2012 - veterinary re-applicants

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That was very helpful and interesting, thanks so much! (I tried to rep you but it wouldn't let me, I'll try again later. :rolleyes:

) You said it was mostly due to lack of space, does this make certain breeds of sheep, for example, more prone? I'm definitely going to be reading more into this anyway as my lambing experience to date constitutes a measly 3 days, so I really appreciate you taking the time to write such a detailed response!

Yep - space can very much be to do with breeds. Often when people have cross bred sheep to get desirable traits from different breeds.

It can get quite complicated trying to explain sheep breeding in the UK...if you want the details I can post up some stuff I have written on it. But basically in the UK it is run on a stratified system, with hill sheep, upland and long wool breeds, cross breeds and down breeds. All these have different desirable qualities. What a lot of farmers use are cross breed ewes (hill sheep crossed with long wool rams), which produces "mules" these are really good mothers, good milkers etc. Then to get good meat producing lambs you cross these ewes with a down breed ram (which tends to be a really stocky, well built breed). These have good growth rates, good conformation etc. But....it can mean you have lambs that are a fair bit bigger than the ewe would normally have. Basically a case of crossing the ewe with a ram that is too big for her to try and get good lambs for market!

This is why a lot of intensive lambing systems need people on hand during lambing time and have so many sheep that need help. A lot of outdoor, extensive systems, don't tend to do the same level of cross breeding. For example, a farm I was at this year had about 700 Welsh Mountain ewes, that were crossed with Welsh Mountain Rams. They lambed outside, needed barely any assistance - literally maybe a handful out of the 700 had any issues lambing. Whereas, same farm, had nearly 300 cross breeds, crossed with big rams. Out of them at least half needed assistance - probably more tbh. Some of them even though the lamb was in the correct position there was no way it was coming out without help! I would say the vast majority of the ewes I assisted were struggling because of the size of their lambs. I had my hand crushed black and blue because of how little room there was, and with most of them I couldn't even lamb them with my hand, had to use ropes and head snares as there wasn't enough room.

So, anyway, with regards to breech births. Like I mentioned, it can be due to lack of space - just that there is not room for the lamb to 'stretch' out inside the uterus. Which can be due to multiple lambs, or large lambs. Large lambs could be breed related, or due to over feeding the ewe.

Feeding wise, it is important to feed the ewe enough during pregnancy (there is an imp metabolic disease in sheep "twin lamb disease" aka pregnancy toxaemia) where the ewe starts to use up her own body reserves for the lambs due to lack of food herself. But...overfeeding can produce lambs that are too big for the ewe to lamb herself. Hence why most farmers scan to ensure they can feed multiple ewes more than singles.

Anyway....I had gone on for ages, sorry. Sheep farming seems to the one thing I know anything about, and is much more interesting that what I am meant to be revising atm! Let me know if you have any more q's.

Reply 141

Marley13

Woo! Edinburgh finally accepted that they made a mistake and although they're not gifting me with an unconditional for 2011 entry, I'll at least be able to apply for next year with a reasonable chance of getting in. :biggrin:

Reply 142

rubyworldwide

Original post by may bug :)

Has anyone else received their lovely feedback from Dr Lynda Moore at Brizzle?! It was so helpful- she's so lovely!

me too! It was so lovely, like she'd read your application thoroughly and really cared about giving us feedback.
got good feedback from liverpool about my interview too.

nottingham......well they were just a disappointment.
they told me they'd give me feedback over the next 2 weeks (that was in February)
8 weeks later i get an email simply telling me i didn't get into the top 20%! (well duuhh! of course i didn't if i didn't get an interview!)
when i asked if they could be more specific they said no, there are too many people to give out detailed feedback!

i'm sure Bristol had the about same amount of applicants and they managed to give lovely feedback.
nottingham have really disappointed me. they were my absolute favourite but with the way they can't be bothered to give feedback, i'm not so sure anymore. they obviously don't think we're worth it. it doesn't matter to them if they don't give us feedback, they are spoilt for choice anyway! it says a lot about them really.....

Reply 143

may bug :)

Original post by rubyworldwide

Nottingham was my absolute favourite... now I'm not so sure

Me too! I think I'm still in love with Nottingham though!
BTW your gap year looks amazin! What are your plans?! Also what type of thing did your Bristol feedback say? Mine was saying I needed more work experience in practice and not so much husbandry... I love husbandry :tongue:

lol

Reply 144

rubyworldwide

Original post by may bug :)

lol

i'm going to South Africa again for 5 weeks with ACE to work with the same vet i was with last year :smile:

After i've applied next year and got all my offers (or no offers hehe) i'm going to NZ to see my godmother and go and visit the girl i went to south africa with last year. she's just qualified as a vet there so might be able to get me some good work experience! :smile:

Bristol just said i needed to put more info about my UK work experience in my personal statement. some of the unis liked my abroad work but some prefer UK so i'll just mention my abroad work next time so they can ask me if they're interested in an interview, and go on about my UK work in my personal statement! :biggrin:

what are you doing for your gap year?

Reply 145

Marley13

If anyone's interested, Edinburgh are now accepting people's names for the open day registration? It's on the 28th of September, more detailed info will be given out some time in August.

Reply 146

may bug :)

Original post by rubyworldwide

what are you doing for your gap year?

