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2014 Veterinary Medicine Hopefuls!

Don't worry about it, I tried for a year and a half to try and get some form of work experience, ad now I've had lots of success with placements! I've managed to get for this summer alone:
A week at a veterinary surgeon
A week at RVC
A week on a large animal farm
And I got offered a scholarship for an animal charity to do some work with animals there!
Also, has anyone been to any summer schools yet? - they look really cool but I'm not old enough to go yet :frown:

Another recommendation would be to read 'getting into veterinary school' by James Barton - it is a godsend for anyone wanting to apply!

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 21

SilverstarDJ

18

Original post by ~*Holly*~

but to be honest, I think the vet schools prefer quality over quanitity. People tend to aim for Liverpool's requirements, but if you're not applying to L'pool, I think most vet schools only ask for 2-4 weeks. Play it safe and aim for 10+, I would recommend, but get the essentials before more "novelty" stuff - I think L'pool ask for at least 2 different small animal practices and a large animal, and also lambing and dairy.

Sadly, I am afraid that a lot of vet schools will look at you more highly if you have more placements rather than the quality as it is difficult to assess "quality" and some of mine never asked me anything at all about my placements at interview so I don't think they always assess that in the first place (e.g. RVC). I think this is quite true for Liverpool. In reality although some placements are better than others, most will teach you a lot (esp if you don't know anything about the industry to start with) and so it is useful to have a large variety. What the unis specify is the bare minimum requirements, so you must always do above and beyond that if you want to stand a chance as it is so competitive.

Reply 22

stef_vet?

4

Holly a zoology lab at a uni will be fine for lab work :smile:

Reply 23

ellie157

This is very keen guys!

I'm a 2012 applicant & I'm going to Bristol this September :biggrin:

I also had interviews at Cambridge, Liverpool & Nottingham.

If any of you want any advice on anything vet med related feel free to send me a message - applying is such hard work and I found it really useful to chat to people who've been through it all already.

Good luck!

Reply 24

ellie157

Original post by ~*Holly*~

So far I have 8 weeks, with another week booked in August for more large animal stuff.

I'm also going to try and get 1 or 2 weeks lambing, a week at the RSPCA and hopefully if I have time, a bird/wildlife hospital. Currently negotiating a permanent Sunday job at a stables, which should add up to a few more weeks if I do a year or two.

By the time I apply, I should have a little bit over 10 weeks - but to be honest, I think the vet schools prefer quality over quanitity. People tend to aim for Liverpool's requirements, but if you're not applying to L'pool, I think most vet schools only ask for 2-4 weeks. Play it safe and aim for 10+, I would recommend, but get the essentials before more "novelty" stuff - I think L'pool ask for at least 2 different small animal practices and a large animal, and also lambing and dairy.

I mostly agree - although I think you'd be being a bit unrealistic applying anywhere with less than 6 weeks (Nottingham definitely want 6 and I'm sure some other places do too). The amount you've got is great (provided you're not applying to Liverpool - honestly from my experience applying it's not worth it with less than 16 weeks).

Have you got dairy? As long as you have then that's a great variety and you seem to have covered the essentials.

Liverpool ask for a minimum of 4 weeks at vets and 6 weeks animal husbandry. You have to provide references at interview from a small animal vet, large animal vet, stables, kennels/cattery and a farm.
As I said above - I wouldn't recommend applying to Liverpool with less than 16 weeks ish. There were a lot of people for 2012 entry who got rejected with that much or less! It's just because they're so strict with it - they don't read personal statements, they just choose who to interview based on your work experience score. Quality is definitely better than quantity at most places as you said - but Liverpool want a lot of both!

Original post by ~*Holly*~

Tried (unsuccessfully) to get some lab work at the Veterinary Laboratory Agency (the nearest was Camarthan anyway, which is a bit far).

Don't worry about labs - it's good to get it but definitely not essential. :smile:

The only thing I'd say you should really try and get is a day at an abattoir - not everyone can and you've still got a great chance if you don't have it but it's definitely really good to get. I did a day at one and it was actually really interesting - not exactly pleasant but I learned a lot from it and it was useful to be able to discuss it at interview.

