No lambing experience but applying to vet school
Hi, I've been super stressed lately because I want to apply to vet school this year (specifically Edinburgh, Glasgow and Nottingham), and I've got no lambing experience at all 
I've seen on the forums here that all the veterinary unis put a lot of emphasis on getting lambing experience, but the pandemic has prevented me from visiting a lot of places and by the time the lockdown was slightly lifted, most farms had already finished their lambing or already had enough help.
All of my work experience is arranged in summer, but I'm scared that without the lambing experience that I will never even be considered for uni.
Can anyone give me some advice? I've registered with the National Sheep Association but any lambing experience that they give me will be after I've already handed my application in? I am so confused...
Thanks,
Susan.
I've seen on the forums here that all the veterinary unis put a lot of emphasis on getting lambing experience, but the pandemic has prevented me from visiting a lot of places and by the time the lockdown was slightly lifted, most farms had already finished their lambing or already had enough help.
All of my work experience is arranged in summer, but I'm scared that without the lambing experience that I will never even be considered for uni.
Can anyone give me some advice? I've registered with the National Sheep Association but any lambing experience that they give me will be after I've already handed my application in? I am so confused...
Thanks,
Susan.
Don’t worry about it. The unis are being more lenient about work experience and plenty of people even in normal years can’t get lambing experience but still end up on the course, me included. Maybe try and get some sheep work in late summer/ early autumn when they will be selling off the lambs as you might get to do a bit more then as they are weighed regularly and given ear tags at around this age and while not necessary for entry will help a bit in first year
It is not necessary to have lambing on your application but it is a very useful one to do so I'd recommend getting a place secured for next Easter. Placements book up quite a long way ahead so don't leave it to a couple of weeks before. It seems to be one of the most hands on work experience opportunities you can do - you actually get to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in rather than just watching.
Original post by SusanGar
Hi, I've been super stressed lately because I want to apply to vet school this year (specifically Edinburgh, Glasgow and Nottingham), and I've got no lambing experience at all
I've seen on the forums here that all the veterinary unis put a lot of emphasis on getting lambing experience, but the pandemic has prevented me from visiting a lot of places and by the time the lockdown was slightly lifted, most farms had already finished their lambing or already had enough help.
All of my work experience is arranged in summer, but I'm scared that without the lambing experience that I will never even be considered for uni.
Can anyone give me some advice? I've registered with the National Sheep Association but any lambing experience that they give me will be after I've already handed my application in? I am so confused...
Thanks,
Susan.
I've seen on the forums here that all the veterinary unis put a lot of emphasis on getting lambing experience, but the pandemic has prevented me from visiting a lot of places and by the time the lockdown was slightly lifted, most farms had already finished their lambing or already had enough help.
All of my work experience is arranged in summer, but I'm scared that without the lambing experience that I will never even be considered for uni.
Can anyone give me some advice? I've registered with the National Sheep Association but any lambing experience that they give me will be after I've already handed my application in? I am so confused...
Thanks,
Susan.
When are you hoping to start at Uni, Susan?
Do you live in an area where there are farms?
Original post by Kerzen
When are you hoping to start at Uni, Susan?
Do you live in an area where there are farms?
Do you live in an area where there are farms?
Hi Kerzen, I was hoping to start in September 2022, so I'm planning to apply this October after summer! Regarding farms around me, there are a considerable amount of them around my area. I've collected their numbers so I'm planning to call them this afternoon, I'm not sure whether they will accept me though since I've called a couple of them and all of my offers have been turned down
I'm wondering whether you can say in your application that you are waiting to hear back about lambing opportunities. I would have thought that all applicants would be in your situation.
Although it's not lambing, could you get a Saturday job in a stables? That would give you contact with horses.
Although it's not lambing, could you get a Saturday job in a stables? That would give you contact with horses.
Original post by ReadingMum
It is not necessary to have lambing on your application but it is a very useful one to do so I'd recommend getting a place secured for next Easter. Placements book up quite a long way ahead so don't leave it to a couple of weeks before. It seems to be one of the most hands on work experience opportunities you can do - you actually get to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in rather than just watching.
Would I be able to put that on my work experience summary as experience for the future? Are they looking for experience you've already done or will future experience count as well?
Original post by SusanGar
Would I be able to put that on my work experience summary as experience for the future? Are they looking for experience you've already done or will future experience count as well?
I think that most Unis will know that the last 18 months have made hands on work experience well nigh impossible for aspiring vet students.
