2018 Veterinary applicants

i think my biggest advice for vet school and A levels (and probably life in general), is to learn how to manage your time effectively, especially if you're going to EPQ. I used to have a free on tuesday mornings in college so I penned that in as my 'go to costa and do two hours of EPQ research/planning' time.

Also, don't put too much pressure on yourself and proritise getting you grades. My biggest mistake in year 12 was that I was doing 4 AS levels, General studies A level, learning to drive, trying to do volunteering every weekend and work experience in the holidays (and even missing college to do it which was very stupid) and doing grade 7 violin. unsurprisingly I failed AS chemistry it is much easier to do a gap year to get more WEX if thats the reason you were rejected, but it is so much harder and more stressful trying to get in if you have to resit a year (it is possible but i wouldnt want to do it again!)

thank you so much! Yep, these past couple of days I've been in a mad panic about researching into WEX and oh gosh when could I do this and that and gah my mind is boggling haha. I've seen so many people on here with 12+ weeks of WEX and its kind of stressing me out thinking that I won't get into vet school if I don't have that either. And don't get me started on the courses atm, the workload is killing me. It just feels like a constant race against the clock in my mind, I feel like I'll blink and suddenly be sat in 18 months time sitting my A Levels with no clue whats going on! I really hope I'm not the only one to feel like this

I always thought that universities looked down upon deferred entry ((i think that's what it's called?)) or was that just if you didn't get the grades? Also, if you don't mind me asking, what did you do for EPQ? How did you go about thinking up a topic? I really wanted to do something linked to VetMed

Hi. Cambridge is the vet uni I really would love to go. What college are you at? Which 4 unis did you apply to? Which were the 3 you got offers at? What was the cambridge interview like? What work experience did you have? Sorry about the vast number of questions, I would really appreciate any info you can offer me as you are where I ideally want to be in 5 years time! Thank you very much!

Hi I'm a current 5th year Cambridge Vet so thought I might be able to help. Glad to hear that you want to come here! It's honestly the most wonderful place to live and work, especially with a long course! I'm at Queens' (which I can highly reccommend) but the college you apply to is both a personal and not really a very important choice. I applied to Queens' because there's a very beautiful rose bed in one of the courts, and I wanted to walk past it every day I applied to Edinburgh, RVC and Glasgow as well as Cambridge, and I also applied to Dublin as a fifth option outside UCAS (it's worth doing as an extra). At the time, I didn't have a huge amount of work experience behind me, just 3 weeks normal vet practice, a week of milking cows, a week at a small zoo and a day at an abattoir. From that, I got offers from Cambridge, Edinburgh and Dublin and an interview at RVC which I didn't actually take up because my top choices had already responded positively.The Cambridge interview was frightening, but it was frightening because I was scared of it, and actually I found all my interviewers really kind and encouraging (I know a couple of them well now and they're like that all the time). They asked me questions which required thinking through step by step, rather than a huge amount of background knowledge or pre-reading, and when I got stuck at a step they gave me hints and helped me move on to the next bit. It felt like they just wanted me to have a really good try at it! They asked me about my hobbies etc as well, and I just talked about the things I enjoyed like I would with anyone else that I'm a bit in awe of. Hope that helps

Hi. Cambridge is the vet uni I really would love to go. What college are you at? Which 4 unis did you apply to? Which were the 3 you got offers at? What was the cambridge interview like? What work experience did you have? Sorry about the vast number of questions, I would really appreciate any info you can offer me as you are where I ideally want to be in 5 years time! Thank you very much!

Just to add to what Harriet has already said...

I'm at Robinson college, and other than Cambridge I applied to RVC, Edinburgh and Nottingham, and I got offers from RVC and Edinburgh.

WEX wise I had a bit but not tons, with what I had mainly in small animal practice, so about 8 weeks in SA practice, 4 weeks at a stables, a couple of days lambing and a week on a beef farm, but no equine or farm practice experience (though these are helpful if you can get them!).

