Veterinary Nursing at Middlesex University

Original post by georgia394

thank you i feel slightly more relaxed! i hope it goes okay! what answers did you give to those questions??

To change the veterinary world I just said it's all about education, and started talking about having more leaflets etc in the Vets and having talks in schools.
The most difficult thing working in a Vets is to not judge when owners haven't bothered bringing their pets in sooner etc, we are there to do a job, not to judge. Hope that gives you some ideas.

Reply 22

OP

Original post by georgia394

hey! i have my interview at hendon tomorrow and i'm so nervous!! the email says 'the applicant may request an individual interview' does that mean i should request one? will i get an offer if i don't request one? also what questions am i likely to be asked? i've never had an interview before i'm so scared

Hi!
I hope everything went well/ goes well! It really doesn't matter either way, you'll stand the exact same chance with both. You should get your response within two weeks, give or take, I believe, so try not to worry too much! Let me know if I can help in any way!!

Carla
Middlesex Course Ambassador
Veterinary Nursing

Reply 23

OP

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and New Year and I wish everyone luck in whatever they choose to do :smile:

I'm so excited to move back to London next week and start second year lectures and practicals! It's been an amazing year on placement but I can't wait to see everyone again and get back to being a student :smile:

Carla
Middlesex Course Ambassador
Veterinary Nursing

Reply 24

Hi Carla, can you tell me more about the facilities they have for vet nursing, i know theres another site that they take you to for the practicals in Potters bar, whats that like? Do they have animals there? i think thats the only thing they dont discuss or show you during open days and interviews. Thank you.

Reply 25

OP

Original post by Jade.1

Hi Carla, can you tell me more about the facilities they have for vet nursing, i know theres another site that they take you to for the practicals in Potters bar, whats that like? Do they have animals there? i think thats the only thing they dont discuss or show you during open days and interviews. Thank you.

Hi!

So the centre in Potters Bar is the College of Animal Welfare and you can see more about it here www.caw.ac.uk/about-us/centres/potters-bar/ , there are animals there (mainly cows and sheep) however they're from the farm that's on-site, there aren't any animals that are course specific if that makes sense, but you will be with animals, as the lecturers bring theirs in (dogs, rats, snakes). All exams and practicals are done on stuffed models however you're constantly hands on in practice! As for the actual centre, it's basically a converted house with some external classrooms, it's quite homely and there's a common room, small library and computers. They have the practical rooms there too which basically mimic areas of practice, e.g. prep room or kennels, and they have the specific vet equipment in there. I hope that answers your question, let me know if I can help more!

Carla
Middlesex Course Ambassador
Veterinary Nursing

Reply 26

Thanks for your reply! ive got another question! ha. In the first year your only at uni for 11 weeks, so you dont really get much uni experience or get the opportunity to get involved in events etc run by the uni. How has that been for you? does it affect your overall experience? how long are the placements in year 2 and 3??

Reply 27

Luciann

2

Original post by Carla at MDX

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and New Year and I wish everyone luck in whatever they choose to do :smile:

I'm so excited to move back to London next week and start second year lectures and practicals! It's been an amazing year on placement but I can't wait to see everyone again and get back to being a student :smile:

Carla
Middlesex Course Ambassador
Veterinary Nursing

Hi Carla. I have an interview at the London campus on the 23rd Jan and just wondered if you could tell me anything about the London campus and interviews etc?

It will be my first university interview and I'm quite nervous!!!

Reply 28

OP

Original post by Jade.1

Thanks for your reply! ive got another question! ha. In the first year your only at uni for 11 weeks, so you dont really get much uni experience or get the opportunity to get involved in events etc run by the uni. How has that been for you? does it affect your overall experience? how long are the placements in year 2 and 3??

No worries!

Well, there are two ways to look at it. If you are interested in getting involved, then it is super easy to do so, you're at lectures for the first term so all of the freshers events you'll see anyway, but especially if you stay in halls, you'll have loads of opportunities to get involved, so I don't think I missed out at all during freshers (or the whole first year as I stayed locally and was involved in societies) whereas if you don't actively get involved, then it'd be easy to feel a bit distant from uni, for example if you choose to do your first placement away from London. So personally it didn't make a huge difference to my freshers year, obviously placement is a lot of hours but you still have time to go out etc. Besides, London is by far the best place to be a student (in my opinion :wink:

), so there's always places to go and relax :smile:

As for length of placement:
Year 1: 2 x 14 weeks
Year 2: 1 x 10 weeks, 1 x 14 weeks
Year 3: 1 x 14 weeks

I hope that answers your questions!

Carla
Middlesex Course Ambassador
Veterinary Nursing

Reply 29

OP

Original post by Luciann

Hi Carla. I have an interview at the London campus on the 23rd Jan and just wondered if you could tell me anything about the London campus and interviews etc?

It will be my first university interview and I'm quite nervous!!!

Hi!

Firstly well done on getting an interview, that's actually the biggest hurdle!

The interview consists of a few different activities, both individually and as a group, and is designed to assess attitudes and personalities; not what you do/ don’t know, so it’s important to be yourself, and not worry about what you may already know. During the interview you will be asked to write one or two short essays about an animal welfare issue that will be given to you. It’s impossible to prepare for this as you won’t know what you will write about until you’re there. There is not necessarily a right or wrong answer, the interviewer will look for how you tackle the problem, and what angle you look at it from, so don’t think you have to write what is ‘correct’. There will also be a campus tour, so make sure you ask any questions you’ve been wondering and talk to the other applicants- remember the interviewer is there too so if you look bored and uninterested, they might not get a good impression! The main part of the interview process is a group chat, where the interviewer will ask someone/ everyone a question, and see how everyone responds. Again, there is not necessarily a right or wrong answer and you can’t predict what you’ll be asked, so instead of trying to revise, just think about what you have seen in practice on your work experience and try to relate it to the questions asked :smile:

As for the campus, have you visited on open days? If not, I think the best way to get an idea of the university would be the campus tour on the interview or an open day, as I can't really summarise the atmosphere and campus, do you have a more specific area of interest?

