can you get into vet med from vet nursing?

Very sorry to hear that your exams didn't go as well as you'd hoped.

A degree in veterinary nursing will not qualify you to be a veterinary surgeon, no. It is unheard of to transfer onto a veterinary medicine course from another degree.

It is possible to study veterinary medicine as a postgraduate degree, and a degree such as biosciences may enable you to apply for the accelerated vetmed course (4 years instead of 5) at some universities. This route would therefore take 7 years in total, 3 of bioscience and 4 of vet. Bear in mind though that tuition fees for people studying vetmed as a postgrad can reach 30k per year, the postgrad route is just as competitive as the undergrad route, and after all that they may still require A-level/GCSE/Higher etc etc grades anyway.

Your best bet is to resit your exams. Most universities are fine with this although that comment is based on the A-Level requirements (I'm assuming you're Scottish), so double check university websites.

Best of luck!

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 2

Original post by Vetmed16

I didnt get the exam grades i need to apply for veterinary medicine but was wondering if it is possible to get into a veterinary medicine course after a degree in veterinary nursing or after a second year or so? Also is applied biosciences a route into vet med and how long would it take?

The answer is, no. Not only is it a massive waste of £9000-£18000 to do 1/2 years of a nursing course, you won't have gained a qualification out of it as you will not have graduated, which means they will look at your exam grades, so you will be in exactly the same position. You cannot transfer from nursing to veterinary, you would have to go through ucas and the interview process to gain a place.

What were your exam results? I presume you are talking about a-levels?

Doing a biosciences degree first will take 3 years, and it's dependent on you getting a 2:1 or higher upon graduation. This will cost you £9000 a year for 3 years. After this you will get no funding for the vet science degree, so you have to think of funding if you want to go down this route. I'm a grad vet student, and my parents fortunately fund it for me, otherwise I wouldn't be where I am today, and it's taken me a long time to get here. After degree there is still no guarantee of a place at vet school. I got in a year after graduating.

I would advise you re-sit your exams if veterinary is really what you want to do, the grad route is a long way around, and if you can get your head down and get the grades, it's better spending a year doing that than 3/4 doing another degree first!

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Reply 3

Vetmed16

OP

2

Original post by Lizziefickling

The answer is, no. Not only is it a massive waste of £9000-£18000 to do 1/2 years of a nursing course, you won't have gained a qualification out of it as you will not have graduated, which means they will look at your exam grades, so you will be in exactly the same position. You cannot transfer from nursing to veterinary, you would have to go through ucas and the interview process to gain a place.

What were your exam results? I presume you are talking about a-levels?

Doing a biosciences degree first will take 3 years, and it's dependent on you getting a 2:1 or higher upon graduation. This will cost you £9000 a year for 3 years. After this you will get no funding for the vet science degree, so you have to think of funding if you want to go down this route. I'm a grad vet student, and my parents fortunately fund it for me, otherwise I wouldn't be where I am today, and it's taken me a long time to get here. After degree there is still no guarantee of a place at vet school. I got in a year after graduating.

I would advise you re-sit your exams if veterinary is really what you want to do, the grad route is a long way around, and if you can get your head down and get the grades, it's better spending a year doing that than 3/4 doing another degree first!

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I have just sat scottish highers and got B's for chemistry, maths and physics and C's for english and biology. Unfortunately if i was to resit my exams i would not be able to sit the advanced highers i need and the results would no longer be achieved in my first sitting which thee universities state i need.Did you go through the veterinary bioscience route? And what uni did you do that at?

Reply 4

Original post by Vetmed16

I have just sat scottish highers and got B's for chemistry, maths and physics and C's for english and biology. Unfortunately if i was to resit my exams i would not be able to sit the advanced highers i need and the results would no longer be achieved in my first sitting which thee universities state i need.Did you go through the veterinary bioscience route? And what uni did you do that at?

I don't know anything about Scottish qualifications so I'm unsure on what to advise now. I think it would help if you emailed/rung the vet schools which you want to maybe go to and see what advice they can offer you? Admissions are usually really helpful in guiding you in the right direction. The problem with doing a degree first, is that they still look at your other qualifications, so if you still don't meet the requirements they may still reject you, but you could do additional qualifications to make your application stronger.
I did bioveterinary science at the university of Lincoln, but the course is run all over the country at different universities. Biovet is one of the more common degrees to go on to do vet med with afterwards, but you can do other degrees, but it's best to check with the universities to see what degree they want specifically before applying.
It's a long hard route, and you have to be really committed to being a vet if you want to go down that road, because doing three years at university then having to go back and do another 4/5 takes a lot of dedication.

