I’m about 3/4 done with my junior year and I need to start looking for colleges. My first choice would definitely be UC Davis, but since they are the best prevet school, I most likely won’t be able compete against the other applicants. Given the following info: GPA 3.9, SAT 1400, and 200+ total volunteer hours by the end of the summer (10 hours at the LA Food Bank; the rest at the Boys and Girls Club and Pasadena Humane Society) what other UCs and CSUs should I apply for senior year/will likely accept me? What’s a good safety school? Thanks for the help!!
I hate to say I’m not very familiar with the California colleges. UC Davis is great. If you are willing to look out of state look at Auburn, Mississippi State and Kansas State. All have excellent out of state scholarships, good animal science departments and very nice vet schools. My son chose Kansas State because of their early admit to vet school program. You may not be eligible for that because you don’t have a high number of hours with a vet. If you can work with a vet this summer that program could be there. It gives a lot of peace of mind. Good luck.
If you are in California, then you should ultimately be targeting UC Davis as your vet school. As you know, the largest undergraduate feeder to UCD vet school is UCD itself. If you can’t get into UCD, then your next best options would be the two Cal Poly schools: Cal Poly SLO or Cal Poly Pomona. They both have strong animal sciences programs, and send relatively large numbers of students to UCD vet school. CPP might qualify as a safety for you.
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/students/admissions/ClassOf2020Statistics.cfm
If you are prepared to go out of state, you might look at Utah State, which recently opened a vet school in partnership with Washington State. My understanding is that it is relatively easy for out-of-state students to qualify as state residents in Utah. If you were to attend USU and qualify as a Utah resident, then (1) you would pay the low in-state tuition rate as an undergraduate, and (2) you would get favorable admissions treatment for USU vet school.
Most vet schools are at state universities, and they typically discriminate against non-residents in admissions. The linked document above, for example, shows that the acceptance rate at UCD vet school was 34.5% for CA residents, but only 6.8% for non-residents. Note also that vet school tuition tends to be high, and that non-residents typically have to pay even more.
Kansas State, Purdue and others offer guaranteed Vets admission. That might also interest you.