Veterinary medicine
Hello! I need some advice in terms of my career as I’m not sure what to do.
I’m currently studying biomedical sciences however having gone through the first year of the course I don’t really feel as though I want to follow through with going down that career path.
The topic was mostly a second choice for uni/ my career as during covid I unfortunately wasn’t given the grades at GCSE chemistry to take it on at A level (I got a B however an A is required to study it at A level).
I’m really considering dropping out of uni to do fast track chemistry at a local college/ tech, however, I’m afraid of risking dropping out of uni to do the fast track chemistry to then not get accepted if I apply for vet med, it’s also another year of my life gone too (I’m 19). I’m also not sure if I would be able to apply for next year if I do fast track as I wouldn’t get my results until the end of August next year etc.
Does anyone have any opinions on what I should do, or is there possibly anyone who studies vet met who could give some advice? Thank you!!
I’m currently studying biomedical sciences however having gone through the first year of the course I don’t really feel as though I want to follow through with going down that career path.
The topic was mostly a second choice for uni/ my career as during covid I unfortunately wasn’t given the grades at GCSE chemistry to take it on at A level (I got a B however an A is required to study it at A level).
I’m really considering dropping out of uni to do fast track chemistry at a local college/ tech, however, I’m afraid of risking dropping out of uni to do the fast track chemistry to then not get accepted if I apply for vet med, it’s also another year of my life gone too (I’m 19). I’m also not sure if I would be able to apply for next year if I do fast track as I wouldn’t get my results until the end of August next year etc.
Does anyone have any opinions on what I should do, or is there possibly anyone who studies vet met who could give some advice? Thank you!!
So firstly your age concerns, you are only 19. It’s too drilled into us we must go to uni at 18 and if you consider the life expectancy is around 80+ that’s not even 25% of your life. I am 20 and (hopefully) will be going to vet school in September. I originally applied at 18 and didn’t get the grades but honestly looking back I’m a very different person and it’s heavily benefitted me.
Secondly, academically very rigorous courses like vet med tend to have more ‘mature’ students just due to the nature of the difficulty of the course and how most don’t get in first time. I know when I start in September there’s lots of people in late twenties and even thirties who are just starting the course and completing changing their careers.
My advice would be look at access courses, I didn’t get my chemistry grade at AL and have done access and honestly it’s an easier way in, not all vet schools take them but enough do! If you complete the biomed degree then decide you want to do vet med you will have to self fund so the sooner you can drop out the better as it won’t impact your funding so much x
Secondly, academically very rigorous courses like vet med tend to have more ‘mature’ students just due to the nature of the difficulty of the course and how most don’t get in first time. I know when I start in September there’s lots of people in late twenties and even thirties who are just starting the course and completing changing their careers.
My advice would be look at access courses, I didn’t get my chemistry grade at AL and have done access and honestly it’s an easier way in, not all vet schools take them but enough do! If you complete the biomed degree then decide you want to do vet med you will have to self fund so the sooner you can drop out the better as it won’t impact your funding so much x
My advice would be to not even consider being a vet until you have lots of work experience in it and then consider what you would need for an application.
I personally like my job - but it is very different to what the public believe it is.
I personally like my job - but it is very different to what the public believe it is.
Original post by TheMixedVet
My advice would be to not even consider being a vet until you have lots of work experience in it and then consider what you would need for an application.
I personally like my job - but it is very different to what the public believe it is.
I personally like my job - but it is very different to what the public believe it is.
Firstly, thank you for the advice!!
In your opinion, what length of time would you recommend I try to get work experience for in order to give myself a better idea on whether the job is for me/ be able to be accepted onto a uni degree?
If you also don’t mind me asking, in what way is it different to the public eye? Do you mean in terms of the actual work you do or something else like work conditions etc?
[QUOTE="ALEreapp;98337370"]So firstly your age concerns, you are only 19. It’s too drilled into us we must go to uni at 18 and if you consider the life expectancy is around 80+ that’s not even 25% of your life. I am 20 and (hopefully) will be going to vet school in September. I originally applied at 18 and didn’t get the grades but honestly looking back I’m a very different person and it’s heavily benefitted me.
Secondly, academically very rigorous courses like vet med tend to have more ‘mature’ students just due to the nature of the difficulty of the course and how most don’t get in first time. I know when I start in September there’s lots of people in late twenties and even thirties who are just starting the course and completing changing their careers.
