Vet Med Application ... Advice appreciated!

OP

Just realised that only have 3 weeks left to organise work experience. Considering i have done 2x1w small vet practice, 1w kennel+cattery, 2w rescue centre, 1w lambing and 1w stables and already have 2w in mixed practice, after exams going to volunteer in exotic shop weekly (!) and after applications will be doing 1w horse vets, 2x1w lambing and 2w zoo, what placements do you think i should priotise?!?

- another mixed practice (including farm, but not equine)
- exotics practice
- beef farm
- wildlife park (though do i have to be 18 ... which would rule it out)
- goat dairy
- cow dairy (this is already my priority)
- general farm (poultry, cows, pigs, sheep, alpacas etc. etc.)

I'm thinking general farm and goat dairy (with cow dairy already priortised) ... what do you think?

I also have a week after exams where i have 3 days off school (meant to be for EPQ) so do you think i should use this for work experience and/or bunk (with teacher's permission) the other two days to fit in another weeks work experience?!

also considering travelling to an abattoir for 1/2 days when i break up for summer as break up on wed/thurs so would have a few free days spare ...

random fact: buying a leopard gecko next week :-D ... really excited!

Also, how many hours would be competitive? ive done just less than 300 atm and by october will have done 600/650 ... is this good?!

Reply 21

skatealexia

14

Original post by Percival Weasley

Just realised that only have 3 weeks left to organise work experience. Considering i have done 2x1w small vet practice, 1w kennel+cattery, 2w rescue centre, 1w lambing and 1w stables and already have 2w in mixed practice, after exams going to volunteer in exotic shop weekly (!) and after applications will be doing 1w horse vets, 2x1w lambing and 2w zoo, what placements do you think i should priotise?!?

- another mixed practice (including farm, but not equine)
- exotics practice
- beef farm
- wildlife park (though do i have to be 18 ... which would rule it out)
- goat dairy
- cow dairy (this is already my priority)
- general farm (poultry, cows, pigs, sheep, alpacas etc. etc.)

I'm thinking general farm and goat dairy (with cow dairy already priortised) ... what do you think?

I also have a week after exams where i have 3 days off school (meant to be for EPQ) so do you think i should use this for work experience and/or bunk (with teacher's permission) the other two days to fit in another weeks work experience?!

also considering travelling to an abattoir for 1/2 days when i break up for summer as break up on wed/thurs so would have a few free days spare ...

random fact: buying a leopard gecko next week :-D ... really excited!

Also, how many hours would be competitive? ive done just less than 300 atm and by october will have done 600/650 ... is this good?!

I would try to fit in another week of stables, and the dairy as a priority. You could skip school to do a week if you're allowed..
It isn't hours, it is weeks.
Aim for 15+ weeks.
I'd aim for 2 weeks stables, 2 weeks kennels/cattery, 1 week lambing, 3 weeks of any kind of farm (dairy prioritise), and then vet practices I'd aim for 6+ weeks. Abattoir is a good placement to have on top, as is a vet lab/human lab.

Reply 22

skatealexia

14

A week is 5 days, 8 hours a day. The exotics long term placement will look good too.

Reply 23

Percival Weasley

OP

Original post by skatealexia

A week is 5 days, 8 hours a day.

Can the weeks not be flexible then? The rescue centre, I only did long mornings (7-12) but I did 7 days work experience and then was asked back for 5 days work (does the work still count?) which is 60 hours in total which is then 7/8 days.... also the lambing i did was a lot longer than 8 hours ... roughly 7am-6pm :redface:

Reply 24

Percival Weasley

OP

Original post by skatealexia

I would try to fit in another week of stables, and the dairy as a priority. You could skip school to do a week if you're allowed..
It isn't hours, it is weeks.
Aim for 15+ weeks.
I'd aim for 2 weeks stables, 2 weeks kennels/cattery, 1 week lambing, 3 weeks of any kind of farm (dairy prioritise), and then vet practices I'd aim for 6+ weeks. Abattoir is a good placement to have on top, as is a vet lab/human lab.

Thanks

my only problem is that I dont have enough free weeks remaining though and wanting a variety; im physically unable to get over 15w before applying. though Im thinking the 3 farm weeks could be one week at dairy, goat dairy, and general farm. I will be doing 4 weeks vets and possibly an extra week at mixed/ exottic. the kennel/ cattery ive done one week but also done 2w rescue centre. I dont think i will do beef farm as there are beef cattle on the farm I'm hopefully going to amoungst other animals. Should I try for the wildlife centre to get more variety?

Reply 25

skatealexia

14

Original post by Percival Weasley

xx

Your lambing days however long just count as a week or two or whatever. If you did mornings e.g. 10 mornings would count as a week, a morning is about 4 hours. Work still counts, so you can count all that. I'd just break the 60 hours into however many days that is for you :smile:

.

