2012 - veterinary re-applicants

is AAAB (b is in bio) ok for veterinary? i could retake it, or does it look bad if you retake something?

Yea, AAAB in more than enough as all the English/Scottish vet schools want the AAA/AAB. Where r u applying to this year

obviously get as much in before october deadline as you can, but any planned work experience (if its arranged for definate) can be done after the deadline and mentioned in your PS. if you get an interview they often send a form for you to write your work exp on so it can then be put onto there as completed once you get an interview. have you done any farm experience? abattoir?

is AAAB (b is in bio) ok for veterinary? i could retake it, or does it look bad if you retake something?

yea I volunteered on a city farm for four years from the age of 12, so I stopped that 3 years ago now and it wasn't really commercial, I wrote to the farmers union for my region and they put me on some sort of contact list for farmers who offer work experience because I have no idea where to look for that kind of thing it's just a shame cos I know the unis expect you to do LOADS in your gap year and it might come across as a lack of effort on my part when in reality iv just found it quite difficult

where about do you live? could you maybe stay with relatives or friends and do a few weeks on a farm? could literally be a case of looking in yellow pages or the phone book and ringing around... not living near farms isnt realy a good enough reason to of not gone and got the work experience, you are competing against others in the same situation as you who have really stuck there neck out to get the experience, finding farms that provide accomatation, long journeys of forking out for a B&B.

I Live in Surrey, the Greater London area don't get me wrong I am in no way shape or form making excuses, im looking for advice lol in the past I have been all over the place for lambing and stuff, i'm willing to travel I went to spain for crying out loud, I was just wondering if i'm doing something wrong bcause I have just written to random places and they either say no or don't get back at all, which I kind of expected , obviously for insurance reasons not all places take students which I understand. where did you do your dairy/commercial experience? or if there is anyone else on here who could recommend places that take students id be really grateful

Laverstoke park farm in Overton, Hampshire takes work exp students, go on their website and then the education section. It's not too far from Surrey - you'd need to BnB it but not the other side of the world. If that's a good location for you I can give you contact details for a dairy farm near there too. Also in Heathrow there's Heathrow Special Needs Farm which has a range of farm animals and is an RDA centre they would be grateful for any volunteersn- I used to go every week from Egham

no way! that's where i did urban farm work/rda too

I'm Sophie, TSR rookie but figured it would be helpful to get other people's help and opinions on applying so hello!
Got a straight rejection from Glasgow last year - is it worth me applying again does anyone think?

Hello, I'm Jo.
I'd give the admissions folk a call and ask for feedback on your application and see what they though of it, the unis see apps differently so chances are the feedback'll be a little different to Bristol's. If you can get hold of her, Joyce Wason is the one to talk to really. She's head of admissions but I've found her to be really honest and fair and she was useful to me when I was rejected from there this year.

When I first tried for my dairy placement (where I have now been for 4-5 years), they weren't sure about insurance at first and said they didn't think it would work. I rang the NFU (NFU Mutual I think it is) about insurance so that I could take out a personal insurance policy to cover me visiting farms. After talking with them though, they said that wasn't necessary and that as long as I wasn't "dancing on the rooves" then the farms own insurance policy would cover me. The farm was quite happy with that information and so there I went, and stayed

Give the NFU a ring and see what they say, otherwise take out an insurance policy and then that's no longer a reason for a farm not to have you. Some farms just use it as an excuse so it won't help you, but others, like the one I go to take students anyway, they just weren't sure about me because I wasn't already in Uni.

Laverstoke park farm in Overton, Hampshire takes work exp students, go on their website and then the education section. It's not too far from Surrey - you'd need to BnB it but not the other side of the world. If that's a good location for you I can give you contact details for a dairy farm near there too. Also in Heathrow there's Heathrow Special Needs Farm which has a range of farm animals and is an RDA centre they would be grateful for any volunteersn- I used to go every week from Egham