My advice would be look at access courses, I didn’t get my chemistry grade at AL and have done access and honestly it’s an easier way in, not all vet schools take them but enough do! If you complete the biomed degree then decide you want to do vet med you will have to self fund so the sooner you can drop out the better as it won’t impact your funding so much x[/QUOTE
Thank you so much for the advise!!
In terms of age, I know I’m still young but I do somewhat have that built in mindset of “everyone goes to uni at 18” that you mentioned, even though I know anyone can start their career at any time I still do naturally get a feeling of that everything needs to be done now lol.
But that’s good to know that vetmed courses would have more mature students, I would fat prefer to have some people of a similar age there too.
Can I ask what you mean by access courses? I think I have heard of them but I’m not 100% sure what they are. Are they A level equivalents or are they something else?
I was originally planning on doing a fast track chemistry A level which would allow me to gain chemistry A level in a year rather than two.
However the only thing I’m unsure of is to whether I can then apply next year for vetmed as I wouldn’t have my grades until the end of august, however to apply I believe you are required to show grades from AS level for UCAS in order to then be considered.
Secondly, academically very rigorous courses like vet med tend to have more ‘mature’ students just due to the nature of the difficulty of the course and how most don’t get in first time. I know when I start in September there’s lots of people in late twenties and even thirties who are just starting the course and completing changing their careers.
My advice would be look at access courses, I didn’t get my chemistry grade at AL and have done access and honestly it’s an easier way in, not all vet schools take them but enough do! If you complete the biomed degree then decide you want to do vet med you will have to self fund so the sooner you can drop out the better as it won’t impact your funding so much x[/QUOTE
Original post by ALEreapp
So firstly your age concerns, you are only 19. It’s too drilled into us we must go to uni at 18 and if you consider the life expectancy is around 80+ that’s not even 25% of your life. I am 20 and (hopefully) will be going to vet school in September. I originally applied at 18 and didn’t get the grades but honestly looking back I’m a very different person and it’s heavily benefitted me.
Secondly, academically very rigorous courses like vet med tend to have more ‘mature’ students just due to the nature of the difficulty of the course and how most don’t get in first time. I know when I start in September there’s lots of people in late twenties and even thirties who are just starting the course and completing changing their careers.
My advice would be look at access courses, I didn’t get my chemistry grade at AL and have done access and honestly it’s an easier way in, not all vet schools take them but enough do! If you complete the biomed degree then decide you want to do vet med you will have to self fund so the sooner you can drop out the better as it won’t impact your funding so much x
Secondly, academically very rigorous courses like vet med tend to have more ‘mature’ students just due to the nature of the difficulty of the course and how most don’t get in first time. I know when I start in September there’s lots of people in late twenties and even thirties who are just starting the course and completing changing their careers.
My advice would be look at access courses, I didn’t get my chemistry grade at AL and have done access and honestly it’s an easier way in, not all vet schools take them but enough do! If you complete the biomed degree then decide you want to do vet med you will have to self fund so the sooner you can drop out the better as it won’t impact your funding so much x
Thank you so much for the advise!!
In terms of age, I know I’m still young but I do somewhat have that built in mindset of “everyone goes to uni at 18” that you mentioned, even though I know anyone can start their career at any time I still do naturally get a feeling of that everything needs to be done now lol.
But that’s good to know that vetmed courses would have more mature students, I would fat prefer to have some people of a similar age there too.
Can I ask what you mean by access courses? I think I have heard of them but I’m not 100% sure what they are. Are they A level equivalents or are they something else?
I was originally planning on doing a fast track chemistry A level which would allow me to gain chemistry A level in a year rather than two.
However the only thing I’m unsure of is to whether I can then apply next year for vetmed as I wouldn’t have my grades until the end of august, however to apply I believe you are required to show grades from AS level for UCAS in order to then be considered.
Original post by Trull123
Thank you so much for the advise!!
In terms of age, I know I’m still young but I do somewhat have that built in mindset of “everyone goes to uni at 18” that you mentioned, even though I know anyone can start their career at any time I still do naturally get a feeling of that everything needs to be done now lol.
But that’s good to know that vetmed courses would have more mature students, I would fat prefer to have some people of a similar age there too.
