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Vet med at uni

What are peoples positive/negtive experiences of studying vet med at uni? I am really keen and have always wanted to be a vet however, I do not have a one track mind as I fear many aspiring vets do. I love languages sport the arts and science so am hoping to meet many likeminded people at uni. Do you think there are a variety of people who study vet med or have you found yourself to be stuck in a bubble ? How easy is it to meet different people not from your course , because id love to live in halls/jouse with people doing other courses.

Thanks
Celeste

Also if anyone has any work experience recommendations inhampshire let me know! its very hard to ind anything.
Original post by Celsmithh200004
What are peoples positive/negtive experiences of studying vet med at uni? I am really keen and have always wanted to be a vet however, I do not have a one track mind as I fear many aspiring vets do. I love languages sport the arts and science so am hoping to meet many likeminded people at uni. Do you think there are a variety of people who study vet med or have you found yourself to be stuck in a bubble ? How easy is it to meet different people not from your course , because id love to live in halls/jouse with people doing other courses.

Thanks
Celeste

Also if anyone has any work experience recommendations inhampshire let me know! its very hard to ind anything.


Hi there

Although I'm not a vet med student, there are societies which exist at universities which enable you to meet new people, from other courses, who share the same interests/passions as you.

Best wishes.
I'm quite positive that many people in general don't have a one track mind, even in courses like Vet Med and Medicine. Yeah, everyone loves animals and sciences if they've applied to vet med, but they will be interested in other things and that's what makes us all unique!

For halls, I think you're mixed with people who do different courses anyways :h:
In my experience so far as a first year at Liverpool, it is very easy to meet people outside of the course through sports, societies, and if you live in halls you are unlikely to be put with other vets except maybe 1, I have a flat of 8 and no other vets but have a medic and others who do business, computer science and essay subjects. I always used to think I wouldn't want to have too many vet friends because I thought that might stress me out discussing work etc and maybe a competitive aspect, but actually I've done a 180 being here and pretty much am only friends with other vet students, mostly who are more 'chilled' rather than focused on work 24/7 so we equally stress and vent to each other which can be helpful. But I know a lot of other vets who do prefer people from other subjects, and some also do music/acting/arts societies etc, there are a lot of students from all sorts of walks of life with different interests, not everyone is strictly only focused on the degree and nothing else.

There are different types of unis with some being city unis vs campus unis, where if you have a whole vet campus or with related subjects (e.g. RVC is mostly all vet-related, Nottingham has the Sutton Bonington campus with mostly vets and only few other subjects) then it may be harder to meet other people from different subjects, but still not impossible in the same way with societies etc, and for example in Liverpool you move to a separate vet campus in 4th year too. So I would just research into the types of unis that may suit you best and apply to those - but uni even if it is a mostly vet-based campus you can still find ways to meet other people and all of them will have various societies to engage with separate hobbies.
Original post by RambleAmple
In my experience so far as a first year at Liverpool, it is very easy to meet people outside of the course through sports, societies, and if you live in halls you are unlikely to be put with other vets except maybe 1, I have a flat of 8 and no other vets but have a medic and others who do business, computer science and essay subjects. I always used to think I wouldn't want to have too many vet friends because I thought that might stress me out discussing work etc and maybe a competitive aspect, but actually I've done a 180 being here and pretty much am only friends with other vet students, mostly who are more 'chilled' rather than focused on work 24/7 so we equally stress and vent to each other which can be helpful. But I know a lot of other vets who do prefer people from other subjects, and some also do music/acting/arts societies etc, there are a lot of students from all sorts of walks of life with different interests, not everyone is strictly only focused on the degree and nothing else.

There are different types of unis with some being city unis vs campus unis, where if you have a whole vet campus or with related subjects (e.g. RVC is mostly all vet-related, Nottingham has the Sutton Bonington campus with mostly vets and only few other subjects) then it may be harder to meet other people from different subjects, but still not impossible in the same way with societies etc, and for example in Liverpool you move to a separate vet campus in 4th year too. So I would just research into the types of unis that may suit you best and apply to those - but uni even if it is a mostly vet-based campus you can still find ways to meet other people and all of them will have various societies to engage with separate hobbies.

Thank you this is super helpful!! How do you find Liverpool? Currently I’m looking at all the different unis, idk really where to start!
Original post by Celsmithh200004
What are peoples positive/negtive experiences of studying vet med at uni? I am really keen and have always wanted to be a vet however, I do not have a one track mind as I fear many aspiring vets do. I love languages sport the arts and science so am hoping to meet many likeminded people at uni. Do you think there are a variety of people who study vet med or have you found yourself to be stuck in a bubble ? How easy is it to meet different people not from your course , because id love to live in halls/jouse with people doing other courses.