Good luck with it all :smile:

EDIT: sorry I've just seen from your original post that you're thinking of applying to Liverpool! Sorry for being so disparaging.. I think you've got great work experience it's just that I've spoken to people who had to wait for months to hear from them before getting rejected because their score wasn't high enough. I have a friend who got rejected with 12 weeks and spoke to someone else who had 14 and a half who also got rejected. For everywhere else that amount would be brilliant - it's just Liverpool take a really big proportion of 2nd time applicants who've had gap years and so will have a lot more work experience, who you'd be competing against. They choose the people with the top work experience scores to interview, not just everyone with 10+ weeks - which means that people with 10+ often are rejected. I don't think it's the best way to narrow down candidates for interview as having loads of work experience doesn't necessarily make you better suited for the course but I guess that's just the way it works. Other unis do consider work experience as an important factor but also look more closely at your personal statement and things like GCSE / AS grades.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 25

Beccy99

Original post by ellie157

I mostly agree - although I think you'd be being a bit unrealistic applying anywhere with less than 6 weeks (Nottingham definitely want 6 and I'm sure some other places do too). The amount you've got is great (provided you're not applying to Liverpool - honestly from my experience applying it's not worth it with less than 16 weeks).

As I said above - I wouldn't recommend applying to Liverpool with less than 16 weeks ish. There were a lot of people for 2012 entry who got rejected with that much or less! It's just because they're so strict with it - they don't read personal statements, they just choose who to interview based on your work experience score. Quality is definitely better than quantity at most places as you said - but Liverpool want a lot of both!

Hi fellow potential Bristol vet ! Eeeeeeee! So excited!

I'd have to disagree about the Liverpool w/e issue. I applied with 14.5 weeks and got an interview at the first available date I could! I've heard they mark your work experience on how varied it is and you get 'points' for which areas you have experience in then they look at how many weeks you had in each area? Its all a bit weird as people with way more than me got rejected outright. Definitely aim for a compromise between quality and quantity!

Oh, I'm also available if anyone wants to ask any questions! I applied to Nottingham, Edinburgh, Bristol and Liverpool and got interviews at Edinburgh, Bristol and Liverpool :smile:

Reply 26

ellie157

Original post by Beccy99

Hi fellow potential Bristol vet ! Eeeeeeee! So excited!

I'd have to disagree about the Liverpool w/e issue. I applied with 14.5 weeks and got an interview at the first available date I could! I've heard they mark your work experience on how varied it is and you get 'points' for which areas you have experience in then they look at how many weeks you had in each area? Its all a bit weird as people with way more than me got rejected outright. Definitely aim for a compromise between quality and quantity!

Oh, I'm also available if anyone wants to ask any questions! I applied to Nottingham, Edinburgh, Bristol and Liverpool and got interviews at Edinburgh, Bristol and Liverpool :smile:

I had 14.4 weeks and just about got an interview but I sort of had exceptional circumstances - they rejected me in mid March after months of hearing nothing because some problem with Hotmail meant they never received my work experience form! My head of 6th form complained about it and they gave me an interview after having resent the form but I thought it was a bit of an unusual case because I'd spoken to people with similar amounts of work experience and sometimes more who got rejected. (I still got rejected eventually haha, I always thought that they'd given me an interview because they felt bad for being so unfair about that form!)

I think maybe 14 and a half weeks must have been around the cut off since there were people with about that much who get interviews and others who got rejected - they probably score it based on quality too which explains that. But that's why I figured that it's probably safest not applying with less than about 16 weeks - to play it safe and make sure you're not too close to the cut off point? It's a tough call! I'd say that 10-12 weeks is definitely risky though.

But obviously Bristol is the best one anyway haha :biggrin:

Reply 27

Beccy99

Original post by ellie157

I had 14.4 weeks and just about got an interview but I sort of had exceptional circumstances - they rejected me in mid March after months of hearing nothing because some problem with Hotmail meant they never received my work experience form! My head of 6th form complained about it and they gave me an interview after having resent the form but I thought it was a bit of an unusual case because I'd spoken to people with similar amounts of work experience and sometimes more who got rejected. (I still got rejected eventually haha, I always thought that they'd given me an interview because they felt bad for being so unfair about that form!)

