2018 Veterinary applicants

Hiya, was just wondering how people found bristol open day? And for anyone who's had experience with bristol or know people who have, what is traveling to langford campus quite often like?

I loved it!!
I didn't even want to like it because I live quite close and I want to move away but the facilities are so good and it's a pretty place and I can really see myself enjoying it there
PLUS I GOT TO USE THE HAPTIC COW THING WHICH WAS FREAKY AND AWESOME

the only other one I've seen is Cambridge and I really liked it when I went but I prefer Bristol by far
I'd always had Cambridge as my hypothetical number 1 but now I'm seriously reconsidering (obv I might not get any offers at all so I'll wait to make any actual decisions)

the travelling between campuses is a downside though :/ at least the bus between them is free

Hiya, was just wondering how people found bristol open day? And for anyone who's had experience with bristol or know people who have, what is traveling to langford campus quite often like?

I loved it!!
I didn't even want to like it because I live quite close and I want to move away but the facilities are so good and it's a pretty place and I can really see myself enjoying it there
PLUS I GOT TO USE THE HAPTIC COW THING WHICH WAS FREAKY AND AWESOME

the only other one I've seen is Cambridge and I really liked it when I went but I prefer Bristol by far
I'd always had Cambridge as my hypothetical number 1 but now I'm seriously reconsidering (obv I might not get any offers at all so I'll wait to make any actual decisions)

the travelling between campuses is a downside though :/ at least the bus between them is free

Travelling to Langford isn't really that bad. It becomes routine surprising quickly tbh. And in first and second year, it's only for one day a week, then two days a week in third year. I personally found that it meant you had the best of both worlds - you get to live in the city and experience city university life, and have the benefit of a full veterinary campus complete with the hospitals! The bus journey only takes 30-45 minutes on average, depending on traffic so it's not too bad a journey and like you said, the bus is free! In third year, quite a lot of my year group had their own cars in Bristol by that point and drove themselves to Langford, although it's not technically allowed (not really enforced though!). Basically, please don't let it put you off Bristol, as it really doesn't end up being that big of a deal!

Also Defenestrated, on the subject of going to uni close to home, I know how you feel - I grew up a 45 minute drive away from Langford but I've found it to be more of an advantage than anything. I also wanted to move to a uni further away from home, but now I'm actually really glad I'm at Bristol. It's really easy and cheap for me to pop home if I need something, or just want to go home for the weekend. My flatmate on the other hand is from Manchester and she really has to plan in advance when she goes home, and if the timetable doesn't work out (eg if we finish late on a Friday) then it's more difficult. And despite the fact that I haven't gone far for uni, I've properly moved out. I generally only go home in the holidays, and then only for when my placements are closer to home than Langford.

Ah that's good and I guess going to langford would be a nice break from the busy city, definitely going to be applying there, and still can't quite believe they aren't looking to interview anyone this year, not that I'm complaining aha. What experiences do you have with accomidation there? There's so many options and I'm finding it a bit daunting to be honest!

Yeah I can't quite believe the whole no interview thing either but I guess we'll see how it goes!

As for accommodation, I was in University Hall in Stoke Bishop. Was there anything in particular you wanted to know? Obviously it's quite a big topic! I loved being in Stoke Bishop though. The fact that it's a bus ride away from the main campus didn't bother me. In a similar way to Langford, the bus journey just became part of my routine, and when I could be bothered the walk in was really nice, going across the Downs in the morning. I'd definitely recommend being in the Clifton or Stoke Bishop halls over the city centre halls. Most of the city centre halls are run by Unite or another third party company on behalf of the uni, and I feel like there you pay more/the same amount and get less nice accommodation than the SB/Clifton halls. But yeah if there's any specific questions you have about the accommodation (or anything else for that matter!) just ask

Sorry to butt in----Have they said why they aren't doing interviews any more? It's a shame, as I thought Bristol's interviews (and RVC's) were the nicest in terms of getting to know you as a person.

Just seems like an odd course to not interview for, and like they're focusing more on grades than the individual person. Unless it's just that there are less applicants now Surrey is open.

Sorry to butt in----Have they said why they aren't doing interviews any more? It's a shame, as I thought Bristol's interviews (and RVC's) were the nicest in terms of getting to know you as a person.

Just seems like an odd course to not interview for, and like they're focusing more on grades than the individual person. Unless it's just that there are less applicants now Surrey is open.

During the open day talk this was briefly mentioned. Something along the lines of interviewing 400 people and sending out offers to nearly just as many so interviews not being worthwhile? ~50% of the application is now based upon grades (20% GCSE and 30% A-Level I believe) and they don't even look at personal statements, just their WA PAPA (work experience and personal and professional attributes) form.

I did ask the admissions tutor about this at one point and the reason she gave me was that they felt it wasn't adding much to the process. Basically, say they interviewed 450 people, they'd give offers to 400 of them. Add that to the fact that interviews take up a huge amount of time, and presumably are a nightmare to organise, I'm not entirely surprised they're trialling this. And they're introducing a new questionnaire (maybe along similar lines to Nottingham's?) which I think will be used extensively in the new process. Although I agree that the Bristol interview was quite nice, well as nice as an interview can be! Although I only ever had RVC to compare it to, and that one was a bit of a mess on my part.

I will be curious to see what this does for the 2018 intake, although admittedly by that point all they'll be to me is freshers clogging up the Langford cafe on my precious rotation lunch breaks, so I won't actually have much to do with them.

I guess it was either look at increasing their number of interviews or scrap them altogether. Nottingham interviewed something like 1000+ people this year which slowed anyone hearing from them and personally I felt led to far less thorough and professional interviews than all other vet schools.

Heey!

Any mature students who are aged 23?

Also anybody else applying to Notts prelim year?

Good luck everyone

Are Bristol definitely not interviewing because it still says they are on the website??

Ahhh😅 I applied last year and got an offer after interview but missed my grades so I'm resitting and reapplying! I'm so worried now 😂

Where else are you applying?

Not 100% sure yet. Definitely Bristol, Rvc and probably Liverpool. Not sure between Surrey and Nottingham but I'm leaning towards Surrey. How about you?

I have applied to Nottingham, Cambridge, Liverpool and Bristol! I am getting very nervous about it all, starting to get really unsure about what my order of preference is. I thought I knew but now there are pros and cons to them all!

Nice! How much work experience do you have?