RVN to vet student

I know a few have made this change over the years and I'm hoping to get some advice on locum work around the uni timetable/ems placements.

Realistically, how many days/weeks do you have spare for locum work? Or is it a case of getting an evening part time job as well? If yes to part time work - what roles did you do? Looking for some inspo!

As a guide - I have multiple outgoings that have been reduced to their maximum, but realistically I need to still have ~£2k per month coming in. I'm planning on renting a room to reduce living costs and getting the maintenance grant, but I'll still need to work along side.

Reply 1

RambleAmple

So I think this is all subjective and individual as obviously some people will need to spend more time outside of timetabled sessions than others and can deal with the pressure/stress of juggling uni and a job better than others. But the workload as a vet student is a lot, at Liverpool I've so far found first year most busy and imagine it'll get busier on rotations in 4th and 5th year. Honestly I think out of the 2 weekend days + Wednesday afternoon you should keep at least one of them free to be able to do work in, but it's probably doable to work the other two (i.e. work 1 weekend day + Wednesday afternoon, or both weekend days but keep Wednesday free etc) and perhaps a couple evenings a week, but I would say that's probably max you'd be able to do (and would be too much for a lot of students to handle anyway). Weeks vary a lot, some weeks you may have less compulsory sessions and sometimes we may even have days off (rarely in first and second years) but if your employer is able to accommodate that then it could work out ok. In holidays obviously you'll need to do all the placements which also detracts from your ability to work and you may not be able to do the Wednesday afternoons etc, may need to be on placement in evenings and weekends too. What I did was I did all my preclinical placements ASAP (finished Easter of 2nd year) and then I had all of the summer of 2nd year free so I did work full time throughout that summer as much as I could at a kennels and that worked up a decent amount (but ngl still not 2k per month decent and I was getting paid quite a bit over min wage and ~50 hour weeks). This would be more difficult to do other holidays ngl, but as the kennels now has me as a casual help I will be doing the odd full week when I have one free and maybe weekends occasionally. Will you qualify for a maintenance and tuition fee loan? Obviously that could have a big impact and the room renting would probably be a good idea too.

Reply 2

louisvbird

Universities Forum Helper

My friend is an RVN who funds her studies through locumming and she doesn't take her maintenance loan. So it is possible.

I would expect that earning 2k a month every month will be difficult, however if you can save up during summers and budget hard during term time this is probably a bit more doable.
My RVN friend does this, mainly taking shifts during summer to pay for the year ahead, however she will take the odd shift during term time. The vet school allowed her to use 4 weeks of her preclinical placements to do paid nursing work, which gave her a bit more free time during the early uni years. You'll not be allowed to use any clinical placements to do nursing work however; you will need to manage your time effectively in later year summers in order to do both placements and locum shifts.

Of course, it's preference as to whether or not you take shifts during term time, but it can be hard to juggle the vet course alone, let alone with work on top! I'm rambling a bit, but to answer your question directly: you have weekends free and most afternoons off. Uni days are 9-5, Mon-Fri. At Nottingham, the summers are usually from May until late September, and you will be expected to do between 6 and 14 weeks of placement during these summers (depends what year you're in and how much placement you managed to do the year prior). We also get 3 weeks off at Christmas (could do some emergency OOH shifts then?). Depending on the year you're in you might get a few weeks study leave as well. Final Year for us is the main exception, where there is no summer holiday between Years 4 and 5 - you jump straight into rotations instead. This is ages away for you - but something to keep in mind as there's not a whole lot of time to work.

I hope this gives you a bit of an idea . Of course, you probably already know that you'll find the uni workload more limiting than the hours you actually spend at uni. I hope this doesn't put you off, but give you a realistic view as to what you're up against. I love my RVN friends at vet school; they add such a unique perspective to the work we do. Good luck! :smile: