Worrying I won&#x27;t have a chance-Vet Medicine

Original post by Vetmedapplicant1

Sorry in advance for the long post! I am worried I won't have a chance against other applications and want some honest advice.

Welcome to the forum :smile:

I am currently preparing to apply for 2017 entry to study veterinary medicine/science at Liverpool, Nottingham, London and Bristol. My GCSE grades were: Biology A*, Chemistry A, Media A, Business D*, English Language A, English Literature A, Maths B, Physics B, RE B, ICT OCR Cambridge Nationals B and short course PE C. I have recently finished my AS level in Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Psychology and am awaiting my results. If my results come through, I will be continuing Biology, Chemistry, Maths and possibly an AS in Further Maths. I am aware I will need A grades in these subjects and really have tried my best this year to try and get these results, but I will have to wait and see.

Your GCSEs are fine. As the above poster said, this is enough to get you an interview, and that's what matters. For vet applications, as long as you meet the minimum requirements, your personal statement and work experience matter more. One thing I would advise against is taking up AS further maths next year: what's the point? It won't offer you any advantage since you already meet the requirements, so all it will do is eat valuable time that you can spend nailing your other subjects/doing work experience.

Another thing I am worried about is work experience. By the time I have sent my UCAS form off, I will have worked on Saturdays and Sunday's for approximately a year as a receptionist at a small vet practice. Apart from this I will have 3 weeks WE in 2 different small animal vets, 3 weeks WE in 3 different large animal vets, however where I fall down is in the husbandry. I will have 1 week at a kennels/dog rescue, 1 week at a farm which I cannot clarify yet what animals I will be working with as I am following a farm worker who could take me to a single farm or several depending on what is available during the week, 4 days at stables however I have rode since a small age, 2 days at chicken/cow farm and a week at cats protection. I have really struggled in my area to get farm placements and am worried I will not be considered due to this! I am hoping to get some more farm work in the October half term, get some lambing for next year and am going to be doing an afternoon once a week in the lab at my college.

I'll be blunt, I applying to Liverpool will be very risky for you since they ask for six weeks of husbandry placements. Counting a week as five working days, you currently have 4.2. Liverpool tend to make a big deal out of work experience so I would suggest either picking another vet school that ask for less, or, if you have your heart set on Liv or something, taking a gap year.

Otherwise; I've seen people get in with less than that. You may not have reams and reams but what you do have is varied so it looks as if you've used your time wisely. I've seen people get offers with less than this. To a certain extent its not about sheer number of weeks, but your ability to make the most of them (e.g. asking questions, taking notes) and reflect on them well in your personal statement ("I learned.... rather than I did/I saw.....)

I know I have the minimum requirements in regards to my GCSE's and WE but the reason I am worried is because people I know who have got into vet school have so much more WE than I have and got better results at GCSE. I am aware I could take a gap year to gain more experience but wanted to go to uni as soon as possible. Thank you for any help!

At the end of the day, what have you got to lose by applying this year? Everyone gets nervous about applying, whether they're good enough etc etc. Some people never even apply because of that. Worst case scenario is that you do get rejected, but you can still try again with a more solid knowledge of the application process. If you really want to avoid a gap year then you can use your fifth, non vet med UCAS slot for something else, or you could go through clearing. Last year bioveterinary science at the RVC went into clearing. Some courses will allow you to go on to do vet med as a graduate, but be aware how expensive tuition fees for this route are.

Hope that helped, best of luck with your application. :smile:

Reply 3

OP

[QUOTE=Little Tail Chaser;66667434]Welcome to the forum :smile:

Your GCSEs are fine. As the above poster said, this is enough to get you an interview, and that's what matters. For vet applications, as long as you meet the minimum requirements, your personal statement and work experience matter more. One thing I would advise against is taking up AS further maths next year: what's the point? It won't offer you any advantage since you already meet the requirements, so all it will do is eat valuable time that you can spend nailing your other subjects/doing work experience.

I'll be blunt, I applying to Liverpool will be very risky for you since they ask for six weeks of husbandry placements. Counting a week as five working days, you currently have 4.2. Liverpool tend to make a big deal out of work experience so I would suggest either picking another vet school that ask for less, or, if you have your heart set on Liv or something, taking a gap year.

Otherwise; I've seen people get in with less than that. You may not have reams and reams but what you do have is varied so it looks as if you've used your time wisely. I've seen people get offers with less than this. To a certain extent its not about sheer number of weeks, but your ability to make the most of them (e.g. asking questions, taking notes) and reflect on them well in your personal statement ("I learned.... rather than I did/I saw.....)

At the end of the day, what have you got to lose by applying this year? Everyone gets nervous about applying, whether they're good enough etc etc. Some people never even apply because of that. Worst case scenario is that you do get rejected, but you can still try again with a more solid knowledge of the application process. If you really want to avoid a gap year then you can use your fifth, non vet med UCAS slot for something else, or you could go through clearing. Last year bioveterinary science at the RVC went into clearing. Some courses will allow you to go on to do vet med as a graduate, but be aware how expensive tuition fees for this route are.

Hope that helped, best of luck with your application. :smile:

Hi thankyou so much for your reply! It was in great depth and has really helped me out. I agree about the further maths but I think depending on my result in Maths I will give it a try and see how I take to it, and if I struggle I will definitely drop it.Also, I read before that Liverpool requires the 6 weeks husbandry however when I have recently looked at their website, and now it has a thread which states they require a week at a food production farm, a week at a stables, a week at a rescue or commercial kennels/cattery and then 2 weeks at a large and small veterinary practice at the minimum so I am unsure which one to go by now. Because Liverpool was my first choice :frown:

Reply 4

OP

[QUOTE=Peppercrunch;66665820]Don't worry about your results that much. I know someone who got ABCC at AS and got an offer to study veterinary medicine from 3 universities, and they've firmed Liverpool.

As long as you ace the interview (and get the grades predicted for the grade requirements, as well as the minimum GCSE requirements), you can get an offer.

Hello thankyou for your reply, I feel a little at ease now about my results, fingers crossed!

Reply 5

Original post by Vetmedapplicant1

Hi thankyou so much for your reply! It was in great depth and has really helped me out. I agree about the further maths but I think depending on my result in Maths I will give it a try and see how I take to it, and if I struggle I will definitely drop it.Also, I read before that Liverpool requires the 6 weeks husbandry however when I have recently looked at their website, and now it has a thread which states they require a week at a food production farm, a week at a stables, a week at a rescue or commercial kennels/cattery and then 2 weeks at a large and small veterinary practice at the minimum so I am unsure which one to go by now. Because Liverpool was my first choice :frown:

Right you are. I've just skimmed the guidance notes you mentioned and it seems like the formal requirement may have been removed. I think the point still stands however, especially as it explicitly mentions that work exp. is used as the deciding factor when giving out interviews.

Quantifying the work you do on weekends, how much do you have? I tried to find some of the old 'stalking pages' (tables vet apps used to compare their applications in years gone by) but from the looks of it they've all been taken down. They all redirect to University Connect now, which isn't nearly as good. Anyway, looking at the 2015 vet apps for Liv, those that mentioned their work exp had 27, 15, 36.5, 56(!), 45, 29, 27, 25, 13, 15.2, 19 and 19 weeks worth. One had less than ten, but they were rejected. Now I'm not saying that this is going to be representational of the applicant pool in general. Indeed, people with more weeks are going to be more likely to have mentioned how much they did. I'm just saying to bear in mind that the group of people you're against includes those who have taken (multiple) gap years, graduates, mature students and other people who have had longer to gain experience. Your clinical work is v. v. good and may well make up for what you lack in husbandry, though :smile:

It's definitely still worth applying this year, I'm just saying that Liverpool is possibly your riskiest choice there, given how they rank applicants. Still, you only need one offer and all vet schools are amazing :smile:

Reply 6

OP

[QUOTE=Little Tail Chaser;66669754]Right you are. I've just skimmed the guidance notes you mentioned and it seems like the formal requirement may have been removed. I think the point still stands however, especially as it explicitly mentions that work exp. is used as the deciding factor when giving out interviews.

