Veterinary Medicine 2015 hopefuls!

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Lambing is amazing. Drenched 190 ewes today. I'm slowly getting better at using the scanner. :tongue:

Original post by Percival Weasley

How many weeks do people have at a vets? I think im gonna have 4 (hopefully 5) weeks but left it way too late for organising more :frown:

If you've done large animal as well as small then 4-5 weeks should be alright :smile:

Reply 2801

Georgie14

Original post by Little Tail Chaser

Lambing is amazing. Drenched 190 ewes today. I'm slowly getting better at using the scanner. :tongue:

If you've done large animal as well as small then 4-5 weeks should be alright :smile:

Sounds like you're having a fabulous time! I really missed lambing this year but did have a great time on large animal vet work experience. I will definitely hopefully be going lambing again next year, despite it being post application, I just enjoyed it so much! You got to use a scanner? :smile:

Original post by Percival Weasley

Well, a family friend of ours refused to visit if there was a snake in the house which kinda ruled them out :mad:

even just one of them tiny cornsnakes! tbh, my dad isnt too keen on them but at least it wasnt a snake for his sake! Good luck on getting the python ... just do the washing up one evening! (or several!) Thanks! - i shall look it up! How many weeks do people have at a vets? I think im gonna have 4 (hopefully 5) weeks but left it way too late for organising more :frown:

Similar to LTC I would say that it depends on what vet experience you have... If you have 4 weeks then you've met Liverpool's minimum, but try to make sure you definitely have large (farm and/or equine) as well as small animal practice, and that you have had work experience at a minimum of two or more practices. I don't know if you're already doing this, but it may be possible for you to go for a regular, say weekly, placement at a practice you have been to before for a week, which is what I do and I know others do, and will bring your hours up and give you really good experience. Even if you don't have a lot of free time (I don't think many of us prospective vets have much time do we?) it may still be possible, some may do Saturday mornings, I go in my free periods from school so one week I go at the end of the day (mainly consults), and the next week I go in the lunchtime slot (mainly surgery) so get to see a bit of everything...Its slightly surreal watching surgery or consults and helping out at the vets then going back to school for a physics lesson :L

Think I will have around 9 weeks of veterinary when I apply I think, but everyone's different and it all depends on what you've got available to you, as long as your animal husbandry work experience is there too, I would see that a varied 4 or 5 weeks of veterinary should be ok, just make sure you have met everyone's minimum and you should be fine :smile:

Reply 2802

Scottw97

Hi, I'm hoping to apply to vet med 2015 but I am worried about my grades at a level, at GCSE I got 2A*s 6 A's 2B's and im Predicted at As Biology(A) Chemistry(A) Maths(B) Spanish(B). But nearly all of the universities require AAA. I have got 35+ weeks work experience and other extra curricular so is there any point in applying or am I likely to get a rejection?
Thanks,
Scott

Reply 2803

Little Tail Chaser

Happy Easter everyone! :bunny:

Original post by Georgie14

I certainly am! Having a bit of a relaxed day today but we trimmed some feet and put a harness on a ewe that had prolapsed. My hands are going to be a lovely shade of purple for a few days... bloody foot spray :tongue:

. Glad to hear you enjoyed your LA work, what did you get to do? :smile:

I'm also hoping to go lambing again next year :smile:

I already have a place at the farm I went to in February, but I'll probably have to leave Easter break free for revision and such.

Yep, the scanner just let us record births, deaths, treatments etc. It reads their ear tags so that all the data can be uploaded to a computer :smile:

Original post by Scottw97

I've known universities to be quite lenient with grades, e.g. they might accept A*AB instead of AAA. I'd say that you stand a good chance :smile:

Reply 2804

KateLivesey

Original post by Scottw97

Have you spoken to your teachers about changing you predicted grades? I was predicted a B in biology this year when I applied but they changed this to an A when I told them I needed that for my course and I'm now set to get an A/A* at A2 :smile:

With all that work experience anyway I would say you stood a very good chance!

