The big and shiny work experience bible

Scroll to see replies

Rosie A

I am going into year 11 this year and have done 2 weeks of work experience at an equine vets and have been helping out from 8am - 5pm every saturday at my local stables for about 4 years and i have sorted out most of my others!!
I am having trouble finding the lambing, dairy, cattle ect ..... I live in the Manchester area does anyone have any good places they reccomend???? :confused:

Also I want to go and have a few days in a abattoir but i am finding problems in finding one near home!! once again in the manchester area if anyone can find one!! They don't seem to be the most populated places !!! HELP HELP HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek:

Ooo where abouts in manchester- i live near there :biggrin:

, all my contacts are round and about Bolton which maybe a bit of a trek to get to, the ones I know of in Manchester arn't very specific- I don't have exact addresses- there are a few dairy farms around ashton try some of them?? And there is an abbattoir in Wigan just use yell.com and they may be able to help, but again- its a bit of a way out from you!

Reply 101

bumbleboy

nina_100

... Was that just to put the shiits up everyone else??? :p:

Thats pretty impressive, guess you deserve to gloat

Well I have failed to secure a place at vet school for the past two years, unfortunatly if I had secured a place I wouldnt have such an extensive list of experience, My work experience portfolio is the ace in my pack and yep i'm smug about it! but as the saying goes its quality not quantity that counts!

Reply 102

little ladybird

hey. I'm applying as a graduate entry and was wondering what people thought about mentioning farms I've visited as part of my current degree and using them to boost my work experience. I wasn't working or helping on the farms though, so not much hands on but learnt lots about farming methods and procedures. I also have actual work exp on beef cattle & sheep farms too though.

Reply 103

nina_100

little ladybird

Yeah a brief mention to demonstrate that you have good understanding of British agricultural systems couldn't harm- just don't go on about it too much, I'm sure you'll have plenty of other stuff to talk about!

Reply 104

James G

Hey, only just found this place so I was just following my own rough guide, but basically I've done:

4 weeks small animal (between 2 different practices)
2 weeks mixed animal (between 2 different practices)
2 weeks equine
1 day at an Abbatoir
1 day dairy farm
1 day pig farm
1 day lambing
and I've worked at a visitor centre farm with a zoo liscence every Saturday for the past year

But seems I've missed the fundamental kennels/cattery work, do you think this will damage my application significantly? I had planned to do more farm work during my free days but would it be better to just do a week or so at a kennels or cattery?

Thanks for any advice.

Reply 105

tiny_tiger

No way! I had quite similar wok exp to you icluding the saturday job at a public farm (although its main income was actually sheep so it doubled as my lambing :biggrin:

) I didnt work at a kennel/cattery and still managed to get 4/4 interviews and 3/4 offers! If you have time to do it, then go for it! But seriously you have more than enough even for Liverpool who ask for the most!

Reply 106

James G

Thanks very much for the reply, helped put my worrying mind at ease :P

Reply 107

city_chic

Oh wow. Just realised that I DO indeed have a reference from the vets I went to in Yr 11; and they said amazing stuff about me too; SCORE!

Anyway, I need a little help:

I need 6 weeks min work exp to apply for the 6 year vet med course at Nottingham. So far I only have a week at a small veterinary practice (although I learnt TONS there AND wrote everything down in a diary; YAY!) and small amounts of exp with horses and farm animals. I hope to start working at local stables every sat/sun and at a cattery/kennels every sat/sun. Also I'm going to ask to go back to the same small practice I went to before and a couple of days at this farm right behind me at half-term. I actually know the farming family which is ALL good. Anyway, do you think this is okay? I mean I won't have done a huge amount of exp by application but by the time the interview rolls around I'll have done enough to talk it up, right? Plus I'll try and do an amazing PS.

Just wondering what everyone thinks..? Much thanks.