That all sounds so exciting!! I was planning on going to NZ to stay with my Mum's friend (a sheep AI) lol, what a job! But I think now I'm going to gather as much UK vet practice stuff as I can and I think I'm going to (like you) travel after offers/no offers... I'm only intending on going to Teneriffe and Greece to do Marine Conservation related work experience and maybe a little bit of Sail, Sun and Sea :tongue:

I don't have FB but when I make an account I will add you as I may be short of friends when they've all run away to uni lol. Until then I will look out for other awesome opportunities and get planning!

Thank yoooouuuuuuu

Reply 147

PurpleTinkerbell08

Hey everyone :smile:

just thought id introduce myself, im Natalie, this is my 2nd app, had 2 interviews last time round but completely fluffed them up and so here I am haha have no idea how im going to write a second personal statement o_0

Reply 148

may bug :)

Original post by PurpleTinkerbell08

had 2 interviews last time round

I wasn't even given a chance to fluff them up :tongue:

Are you planning an awesome gap year?!! I've been wanting to start my new PS but really really should concentrate on some dreaded maths...

Welcome btw :smile:

Reply 149

elli4

Hi, has anyone had feedback from RVC before or after interview?? looking back it was my worse interview as i said some silly things :\ I have had feedback from brisol which wasn't too bad and liverpool. Does anyone know how well you had to do in liverpool to get a place?

Reply 150

hannah_vet

Hello guys, just thought i'd offer my help/advice for people that want it.
I have just finished first year at Glasgow (obviously the best :P) and it took me 2 applications to get in as well, so any questions i'd be happy to answer! :smile:

Hannah

Reply 151

totallyme

Original post by hannah_vet

Hannah

Hi Hannah! This will be my second application and I'm hoping to go to Glasgow or Edinburgh. Got a couple of questions about Glasgow :smile:

Where do most vet students live if they don't live in halls? Is it quite far to lectures? How much free time have you got - what's a typical timetable? Also, what do you think are the best things about being a Glasgow vet student? Thanks :smile:

Nicole

Reply 152

hannah_vet

Original post by totallyme

Hi Hannah! This will be my second application and I'm hoping to go to Glasgow or Edinburgh. Got a couple of questions about Glasgow :smile:

Nicole

Hi Nicole,
regarding the question about halls, are you from Glasgow then and too close to the uni? The Americans in our year just went straight into privately rented flats, and the scottish kids that live too close to go into halls, just stay at home and commute in.
Most vets stay in Wolfson Halls on Maryhill Road (just north of the west end of Glasgow), and if you're living there then it's only a 15 minute walk to lectures! If you choose to stay in the cheaper student village down the road, then you'd need to catch a bus in the morning and walk across, so a longer commute.
From talking to other first years at other vet schools (notably Bristol) we seem to have quite a lax timetable in comparison! I'm not going to lie, it is 9am starts basically every day, but some days you get the afternoon off, or have a break then finish at 5pm. Friday is dissection day so you are at vet school all day in the Anatomy Lab. But it really seems to be do however much work you want here, which I LOVE haaha

the best things about being a Glasgow vet?
we have the best banter hands down.
our new small animal hospital is one of the best, if not THE best in Europe.
you determine how much effort you're going to put in, if you don't do the work, you fail the exams, simple. I like that they let us just get on with it.
Glasgow as a city is ACE.
all the years are friends and get on.
we have the GUMVA hut at vet school where you can go watch the plasma tv, use the kitchen, have a party whatever, whenever.
you can go to any of the buildings any time of day (until midnight), even weekends, so you can just get on with revising/using the library etc

basically, I've had a brilliant first year, and I don't regret choosing it over Bristol - despite the fact I am 10 hours away from home!

Reply 153

totallyme

Original post by hannah_vet

...

Thank you! :smile:

My boyfriend and I will be living together so definitely looking at private flats, hopefully we can find somewhere that's the same distance to uni and work for the both of us but it would be really nice to live near other students.

9-5 with some time off definitely sounds good :smile:

I was thinking it would be more than that but no doubt I'll be using any spare time I've got to remember everything (again IF I get in).

Haha being a vet student at Glasgow sounds perfect! Glad you are enjoying it and feel like you made the right choice! I better get back to physics revision or I'll have no chance of getting in anywhere :tongue:

Reply 154

PurpleTinkerbell08

Original post by may bug :)

I wasn't even given a chance to fluff them up :tongue:

Are you planning an awesome gap year?!! I've been wanting to start my new PS but really really should concentrate on some dreaded maths...

Welcome btw :smile:

aw thank you! I'm hoping for an awesome gap year! I need a job aswell though so trying to find something which I could fit work experience around is proving really tough, but my friend is moving to Sydney for a year and wants me to go with her so... could be my gap year adventure right there! What are your plans for the year? :smile:

Reply 155

may bug :)

Original post by PurpleTinkerbell08

What are your plans for the year? :smile:

I'm pretty much going to do work experience up until New Year and try and fit employment around that :s-smilie:

Then work work work while interviews are taking place... scary stuffs!!

I'm planning on going travelling around the Med after all the chaos is over, so should be funs :smile:

Good luck with your application (I will most certainly be stalking everyone on this thread as were are the best ones after all :tongue:

)

Reply 156

jacko111

News from RVC - apparently reviewing interview arrangements for next year and will probably go for Liverpools interview stations model as opposed to the current panel interview