Please don’t worry about not having lambing! Universities will understand that it has been nearly impossible to get various placements this year and I believe some of them have lowered their work experience requirements. Even then, no universities require lambing as part of their work experience requirements. I applied in 2019 for 2020 entry and didn’t have any lambing but I still got offers from Liverpool and Cambridge. I was rejected from Nottingham, but that was due to my interview, not just because I didn’t do any lambing. Just try to get as much work experience as possible from now on across any other placements eg dairy farm, riding stables etc.
Original post by SusanGar
Would I be able to put that on my work experience summary as experience for the future? Are they looking for experience you've already done or will future experience count as well?
You can certainly mention what you have booked in for the future - it won't count towards the quota unless they continue to extend the window for wex but it would show that you have tried to sort things.
It is important for you too to get the exposure to a range of experiences so you understand that it is not all cute small animals. My daughter delivered her first lamb at 15 - glove up to the armpit stuff - and it totally confirmed to her that this was what she wanted to do. During the same time there were lambs born dead which got skinned so the fleece could be draped over a triplet lamb to get it adopted - all very real stuff. I think the lambing was the most useful wex she did from that point of view.
Farmers are busy so you just need to be persistent. This continues to be the case when booking the pre-clinical EMS once actually at vet school.
As others have said, the emphasis on lambing is simply in the ‘suggestions’ for work experience as it is likely a lot more hands on than other placements and teaches you a lot, especially if you aren’t from a farming background it is basically like a whole new world so it’s good to get started on it during your work experience. I always suggest to get work experience in each of the ‘categories’, i.e. smalls, equine and farm, as unis do ‘like’ to see it but it isn’t always necessary just to apply (though for example in normal years Glasgow does emphasise having farm and Liverpool asks you to have at least 2 of the categories) and it is mainly so you can see the differences etc which would help throughout the application process, e.g. more to speak about in interviews/forms as work experience is bound to come up in some form there. I also think it’s nice to learn the basics before uni, e.g. how to put head collars on, what animals eat, and just generally know you’re comfortable around the different animals so that when you do EMS on the course you can be learning other stuff - of course it’s not necessary though as that’s why you’re on the course, to learn, but that’s just my perspective so I’d say still go for lambing next year even though it won’t towards most unis requirements.
I’m not a great example I guess but I was a reapplicant for 2020 and 2021 after being unsuccessful in 2020, but I only managed to have a few days here and there of sheep farm work experience before applying this year and I still received an offer for Liverpool, and I got interviews at Nottingham (I also got an interview there last year with even less farm exp) and Glasgow so they clearly didn’t mind. I wasn’t able to secure a lambing placement for spring 2020 but I found a farmer after and I was able to go to a few random days like where they sorted which lambs were going for meat, so that’s still a bit of experience and then after I applied I continued to do some placements just for myself, e.g. went to sheep pregnancy scanning and I also did a few days of lambing. So you could still try to contact farmers about next year and any other events they’ll be doing, but lambing is likely over for the year now. Farmers also often provide accommodation if when it reopens you want to use the NSA website and have to travel a bit for a placement. But I’d really try to get some large animal experience like horses as they are completely different to smalls (though try get some smalls in too) and stables are generally covid safe being outdoors and love extra hands, so it may be easier to get.
Best of luck!
I’m not a great example I guess but I was a reapplicant for 2020 and 2021 after being unsuccessful in 2020, but I only managed to have a few days here and there of sheep farm work experience before applying this year and I still received an offer for Liverpool, and I got interviews at Nottingham (I also got an interview there last year with even less farm exp) and Glasgow so they clearly didn’t mind. I wasn’t able to secure a lambing placement for spring 2020 but I found a farmer after and I was able to go to a few random days like where they sorted which lambs were going for meat, so that’s still a bit of experience and then after I applied I continued to do some placements just for myself, e.g. went to sheep pregnancy scanning and I also did a few days of lambing. So you could still try to contact farmers about next year and any other events they’ll be doing, but lambing is likely over for the year now. Farmers also often provide accommodation if when it reopens you want to use the NSA website and have to travel a bit for a placement. But I’d really try to get some large animal experience like horses as they are completely different to smalls (though try get some smalls in too) and stables are generally covid safe being outdoors and love extra hands, so it may be easier to get.
Best of luck!
I can’t really comment on this year as I don’t know what the unis are doing with their requirements, but I got offers (applied last October) for Nottingham and Surrey without any farm experience at all. If you can get some farm related experience (perhaps try dairy farms?) that’ll help your application but they generally care a lot more about what you learned from each placement than if you’ve got every type of placement 
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