I think maybe 14 and a half weeks must have been around the cut off since there were people with about that much who get interviews and others who got rejected - they probably score it based on quality too which explains that. But that's why I figured that it's probably safest not applying with less than about 16 weeks - to play it safe and make sure you're not too close to the cut off point? It's a tough call! I'd say that 10-12 weeks is definitely risky though.

But obviously Bristol is the best one anyway haha :biggrin:

Yeah I'd agree! I thought I had 18.5 when I applied but due to the limit on the questionnaire it went down by 4 weeks!

Of course Bristol is! :wink:

Reply 28

ellie157

Original post by ~*Holly*~

•

Don't be put off! Keep perservering, now is no time to be shy!

•

Don't be embarassed to keep phoning and/or go into the practice in person (try and go at a quiet time, though - maybe lunchtime or even during "closed" hours - not sure about everywhere, but where I work, there's always a receptionist answering the phone even when their "official" hours say it's closed)

•

From experience, letters and especially e-mails go largely unnoticed/ignored. The best approach, I've found, is by phoning directly. For most of my placements I sent a letter (or several!) but for the kennels I just phoned directly. Usually I hate using the phone, but like I say, now is no time for shyness!

•

It's normal to get only one or even no replies if you've asked lots of places, try again - unless they've got a genuine, valid excuse like insurance, in which case they really can't do anything - usually the only reason vets say no is to weed out the timewasters.

Truthfully, it is very hard to find somewhere good to do work experience, but please don't panic, you will find somewhere. Unfortunately VetMed is one of those careers that seems to attract bucketloads of timewasters who just want to cuddle cute little kittens everyday - I'm pretty sure when the vets first met me they thought I was just a timewaster too! Usually vets are inundated with work experience requests (usually from schools with clueless "careers advisors"!) so try and make yourself stand out. For my first placement (at the vets where I work at now - I was only 14 at the time!) I sent them so many letters that when I finally turned up and handed them a letter - complete with the dates of every school holiday I was available - it must have struck a chord with someone as they phoned me straight back and said October half-term was free. I haven't looked back since, and usually when you get one placement, others quickly follow. I'm fortunate enough that where I work on Saturdays is one of five branches around where I live, and there's a main hospital and also another branch specialising in large animal (where I did 2 weeks and where I'm going again in August).

Sorry for the long post, but I hope it's been of some use - be determined and confident and I guarantee it'll pay off :smile:

I'm impressed by how well-informed you are haha that's clearly taken a lot of letters and phone calls! I know how it feels and I'm kind of glad my work experience organising days are over.. just got EMS now :smile:

You're absolutely right about it all. I found that most of the time if you send a letter, you never get a reply. After a lot of waiting I came to the conclusion that the best way to get answers is to send a letter and then phone a week later - that way you've done the formality of sending a letter but you also get a direct answer and can discuss dates etc. A lot of the time they'll probably say that they're glad you phoned because they've read the letter and haven't got round to contacting you yet etc :smile:

it also shows that you're really keen and won't give up if they don't get back to you!

It's also a good idea like you said to include every date that you're free over the summer and then it's really easy for them to just book you in.

Reply 29

iwishtheskywaspink

Original post by ellie157

This is very keen guys!

I'm a 2012 applicant & I'm going to Bristol this September :biggrin:

I also had interviews at Cambridge, Liverpool & Nottingham.

If any of you want any advice on anything vet med related feel free to send me a message - applying is such hard work and I found it really useful to chat to people who've been through it all already.

Good luck!

Oh my! Really?! Thant's fantastic! Did you chose Bristol out of any other offers, if you did, do you mind telling why?
What GCSEs did you get? How much work experience did you do?
Have you been reading up on animals as much as possible?
Sorry for the bombardment of questions, I'm just really anxious!

