Veterinary Medicine 2015 hopefuls!

I am not an employee, so you're right, I guess. But, even though you are a volunteer can't they say they no longer "need" you or that someone else need to get to try it as well?
I have no idea why I am worried about this, but the feeling came after I got home from holiday.

The petting farm I volunteer at likes to have a helping hand at the weekend because there are only 2 employees working vs 4 during the week. If they appreciate your help and enjoy your company I doubt they will ask you to leave, i think that would be donw to your own decision.

Why thank you, a little bit p***ed by English but I can still do higher! A very well done to you though ! Enjoying sixth year? It doesn´t even have to be cleaning, I did file sorting and making up pamplets for puppy classes. Any ordnance work can be very helpful for them, you don´t always need to ask - sometimes just do something if you feel it needs done, it shows initiative .

Have fun with higher English haha thank you very much yeah sixth year has been good so far (no more English!!) and free periods are the best. Taking the initiative is something I have never been able to master cos I'm so shy :P by the way, I start work experience at the petting farm soon and I was just wondering what to expect, like what kind of stuff would I do and (stupid question alert) how do I fit in lunch and stuff? I'd just like to prepare myself a little better for this than the dairy farm, which was...surprising to say the least :L



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Canny wait!! That's good! I am going to study from the word go, hopefully , for English. Have you decided on your investigations?

I understand, I used to be very shy and having little common sense made me almost like a living plank . But being on placements eased me out and I eventually just did what I thought and ignored any awkwardness I felt by filling it in with conversation.

Don't worry too much, it isn't as hectic as a dairy farm being always on your feet. We all have lunch together and it can last for ages if we don't have much work to do sometimes (not really during week but at the weekend this can happen). There is no huge rush to get things done - we work together to complete tasks so things are done generally quicker. You may get a bit grubby but not as much as the dairy, I can assure you . Primary tasks are feeding and watering all the animals, checking they are okay and mucking out. Other things you do are grooming the ponies, doing health checks, general care to say the least. Don't feel awkward or shy about conversation - they like it and they would take about anything really! You will feel more open when you talk with them more and ask questions. When do you begin?


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Don´t worry, I do that all the time but it can now be seen as today aha! Three hours left by the pool .

The SQA have crap subjects, we should be able to do a higher Zoology I believe! Lolling at your spectacular use of a minor sentence!

I know farm work is like a more interesting gym! The gym near me has a pool too so I may be more likely to actually do exercise since I enjoy swimming .

NEAL omg! Are you the L?

I suppose, I thought the same for Matt Smith - I facepalmed after hearing the legendary words "Jeronimo" coming from his mouth for the first time. It just weird because the Doctor is now suddenly so old . I know, I don´t think I would have minded if it was a woman but it would certainly change the aura of the show. If they were so concerned they should have auditioned themselves´ .

Haha have you decided on your essay topics? For biology I'm doing genetics in fruit flies and I have no idea about chemistry :P yeah I'm like super shy right now but I used to be even worse as in I would avoid meeting new people and give monosyllabic answers.

That's good reassured me a bit especially knowing I won't be as mucky as at the dairy farm - I just got back from afternoon milking and I am quite literally a walking cow pat with clothes the grooming ponies sounds fun seeing as I've never had any experience with horses before :P the people all sound lovely so here's hoping! I start on the 24th August after my dairy farm placement finishes and just before the start of term


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Yay, got my grooming booked for next week This is going to be so cute

Back yet?

I would totally do zoology if it was offered !

I'd quite like to start jogging, but I don't know how long I'd actually be able to last. I'm pretty crap at staying motivated.

I am indeed

Yeah, all new doctors face some level of disapproval. I was adamant that no one would be as good as Christopher Ecclestone but good ol' DT turned out to be my favourite so far

Ooo! Sounds very interesting! My bio teacher teaches Advanced too and said she had friends in Amazonia so a project in animal behaviour could be possible next year! Persuasive essay I am thinking maybe the badger cull? But I am suddenly feeling skeptical :/. Don't about the personal yet. And we are studying Orwell's, '1984' and Miller's, 'Death of a Salesman'.

You'll enjoy it I'm sure! You still will et a bit dirty though . Yeah, it is quite fun - some have an attitude, one was mistreated before she came to the farm and doesn't like her hooves being touched but is so lovely otherwise! I go back to school next Wednesday . So is that a Saturday you're doing? I'll try and pop in on a Saturday instead to met ya!


