Vet med work experience suggestions

I wouldn’t worry too much about the quantity as long as you have enough to cover the required amount for the schools you’re applying to (For RVC you need 70 hours clinical, 70 hours non-clinical) The most important thing is how you reflect on the experience. If getting farm experience is difficult then just do some online work experience for it which is what I did (however some schools may not count this) and the rest of what you’ve got looks good!

Hi guys, I'm planning to do the following work experience, will this be enough to make a strong application? Any suggestions on how to make my competitive?
-2 week vet
-3 week wildlife rescue
-20hr SPCA (would it be better to do 30 instead?)
-20hr dog daycare
-20hr dairy
-maybe RVC summer school ~30hr
-about 2 days equine if I can
Any suggestions on how to make my application more competitive? I know that I don't really have large animal experiences, since where I live its difficult to find any farms (they're all 1hr drive away), will this significantly impact my chances? Thanks

I think that I’d be tempted to cut some things out and transfer hours over so that you get more out of each placement. For example I’d do either the SPCA or the dog daycare. A week of dairy would be better than 20 hours combined with 2 days of equine. If you haven’t been around horses before then 2 days is not going to make any difference to your application, whereas the extra 2 days on dairy would look better.
The wildlife rescue could make your application stand out BUT work experience is not just a box ticking exercise, you have to be able to demonstrate what you got out of it, so keep a diary of things you learnt, whether it be animal handling skills or client relation experience. The vet schools are not looking for students that have seen loads of complicated operations. What they are looking for are students that want to learn and who demonstrate that they are teachable. They need to know that you can be a team player but are capable of working alone, that you are organised but can handle unexpected situations without panicking. So each time you demonstrate these kind of characteristics or experience a new learning point, keep a note. They’ll be useful later on in the application process.

Hello,

Having two weeks of vet placement is great. If you had more time you can do more but ultimately two weeks will put you in line with most uni's entry requirements.

For your non-clinical placements, as said above, you should ideally try to do full weeks. Most vet schools in the UK mainly count weeks rather than hours. Additionally, you get more out of it if you've been on the placement for longer. The goal of work experience is to gain knowledge about the profession, which is what helps you to ace the interview. So, staying longer = you'll get more knowledge = you'll be a competitive applicant.

3 weeks wildlife rescue is impressive, but if it were me, I might try to get some more experience with the domestic species. This doesn't have to be on farms, but it's well known that the vet schools like to see that you understand the more 'mundane' areas of the animal industry and roles of vets. Doing some more dairy/equine/dog daycare would be a great option for you if you wanted to become more competitive.

Finally, the summer school is great and I hope you enjoy it! But I don't think it can be counted as work experience I'm afraid, as it's not accessible to most students. Hopefully you can still use your experience there to help you throughout your application though.

I hope this helps. There's a stickied thread on this forum that details how to make an application more competitive if you need more inspiration.

Which one would be more beneficial, a week of lambing or a week of dairy? I’m trying to choose between the two, I can only do one because of the distance

Which one would be more beneficial, a week of lambing or a week of dairy? I’m trying to choose between the two, I can only do one because of the distance

Which one would be more beneficial, a week of lambing or a week of dairy? I’m trying to choose between the two, I can only do one because of the distance

All depends when you do the dairy. If they’re calving and you get a chance to really participate they are both very good, but if it’s just to do parlour duty then imo lambing wins hands down.

I agree with Euapp. Lambing is incredibly fun as well as having loads to learn!

Personally I’d say a week of lambing. You can get much more involved as someone non-farmy with lambing imo as with calving it is more difficult so usually the people working there would prefer to do it, whereas with lambing a lot of farmers will let you have a feel around or have a go lambing. Both involve a lot of husbandry but I’d say lambing can have more.

Thanks for the suggestions! What about horse stable? Would that be worth getting and how beneficial is it compared to dairy/farm?

Hello,

Having two weeks of vet placement is great. If you had more time you can do more but ultimately two weeks will put you in line with most uni's entry requirements.

For your non-clinical placements, as said above, you should ideally try to do full weeks. Most vet schools in the UK mainly count weeks rather than hours. Additionally, you get more out of it if you've been on the placement for longer. The goal of work experience is to gain knowledge about the profession, which is what helps you to ace the interview. So, staying longer = you'll get more knowledge = you'll be a competitive applicant.

3 weeks wildlife rescue is impressive, but if it were me, I might try to get some more experience with the domestic species. This doesn't have to be on farms, but it's well known that the vet schools like to see that you understand the more 'mundane' areas of the animal industry and roles of vets. Doing some more dairy/equine/dog daycare would be a great option for you if you wanted to become more competitive.

Finally, the summer school is great and I hope you enjoy it! But I don't think it can be counted as work experience I'm afraid, as it's not accessible to most students. Hopefully you can still use your experience there to help you throughout your application though.

I hope this helps. There's a stickied thread on this forum that details how to make an application more competitive if you need more inspiration.

If you can get stable work on top of farm work that’s always a plus, but if you have to choose between the two then farm work is better. A couple of weeks lambing or doing dairy work will teach you an awful lot whereas although you would learn the basics around horses in the same amount of time, it would be just the basics.

For farm particularly lambing you don’t necessarily need to be close to a farm as many farmers provide free accommodation and meals - you’d just have to get a train or get dropped at the start and end of the placement. I would recommend trying to get some lambing but dairy will count for your farm. You’ve got a good variety but tbh I’d try spending a week (35 hours) at places to get most out of it, if you’re only spending 2 days at places (it’s better than nothing) you’re just getting to grips with knowing people and the routine and not getting too much out of it - it’s not about just racking up as many hours as possible, for the application you have to meaningfully reflect on your placements, so spending a very short time at placements probably means you won’t learn as much so may not be able to reflect as meaningfully. Also for the summer school are you sure it counts for 30 hours? When I did the RVC Year 12 summer school that’s 5 day residential it only counted 7 hours for work experience - just the time being there doesn’t count, only the time spent actually handling animals etc. Those are just suggestions though, as long as you meet the minimums you’ll be considered, but I do think 35 hours at places would be better.

Should I do placement on a cattle ranch? It’s not dairy and they raise it for beef, and there might be some calves there.

Should I do placement on a cattle ranch? It’s not dairy and they raise it for beef, and there might be some calves there.

If you have the time it won't hurt, you'll get some knowledge on the industry and cattle handling experience. Beef isn't as involved with the cattle as dairy though, most days it's just a case of feeding and strawing up, the calves are raised with mothers so you rarely have much to do with them. With calving even during calving season it's not necessarily busy either, I only got to see 2 calvings on my last day in a 2 week placement, a lot don't need help or happen at once - this is why lambing is good, as it's likely you may need to help out with a dystocia and it is busy in a tight time frame so you'll see things going on. I went during a busier time and the farmer saved doing a few things for me being there like injections, shaving, foot care, eye care, tagging etc but even then most days I'd be home by lunch time if not earlier. If it's a case of dairy or lambing vs beef, definitely choose the former. A lot of beef also turn out during the summer months so there is nothing for you to do really as they're just growing on pasture, but obviously that varies farm to farm so I'd just check.

Completely agree, but if it’s beef or nothing, then take the beef🤷🏼*♀️