The Student Room Group

work experience after ucas application?

Hi guys,

I would be applying to vet medicine in coming october. The unis I'm looking at are RVC, edinburgh, Nothingham and Surrey.

My problem is that, I've got a 2 weeks work experience in dairy farm next half term, which is after ucas application on 15/10, would it still be helpful and should I look for more during period between application and interview(if I have any)?

I have never worked in a dairy farm before and I know I should be. accroding to the book getting into vet school, work experience planned would not be taking in to account as you still havet learn anything yet. Other than that 2 weeks, I still have 7 weeks of small vet practice, a week in pet shop, animal rescue center, kennel and wildlife consevation project. Those 2 weeks are not crucial to uni that require specific no. of weeks such as RVC. Also, such this experience included in the personal statement as well? When are we suppose to hand in a summary sheet of work experience to the unis? And will they look for proves such as reference letter?

The last thing is, I am not a local student and didnt do GCSE at all, but I am sure I am academically capable and would get 1 or 2 A* for predicted grade. Would lacking of GCSE result go against my application?

Thanks
Jacky
Original post by jackyotto
Hi guys,

I would be applying to vet medicine in coming october. The unis I'm looking at are RVC, edinburgh, Nothingham and Surrey.

My problem is that, I've got a 2 weeks work experience in dairy farm next half term, which is after ucas application on 15/10, would it still be helpful and should I look for more during period between application and interview(if I have any)?

I have never worked in a dairy farm before and I know I should be. accroding to the book getting into vet school, work experience planned would not be taking in to account as you still havet learn anything yet. Other than that 2 weeks, I still have 7 weeks of small vet practice, a week in pet shop, animal rescue center, kennel and wildlife consevation project. Those 2 weeks are not crucial to uni that require specific no. of weeks such as RVC. Also, such this experience included in the personal statement as well? When are we suppose to hand in a summary sheet of work experience to the unis? And will they look for proves such as reference letter?

The last thing is, I am not a local student and didnt do GCSE at all, but I am sure I am academically capable and would get 1 or 2 A* for predicted grade. Would lacking of GCSE result go against my application?

Thanks
Jacky


I would highly recommend you to still go for work experience after you application in the half term - I am not sure when these unis send out work experience application forms (I personally got away with doing a placement during the half term and it did end up counting towards my total but I applied a while ago). If anything, it will give you something to talk about at interview and it will in doubt be useful for when you get into vet school (as a contact for future placements or as context/first hand experience for your farm lectures in 1st year). As for your PS, only dedicate one short sentence to planned placements IF you have space and if you feel it is appropriate.

Whether you do more placements after that is up to you after that and might depend on your workload with exams etc. Certainly, if you can manage your time well and it's not impacting on your grades, doing a bit more work experience will in no way disadvantage you and you will probably benefit from it. If you don't get in this time round you'll already have some for the next time you apply (if you are thinking of reapplying as a Plan B).

Hope this helps
Reply 2
Original post by SilverstarDJ
I would highly recommend you to still go for work experience after you application in the half term - I am not sure when these unis send out work experience application forms (I personally got away with doing a placement during the half term and it did end up counting towards my total but I applied a while ago). If anything, it will give you something to talk about at interview and it will in doubt be useful for when you get into vet school (as a contact for future placements or as context/first hand experience for your farm lectures in 1st year). As for your PS, only dedicate one short sentence to planned placements IF you have space and if you feel it is appropriate.

Whether you do more placements after that is up to you after that and might depend on your workload with exams etc. Certainly, if you can manage your time well and it's not impacting on your grades, doing a bit more work experience will in no way disadvantage you and you will probably benefit from it. If you don't get in this time round you'll already have some for the next time you apply (if you are thinking of reapplying as a Plan B).

Hope this helps

Cheers for your reply, unlike most of you, my work experience are less diverge. A lot of people told me how important it is to gain work experience from dairy farm or stable. Unfortunately I am not living in this country and trapped in boarding school during term time. My school is reluctant to provide me transportation, accommodation or a week off for work experience. Therefore I am restricted by the physical location and dont have much choices.

And where I'm from, which is Hong Kong, is a highly urbanised small city. We have very few dairy farms and one stable, they all rejected my enquiries, they prefer vet students to secondary students.

Do you think such a situation will be considered as an proper excuse by the vet school?
Reply 3
I agree with Silverstar, go ahead and do it even if it is after UCAS. :smile: The reason dairy (an other) work experience is recommended is because it helps you prepare for the vet course, and what to expect on it. So even if it is done after UCAS, it is still helping you prepare. If you get a chance to mention planned placements, personally I would as it demonstrates your commitment in trying to fit a broader range of experience in.

For GCSEs-I wouldn't think not doing them would penalize you. I remember there being a section for international students on the applications page, and the resultant requirements eg. for Canadian applicants (where I am from). I would say the best thing to do is contact admissions and ask them directly, and/or offer your grades and ask if they would be competitive for the program.

As for whether your situation would be considered an 'excuse', I'm afraid I don't think so, as the schools are not obligated to cater to 'foreign students' (I am/was one too). Is it really fair if they grant 'foreign' students special circumstances that they wouldn't accept from local nationals? I did the GEP entry, so different from your situation in that I did a degree, and there were students from Hong Kong on my course. They too mentioned the difficulty, though the ones I am thinking of did have stable experience, not sure about dairy. So it could be I am being overly harsh. However, work experience is required FOR A REASON and is an important part of the application and degree.

Perhaps Silverstar or some more current students will have better answers. :smile:
Original post by jackyotto
Cheers for your reply, unlike most of you, my work experience are less diverge. A lot of people told me how important it is to gain work experience from dairy farm or stable. Unfortunately I am not living in this country and trapped in boarding school during term time. My school is reluctant to provide me transportation, accommodation or a week off for work experience. Therefore I am restricted by the physical location and dont have much choices.

And where I'm from, which is Hong Kong, is a highly urbanised small city. We have very few dairy farms and one stable, they all rejected my enquiries, they prefer vet students to secondary students.

Do you think such a situation will be considered as an proper excuse by the vet school?


Most schools in the UK won't pay for transport or accommodation either, nor will they allow time off during term time so I'm afraid that in itself is not a valid excuse - can you leave boarding school during the weekends? Some students here have also lived in cities e.g. in the middle of London, but have managed to find farm/equine work outside of their own city either by staying with relatives/friends in a different part of the country, travelling or sorting out some sort of accommodation themselves. Is this something you could do?

I don't know how much value UK vet schools place on work experience for foreign students as you pay a lot in fees; it probably depends how many spaces they have for foreign students and how many are applying.
Reply 5
As an international student, albeit a graduate applicant, I was still expected to have a reasonable amount of work experience.

I am most familiar with my school's website, so went on there and found this: http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/vet/studying/overseas-school-leavers/work-experience. While it doesn't given an exact "number" for recommended weeks (quality over quantity I suppose and as much as you can get), the wording is very similar to that for local undergraduate applicants and therefore I would expect it to be similar.

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