Quantifying the work you do on weekends, how much do you have? I tried to find some of the old 'stalking pages' (tables vet apps used to compare their applications in years gone by) but from the looks of it they've all been taken down. They all redirect to University Connect now, which isn't nearly as good. Anyway, looking at the 2015 vet apps for Liv, those that mentioned their work exp had 27, 15, 36.5, 56(!), 45, 29, 27, 25, 13, 15.2, 19 and 19 weeks worth. One had less than ten, but they were rejected. Now I'm not saying that this is going to be representational of the applicant pool in general. Indeed, people with more weeks are going to be more likely to have mentioned how much they did. I'm just saying to bear in mind that the group of people you're against includes those who have taken (multiple) gap years, graduates, mature students and other people who have had longer to gain experience. Your clinical work is v. v. good and may well make up for what you lack in husbandry, though :smile:

It's definitely still worth applying this year, I'm just saying that Liverpool is possibly your riskiest choice there, given how they rank applicants. Still, you only need one offer and all vet schools are amazing :smile:

Well I have worked approximately 3.5 hours on Saturdays and 2 hours on Sunday's since the 29th of August 2015, except for 3 days that I have had off. Would that count as doing work experience? And if so, how would you put that into the weeks as they are only shorter shifts appose to the 7/8 hours you'd do on a WE day. Another thing is I have carried out work on a family farm but I'm unsure of the dates as I have just done it over the years.
I understand what you mean about Liverpool, because I could apply there with the higher possibility of not getting in, whereas I could have used that space for a vet school I'm more likely to get in to. To be honest I would be ecstatic with any university accepting me! :smile:

Reply 7

Original post by Vetmedapplicant1

Well I have worked approximately 3.5 hours on Saturdays and 2 hours on Sunday's since the 29th of August 2015, except for 3 days that I have had off. Would that count as doing work experience? And if so, how would you put that into the weeks as they are only shorter shifts appose to the 7/8 hours you'd do on a WE day.

What do you do for this? Is it just answering the phone, taking payments etc or would you say that you get to do some proper vetty things (like a vet tech essentially). If the former then I might hesitate to describe it as proper work experience on forms as you weren't actually doing anything with the animals, but it's still definitely worth mentioning in terms of dedication, managing your time etc etc.

With regard to quantifying it, you do 5.5 hours per week, and by the time you submit the form to Liverpool (20th October), you will have worked for 59 weeks. 59 x 5.5 = 324.5. Subtract the days you took off (~8.5 hours) gives 316 hours. The guidance notes count a working week as 40 hours. 316/40 = 7.9 weeks, give or take.

Another thing is I have carried out work on a family farm but I'm unsure of the dates as I have just done it over the years.

Your own family's farm? Work experience only tends to count if it's done away from your own/family environment.

I understand what you mean about Liverpool, because I could apply there with the higher possibility of not getting in, whereas I could have used that space for a vet school I'm more likely to get in to. To be honest I would be ecstatic with any university accepting me! :smile:

That's the attitude to have :smile:

You only need one offer :smile:

Reply 8

OP

[QUOTE=Little Tail Chaser;66676618]What do you do for this? Is it just answering the phone, taking payments etc or would you say that you get to do some proper vetty things (like a vet tech essentially). If the former then I might hesitate to describe it as proper work experience on forms as you weren't actually doing anything with the animals, but it's still definitely worth mentioning in terms of dedication, managing your time etc etc.

With regard to quantifying it, you do 5.5 hours per week, and by the time you submit the form to Liverpool (20th October), you will have worked for 59 weeks. 59 x 5.5 = 324.5. Subtract the days you took off (~8.5 hours) gives 316 hours. The guidance notes count a working week as 40 hours. 316/40 = 7.9 weeks, give or take.

Your own family's farm? Work experience only tends to count if it's done away from your own/family environment.

That's the attitude to have :smile:

You only need one offer :smile:

I'm normally answering phone calls, taking payments, dispensing flea/worm/tick treatment, cleaning, counting up meds, filing/paperwork and duties similar.
In which form do you think I should write it? That I have completed 7.9 weeks altogether or that I have worked Saturday's and Sunday's since that date. I'm probably just overanalysing things now haha!
The farm is my aunties and she lives quite a bit a way from me so when we visit I will help out with the farm work but that's what I thought too, oh well!

Reply 9

FAAWAH

9

Original post by Peppercrunch

Don't worry about your results that much. I know someone who got ABCC at AS and got an offer to study veterinary medicine from 3 universities, and they've firmed Liverpool.

As long as you ace the interview (and get the grades predicted for the grade requirements, as well as the minimum GCSE requirements), you can get an offer.

Hi, i got the exact same grades and want to apply to medicine, if i get predicted AAA, can i apply to normal med courses, or do you recommend a foundation year course (6 years)? your help is much appreciated, and your post just gave me a bit of hope..

Reply 10