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Veterinary Medicine 2013 hopefuls! (again, early...)

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Original post by skatealexia
Hey, its actually harder to get in with a degree, and the fees are in the region of £20,000 Im afraid.


I will take my chances thanks ,
And the fees are reduced if youve already done relevant modules :smile:
Reply 81
Original post by Jordanaimee

After this course im planning on applying to vet sci in 2013 ( maybe 2014 ) , much easier to get onto once you already have a degree, plus you can drop modules you have already done apparently.


please don't write things like this in the vet forum - i'd hate anyone to believe that this was true!

ask any graduate here and i'm sure that they will all tell you that they wish they hadn't done a degree first. it might be easier to get a place at a full fee university but finding £80-100,000 is definitely not easy for most people and there is little financial assistance available to graduates (maintenance loan will not even cover the 'cheap' uni fees).
Reply 82
Had two baby hedgehogs in at the vets today :smile: Had forgotten how much i love little hedgepigs. Might have to harrass the animal sanctury on monday and see if they've got any that need looking after :biggrin:
Reply 83
Original post by Lizziewizz
Had two baby hedgehogs in at the vets today :smile: Had forgotten how much i love little hedgepigs. Might have to harrass the animal sanctury on monday and see if they've got any that need looking after :biggrin:


omg... too cute :biggrin:
Original post by Jordanaimee
I will take my chances thanks ,
And the fees are reduced if youve already done relevant modules :smile:


It's obviously up to you what route of entry you take. But like schizopear said, becareful how you explain this to other people. There are plenty of people who head down the grad route through being badly/uninformed and it doesn't help if people make it seem like an easy way in.

Yes, doing a degree can help out when/if you have bad a level grades. However there are a lots of BUT'S with regards to grad entry:

1. You will have to pay full fees at all bar Nottm, RVC and Camb. Full fees are circa £18-22k per year. If you can afford this, great, but most people can't and don't realise they will have that kind of money to find.

2. RVC and Nottm charge normal undergrad fees, Camb charge normal undergrad fees plus college fees (so works out fairly expensive in the end). This means that they are all (esp RVC and Nottm) insanely competitive for Vetmed places. I mean a lot more so that normal entry. To the point where many people have to go back and re-do a levels (particularly if they had low grades first time round), to try and be competitive. If you end up redoing a levels post-degree, many people wish they had just done that first time round.

3. As a grad you will get virtually no monetary support. Maintainance loan is all you can get, which doesn't even cover my accommodation cost. Many banks have withdrawn career development loans as well recently, making it even harder to fund your way through vet school.

4. You mention exemptions from modules - some uni's work like that and allow you to miss modules, some do a 2in1 year, making it a four year course. But, this may make it slightly cheaper, but still expensive. (The amount you save on module exemptions is actually very little). But the 2in1 year is stressful beyond belief. I have nearly finished my exams, and I would say out of 53 of us, virtually everyone has been pretty close to a nervous breakdown at one point or another. It is easy to see the difference comparing us to the 1st and 2nd year students - they were stressed, but coping. Most of my coursemates have been struggling to cope, it definatly is not an easy option!

That is just stuff I can think of off the top of my head. Obviously you are already heading down the degree route, as many people have done, and now don't have much option. But please, please, don't suggest it to people as being an easy/good route to go. Yes, it works, but it is long, expensive, hard, and no guarantee you will even get there.
Reply 85
Original post by Lizziewizz
Had two baby hedgehogs in at the vets today :smile: Had forgotten how much i love little hedgepigs. Might have to harrass the animal sanctury on monday and see if they've got any that need looking after :biggrin:


N'aaaaw :smile: I rescued one with my friend from the road once and we gave it a really long name and put it in a hedge. It was so adorable when you held it and stroked it, my mum wasn't happy though she was convinced I'd brought fleas into the house! :rolleyes:

Really want to do work experience at the hedgehog rescue centre nearby :smile:
Reply 86
Original post by Amy7
N'aaaaw :smile: I rescued one with my friend from the road once and we gave it a really long name and put it in a hedge. It was so adorable when you held it and stroked it, my mum wasn't happy though she was convinced I'd brought fleas into the house! :rolleyes:

Really want to do work experience at the hedgehog rescue centre nearby :smile:

I took two in last november and one home from the vets in february. I dont have any pets so it was great looking after my gorgeous hedgepigs :biggrin: Was quite sad when the first one died though :frown:
The one i brought home from the vets brought fleas into the house :P

Doing work experience in a hedgehog rescue centre sounds amazing
Reply 87
Original post by Amy7
N'aaaaw :smile: I rescued one with my friend from the road once and we gave it a really long name and put it in a hedge. It was so adorable when you held it and stroked it, my mum wasn't happy though she was convinced I'd brought fleas into the house! :rolleyes:

Really want to do work experience at the hedgehog rescue centre nearby :smile:


hedgehog rescue centre?! sounds so fun!
Original post by kookabura
It's obviously up to you what route of entry you take. But like schizopear said, becareful how you explain this to other people. There are plenty of people who head down the grad route through being badly/uninformed and it doesn't help if people make it seem like an easy way in.