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Finished early at the dairy farm so I'm waiting to be picked up. I'm covered in pee this time animal behaviour sounds good! And badger culling is really interesting - you could build a great argument around it so don't worry I see, I did Macbeth and all quiet on the western front last year (most boring novel. Ever. But brilliant to write about in an essay!) plus 2 poems.

I don't mind getting a bit dirty, as long as I enjoy what in doing :P shame about the horse but at least she's ok now yeah I go back to school really late (27th :P ) and yep it's a Saturday so feel free to pop in!


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Well done LTC re the grooming placement! Don't think there are any near me but I can have a Google... Had my last day at the vets today Did lots of cleaning and generally tried to make myself useful today. Really interesting and worthwhile week, everyone was lovely and I saw lots of castrations and spays as well as a splenectomy of a tumourous spleen, which is what my late dog had, so that was especially interesting. & apparently I am welcome to come back again! So that is a good sign. What this week has done for me is that it's made me think about what I want to specialise in (if I get into vet school that is!). Although I really enjoyed this SA placement, I just feel that farm/large animals are more 'me'- which is weird as I've grown up in London! It might be because I had such a lovely time at the dairy farm. Will have to see how much I enjoy my equine hospital placement though before I make any decisions, which I'm really looking forward to. Next task- I need to go and book some lambing! Does anyone know what time I should ring up some farmers? I can't really see them being on the phone all the time so not sure when exactly to ring...

Sounds like you had a brilliant time! I would love to see a splenectomy!

For lambing, since you are down south it may be more competitive to find places, but I would wait till this winter to contact them since they haven't even began breeding their flocks yet! Lambing is more commonly found between Feb-Apr - with some farms dispersed out with this time frame. As for time of day perhaps evening (after dinner) or lunch time as they will be less busy, especially at this time of the year.


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Ahaha! Every weekend I get covered in pee and poo ahaha! Thanks, I'm probably just going to stick with it then! The only Shakespeare I have ever done was 'The Merchant of Venice' in 3rd year . I'm going to start '1984' tonight.

I'm used to it. I've gotten crap everywhere: I have no fear of it . Yeah, they are all wee Shetlands (known for their ankle-biter status in the equine world) and are generally very nice! Okaydoke I will do one week! You're lucky, did you finish early then?


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From your comment it seems you don't like cows because they smell and you are worried about getting kicked. The reality is 30% of your exams will be based on farm medicine at uni as you don't get a chance to specialise, and you will be expected to do work experience with cattle on farms and with farm vets too. And the farmers and farm vets you will be with won't have much respect for you if you refuse to stick your hand up a cow's vagina or rectum to be blunt. No, it's not all about doing that, but it is part of the job and something you need to learn to do too.

As for the kicking, you just need to watch out for yourself. Sometimes cows might kick because the clusters aren't put on correctly or if it is heifer who wasn't used the parlour much. Or they can sense your fear/dislike and be genuinely nervous and scared of you; most black and white cows are quite sensitive believe it or not! All animals will or have the potential to use the defences they have evolved as prey animals or predators to dislodge you from your allocated tasks at some point or another.

Even if you go into small animal practice, there will be times when you will smell (e.g. have you ever seen anal sacs being emptied?). As a vet, it is inevitable that you will on occasion get covered in excrement, and body fluids of various sorts. If you are unable to accept that, then this is not the career for you.

At a SA vets you are really there to observe most of the time. That is usual and even as a vet student in the early years you won't be allowed to do everything and will need to just watch. But that doesn't mean you can't learn from that. Certainly, that's why I enjoyed farms because they are more hands on and let you do a lot if you show interest.



Your friend might have met work experience requirements and had good grades, but it is possible she did not perform well at her interviews. You are right it is very competitive and hard to get into, even more so than medicine. If you do not have the drive to complete "weeks and weeks" of work experience (which, for the most part should be enjoyable and not a chore; you have to do 38 weeks during your holiday time at vet school on top of this) than I doubt you have what it takes to get in to vet school. You need to be 100% determined and dedicated as it's a long course and you have to do unpleasant things.

Not sure about Earth science or microbiology - you need to look into this at university. Both seems to be laboratory-based jobs.

