Vet Med at Cambridge

Hello everyone,
So, I’ve done it!!!
After so much thought I’ve withdrawn my offer of a place to study Vet med at Liverpool in 2020 to go around again and try for Cambridge. Last time I was pooled.
I know it’s risky and I appreciate it might seem mad but I knew if I didn’t try again I would always regret it.
So ... here I go with UCAS and the Cambridge entrance exam - I found it hard last time. I’ll be reapplying to three other Unis too.
If anyone reading this has any advice I’d be extremely grateful to hear it.

Good luck to everyone else applying too, it’s tough.
Thanks

Reply 1

Nessie162

17

Seems extremely mad hahah Normally I would give you all the reasons as to why you shouldn't do it but you already withdrawn so there's no going back.
I'm biased though as for me Cambridge is the "worst" vet school ("" because they're all good and give you the same degree at the end of the day).

I don't have any advice unfortunately but I wish you all the best :smile:

Extremely brave of you. Hope everything works out! Good luck

Reply 2

username2703735

18

I don't think you will find anybody on here that is going to agree with your decision
Cambridge is known as the worst vet school, whilst maybe this is historic opinion there is no smoke without fire
And as a Liverpool student... the bias is going to be obvious :wink:

Best of luck but I do think you've wasted an opportunity to be a vet to be forced to intercalate

Reply 3

Choppygirl11

11

It seems a very odd decision to give up a place at one of the best to try and get in one of the worse to be blunt. Is it the Cambridge brand that is attracting you? As a parent the bragging rights for a daughter at Cambridge is great but the more we read about the course the more we discarded it. If you don’t get into Cambridge can you take up the place at Liverpool? It would be awful if you were left with nowhere.

You seem quite determined to get into Cambridge so good luck and I hope you get everything you wish for x

Reply 4

animalmagic

14

My advice would be to contact Liverpool and ask to get back on their course for 2020. As an employer of veterinary surgeons for 25 years my experience of Cambridge graduates wasn't great, it is always at the bottom of my list when I rank the vet med courses using many different criteria. I've only met one person who contacted me for advice where I agreed that for them Cambridge was the best choice, but they had very specific requirements and had the maturity to understand they would have to be extra careful about where they did their placements to get their day one competencies sorted.

Reply 5

Apachecow

19

Liverpool one of the best, Cambridge the worst. You're mad. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?

Reply 6

Lesleyislovely

OP

7

Just to update .... I now have a place at Cambridge and couldn’t be happier!
Seems you all prefer Liverpool- they did offer me a place again - but it was always my wish to study at Cambridge. I’m extremely happy with the outcome and feel really grateful.
Thanks for your advice. It was pretty scary reading your comments but it all worked out in the end.

Reply 7

ReadingMum

19

Original post by Lesleyislovely

Just to update .... I now have a place at Cambridge and couldn’t be happier!
Seems you all prefer Liverpool- they did offer me a place again - but it was always my wish to study at Cambridge. I’m extremely happy with the outcome and feel really grateful.
Thanks for your advice. It was pretty scary reading your comments but it all worked out in the end.

Very happy that it worked out - brave move.
DD has offers from both and is almost certainly going for Cambridge. She is more 'academic' and really enjoyed the interviews. Small group teaching and even smaller supervisions appeals to her, as does intercalating without having to break out of her year group. There is a significant difference between the vet school approaches so it makes sense that some students will be drawn to one more than another - and the schools will be looking for different qualities during the application process.
You can't make a bad choice so everyone should follow their own heart.
At the end of any UK course you will be a qualified vet and so it is really about the journey to get there.
None of you are going to be unemployed because you went to the 'wrong' vet school.

Reply 8

Apachecow

19

Original post by ReadingMum

At the end of any UK course you will be a qualified vet and so it is really about the journey to get there.
None of you are going to be unemployed because you went to the 'wrong' vet school.

Very true, but some new grads come out much worse prepared than others. Unfortunately that is my experience with Cambridge grads.

Reply 9

animalmagic

14

Original post by Apachecow

Very true, but some new grads come out much worse prepared than others. Unfortunately that is my experience with Cambridge grads.

Totally agree. Plus if you look at student satisfaction ratings for Cambridge Vet Med in the league tables they always seem to be much lower than those for the other universities and I think that is significant.

Reply 10

black tea

19

Original post by Lesleyislovely

Just to update .... I now have a place at Cambridge and couldn’t be happier!
Seems you all prefer Liverpool- they did offer me a place again - but it was always my wish to study at Cambridge. I’m extremely happy with the outcome and feel really grateful.
Thanks for your advice. It was pretty scary reading your comments but it all worked out in the end.