Reply 30

~*Holly*~

OP

10

Original post by ellie157

I mostly agree - although I think you'd be being a bit unrealistic applying anywhere with less than 6 weeks

I've got more than 6 weeks anyway, so that's fine - I also have about 6 more weeks booked, not including all the Saturdays I work.

Have you got dairy? As long as you have then that's a great variety and you seem to have covered the essentials.

Yes, I have a week dairy - is that enough, or shall I get more? Dairy was my favourite non-vetty placement. :biggrin:

Quality is definitely better than quantity at most places as you said - but Liverpool want a lot of both!

Sorry, I worded my last post really badly - I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from getting more than 10 weeks, all I meant was it's not so good if you have 20+ weeks yet you can't tell the interviewers anything that you've learnt because you were only there to clock up the hours! I was just reiterating what the university's minimum requirements were, as I'm no expert on the interview process.
Being the perfectionist that I am, I'm aiming for about 18 weeks if I can - so far I've only got 8, but there's plenty of time and I have two summers ahead - I'm aiming to do lambing next springtime.

The only thing I'd say you should really try and get is a day at an abattoir

That's no problem - there are two abbatoirs near-ish to where I live, how long would you recommend going for? I was thinking maybe 1-2 days, would that be enough?

Reply 31

~*Holly*~

OP

10

Original post by KatiexZoe

Another recommendation would be to read 'getting into veterinary school' by James Barton - it is a godsend for anyone wanting to apply!

Is that the Mander-Portman-Woodward book? If it is, I had it for Christmas - it's like my very own bible :biggrin:

My second favourite present (my first being a very nice stethoscope I found under the tree!)

Reply 32

Deziah

15

What sort of grades is everyone getting/got at GCSE?

Reply 33

~*Holly*~

OP

10

Original post by Deziah

What sort of grades is everyone getting/got at GCSE?

I've still got 5 exams left, but I'm predicted A's for pretty much everything, even though YELLIS predicted me all B's (everyone's predictions for YELLIS were low though, so my school just assessed us throughout the year and my predictions went up). I'll probably get higher in some exams and lower in others though - I'll update y'all on results day :wink:

Have maths next week, though, so everything could change :s-smilie:

Reply 34

Ellie_Rosa

Heya

Im also 16 and hoping to be a vet, and am doing my GCSE's atm. Next year Im going to do maths, biology, physics and chemistry.

I have done two weeks work experience at my local surgery, and am doing a 8 day course at London Zoo, but I am finding it hard to get any farm experience. Does anyone know any farms in or near London?
Also, what other types of work experience would be useful?

Thanks

Reply 35

ellie157

Original post by iwishtheskywaspink

Oh my! Really?! Thant's fantastic! Did you chose Bristol out of any other offers, if you did, do you mind telling why?
What GCSEs did you get? How much work experience did you do?
Have you been reading up on animals as much as possible?
Sorry for the bombardment of questions, I'm just really anxious!

Don't worry I'd have done exactly the same 2 years ago haha :smile:

Bristol was my only offer! But that's quite common :smile:

it's very very unusual for someone to get more than two. I don't know what I would have done if I'd got two offers - but I'm very happy to be going there!

I got 7A* 2A at GCSE (As in history & music, A*s in 3 sciences, 2 english, maths, german) - they don't make a huge difference as long as you get reasonably good ones. I'd say as long as you've got mostly As, with A/A* in the sciences & maths then that is brilliant.

I had 14 and a half weeks work experience, here's the list...

- Vets -
Wednesday afternoons for a year at a SA vet (total 3 weeks)
2 weeks at 2 different other SA vets
1 week and 2 days farm & equine vet

- Animal husbandry -
4-5 weeks ish lambing / dairy at the same farm over a few years
1 week zoo (Blackbrook in Staffordshire if anyone is near there and wants a week at a zoo, they were great)
3 days cattery
2 days stables (I'd recommend getting a week of stables if applying to Liverpool though)
1 week at a rare breed farm park open to the public (Home Farm, Tatton Park for anyone in Cheshire, that was really good too)

And a day at an abattoir. (I'd definitely recommend that even though it was a bit gruesome!)