(Please remember that this is the structure of interview that I had when I joined and is, as far as I'm aware, still the same process but may have changed slightly) :smile:

Carla
Middlesex Course Ambassador
Veterinary Nursing

Reply 30

OP

My first week back at uni has been great, though I'm already missing my dog! It was so lovely to see everyone again after placement and hearing about what everyone got up to. Getting stuck into the new modules has been fun. This week we had a practical session revising how to bandage different types of wounds, and practicing techniques on stuffed animals (and each other) was entertaining :smile:

Looking forward to a nice weekend and then back to uni next week!

Carla
Middlesex Course Ambassador
Veterinary Nursing

Reply 31

Strawberrygem

Hay, my names Gem. I was just wondering... I'm about to take a couse in college. level 3 aimal studies, becuase I'm to young to go straight onto evt nursing. It said i needed experiance so that is what I am getting. Anyway, what do u cover in Vet nuring courses, is it only for pet or is it animals over all?? :smile:

Reply 32

What's a typical week for you? Do you have lectures and practicals on the same days every week? Do you have a self study day?

Reply 33

Liam19

3

Hi Carla,

Thanks for your useful information so far. I am a little confused. I know Middlesex uni is accredited by the RCVS, do you still have to take the external exams or do you automatically qualify to register as a VN?

Thanks

Reply 34

OP

Original post by Strawberrygem

Hay, my names Gem. I was just wondering... I'm about to take a couse in college. level 3 aimal studies, becuase I'm to young to go straight onto evt nursing. It said i needed experiance so that is what I am getting. Anyway, what do u cover in Vet nuring courses, is it only for pet or is it animals over all?? :smile:

Hi Gem. So veterinary nursing covers a huge range of patients and interests, so whilst I believe all vet nursing diplomas and degrees are mainly focused around small animals, they have compulsory and optional large and exotic animal modules/ top up courses, so there is an opportunity to study what you are interested in more specifically. Animal studies is a good way to get on to a vet nursing program, many of my friends studied something similar at college so it really gives you a good basis to become a vet nurse! If you have other questions let me know!

Carla
Middlesex Course Ambassador
Veterinary Nursing

Reply 35

OP

Original post by Jade.1

What's a typical week for you? Do you have lectures and practicals on the same days every week? Do you have a self study day?

That's a difficult question to answer, because it varies between year and semester but generally speaking when I'm on a theory block at uni like I am now, there are practical days on some Monday, these are either at Potters Bar or Middlesex (I think these were on Wednesdays in first year if I remember correctly), on some Tuesdays we have equine sessions at the RVC in Potters Bar (about 2 per theory block), on the days with no practical or equine sessions, it's just a day off. And then Wednesday, Thursday and Friday you have different lectures for each module, normally from 9am until 3pm. There are also then separate online classes which are compulsory however you can do those anytime throughout the week so it's quite flexible. Hope that gives you a rough idea!

Carla
Middlesex Course Ambassador
Veterinary Nursing

Reply 36

OP

Original post by Liam19

Hi Carla,

Thanks for your useful information so far. I am a little confused. I know Middlesex uni is accredited by the RCVS, do you still have to take the external exams or do you automatically qualify to register as a VN?

Thanks

Hey!

Great question, so the course is accredited by the RCVS, which means that if you pass all of the modules (and as such every assignment and exam which is needed to pass the degree anyway) then you are eligible to enrol as an RVN. To enrol, you need to pass an exam from the RCVS called OSCEs, which you can find out a bit about here
http://www.rcvs.org.uk/registration/veterinary-nurse-pre-registration-examination/practical-examinations/ The exam is a practical exam and is not dissimilar from the exams you will take in uni and lots of support and preparation is provided so it should be absolutely fine. Once you pass the exam, assuming you have the correct number of placement hours which you will have from throughout the degree and that you have completed your NPL, then you pay the small registration fee and then you are registered veterinary nurse! I hope that answers your question!

Edit: having spoken to my course mates, I believe I may have been wrong and that the practical exams you do throughout the degree are your OSCEs, however we are not sure, so I will find out for you asap!!

Carla
Middlesex Course Ambassador
Veterinary Nursing

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 37

Gardner24

Hi
If you decide to do a placement at home rather than stay at uni, what happens about paying for halls? Do you still have to pay the full amount even if you aren't staying there for the whole year?
Thanks!
Katy

Reply 38

Liam19

3

Original post by Carla at MDX

Hey!

Great question, so the course is accredited by the RCVS, which means that if you pass all of the modules (and as such every assignment and exam which is needed to pass the degree anyway) then you are eligible to enrol as an RVN. To enrol, you need to pass an exam from the RCVS called OSCEs, which you can find out a bit about here
http://www.rcvs.org.uk/registration/veterinary-nurse-pre-registration-examination/practical-examinations/ The exam is a practical exam and is not dissimilar from the exams you will take in uni and lots of support and preparation is provided so it should be absolutely fine. Once you pass the exam, assuming you have the correct number of placement hours which you will have from throughout the degree and that you have completed your NPL, then you pay the small registration fee and then you are registered veterinary nurse! I hope that answers your question!

Edit: having spoken to my course mates, I believe I may have been wrong and that the practical exams you do throughout the degree are your OSCEs, however we are not sure, so I will find out for you asap!!

Carla
Middlesex Course Ambassador
Veterinary Nursing

Hi Carla, thanks for getting back to me. Any clarification on osce's?

Reply 39

OP