Yes, doing a degree can help out when/if you have bad a level grades. However there are a lots of BUT'S with regards to grad entry:

1. You will have to pay full fees at all bar Nottm, RVC and Camb. Full fees are circa £18-22k per year. If you can afford this, great, but most people can't and don't realise they will have that kind of money to find.

2. RVC and Nottm charge normal undergrad fees, Camb charge normal undergrad fees plus college fees (so works out fairly expensive in the end). This means that they are all (esp RVC and Nottm) insanely competitive for Vetmed places. I mean a lot more so that normal entry. To the point where many people have to go back and re-do a levels (particularly if they had low grades first time round), to try and be competitive. If you end up redoing a levels post-degree, many people wish they had just done that first time round.

3. As a grad you will get virtually no monetary support. Maintainance loan is all you can get, which doesn't even cover my accommodation cost. Many banks have withdrawn career development loans as well recently, making it even harder to fund your way through vet school.

4. You mention exemptions from modules - some uni's work like that and allow you to miss modules, some do a 2in1 year, making it a four year course. But, this may make it slightly cheaper, but still expensive. (The amount you save on module exemptions is actually very little). But the 2in1 year is stressful beyond belief. I have nearly finished my exams, and I would say out of 53 of us, virtually everyone has been pretty close to a nervous breakdown at one point or another. It is easy to see the difference comparing us to the 1st and 2nd year students - they were stressed, but coping. Most of my coursemates have been struggling to cope, it definatly is not an easy option!

That is just stuff I can think of off the top of my head. Obviously you are already heading down the degree route, as many people have done, and now don't have much option. But please, please, don't suggest it to people as being an easy/good route to go. Yes, it works, but it is long, expensive, hard, and no guarantee you will even get there.


Thanks for all the advice guys. And i would say it wouldve been ten times more easier if i did get the grades at Alevel , unfortunately that didnt work out for me, I probably put what i said in the wrong context. But yes , thanks anyway guys :colondollar:
PASSED my exams :biggrin:
Reply 90
Original post by skatealexia
PASSED my exams :biggrin:


well done!!! hopefully in a few years that will be me :biggrin: haha
Reply 91
Original post by skatealexia
PASSED my exams :biggrin:


Well done you :smile: You must be so happy!
wow - i'm amazed at how early you've all started on here! All your work exp sounds fab, and there's still heaps of time to bump it up - what you need to remember is that there will ALWAYS be someone who's got loads more than you, thats the way it works, but so long as you get a good range and take lots away from it, and can talk about procedures you've seen etc in your PS and at interview (make notes at the time, regardless of what you think you WONT remember the in depth interesting stuff when you get to interview, and you've got A level stuff in your head and the stress etc) and remember to keep doing bits and pieces right up til you apply, obv dont go mad if you've already got loads, but they like to see some recent stuff on your app too :smile:

If there's one final piece of advice I would pass on to ALL of you, is to get references as close to doing the placement as you can, Liverpool WILL ask for them if you get to interview, as may some of the others (Notts give you the option to post them to them in december) and i know so many people who were running round right before christmas, trying to get references off of vets they saw ages ago who probably dont even remember them, and so it basically just says ' so and so was here' - if they remember you they're more likely to personalise it with your good points etc as they'll remember them! I made a little form for all my placements to fill out, so farmers in particular who arent that great with words could just tick boxes on things like punctuality, presentation etc, some vets, like my equine vet, wrote me a personalised one that nearly made me cry when i read it! Its a competitve course, and if uni's can see that the people you've spent time with liked you, you made yourself useful, and you can show at interview you learnt lots then it doesnt matter how much you've got tbh - an applicant with 14 weeks and fab references, is preferable to one with 54, with average/ no references, and who cant talk about it when asked :wink:

Good luck to all of you - shout if you need anything :smile:
I'm nearly crying with the total lack of work experience I have!!! :frown:

I have:

2 weeks small animal
5 years owning pony
1 week riding stables
Sheep experience
6 months working in pet shop

Booked:
Lambing
1 week equine vets
1 week animal sanctuary

Can probably get:
At least another week small animal
Equine dentist
Hunt kennels

POSSIBLY might get a saturday placement at a vet surgery.

Should I just give up now?
Reply 94
Original post by SallyLoofah
I'm nearly crying with the total lack of work experience I have!!! :frown:

I have:

2 weeks small animal
5 years owning pony
1 week riding stables
Sheep experience
6 months working in pet shop

Booked:
Lambing
1 week equine vets
1 week animal sanctuary

Can probably get:
At least another week small animal
Equine dentist
Hunt kennels

POSSIBLY might get a saturday placement at a vet surgery.

