Parents of vet med applicants

Yes, Bristol's equine centre is closing.

Reply 41

They don't get less time with the dual entry at Nottingham - the term dates are just arranged differently so the big holiday for the April cohort is in the Winter (Jan, Feb, March). I had to lay it out in a spreadsheet to get my head around it

Reply 42

this was Notts dual dates for my daughter's entry year

OP

I rather let the cat out of the bag by using DD's telephone yesterday!! :h:

As far as I know the cohorts at Nottingham have exactly the same teaching time as the other schools, it's just the long holiday distribution that changes for the April cohort at Nottingham.
The equine clinic has closed at Bristol, but has been replaced by partnerships with a major chain which they are promising will offer greater diversity in clinical study, so nothing should really change from an educative point of view. This is the system used by a lot of schools for this particular area of study so I wouldn't worry too much. What does differ, but only if your DD has horses and wants to take them with her is the cost of livery. At SB Nottingham it's on the campus and way cheaper than elsewhere because the horses are used for anatomy classes etc So far easier to continue riding at Nottingham than elsewhere if this is your DD's passion.

Reply 44

imogen28

11

Original post by Cgodfrry

Thanks Euapp’s mum.
This is definitely an application that needs a lot of thought and preparation.
I hope she gets in first time but we’re realistic that she might not. At her lambing wex at Easter, 3 out of the 4 vet students she met had done a degree first and then got onto Vet Med. in all of those cases it was because they didn’t get an A in Chemistry. We’ve decided that she’ll re-take or re-apply rather than do a non-Vet med degree.
I think she’s on target to get the grades and luckily her CAG GCSE grades were good so I’m hopeful she should get an offer 🤞🏻
She’s undecided on her 4 out of: RVC, Liverpool, Bristol, Nottingham and Surrey.
I have concerns about Bristol and Nottingham though. Is it true that Bristol’s equine hospital is closing or has closed? How will the students get the experience they would have got had it remained open?
With regards to Nottingham. If there are 2 intakes per year (September to March/April to August) surely they have less learning time in that each cohort’s academic time must be less than a course which is September to May/June (or whenever they usually finish). Does it mean that they work harder when they are at Nottingham as they have to cover the syllabus in less time?
I’m sure these are questions which can be answered even if there are only virtual tours available this summer.
Those of you that picked your Universities was it mainly the location or the teaching methods that swayed you?

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/vet/documents/year-1-overview.pdf

Here’s the Nottingham timetable :smile:

Reply 45

Cgodfrry

Thanks for the info everyone.
She doesn’t have a horse much as she’d love one so Bristol won’t be a no from that perspective.
You’ve made it harder now as I was hoping to rule one of them out! 😂

Reply 46

Original post by Cgodfrry

Those of you that picked your Universities was it mainly the location or the teaching methods that swayed you?

This was a mixture of all sorts really. We were lucky be able to visit all the vet schools that might be interesting - Liverpool, Bristol, Surrey, RVC, Nottingham, Cambridge, Edinburgh. She discounted Edinburgh due to the daily commute out to the vet school, Bristol as they didn't interview, Surrey as she just didn't like it (went twice in case it was a bad day) so that left the 4 to apply to.

Reply 47

Euapp

21

Original post by Cgodfrry

Thanks for the info everyone.
She doesn’t have a horse much as she’d love one so Bristol won’t be a no from that perspective.
You’ve made it harder now as I was hoping to rule one of them out! 😂

I forgot to add a detail that isn't of much importance to most candidates who plan mainly to live and work in the U.K, but was to my daughter, and that's the level of accreditation. At the moment the only three with accreditation for the U.S, Asia and South Africa are Glasgow, RVC and Bristol. Nottingham has begun the process but it's apparently very long and won't be for straight away. I don't know if Aber will be included in the RVC accreditation, but they all have European with the exception of HK until it's first cohort graduates. ( Twice in 2 days on my daughter's!! never 2 without 3 but back home in 5!!)

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 48

username5637224

OP

20

Well my telephone has definitely had it!! The front looks like a spiders web, so back to communicating on the P.C. Needless to say I won't be as active in the next couple of days,until either I manage to get a new screen or entire phone :mad:

. We're still very much in lockdown here so not the easiest. Have fun!!

Reply 49

Cgodfrry

Hope you get your phone fixed and thanks for the information.