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Reply 2805

beccac94

Hey guys thought I would introduce myself, you might have seen me post other places cause I literally live in TSR but I'm Rebecca and I've just got an offer for Liverpool after 3 years of applying, so if you need any advice on anything about getting work experience or whatever then feel free to inbox me. :smile:

By the way hope everyone had/is having an amazing time lambing, I know I did! :smile:

Reply 2806

Georgie14

Original post by Little Tail Chaser

Happy Easter everyone! :bunny:

. Glad to hear you enjoyed your LA work, what did you get to do? :smile:

I'm also hoping to go lambing again next year :smile:

Happy Easter to you too!!! Sounds lovely :smile:

Oh purple dye sounds very colourful...I remember getting covered in iodine when lambing, the farmer said people would assume I was a smoker with my stained yellow fingers :L

The LA work was fabulous, it was a fantastic practice with lovely staff and the practice had their own pig, ducks and ponies which I was responsible for looking after :biggrin:

(feeding, meds for pony, rugs, etc.). I did a lot of odd jobs around the practice too, helping out the nurses and things. I saw TB testing and TB test reading (I scribed :L), pregnancy diagnosis, post-calving checks, a lame cow, vetting of a horse, 22 calf castrates (I got to do the drawing up of all the local anaesthetic & anti-inflammatory so was getting pretty speedy by the end, operating the crush and handing equipment to the vet, made all the more exciting/dangerous when a calf (they were pretty big) managed to burst his legs out the side of the crush and miss my head by a few cm, sending all the equipment flying :L and I now know how to operate the crush pretty well :smile:

), sick foal that was actually pretty fine, mare with sarcoid, lame pony in for nerve blocks and x-rays, cow with bottlejaw due to liver fluke, horse vaccinations... I saw some small animal practice too, a few consults (my first experience of a ferret in veterinary practice), bitch spay, dog castrate. It was a great week :smile:

Yeah the farm I have been to for lambing before lambs in my Easter break so will hopefully do a week then and the other week to revise... oh that horrid 'R' word. In February I should hopefully be working on a Thoroughbred stud I have been to before, which should be great :biggrin:

so should be nice and busy doing exciting things. It's great that you will be going back to your February farm, bet you're looking forward to it already?! Oh I see, that scanner seems like a very useful system.

How many sheep are there on the farm you're currently at and what breed? What sorts of things are you doing?

Reply 2807

Percival Weasley

Georgie14

;47237681
Similar to LTC I would say that it depends on what vet experience you have... If you have 4 weeks then you've met Liverpool's minimum, but try to make sure you definitely have large (farm and/or equine) as well as small animal practice, and that you have had work experience at a minimum of two or more practices. I don't know if you're already doing this, but it may be possible for you to go for a regular, say weekly, placement at a practice you have been to before for a week, which is what I do and I know others do, and will bring your hours up and give you really good experience. Even if you don't have a lot of free time (I don't think many of us prospective vets have much time do we?) it may still be possible, some may do Saturday mornings, I go in my free periods from school so one week I go at the end of the day (mainly consults), and the next week I go in the lunchtime slot (mainly surgery) so get to see a bit of everything...Its slightly surreal watching surgery or consults and helping out at the vets then going back to school for a physics lesson :L

Thanks

i have done one week at two different sa practices and have 2 weeks at a mixed practice in the summer and trying to arrange one more week. ( i also have 1 week at equine vets but its for summer 2015! so that wouldnt count) tried to get an exotic vet placement but was too late and another mixed but again was too late - kicking myself for not emailing earlier :mad:

but hopefully will find another practice (not sure which type) so that will be 5 weeks and then will think i will have 9 weeks husbandry (fingers crossed!) so 14 weeks all in all. Thats a really good idea - dont have time over weekends but never thought of during frees! theres a practice 10min walk away which is really good so will try there tomorrow!

Reply 2808

Percival Weasley

Original post by beccac94

I'm Rebecca and I've just got an offer for Liverpool after 3 years of applying, so if you need any advice on anything about getting work experience or whatever then feel free to inbox me. :smile:

Hi Rebecca! congrats about getting a liverpool off!! :tongue:

if you mind me asking, what kind of questions did they ask you in the interviews/ what was the format like? Ive heard they reduced many to tears so kinda dreading it! Thanks :biggrin:

Reply 2809

PricklyPorcupine

I don't know where I want to go but I am considering applying for Glasgow or Cambridge; I have heard that Glasgow is better for practical work and job prospects. Is this true?

Reply 2810

Tom39

Could anyone enlighten me on how to condense a long term placement into weeks? 2 days each week for 2 years?

Reply 2811

chaarlotte

Original post by PricklyPorcupine

I don't know where I want to go but I am considering applying for Glasgow or Cambridge; I have heard that Glasgow is better for practical work and job prospects. Is this true?

Cambridge don't focus as much on practical work as Glasgow do so yeah I'd say Glasgow's better. I'm biased though :P

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Reply 2812

Little Tail Chaser

Original post by Tom39

Could anyone enlighten me on how to condense a long term placement into weeks? 2 days each week for 2 years?

1 week = 5 working days
1 working day = at least 8 hours
so 1 'week' = at least 40 hours.