If you have three weeks. I would do one week dairy, one week stables, and one week any type of vets. If you have an extra day or two somewhere I'd do abattoir/vet lab. Variety is key, but core placements are more important than zoo or wildlife parks.

Reply 26

Tarnia

4

I agree with Skatealexia. Think of dairy, stables, kennels, small/large vets, farm as the ingredients for your cake. Wildlife parks, zoos and even to some degree exotics are the decorations on the cake. You can still have an acceptable, yummy cake without the decorations. But if you have inedible decorations without the core ingredients to a cake, you do not have an edible, yummy cake. Is presentation important? Sure. Would the "decorations" help you stand out from other people with an also yummy cake (the core placements)? Sure. But you need to get the "cake" first.

Ok, maybe not the best analogy, but I tried. :tongue:

You mention free weeks. But I would even consider replacing the zoo/wildlife placement, or replacing at least 1 of the 2 weeks there, with a core placement, if possible without seriously inconveniencing the zoo/wildlife placement. I don't want you to "burn bridges" for later in your career if you want to go there for vet student EMS.

Reply 27

Moonlight*

1

Original post by Percival Weasley

Can the weeks not be flexible then? The rescue centre, I only did long mornings (7-12) but I did 7 days work experience and then was asked back for 5 days work (does the work still count?) which is 60 hours in total which is then 7/8 days.... also the lambing i did was a lot longer than 8 hours ... roughly 7am-6pm :redface:

At Bristol for EMS one week is whatever the working hours of a particular placement are and as long as you work similar hours to the placement provider that's fine. For example at the dairy farm I did EMS at, I worked from 6am-7pm for 7 days and that was one week, but for my pig farm I worked from 8am-1pm for 6days and that was one week and at a trekking stables I worked 8.30-11.30am and 3-5pm for 5days and that was one week so I wouldn't worry too much about how many hours you work. As long as the placement provider is happy that you have done one weeks work that should be fine.

Reply 28

Percival Weasley

OP

Original post by Moonlight*

At Bristol for EMS one week is whatever the working hours of a particular placement are and as long as you work similar hours to the placement provider that's fine. As long as the placement provider is happy that you have done one weeks work that should be fine.

Okay, that should be fine then - did the same amount of hours as the other workers!

Original post by Tarnia

Ok, maybe not the best analogy, but I tried. :tongue:

aww, dont worry, was a good good analogy! Should i get more of the core placements ( i already have done/ will do all of them now - have finally found a dairy farm ) and not the extras? I will have done 2w small vets, 2w mixed vets, 1w exotic vets and then for husbandry, 1w dairy farm, 1w farm, 1w lambing, 1w kennel&cattery, 2w rescue centre, 1w stable but should i go back to a stables or do the goat dairy? Its just that ive already done 1w stables so surely a variety of good as well?! :s-smilie:

Thanks!

Reply 29

Tarnia

4

I would probably defer to Skatealexia for an answer to that actually Percival (see her above post). She is more familiar with the 5-year degree applications (I did the graduate route) and the different schools (I only applied to ones that were AVMA accredited). I do agree variety is good as well though. Once you get in (if you get in), you will be required to do a further *12 weeks* of husbandry EMS (you can count up to 4 weeks of what you did before I think), and in that it is 2 weeks horses, 2 weeks cattle (1 week must be UK dairy), 2 weeks lambing (1 week must be UK lambing) 1 week pigs, 1 week poultry, 1 week cat and dog kennels, 1 week small mammal (rabbits, guinea pigs etc), 2 weeks free choice.

If you do find you are in the commendable position of completing all core placements, I copied this from the WE thread:

The icing on the cake
If you have time to do more than the minimum, your options are to;

Do extra weeks at different vet practices, farms, stables etc; going to different places will let you see how routines and procedures vary from place to place.

Try and get a Saturday job with animals (local vet practices are sometimes an option), even if its voluntary, to boost your application. This will show commitment as you’ve worked there over a longer time period- working at a vets every Saturday for 6 months looks better than working at a vets for 1 week. You will also learn more, get better references and they will begin to trust you so give you more responsibility- I remember the first time I was allowed to monitor an anaesthetic it made my week… :cool:

Try and get more outlandish placements to help make you stand out, some suggestions include;
· Zoos- they are hard placements to get but will show your dedication and are very interesting (make sure it will involve working with the animals and not behind a counter)
· Abattoirs (only 1 or 2 days max needed)
· Labs
· Racing tracks
· Seal sanctuaries
But be original and don’t go over the top- one or two of these would be plenty.

Good luck!

Vet Med Application ... Advice appreciated!

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