I did do a lot of reading up for my interviews - some really useful sources were signing up to the email newsletters from this website called Vetsonline which I got every week with updates on current issues etc. Also sign up to all the email stuff on the RSPCA website, and have a read through the 'Current Issues' section on the BVA (British Veterinary Association) and DEFRA websites. Also, when you're at work experience, keep a diary of things you see and ask plenty of questions - note down brief things about interesting cases that you might want to remember and discuss at interview one day :smile:

You might also want to consider investing in a copy of 'Vet School: My Foot In The Door' by Chris Queen and 'Getting Into Veterinary School' by James Barton, although your school's library might have copies. And closer to interview time you might find 'Black's Student Veterinary Dictionary' useful.. maybe suggest it to your family as a good Christmas present (my boyfriend got me one when I applied haha and it was really handy for looking things up for interviews).

Good luck with applying and feel free to let me know if you have any more questions :smile:

Reply 36

ellie157

Original post by ~*Holly*~

I've got more than 6 weeks anyway, so that's fine - I also have about 6 more weeks booked, not including all the Saturdays I work.

Yes, I have a week dairy - is that enough, or shall I get more? Dairy was my favourite non-vetty placement. :biggrin:

Sorry, I worded my last post really badly - I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from getting more than 10 weeks, all I meant was it's not so good if you have 20+ weeks yet you can't tell the interviewers anything that you've learnt because you were only there to clock up the hours! I was just reiterating what the university's minimum requirements were, as I'm no expert on the interview process.
Being the perfectionist that I am, I'm aiming for about 18 weeks if I can - so far I've only got 8, but there's plenty of time and I have two summers ahead - I'm aiming to do lambing next springtime.

That's no problem - there are two abbatoirs near-ish to where I live, how long would you recommend going for? I was thinking maybe 1-2 days, would that be enough?

Yeah your work experience sounds great - I wouldn't worry about getting any more dairy, a week is plenty. You're definitely right about the quality/quantity thing, it's important to show you've learned a lot and not just sat there for weeks.

18 weeks would be fantastic if you can get it and with the breadth that you've got at the moment I think that would give you a great chance anywhere! That will definitely stand you in good stead, as long as your grades are reasonably good :smile:

I think 1 day is plenty for an abattoir, to be honest after an hour or two you've sort of seen it all and there's not much more to gain with another day I don't think. Just make a brief note of what you see, slaughter methods and things like BSE precautions in cattle (removing head and spinal cord) and that's the most you'd need to talk about at interview.

Reply 37

Nessie162

17

Original post by ellie157

And a day at an abattoir. (I'd definitely recommend that even though it was a bit gruesome!)

What exactly were you doing there? Shadowing? :smile:

Did you take any notes?

I want to do a day at abattoir too, just need to find one the would actually take me :rolleyes:

Reply 38

ellie157

Original post by Nessie162

What exactly were you doing there? Shadowing? :smile:

Did you take any notes?

I want to do a day at abattoir too, just need to find one the would actually take me :rolleyes:

Yeah they just let me watch and the vet talked me through everything :smile:

I didn't take notes at the time (without going into too much detail they would have gotten covered in blood and allsorts so it would have been a bit of a biohazard!) but I wrote a few things down when I got home like what the vet told me about checking for infections and BSE precautions and stuff.

I know, it's such a nightmare trying to find somewhere! I got really lucky finding Nixon's in Cheadle (south of Manchester) but I'd tried quite a few places before them that wouldn't take me for 'insurance reasons'. It was all humane and respectful etc but I think a lot of places are pretty wary of who they let in.

If you're looking for places, try asking farmers who you've done work experience with who they use - if you go through a client then I think a slaughterhouse would be more willing to let you come for a day.

Reply 39

eds123

Hi I am also currently sitting my GCSEs :smile:

and hoping to become a vet. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on gap years? Is anyone planning one? If so what are you planning to do? Also what are the opinons of unis on gap years?

p.s. thanks for creating this thread read through it and its got loads of helpful points thanks :smile:

x

2014 Veterinary Medicine Hopefuls!

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