Reply 108

Sarah_V

Tbh, your situation would make a gap year look pretty tempting - a year to do everything you want to, which'd probably take a bit of pressure off during your A level year.
I guess this is why you're trying to contact Nott'm admissions?
Is there a reason you don't have much wrk exp, 'cos if there are circumstances meaing you couldn't have any, then that might aid your cause.

Reply 109

city_chic

Sarah_V

Yeah, a gap idea seems like the best option...but not the most appealing to me.

Yeah, this is why I'm trying to contact them. I'll send an e-mail off to them soon.

The only reason is that it was only a couple of months ago that veterinary medicine popped back into my head after a year of sailing along, not worrying too much about career/uni choices. Now I KNOW that I 100% want to do it. And that's why my situation is so frustrating for me. Mentioning in my PS that I left the idea for a while/wasn't 100% sure about which path to go along might not be a strong enough excuse, idk.

Reply 110

Annaconda

If by the next summer holidays i have done:
2 years stables
1 weel diff stables
2 weeks sa vet
6 months saturdays city farm
1 week dog grooming
2/3 day lambing course

1 week greyhound kennels
6 months evenings sa vets
6 montsh saturdays pet shop
1 week farm (lambing, kidding(?) etc)
and possible a couple of days with racecourse vet

woul dit be better for me to spend the summer doing a 4 week nuffield bursary project, or to do 1 week norm kennels/cattery, 1 week wildlife rescue, 1 week mixed vets and 1 week lab work?

what do people think?

Reply 111

Sarah_V

The lab work sounds like a nice variation, I wouldn't have thought a huge number of people apply with lab work.
You've got HEAPS though! I'd relax a bit this summer if it were me!

Reply 112

Annaconda

i havent done:
1 week greyhound kennels
6 months evenings sa vets
6 montsh saturdays pet shop
1 week farm (lambing, kidding(?) etc)
and possible a couple of days with racecourse vet
yet, thats just what i plan to do this year

Reply 113

Rebbers

Hi.

Everyone says it's really important to get large animal work experience, but I doubt I'll be able to get anything! I live in London where there are virtually no large animal practices, and the ones I have contacted only take vet students.

I've done 2 weeks work experience at a small animal vets and 2 weeks at a dairy farm, as well as a bit of lambing. I have a saturday job at a vet's and I've been helping out at an animal rescue centre since I was 14. I'm planning to do another week or so of vet practice as well as an abattoir and a birds of prey centre if possible.

Does anyone have any contacts in the london area for large animal practices or do I have a chance of getting in without large animal work experience?

Thanks :smile:

Reply 114

Annaconda

there are a couple of horse vets in guildford.
And a mixed practice in clapham. look on the rcvs find a vet thing to see what animals they all treat.
you could try shadowing the vet at horseraces.
to find a mixed vet you could also find out the one the farmer you went to uses, or any of the city farms, eg deen city farm, vauxhall city farm and see what vet they use, and if you can shadow them while they visit them. if that makes sense.

i have the same problem

Reply 115

earedien

You have the same problem as I did! Ditto to what the above poster said, you've got to think outside the box on this one. I'm not sure all vet schools require it, I know Liverpool did which is why I didn't apply there. You've got some large animal experience under your belt which is good. Can you drive? All the large animal vets at the farms I've visited seemed to be based miles out of London so I could never go there.

That said, I'm just about to go into my second year of Vet Science and I still have yet to meet a large animal vet in practice (I wish I were joking). You'd think after 7 weeks of large animal ems I'd meet at least one! I hope you have a lot more luck than me (which you should cos I'm a bit lazy...)

Reply 116

city_chic

Does a farm count as large-animal experience??

Reply 117

Annaconda

um yeah!
the animals are large arent they!

Lol, okay

Find a riding stables. There must be some, even in london. I'm pretty sure Hyde park has stables somewhere round there. I went to one which was practiacally in the city when I was with an equine vet. Do a week helping out there if you can. Or maybe try to work at london zoo if you can get in with the large animals there (no harm in trying). I think a giraff would suficiently count as a large animal lol.