If you are in real doubt as to what to apply to, a gap year might be a good idea to get some money under you belt and clear your mind as to what you would prefer to do as a degree and career.

Hope this helps!

Thank you

As for your question, I'm afraid that I think that's something you have to ask yourself . My advice would be to stick it out at the dairy farm for a few more days to see if it gets any more bearable. I absolutely hated my first day at a small animal vet last year (spent my lunch break crying and wondering if they'd call my mother if I went home ), but by the end I loved it and I wanted to stay for longer. I can understand why you didn't enjoy yourself; I'd worked at an urban farm for several months before I did my dairy work so I was used to the smell/mess, but I'm afraid that's just something that comes along with working with animals. I have never been a finicky person (clothes were made to get dirty!), but if you haven't had much experience working with larger, messier animals then I can see that getting used to them could be a steep learning curve. As for the kicking, you'll just have to learn to not stand in an area where the cow could potentially kick you and learn to recognize the signs that they are about to kick. Usually (this goes for horses as well) cows will kick because they're startled rather than when they're angry, so just make sure you're very deliberate when moving close to them so that the animals are aware of your presence. When putting on clusters it is good practice to gently touch the back of the cows' legs so that they know you're there and don't kick out in shock when you touch their udders. The farmer might also have kick bars that hook onto the animals' hips to try to stop them kicking, so you could ask the farmer to put these on any of the cows you're worried about?

Not liking cows is a bit of a problem. You may not want to be a LA vet (me neither, exotics are bloody awesome ), but all vets at each university do the same course (i.e. no separate LA or SA units as far as I know), and there are certainly jobs dirtier than simply assisting with milking (think pregnancy diagnosing ). You will have to learn about cows if you study VetMed, and I would very surprised if you didn't treat at least one over the course of your career. All jobs have their downsides, and although with VetMed we already have to deal with quite a few (long hours, relatively low pay, idiotic clients, vicious animals... I could go on ), having to treat animals that you may not particularly like may just be another thing you have to contend with as part of the job. The only thing I might be a little bit wary of (correct me if I'm wrong here ) is that you sound as if you're a tiny bit scared of the cows? Again, if you've never worked with cows before then that is totally understandable, but vets need to be confident when dealing with animals that could, to put it bluntly, potentially kill people if stressed. I'd reiterate my previous point about continuing to work at the dairy parlour for as long as you can manage, as that way hopefully your wariness will wear off over time.

There's no getting around it, getting into VetMed is HARD. Even with outstanding grades and all the work experience in the world you're still not guaranteed an interview let alone an offer. I don't know the exact circumstances of your friend's friend, but that just proves my point. There's no point attending a million and one placements if you're not trying as hard as possible to enjoy and learn from them. Your work at the SA vet sounds good, but "a lot of the time I'm just standing there aimlessly" is ringing alarm bells. Don't wait to be told what to do, ask! Ask the vets questions after consults, take notes on how they handle and restrain patients, compare different cases in your head (i.e. guess what tests, questions etc the vet is going to do next based on what you've seen before). It's a vet, there's always more cleaning to do! Get involved!

Ooops, I appear to have rambled on quite a bit! I hope my mindless musings have helped a bit... feel free to ignore anything that you disagree with, these are all my own views drawn from my personal experiences and as a wee little year 11 student I barely know anything yet! All I'm saying is that only you know if VetMed is the right course for you. I'm not going to sugar coat it, at the moment you don't sound too keen, but that's fine! As I mentioned previously, I've had my moments of confusion about whether this is really what I want to do, and I'm still not 101% sure. Maybe geology or microbiology is what's right for you, I don't know. Both of those could probably have some links with VetMed anyway, so you wouldn't have to throw the idea of working with animals away completely.

Best of luck for whatever you choose to do .

Woo! Well done! I'm writing my letters this weekend . Tell me all about it!
Offering that as a subject will be my next decree as future PM .

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Well done LTC re the grooming placement! Don't think there are any near me but I can have a Google...

anyway, sorry for the long winded reply, but thank you very much for all your help!

what's that disease that cows can get that ends with -itis, can be spread with flies and is treated with antibiotic injections into its udders? the farmer had a lisp and northern scottish accent so despite him saying it about twenty times i still didn't catch it