Thanks
Celeste

Also if anyone has any work experience recommendations inhampshire let me know! its very hard to ind anything.

Hi! So there are a few things to consider. It is a difficult and stressful course but it’s also really fun. I am a current Nottingham April cohort student so I’m going into my second year in April. I struggle with anxiety so it’s been difficult but it’s also one of the best decisions of my life

Because I’m an April student there often aren’t many other people on campus due to different term dates but if you start in September it’s really easy to meet a lot of likeminded people!

I don’t know about Hampshire work experience but here’s a list of varied options:

Lambing (good to get)
Kennel/cattery/rescue centre/groomers (unis like you to have experience with small animals)
Small animal vet (easier to get if you can go Wednesday afternoons or something that’s what I did at sixth form)
Large animal vet (equine or farm)
Lab (hard to get but super interesting)
Farm parks- I highly recommend these. I think a lot of people don’t go to these but I loved it and I was able to get experience with a range of animals from rabbits to camels and zebras.
An abattoir is a stand out piece of work experience. I don’t know about now due to covid but e university of Bristol let me tag along for a day with some 5th years on rotation and I even got a reference from a vet lecturer!

My big tip is get references as you go. I didn’t do this and it was a bit of a struggle to get references together for the application
Original post by Celsmithh200004
Thank you this is super helpful!! How do you find Liverpool? Currently I’m looking at all the different unis, idk really where to start!

I do enjoy Liverpool and think it’s a great vet school, I think for someone like you who might want to engage in a lot of other hobbies etc it’s great because there are a lot of sports and societies etc and the city is very diverse and has a lot of museums and art etc, and it’s very gorgeous in general with the docks and parks. I’ve had a bit of a bumpy first semester with just coping with starting vet school (I had a year out before too so getting back into education) so I didn’t maybe use as many opportunities as there are available, but they are always there.

I’d say make a table, maybe in word or Excel, with the different vet schools because there aren’t too many to look into anyway. Make a note of their grade and work experience requirements, their application process (they should have admissions statements), whether they are city/campus based or both, maybe if they have own clinics/farms, their course structure (spiral or modular), if you think they have a lot of societies etc (usually found on uni websites) and other pros/cons. It’s good to get some research in and good to apply strategically to maximise your chances of getting in - for example I wouldn’t apply to any unis you don’t meet the GCSE, A Level and work experience requirements for, as it is a very competitive subject so it’d be very easy for them to just reject you. Knowing how their application process works and then analysing to see if it fits with your strengths and weaknesses can help too - for example Bristol doesn’t interview, Nottingham has a lot of various forms and a traditional panel interview, Liverpool has barely any forms but does have a MMI-style interview (the past 2 years has been “panel” but to me was still more of an MMI structure and I believe they normally do MMI), a lot of the others do MMI too - so there are a lot of differences and if you think for example you’d do better at interviews maybe it wouldn’t be wise to pick Bristol etc. Then if everything is alright that end pick your favourites out of the other pros and cons lists!
Reply 7
Original post by Celsmithh200004
What are peoples positive/negtive experiences of studying vet med at uni? I am really keen and have always wanted to be a vet however, I do not have a one track mind as I fear many aspiring vets do. I love languages sport the arts and science so am hoping to meet many likeminded people at uni. Do you think there are a variety of people who study vet med or have you found yourself to be stuck in a bubble ? How easy is it to meet different people not from your course , because id love to live in halls/jouse with people doing other courses.

Thanks
Celeste

Also if anyone has any work experience recommendations inhampshire let me know! its very hard to ind anything.

You do not need a ‘one track mind’ in the slightest to do veterinary medicine at uni! I feel a lot of people act like the degree is the only thing you should be focusing on, the be all and end all etc but that really isn’t the case. You’ll absolutely be able to pursue your other interests at vet school. Universities have loads of societies where you can meet non vetty people. When I started I had the same mindset that I didn’t wanna be stuck in a ‘vet bubble’ but I’ll admit most of the friends I’ve made are also vet students. Thankfully they’re not the type to constantly want to talk about uni work etc

In most cases first year halls will be completely randomly mixed - I’m living with people who are doing law, maths, etc.

Id say the main positives have been that the course is really practical and it’s nice being able to see the relevance of what we’re learning despite being in pre-clinical years. It’s generally satisfying to finally properly feel like I’m on track to becoming a vet.

The main negative I can think of is getting used to the workload. I really struggled to balance sports and actually keeping on top of work during first semester. This might be something to keep in mind when deciding what sports and societies you’d like to join. How many you’ll be able to do is an individual thing, depends on how good your time management is!

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