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I don't think my friend will be successful.

He wants to apply for Veterinary science at University for 2010 entry.

However he has BCC (biology, chemistry, physics respectively) at AS and I think he will may be able to get predicted AAB at a massive push, but I'd have thought the B would be in chemistry. He has only done 3 AS but next year will be doing 3 A2 and 1 AS (english language). But he will be resitting the majority of his AS year, plus doing A2, plus an extra AS so :s-smilie:

He will have to declare his AS on UCAS (school policy)

His GCSEs are medicore (can't remember the specifics).

He does have great work experience though, and is very passionate about doing vet sciences. He would be very good at it!

I don't feel overly positive about his prospects myself having watched friends much stronger academically get 4 rejections but I don't really know much about vet sciences. Will his good work experience make up for his lacking academics? He will take a gap year & reapply if he doesn't get in.

Hoping that those more knowledgable that myself will know whether he has a shot. If he doesn't though I'm probably not going to be the one to tell him. How do you tell someone that!?

Reply 1

steph_v

13

He does have a chance, yes. Yes, many people will have better grades, but if he can get predicted AAB+ then he may as well go for it. It's not all about the grades. However, it is best if he can get predicted an A in Chemistry, at all costs. Some vet schools have GCSE requirements too, so make sure he meets those requirements before applying to those specific ones. Also how good is 'good work experience'? Does he meet Liverpool's 10 week requirement? Because Liv and Bristol are the two vets school that accept a B in Chemistry, and may be his best shot.

I have to say, I find this thread quite odd. Why isn't he on here asking this?

Reply 2

_ra

OP

steph_v

He does have a chance, yes. Yes, many people will have better grades, but if he can get predicted AAB+ then he may as well go for it. It's not all about the grades. However, it is best if he can get predicted an A in Chemistry, at all costs. Some vet schools have GCSE requirements too, so make sure he meets those requirements before applying to those specific ones. Also how good is 'good work experience'? Does he meet Liverpool's 10 week requirement? Because Liv and Bristol are the two vets school that accept a B in Chemistry, and may be his best shot.

I have to say, I find this thread quite odd. Why isn't he on here asking this?

Well considering he's not a member it would be hard. Also wouldn't you be a bit gutted if one of your friends came up to you and said "hey look I'm not sure you've got a shot at getting into vet school, why don't you ask on TSR?" I wanted to know where he stood as I don't know that much about vet school entrance so that when our school tell him not to bother (which they will) I know how to support/advise him best & how much to encourage him to apply. IE if he came to me asking "Do you think I should bother ra?" prior to making this thread I'd probably have said no, but after reading this I would say yes, go for it, and gone over all his AS chemistry & biology with him to make sure he gets the required grades and push him further to make sure he persuades the chemistry teacher to predict him an A. I want to support him in the most appropriate way - if the answer had been he hasn't got a shot this year it would have been making sure he got a good gap year placement and was ok with this. As its yes it's helping to motivate him after how gutted he was on results day and by helping him revise his subjects... don't see the problem with this thread personally at all? Nothing wrong with being a good friend

And yes I would have thought he has 10 weeks...

But the 10 weeks, does it have to be 10 weeks in terms of days so 70 days work experience? (though he probs has that to be fair) Or every saturday for the last year in a vet surgery = okay?

Reply 3

steph_v

13

Woah, okay. All i meant, is you could have recommended this site, because it's good a good, helpful vet forum. I mean, my application would be complete ***** without the help of the people on here. There's nothing wrong with being a good friend, I just thought you sounded a bit negative.

And yes, it terms of 50 days (5 day week). They want 4 weeks at a vet surgery (preferably more than 1 practice) and 6 weeks other animal experience (i.e stables, kennels, lambing, dairy, pig farm, zoo, lab, abattoir, wildlife hospital etc).

Make sure he looks at all of the veterinary schools requirements carefully, including how they feel about re-applicants and re-sits, so he knows which are the best 4 for him to apply to. Some, like Nottingham, won't look at a re-applicant if they've interviewed them, so maybe, if he's application isn't too good this time, that wouldn't be the best option. Just an idea.

Reply 4

hannah_vet

8

i feel really mean saying this - but all this talk of predicted grades - it doesn't guarantee you an interview/offer - and even if you did, you still have to actually get the grades in the end. With something like BCC, the sheer amount of work you'd have to put in to get your AAB/AAA, on top of the work experience and whatever hobbies/social life you have. i guess it comes down to how much you want it? I don't know, all this talk makes me worried that people are thinking that just by getting the right predicted grades that it's all going to be fine? someone tell me i'm wrong?

Reply 5

PsYCho ThInKeR

11

to be honest with you when i applied i had bbc at AS and i got 2 interviews. i never got an offer but still got the interviews which i believe were due to my personal statement. i would have reapplied this year but i got an offer from nottingham for the lincoln gateway course on results day.
its just depends on how much you are willing to work to improve your grades.

Reply 6

tigercallie

7

i just thought people needed decent predicted grades to get an interview, well a shot at getting an interview...without good predicted grades you might not even get a shot at an interview to prove yourself, so its like a foot in the door? Obviously actually getting them is something different!!! :smile:

Reply 7

ch0c0h01ic

18

_ra

However he has BCC (biology, chemistry, physics respectively) at AS and I think he will may be able to get predicted AAB at a massive push, but I'd have thought the B would be in chemistry. He has only done 3 AS but next year will be doing 3 A2 and 1 AS (english language). But he will be resitting the majority of his AS year, plus doing A2, plus an extra AS so :s-smilie:

People frown at resits but in reality these days it is the norm, even for students with relatively good passes to push their grades up even further.

If anything he can use it to his own advantage, he can use the fact that he had to resit a large amount of exams and his huge workload as evidence for his determination and passion to be a vet.

If he can make it work, kudos to him.

Also there is nothing stopping him from dropping the extra English AS to reduce the workload, he only needs 3 A-levels after all and as long as he's got an ok GCSE pass.

_ra

His GCSEs are medicore (can't remember the specifics).

They have their place but they aren't essential, what matters most is your A2 results. The vet schools aren't going to turn away a straight A student with heaps of work experience solely because he got a C in PE several years previously.

_ra

I don't feel overly positive about his prospects myself having watched friends much stronger academically get 4 rejections but I don't really know much about vet sciences.

I was told by my school not to bother with applying to vet sci or Oxbridge because it was extremely competitive and nobody in the school's history had ever got a place (and I went to a bloody good school as it was). Did I listen to them and bin my dream career?

If you are genuinely his friend support him, don't put the boot in.

_ra

Will his good work experience make up for his lacking academics?

The Vet Schools take into account a multitude of factors, sure predicted grades are up near the top but so is your interview success, your personal statement, teacher references, perhaps work experience references, BMAT scores, etc.

At the moment he might not stand out in the grades department, but that doesn't mean that he can't catch their attention (in a good way) elsewhere. I do have mates who got BBB, even ABC, etc and still go places.

If he isn't doing his Gold D of E already it would be a good idea for him to take it up, what he's doing already will qualify for most of it, why not get the extra credit for doing it?

_ra

He will take a gap year & reapply if he doesn't get in.

Great as long as he puts it to good use (ie; getting more work experience, resitting modules, doing some extra curricular work, etc).

I don't think my friend will be successful.

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