Should I just give up now?


.... You have another year. Of course that's fine. Calm down. I had nothing at the point you're at now.
Reply 95
I wish I was like you guys. So much time! :frown: I suddenly found loads of awesome placements I should've done but I've barely got any time left. Sigh. I may be joining you in applying for 2013 entry!
I'm just looking at Edinburgh's way of submitting your work experience and they ask for hours spent at each placement. I've been working fairly irregular hours at my riding school for over 3 years now. I don't quite know how I'm meant to total up all those hours.
Original post by SallyLoofah
I'm nearly crying with the total lack of work experience I have!!! :frown:

I have:

2 weeks small animal
5 years owning pony
1 week riding stables
Sheep experience
6 months working in pet shop

Booked:
Lambing
1 week equine vets
1 week animal sanctuary

Can probably get:
At least another week small animal
Equine dentist
Hunt kennels

POSSIBLY might get a saturday placement at a vet surgery.

Should I just give up now?


dont make me hit you!
and you know you're not going to give up as i wont let you :wink:

its funny looking back as i remember stressing about work experience so much when i was at your stages, but once you've gone through it all you realise that work experience only plays a small part, i know its hard not to obsess as obviously its way too early for interview prep etc, but seriously - you ALL need to chill out, about your grades and your work experience, just to prove a point i'm going to write out how my app looked and you'll realise that its about so much more than work exp and grades :wink:

My grades, weren't great. Average GCSE's for a vet app (A*A*A*AAABBBBB) and my AS's left a lot to be desired, i've resat the one i dropped to get it up to a B, but at the time of application i had ABCC in my AS's, with a few D's as module grades, and an E (i really dislike statistics :wink: )

Work experience I had
1 week in a joint kennels/cattery
2 weeks dairy farm
3 days beef farm
1 week lambing
3 weeks small animal vet
2 weeks and 3 days equine vet
18 months working at a dealers yard at weekends/holidays (but could only count 12 of this on liverpool form)
1 week llama farm
1 week wildlife centre

I saw only routine lambings, and 2 calfs born (on my last day!) I've never stepped foot on a pig or poultry farm, or in a lab or abbatoir, never saw any farm animal vet work, but i made the most of what i could see (make useful contacts, you'll be glad of having stress free contacts found for EMS :wink: )and got decent references off all of them. These were then sent to nottingham, and the ones asked for by liverpool were taken to interview.
Edinburgh rejected me straight out, Bristol put me on hold then rejected me in february, Nottingham and Liverpool both interviewed me... Liverpool emailed me within 11 days (you normally have to wait like 2 months until end of march unless you're seen as 'exceptional' (the rate you on each station, so if you do well at all you get an offer early, or bad at all your get rejected early, everyone else gets pooled and ranked) and nottingham phoned me 4 days after my interview to offer me a place! I'm certainly not near the top of the pile in terms of work exp or grades, however if you can go to interview and come across as genuine, enthusiastic and lively and confident then you stand as good a chance as any.

I'm proof that you dont have to be AMAZING on paper to get an offer, just good enough to get a chance to show off your personality.

Ultimately, you've all got AGES ahead of you, to rectify grades, gain experience etc. The fact you're doing so much already is fab, but dont let your grades suffer as a result. A levels are a huge jump up from GCSE, and require lots of work - be aware of keeping the balance between schoolwork and work experience, as you want the best grades you can get :smile:
Original post by Stripes23
I'm just looking at Edinburgh's way of submitting your work experience and they ask for hours spent at each placement. I've been working fairly irregular hours at my riding school for over 3 years now. I don't quite know how I'm meant to total up all those hours.


i made it up :wink: obviously dont blatantly lie, but for example i spent 18 months working at a dealers yard, at weekends and holidays, its just to get a rough idea as to how often you were there over that time estimate roughly how many times a week you went over the 3 years, and average out how many hours you normally do in a day - they're not going to ask anyone for an exact value as to how many hours you did, its just to grasp if you meant you'd been like once a month for a few hours, for 3 years, or twice a week all day and all holidays etc :smile:
Original post by Leigh303

Original post by Leigh303
well to be honest you have A*s in science which is the most important, and good grades in maths and english - i think most unis want C+ in those so that's fine, in theory.

Im predicted 11 A*s (not going to happen) + A in FSMQ (which i will only get if they drop the boundaries considerably) though so someone else might be able to help more!

A levels will be FAR more important though. what are your choices? im doing maths bio chem, and a language for AS.


DONT do a language unless you are really, and i mean really good at it. i took spanish at AS and i got a B in my GCSE spanish, and i will be very happy if i get a c at A level, im expecting a D!!! and a girl in my spanish group got at least an A at GCSE and she prob wont get more than a B. i regret it, and so do 3 others out of 7 that took it, so its up to you, and u might breeze thru it but dont say i didnt warn u.

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