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Reply 5

Vetmed16

OP

2

Original post by Lizziefickling

I don't know anything about Scottish qualifications so I'm unsure on what to advise now. I think it would help if you emailed/rung the vet schools which you want to maybe go to and see what advice they can offer you? Admissions are usually really helpful in guiding you in the right direction. The problem with doing a degree first, is that they still look at your other qualifications, so if you still don't meet the requirements they may still reject you, but you could do additional qualifications to make your application stronger.
I did bioveterinary science at the university of Lincoln, but the course is run all over the country at different universities. Biovet is one of the more common degrees to go on to do vet med with afterwards, but you can do other degrees, but it's best to check with the universities to see what degree they want specifically before applying.
It's a long hard route, and you have to be really committed to being a vet if you want to go down that road, because doing three years at university then having to go back and do another 4/5 takes a lot of dedication.

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Thank you very much for your help. Im going to contact the vet school to ask what my options are.

Reply 6

Treen98

13

LTC and Lizziefickling have both given good sound advice and I can't add too much but I was wondering if you were to resit your highers would you then be willing to go to college to do your AHs? Although this would rule out applying to Glasgow or edinburgh for vet as they need highers by S5, you may still be able to apply to the universities in England for vet med. Otherwise, just as they have said, you could do another degree first but remember if in Scotland it will actually take four years so if you were then to do vet post grad it would be 8 or 9 years before you were qualified 😌

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Reply 7

Nessie162

17

Most colleges in Scotland don't offer AH's. (At least not in Bio and Chem).
I spent ages looking for one :frown:

I had this problem too and I ended up doing another degree. (Still hoping to apply for VetMed though :smile:

)

Reply 8

Treen98

13

Original post by Nessie162

Most colleges in Scotland don't offer AH's. (At least not in Bio and Chem).
I spent ages looking for one :frown:

I had this problem too and I ended up doing another degree. (Still hoping to apply for VetMed though :smile:

)

Sorry to hear that 😔. Where a outs are you from, only I'm doing one of mine in Ayrshire this year 😁

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Reply 9

Nessie162

17

OP ask your school if you can resit Highers and do AH's in the same year. The exams are at the same time, but if you're going to be supervised by a staff member you can sit one after the other.
If not, do the AH's and try applying to vet schools anyway (Especially RVC gateway course).

Original post by Treen98

Sorry to hear that 😔. Where a outs are you from, only I'm doing one of mine in Ayrshire this year 😁

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Lanarkshire. I was doing AH's but I ended up dropping one and failing the other due to family problems. And at the time I didn't find any colleges that offered Bio and Chem so I ended up going to uni.

I'm starting my second year (out of 4) this Sept. Saving every penny right now so I can afford the vet school after. And since most vet schools require A-levels/AH's alongside degree anyway I'm going to do long distance A-levels rather than AH's. Seems like an easier option.

Reply 10

My son got bbc in A2 year he seems to think that he can do one year as a vet nurse at nottingham uni then go straight over to vet med I don't see how he can please advice thank you

Reply 11

Original post by jovi1983

My son got bbc in A2 year he seems to think that he can do one year as a vet nurse at nottingham uni then go straight over to vet med I don't see how he can please advice thank you

Sorry, he's not correct. He could apply while in his first year of vet nursing yes, but he would have to apply the same way as everyone else, via UCAS. There's no way for him to transfer straight into the vet medicine program, plus doing a year of a vet nursing degree will be pretty pointless (not to mention a waste of £9000+) as he won't get any additional qualifications after just one year. If he were to reapply through UCAS they'd look at this A2 results and at current he doesn't meet the requirements for anywhere.

In my opinion his best bet is to take a gap year and resit his A2 exams. Lots of universities accept resits, so check the websites. Browsing the gap years and reapplying thread may also be helpful.

Best of luck to your son!

Reply 12

Original post by Little Tail Chaser

Sorry, he's not correct. He could apply while in his first year of vet nursing yes, but he would have to apply the same way as everyone else, via UCAS. There's no way for him to transfer straight into the vet medicine program, plus doing a year of a vet nursing degree will be pretty pointless (not to mention a waste of £9000+) as he won't get any additional qualifications after just one year. If he were to reapply through UCAS they'd look at this A2 results and at current he doesn't meet the requirements for anywhere.

In my opinion his best bet is to take a gap year and resit his A2 exams. Lots of universities accept resits, so check the websites. Browsing the gap years and reapplying thread may also be helpful.

Best of luck to your son!