The interview was not really what I expected -- I think I went in expecting to be quizzed, but it's really not like that at all! I had two interviews, each with wo interviewers, and other than talking a bit about what I had seen on work experience (literally one question) the rest was problem solving. As Harriet said, they'll give you some info and then want to see how you work through the problem from first principles, rather than just "knowing" the answer, and also they want to see how easily you can be taught - so asking for help and taking it on board and learning from it is a good thing! The other thing to say is that it's just an opportunity to go and talk about things which are really quite interesting, with some people who are leaders in their fields, which is pretty cool! The interviewers themselves were really nice and friendly, and did everything they could to put me at my ease

Any other questions about the course/applying etc just send them our way!

Hi!

Thank you very much, this is extremely helpful. Im either going to apply to Pembroke or St Catherines college for Cambridge. I think it is the uni which has all of the aspects which will be very beneficial and great to have such as the extra 3rd year as well as the small class sizes!

Im going to be applying to Cambridge, Nottingham, Edinburgh and Bristol (in that preference order). Im then thinking of Natural Science as my 5th option.

I really hope that I dont have to take a gap year and I really do feel that Cambridge is the best vet uni for me and that I will also be a great asset to Cambridge.

Do you have any other advise of what to pre-prep for the interview or to include in my personal statement.

Thank you very much for all your help.

All those things are really great here you get to know your lecturers in clinical school really well and they're all so keen to help you. My housemate is at Pembroke - they do the best formal dinners and their May Balls are fantastic!
In terms of prepping for the interview, I sugest you read what you are interested in. I can personally reccommend (not an official or definitive list!!) James Herriot, watching every episode of Inside Nature's Giants, and a book called Store Room Number 1, which is more NatSci but is a bit of fun. Mainly I think it's important to find something you enjoy to work on, because anything that you then say about it later will be said with genuine enthusiasm, and that's important.
Personal statements are tricky, but I think the same principles apply. Dramatic stories about your early inspiration to be a vet may not be all that compelling, but again that's just because I think Universities are more interested in your current self than your historic one. Passion is key, but can be about lots of things, not only (but preferably including) clinical veterinary.

Lambing list is open now, if any of you are looking for lambing experience next spring.
I'm going back to the same farm I went to last year Super excited

Hi.

Thank you very much! I have recently found a passion within the veterinary profession through pharmacology - in particular pharmacodynamics!! I now take particular note of any case studies which are of interest when I do half a day work experience at my local vets every week!

Would you reccomend including this in my personal statement? I dont want them to think that I prefer the subject of pharmacology more interesting than veterinary! Its the application and in depth knowlege of pharmacodynamics particularly which I believe makes a strong
and great vet!

Also, are there many male vet students at Cambridge? Just wondering how many id be competing with at application if there is only a few!

Hello, thank you! Where can I find this list? Also would you advise lambing end of year 12 or year 13?

Here's the list http://www.nationalsheep.org.uk/next-generation/jobs-work-experience/lambing-experience/

I would recommend doing lambing in year 12 as that way you'll be able to put the experience on your application and on all the wex forms.

Thank you!

I've just had a look but all the wex in my region (northern) are all 3+ weeks long, which I wouldn't think would be possible for me to do because of School. What can I do??

Pharmacodynamics? Goodness me, Prof Bryant is going to love you! Yes I definitely would recommend including it, and explaining why you think it will help you with veterinary, and third year, and the elective project in final year as well. Plus you'd have ample opportunity to explore that further in third year if you wanted to

A higher proportion of male vet students are accepted here than at any of the other vet schools (my year I think are just under 1/3 male), but its really hard to say why that is without a detailed statistical study. I expect a lower proportion of men are put off by the much-rumoured-very-incorrect assumption that Cambridge is vastly more time consuming or academically overbearing than other places, and so more apply, but that's personal conjecture. In any case, we have a much happier gender ratio than is found in other places, and it makes for a really lively, much more normal social experience. I don't think you should think about yourself as competing against other male vet applicants though, because that's not how it works. Everyone, regardless of gender presents themselves and the colleges pick the ones they want, but there's no boy-vs-boy or girl-vs-girl. That one can be put out of your mind I think

Thank you very much! In that case, I hope Prof Bryant is on my interview panel! 😂

Thank you!

I've just had a look but all the wex in my region (northern) are all 3+ weeks long, which I wouldn't think would be possible for me to do because of School. What can I do??

Thank you!

I've just had a look but all the wex in my region (northern) are all 3+ weeks long, which I wouldn't think would be possible for me to do because of School. What can I do??