

• Cost. It costs more money to submit more applications through VMCAS.
• How competitive is your GPA? Does it match up to the average GPA of a previous year’s class? Most vet schools list the stats of each accepted class.
• Do you have your heart set on your in-state vet school? 
• Are you willing to apply a few years in a row if you apply to fewer vet schools and don’t get in on the first try?
• On the other hand, if you get into multiple schools, do you have a plan on how you will choose which one to attend?
• Are you a non-traditional student, starting vet school later in life? If so you may want to apply to more vet schools each cycle so your chances of getting in are greater. Since time might be of the essence.
• Check the stats on each school’s website to see how many out of state students they accept each year. This can help you determine whether or not it’s worth it to apply.

13 Vet Schools: Is Applying to 13 Vet Schools too many?

• This Ohio vet school student applied to 13 schools and got in on his first try! Out of the 13 vet schools, he applied to he got accepted into 3 vet schools.

Apply to 9 Vet Schools

Is applying to 9 vet schools too many?

• As an example, one Colorado vet school student named Yoshua Goodman took the initiative to apply to 9 vet schools. Yoshua gained acceptance to 7 out of the 9 schools he applied to. Read his unique story and application stats in our interview.

Apply to 8 veterinary colleges

• To illustrate, William applied to 8  vet schools and ultimately decided to become a Cornell veterinarian. 

How About Applying to 7 Veterinary Colleges?

If you are wondering if you should apply to 7 vet schools, check out this student below.

• Maria applied to vet school 2 cycles. She applied to 4 schools in the first cycle, then in year 2 applied to 7 veterinary schools. Mississippi State University vet school is where Maria is now an MSU vet student.

Apply to 6 Vet Schools

Generally speaking statistics on students that applied to 6 veterinary colleges are found below by following each link. You can visit the interview page of each student featured here to look deeply into their vet school application stats.

• Dr. Klein applied to 6 vet schools and goes to Penn state vet school. On the first application cycle, 4 veterinary colleges out of the 6 gave Dr. Klein an acceptance letter. 

• The Lap of Love Founder, Dr. Dani McVety applied to 6 vet schools. In comparison, Dr. Dani applied to 1 vet school in the first application cycle, then 5 vet schools in the second application cycle. Dr. Dani got into UF vet school after her second attempt. This made the decision on how many vet schools to apply to easy. If you only apply to one vet school the first cycle and in turn do not get in then apply to more the second time.

• Colleen who is a student at SGU vet school applied to 6 schools during one application cycle. She was invited for an interview at 4 veterinary schools and waitlisted at 3. For her deciding to go to St. George’s vet school worked out because now in 2020 she is a practicing DVM! 

How Many Vet Schools Should I Apply To? The answer is simple however many you can afford time-wise and money-wise. Some schools have supplemental applications.

If you want to apply to 6 veterinary schools check out the interview below. Each vet school you add will cost more money.

• Dr. Klein went to Penn vet school. She applied to 6 veterinary colleges and was put on a waitlist at NCSU vet school, and now is a Penn veterinary college graduate.

Applying to 5 Veterinary Schools

• The average GPA for vet school varies. To emphasize this Cat got into 1 vet school with a 3.4 GPA. The first year this student applied to 1 veterinary school. After not getting in the first time around, she decided to apply to 5 schools in the second cycle. 

• This student aced the Western University vet school interview. Evie applied to 5 vet schools and got into 1.

Students Who Applied to 4 Veterinary Schools

Applying to 4 veterinary schools can increase your acceptance rate chances.

• The Ross vet school acceptance rate can vary each year depending on the number of applicants.  Moreover, Elizabeth applied to 4 vet schools and got into RUSVM on her first try and decided to go for it! 

• Amanda is a lab animal veterinarian. Amanda applied to 4 vet schools after working for years in the research field under many lab animal vets. This lab animal vet went to grad school before vet school.

Statistics on students that applied to 3 veterinary colleges.

Please visit the interview page of each vet student to take a deeper dive into their specific criteria. Applying to 3 vet schools seems to be the most common number.

• Getting into the University of Missouri took Riley one application cycle. She applied to 3 veterinary colleges all during one veterinary application cycle. 

• Dr. Amy Wilkinson went through the WIMU vet school program after applying to 3 schools.

• Lincoln Memorial vet school is where Cortney was waitlisted before she received the call that she was heading to vet school! Furthermore, Cortney applied to 3 veterinary colleges and now attends LMU.

• Becoming a military veterinarian became possible after Dr. Im applied to 3 veterinary colleges and finally got accepted to Ross. In short, Ross is an accredited Caribbean veterinary college with a rolling admissions process. 

• Oftentimes prevet students research how to get into vet school with bad grades. A GPA below 3.4 might be considered a low GPA for veterinary school. In this case, Kayla applied to 3 vet schools and got into LMU during her first application cycle. 

Can I apply to 1 vet school and get in?

• Dr Emanuele is a fish veterinarian who did not get in on her first try. Then she waited a few years and applied to one school: NCSU. Dr Emanuele did mention that if she did not get in on this 2nd try that she did not plan on applying again. Luckily for the world she did get in and is now the ownder of 2 successful mobile veterinary practices.

• Ryan learned what the LSU vet school requirements were before applying. Hence, Ryan applied to 1 school (Louisiana State University) and got in on the first try. He applied to vet school later in life, so he knew exactly what he wanted.

• Rachel only chose to apply to one school as well. More importantly, that school was St. George’s University vet school. In short, this vet student heard a lot of great things about St George’s. Overall this was the primary reason why she chose to go to the vet school before applying to others.

In Conclusion

All things considered, the amount of vet schools that you apply to is your own choice. Chiefly, if you have the money to spend apply to more. More importantly, f you want to conserve money just do extensive research on the vet schools that you do apply to. Given these points, reach out to former students to talk about their stats. In short, former students can be found on this website or within the APVMA FB group. Don’t be shy, most veterinary students are more than willing to help out pre-vet students.