Thankyou very much for your prompt reply you have been so helpfull

Reply 13

Original post by jovi1983

Thankyou very much for your prompt reply you have been so helpfull

Sorry to be a nuisance but he also got 4 As 3 B's 1 c in his gcse nottingham states 5As minimum but he seems to think that unis dont look at your gcse grades but if this is true why do they state minimum 5 Please and thank you

Reply 14

Original post by jovi1983

Sorry to be a nuisance but he also got 4 As 3 B's 1 c in his gcse nottingham states 5As minimum but he seems to think that unis dont look at your gcse grades but if this is true why do they state minimum 5 Please and thank you

Grade requirements are there for a reason, and I'm afraid that if he doesn't meet them he'll be rejected outright before they even look at his personal statement and work experience. Universities definitely do look at GCSE grades! Vet schools in particular get enough applicants to fill their cohort many times over, they don't need to be lenient with people that don't meet their requirements.

Those GCSE's don't preclude him from all vet schools, however. Maybe look into some others aside from Nottingham. The other universities in the UK that offer veterinary medicine are the Royal Veterinary College, Edinburgh, Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow, Cambridge, Surrey. Perhaps your son should look at their websites for their GCSE grade requirements. Off the top of my head he should be okay for Liverpool depending on what your son's As are in, but check out all of them. All of the D100 entry requirements are linked on the Resources Thread for ease.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 15

Original post by jovi1983

Sorry to be a nuisance but he also got 4 As 3 B's 1 c in his gcse nottingham states 5As minimum but he seems to think that unis dont look at your gcse grades but if this is true why do they state minimum 5 Please and thank you

Unless he has extenuating circumstances (illness/family problem during his exams/death during exams) the universities will not accept the fact he is missing an A.
Surrey will not even look at applications where applicants have less than the minimum requirements, I was told this when I rang them up 2 years ago when I applied, as I had 4 A's instead of the 5 needed, but I had a doctors letter which stated why my GCSEs were affected.
Liverpool also want the minimum of 5 A's, I don't know how strict they are on this though.
Nottingham are the same as Surrey, without a reason for lacking the extra A at GCSE then they won't bother looking at applications. When you start looking at universities such as Edinburgh and Cambridge, they won't look at applications without the right GCSEs which they ask for unfortunately. Edinburgh are very particular about applicants having good grades and exam results.
He also needs to have the right grades in the right subjects, so it depends on what he got his C in, if it is in English maths or science, all the universities require a B or above for those subjects.

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Reply 16

Original post by Lizziefickling

Liverpool also want the minimum of 5 A's, I don't know how strict they are on this though.

Not true

, Liverpool want 10 points, where A/A* = 2 points and B = 1 point, so jovi1983's son might be fine there depending on what the As are in. He needs at least a B in English, maths and physics.

http://www.liv.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/veterinary-science-bvsc/entry-requirements/

Reply 17

Original post by Little Tail Chaser

Not true

, Liverpool want 10 points, where A/A* = 2 points and B = 1 point, so jovi1983's son might be fine there depending on what the As are in. He needs at least a B in English, maths and physics.

http://www.liv.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/veterinary-science-bvsc/entry-requirements/[/QUO
I think from school he got A in double science A I think in mates B In English I know the c was art I can't remember the rest in As year he got b in chemistry c In biology resat that to a b c in psychology d in maths in A2 he got B biology B in chemistry and C in psychology only he thought he could transfer after one year from vet nurse to vet med but I now know can't it was him who seemed to think he could

Reply 18

Original post by jovi1983

I think from school he got A in double science A I think in mates B In English I know the c was art I can't remember the rest in As year he got b in chemistry c In biology resat that to a b c in psychology d in maths in A2 he got B biology B in chemistry and C in psychology only he thought he could transfer after one year from vet nurse to vet med but I now know can't it was him who seemed to think he could

If that's the case then his GCSEs allow him to apply to Liverpool if he were to retake his A-Levels. He could resit a GCSE too to allow him to apply to others, but that's quite a lot of work if he's already doing A2 exams, plus the structure of GCSEs is changing so he'd need to look into that.

One possible thing to consider, some vet school offer 'gateway' programs. These are an extra year in duration (so six years instead of five), and are aimed at giving people from disadvantaged backgrounds a place in vet school. They have lower entrance requirements as they bear in mind the context under which grades are achieved, but have other criteria such as household income and no parental higher education. The universities that offer this are the RVC, Nottingham and Bristol. I have no idea whether your son will qualify for this, but it's something to look into since it could mean having to do no/fewer resits.

To be honest, I really think your son should do some of his own research into the career, he seems a little misguided at the moment. TSR is a great start since there are so many helpful articles on here.

Reply 19