If it's for less than half a day I'd count hours, if it's days or half days I'd only count days, e.g. two days of working for four hours = 1 day, but 1 day of working 12 hours is NOT 1.5 days (if that makes sense? :tongue:

)

Assuming that you worked full days for all 52 weeks of both years:
2 x (52 x 2) = 208 days
208 / 5 = 41.6 weeks

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 2813

Tom39

Original post by Little Tail Chaser

)

Assuming that you worked full days for all 52 weeks of both years:
2 x (52 x 2) = 208 days
208 / 5 = 41.6 weeks

Ah yeah okay! It's pretty much exactly 4 hours/day twice a week, so the equivalent of 1 day a week? Okay! Thank you very much!��

so roughly 20 weeks

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 2814

Little Tail Chaser

Last day of lambing of 2014 :emo:

Original post by Georgie14

Happy Easter to you too!!! Sounds lovely :smile:

Oh purple dye sounds very colourful...I remember getting covered in iodine when lambing, the farmer said people would assume I was a smoker with my stained yellow fingers :L ...

How many sheep are there on the farm you're currently at and what breed? What sorts of things are you doing?

The joys of iodine :rolleyes:

. My vet told me to take Norwegian Formula with me and I'm so glad he gave me that advice otherwise I think my hands would have completely crumbled by now. They are very pretty though, got orange/brown from the iodine plus red, blue and purple from Marksman and various other sprays :tongue:

Wow, all that in one week!? Sounds fantastic, I'm so glad you enjoyed it :smile:

. I love wee ferrets :biggrin:

The joys of A-Levels, eh? :tongue:

My first exam is in less than a month, welp. And of course I'm looking forward to it, I was looking forward to it the minute I stepped on the train to go home!

There are 340 ewes and 7 rams here :smile:

Mostly Texel X and Sussex X, but we have a few Cambridge X and a couple of pedigree Sussex ones as well :smile:

It's quite a little farm but at my last lambing placement I saw the beginning of lambing whereas here I caught the tail end, so it was good in that respect :smile:

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 2815

Little Tail Chaser

Original post by Tom39

Ah yeah okay! It's pretty much exactly 4 hours/day twice a week, so the equivalent of 1 day a week? Okay! Thank you very much!��

so roughly 20 weeks

Yep, I'd count that as the equivalent of one day per week :smile:

It sounds like it would be roughly 20 weeks considering that I imagine you took a few days off for revision/Christmas/Easter/holidays/illness etc

No problem, happy to help. :smile:

Reply 2816

Tom39

Original post by Little Tail Chaser

Yep, I'd count that as the equivalent of one day per week :smile:

It sounds like it would be roughly 20 weeks considering that I imagine you took a few days off for revision/Christmas/Easter/holidays/illness etc

No problem, happy to help. :smile:

Yep exactly! One last thing, if you know, how many weeks does that count for on an application? Is there a limit you can put down?

Reply 2817

Little Tail Chaser

Original post by Tom39

Yep exactly! One last thing, if you know, how many weeks does that count for on an application? Is there a limit you can put down?

It depends on what it is and where you're applying. I'll have to double check but I *think* it's about four weeks for vet work, six weeks for core husbandry and one week for alternative husbandry. Don't quote me on that, though.

Reply 2818

beccac94

Original post by Percival Weasley

Hi Rebecca! congrats about getting a liverpool off!! :tongue:

if you mind me asking, what kind of questions did they ask you in the interviews/ what was the format like? Ive heard they reduced many to tears so kinda dreading it! Thanks :biggrin:

I didn't find it that bad really, I thought the interviewers where really friendly and just had a general laugh with you! Obvs don't want to give too much away but they generally asked your typical interview questions like, why vet med, why should we pick you, those sorts of things. Liverpools interviews are done in a MMI (multi mini interviews).

Theres a bit of info on the stations and stuff on here http://charlotte-harris.net/vet-school-interviews/.
The only annoying thing about MMIs over traditional interviews is the time, you often run out of time so you cant say everything that you want to say, or the interviewers have a set number of questions, so like what happened with me they run out of questions :') but apart from that I really enjoyed it and its only an hour long so I found it more relaxing as it wasn't spread out over a long time and was over and done with quickly.

Reply 2819

Percival Weasley

Original post by beccac94

Oh good! so the myth of the interview is completely wrong then! I know a guy who applied 2012 that was asked none of the typical quesitons but more, 'what do you know about the history of rabies?' and 'what is the difference between two antibitiotics?' (i cant remember the name of the antibiotics and he hadnt heard of them before) so im guessing that waas quite rare! Thanks :biggrin:

was starting to freak out!