Can I ask what you mean by access courses? I think I have heard of them but I’m not 100% sure what they are. Are they A level equivalents or are they something else?
I was originally planning on doing a fast track chemistry A level which would allow me to gain chemistry A level in a year rather than two.
However the only thing I’m unsure of is to whether I can then apply next year for vetmed as I wouldn’t have my grades until the end of august, however to apply I believe you are required to show grades from AS level for UCAS in order to then be considered.
In terms of age, I know I’m still young but I do somewhat have that built in mindset of “everyone goes to uni at 18” that you mentioned, even though I know anyone can start their career at any time I still do naturally get a feeling of that everything needs to be done now lol.
But that’s good to know that vetmed courses would have more mature students, I would fat prefer to have some people of a similar age there too.
Can I ask what you mean by access courses? I think I have heard of them but I’m not 100% sure what they are. Are they A level equivalents or are they something else?
I was originally planning on doing a fast track chemistry A level which would allow me to gain chemistry A level in a year rather than two.
However the only thing I’m unsure of is to whether I can then apply next year for vetmed as I wouldn’t have my grades until the end of august, however to apply I believe you are required to show grades from AS level for UCAS in order to then be considered.
So access courses are AL equivalent courses but they are done in one year and course work based. They aim to prepare people with less traditional education backgrounds (eg not done AL) for university.
I’ve done AL Chem and just finishing my access and honestly the access has been a much better choice aha, you do Chem but it’s no where near as hard and it’s not all exam based.
So yeah you can apply without your grades, your would need to put the qualification as ‘pending’ and your college would provide a ‘predicted grade’ often that’s just the grade you would need to get in. Then all your uni offers will be conditional on that Chem grade.
I have had a really similar experience! Completed first year of a geography degree, decided it wasn't for me and took a year out to take A level chemistry in one year. I'm just completing that year and have places for September for Vet med. I was also a bit worried about the age difference, but apparently up to 25% of the year can be graduate entry for vet, and most people seem to have taken a gap year too. You don't actually need to apply with predicted grades if you let them know why in a letter. You also don't actually need the practical component of the A level at most unis- everyone I asked said it was fine apart from RVC (who also wanted predicted grades I think).
I'm actually really glad to be starting the degree a little older; I know what to expect from uni, have lived away from home and studied independently, so the course will seem that much more manageable. Honestly, dropping out of my first degree was the best decision I've ever made.
In terms of student finance, you also need to drop out this year if you want to qualify for a full loan. If you continue to do a second year you no longer qualify for the entire period.
Let me know if you have any questions!!
I'm actually really glad to be starting the degree a little older; I know what to expect from uni, have lived away from home and studied independently, so the course will seem that much more manageable. Honestly, dropping out of my first degree was the best decision I've ever made.
In terms of student finance, you also need to drop out this year if you want to qualify for a full loan. If you continue to do a second year you no longer qualify for the entire period.
Let me know if you have any questions!!
Original post by Trull123
Firstly, thank you for the advice!!
In your opinion, what length of time would you recommend I try to get work experience for in order to give myself a better idea on whether the job is for me/ be able to be accepted onto a uni degree?
If you also don’t mind me asking, in what way is it different to the public eye? Do you mean in terms of the actual work you do or something else like work conditions etc?
In your opinion, what length of time would you recommend I try to get work experience for in order to give myself a better idea on whether the job is for me/ be able to be accepted onto a uni degree?
If you also don’t mind me asking, in what way is it different to the public eye? Do you mean in terms of the actual work you do or something else like work conditions etc?
To be accepted on a degree typically requires the experience to be within 18 months of application - Personally I applied with around 12 weeks worth of experience but the minimum is typically around 4-6 weeks of both vet clinics and animal husbandry environments. Check the D100 requirements for each uni for more info on that.
Work life balance is a big factor. Vet med attracts lots of perfectionists and stressy people (I feel fortunate to be neither) who take their work home with them and worry constantly in their little free time. To me it is a job I enjoy but when I am at home I am not a vet. Small animal practice was not for me at all but the influence corporates have on working conditions has greatly impacted that side of the profession. And yes actual work done by vets - and members of the public that have to be dealt with/tolerated by vets - is very different to what people typically imagine it to be.
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