Reply 50

username5637224

OP

20

Original post by ReadingMum

this was Notts dual dates for my daughter's entry year

Hi @ReadingMum, In one of my insomniac moments last night I was reading a couple of TSR threads where you, @OxfordMum and a couple of others were having a bit of light banter. It saddened me when you said that you'd given up defending Cambridge as a choice for Vet Med because of the prejudiced attitude held by a number of applicants for this course. Please do continue!! If you change the minds of only a few, that would be a great victory! We didn't apply, we don't regret it, but it was when reading a thread by Oxford Mum that our unspoken logic fell into place. My DD is child number 3 in the family, she's always known she wanted to be a vet, and will and has done everything necessary to get there, but her A*'s didn't come easily.(Unfortunately for her she had 2 "gifted" siblings so she's been able to compare ) She's brutally honest with herself and knows that she lacks that little extra spark that would make her a good Oxbridge candidate. She has done the work to get where she wants to be, but the academic excellence of Cambridge, the style of learning, would have left her feeling under pressure and inadequate. It had nothing to do with the false idea that Cambridge doesn't get animal contact, that it is only good for those wishing to go into research, it was just an honest evaluation of her own capacities. So what I really want to say is, even though we didn't choose Cambridge, I would like others who would benefit from that environment to get a honest and balanced idea of what studying Vet Med at Cambridge really is like. If people like you and your daughter don't stand up for the school, the false ideas that circulate will perpetuate, and many capable and possibly ideal candidates will pass up what could be the chance of a lifetime.

Reply 51

@Nobody2u That is nice to hear. I do still pop in there occasionally to wave the flag but it winds me up too much to do it often!

My daughter is loving it but there is no denying that it is academically intense.

Reply 52

username3644170

In case this is of help to anyone, I have been informed by the accommodation office that the West and East accommodation are nearest to the bus service to Langford. There is a free bus service and students using Langford receive a free bus pass.

Reply 53

username5637224

OP

20

Original post by catshouse

In case this is of help to anyone, I have been informed by the accommodation office that the West and East accommodation are nearest to the bus service to Langford. There is a free bus service and students using Langford receive a free bus pass.

Apparently all the student halls at Bristol provide a free bus pass, but is it just me that finds the accommodation expensive? I've been away from the U.K several years, and whilst I expected London and Surrey to be costly, I was surprised by the price of self catered at Bristol. (almost £200/week.)

Reply 54

username3644170

Original post by Nobody2u

Apparently all the student halls at Bristol provide a free bus pass, but is it just me that finds the accommodation expensive? I've been away from the U.K several years, and whilst I expected London and Surrey to be costly, I was surprised by the price of self catered at Bristol. (almost £200/week.)

Sorry if I wasn’t clear, i was told that it is a free bus pass to Langford, not that everyone received a bus pass (they didn’t explain that bit). I was trying to work out the most practical place for living and for getting to Langford as DS will be there for all 4 years.
On comparing the costs between current uni halls and Bristol halls, I would say they are similar (en-suite being £170-180 pw), though previously been told Bristol is expensive, so I wasn’t expecting it to be cheap. There is a range of prices though, I suppose it depends on what each person needs and it should get cheaper once in private accommodation. As long as they are getting some face to face tuition, I don’t really mind - the last 15 months has been expensive anyway in terms of accommodation being paid for which hasn’t always been used!

Reply 55

Euapp

21

Do you think things will be back to " normal" in September? Living outside of the U.K it's hard to appreciate the situation there. My 2 other children haven't stepped foot in their Unis for over a year, and the student experience has been far from ideal. Just hoping things will be better next year. ( still no telephone and fed up with P.C so squatting again)

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 56

imogen28

11

Original post by Euapp

Do you think things will be back to " normal" in September? Living outside of the U.K it's hard to appreciate the situation there. My 2 other children haven't stepped foot in their Unis for over a year, and the student experience has been far from ideal. Just hoping things will be better next year.

I’m hoping practicals, any group sessions etc will be back to normal but I think some unis are considering keeping lectures online - many students prefer having the flexibility of being able to do them whenever they want and people feel more comfortable asking questions through the chat than they do in a lecture theatre. We’ll just have to wait and see what they decide though and it may be uni dependant. I think vet students have been in a better position than most anyway though as most unis have still ran some practicals even through the recent lockdowns, so it shouldn’t be as bad as it has been for less practical subjects!

Reply 57

Euapp

21

@nobody2U here ( if you hadn't guessed!☺️) Having smashed mine, I've been wondering what kind of contracts your DD's and DS's have for their phones as I'm going to have to equip my DD. What kind of contracts are standard for messaging, data and calls etc?

Reply 58

Anxiety attack

I provide mine with a Motorola phone and a 3.99 sim card with ID.
It's unlimited texts and 120 minute's plus 250 mb of data. They always use WiFi so it has never been a problem.

Reply 59