The Student Room Group
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

Other ways to get into veterinary medicine

Can someone give me all the ways someone can get into veterinary medicine except the traditional route?
Original post by anikaach
Can someone give me all the ways someone can get into veterinary medicine except the traditional route?

I would recommend looking into 'Gateway' courses and 'Foundation Year' courses which typically have lower entry requirements for Vet Med than the traditional courses, however, they also have non-academic criteria that you have to meet.

Taking a gap year to strengthen your UCAS application is also an option, i.e. retaking subjects which do not meet traditional entry requirements.

Lastly, you could look into graduate entry Vet Med (these are accelerated programmes). However, this route would require you to study 3/4 year undergraduate degree first, so I would try to avoid this route if possible.

There may be other routes that I have not listed so make sure you do your research (I don't know much about Vet Med, I'm applying to Medicine).

It would be handy if you could give some more detail as to why you're looking for alternatives to Vet Med, that way maybe someone who knows more can give more specific suggestions.
Ultimately the only way to practise as a veterinary surgeon within the UK is by getting a veterinary degree that is RCVS approved or attaining one from elsewhere and then sitting the RCVS exam to become a MRCVS.

So your options are a UK university, European vet schools, many of which are RCVS accredited or further afield.

Utrecht, Ghent, Kocice and many others typically have lower entrance requirements than the UK vet schools. You will be able to do more research on these to see if you meet their requirements - a lot of them are 6 year courses but are taught in English. Complaints would be graduates seem less skilled than those from UK schools with less clinical practice/ability but whether this is the case or just rumour.

UK schools - you have the traditional 5 year course. Some universities run foundation/gateway programs which are 6 year degrees but typically have far more competition as they are much smaller year intakes. If you have a degree that is in a relevant subject (e.g. bioveterinary) and a good enough grade you can apply for graduate entry courses which are 4 years or some universities standard 5 years. The disadvantage to this is 8 years of university study.

As far as I am aware these are your only options.
Reply 3
Avatar for anikaach
anikaach
OP
3
Original post by TheWannabeFarmer
Ultimately the only way to practise as a veterinary surgeon within the UK is by getting a veterinary degree that is RCVS approved or attaining one from elsewhere and then sitting the RCVS exam to become a MRCVS.

So your options are a UK university, European vet schools, many of which are RCVS accredited or further afield.

Utrecht, Ghent, Kocice and many others typically have lower entrance requirements than the UK vet schools. You will be able to do more research on these to see if you meet their requirements - a lot of them are 6 year courses but are taught in English. Complaints would be graduates seem less skilled than those from UK schools with less clinical practice/ability but whether this is the case or just rumour.

UK schools - you have the traditional 5 year course. Some universities run foundation/gateway programs which are 6 year degrees but typically have far more competition as they are much smaller year intakes. If you have a degree that is in a relevant subject (e.g. bioveterinary) and a good enough grade you can apply for graduate entry courses which are 4 years or some universities standard 5 years. The disadvantage to this is 8 years of university study.

As far as I am aware these are your only options.

As I am only allowed to apply to 4 universities for veterinary medicine, is it better to have the 5th option be biomedical science of bio veterinary?
Original post by anikaach
As I am only allowed to apply to 4 universities for veterinary medicine, is it better to have the 5th option be biomedical science of bio veterinary?

That is really something only you can answer - Can you see yourself doing something other than veterinary medicine in the future and can you see yourself doing veterinary medicine post-grad in the future?

Personally when I applied I only used 4 options - If I hadn't got into vet school I had a job lined up on a local farm and that was that... its not I didn't want to be a vet I do but unlike some applicants who live and breathe vet it was never going to control my life. If I hadn't got in I would have happily done something else without university. If you are 100% committed to vet then it would be wise for your 5th choice to be bioveterinary science. But if you can imagine another career then perhaps a course related to that could be more appropriate. Consider also that studying veterinary post-graduate will require your tuition fees for the second degree paid upfront.
Original post by anikaach
As I am only allowed to apply to 4 universities for veterinary medicine, is it better to have the 5th option be biomedical science of bio veterinary?


Hi @anikaach,

You might be eligible to apply for the RVC Veterinary Gateway programme which integrates an additional preparatory year designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to study veterinary medicine. This can be included as a 5th option on UCAS. You can find out more about the entry requirements to see if you are eligible to apply here: https://www.rvc.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/veterinary-gateway#tab-entry-requirements.
Reply 6
Avatar for lcc2020
lcc2020
7
Original post by RVC Widening Participation
Hi @anikaach,

You might be eligible to apply for the RVC Veterinary Gateway programme which integrates an additional preparatory year designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to study veterinary medicine. This can be included as a 5th option on UCAS. You can find out more about the entry requirements to see if you are eligible to apply here: https://www.rvc.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/veterinary-gateway#tab-entry-requirements.

how many intakes for this course?
Original post by lcc2020
how many intakes for this course?

usually around 50 students per year are accepted onto the Gateway course

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you