A question for mature veterinary applicants

Hi

I know there have been a few mature/graduate applicants for vet school around on this forum lately. I'm also a prospective vet student and I was just wondering:
How did you manage to fit in work experience around working full-time?
'Cos I don't know how I'm gonna manage it. :frown:

I've got a lot of experience in every area except farm animals, and although I've got quite a while yet (while I do my A Levels etc.) I'm concerned about just how I'm going to find the time to do it! :eek:

What did all you other 'mature' peeps do? :confused:

Reply 1

Flipper05

I was basically lacking in farm work before i applied and up to date small animal. I had to take holiday from work to do the farm animal and the small animal i went to work at a practice every saturday for a few months.

It leaves you with very little free time but in the end if it's what you really want to do it's all worth it.

I'm lucky as my work is very understanding. I'm also studying part time for a PGDip so had to fit that in too!!!

Don't know if this is any help to you what so ever - there is no real easy answer!

Reply 2

your.angel

1

I did my farm while I was still at school (I might be pushing the definition of 'recent' work experience), working every Saturday morning for a couple of years. Then, since graduating in June I organised seeing some practice and took a few weeks off work to do it - I chose to work for my dad though to begin with, as it made getting the time off easy! Otherwise I think it might have been a problem.

Doing weekends seems to be a good solution though, as you don't have to take too much time out per week, and over a couple of months or so it adds up to quite a lot.

Reply 3

vetdude

Hi,
I only did a couple of months worth of saturdays (and a few midweek mornings but not many) for three months, much of which was done after I'd sent my ucas away and managed interviews at all i applied for (this was last year). I didn't have any horse or cattle experience but my phd involves vet disease research and working with sheep. I got the impression that as there are fewer mature/grad applicants it's easier to choose between them without having to work out which ones have put the most hours in (as opposed to having to choose between everyone leaving school who was the rugby/hockey captain and is predicted 4As). The impression I got from my and others experience was that it was more important to have seen a variety of stuff (rather than months of small animal etc) and have a real grasp of what doing the job was likely to entail- an interest in research also seemed to go down a treat...

I like you could only spare about 4-5 hours a week on top of work and it really didn't seem to matter too much. plus with the exception of cam/rvc and nott they make money out of grad applicants so love em!

cheers

Reply 4

Evenstar

OP

13

I'm not a grad...I'm just mature :frown:

Reply 5

Flipper05

Evenstar

I'm not a grad...I'm just mature :frown:

That's not a bad thing!

I had my Cambridge interview a few weeks ago and grads appeared to be in the minority - i met quite a few mature students so don't worry about not having done a degree.

Good luck with everything though and i'm sure you'll fit in your work experience. As many people have said to me its quality not quantity that really counts.

Reply 6

Evenstar

OP

13

Flipper05

That's not a bad thing!

I had my Cambridge interview a few weeks ago and grads appeared to be in the minority - i met quite a few mature students so don't worry about not having done a degree.

Good luck with everything though and i'm sure you'll fit in your work experience. As many people have said to me its quality not quantity that really counts.

Thanks, I feel a bit better now x :smile:

A question for mature veterinary applicants

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