The Student Room Group

Would 10-11 weeks of work experience be enough?

I'm currently in year 12 and so far I've done 1 week at small animal vet and continuing to go there weekly. I'm planning to do at least a week of lambing in easter and 6 weeks of work experience in summer as well as a week at a kennels/cattery before summer. Would this provide me with sufficient work experience for a good application, I'm aiming for RVC but after reading the model personal statements on TSR it seems like my planned work experience is nothing.
'Enough' to apply everywhere (including RVC), yes. More than enough.

However, the concept of 'enough' isn't particularly helpful. Whether that will get you an interview will depend on many factors including how well you are able to reflect on your experience in your personal statement, and the calibre of the applicants you're applying against.

10-11 weeks isn't 'nothing' at all :nah: . Yes it's absolutely possible to do much more even without a gap year, but remember that some people take gap years which can really help to get their numbers up. It's not all about numbers anyway, it's about the variety of placements you do as well as your ability to learn from them.

I've seen people get offers with <10 weeks, but I would advise looking carefully at where you apply and avoiding universities that appear to place a lot of emphasis on work experience.

Good luck with your application :smile:
Liverpool is the strictest uni regarding work experience, requiring a minimum of 10 weeks. A lot of people who apply to Liverpool will have much more than that. For the other 7 vet schools, 10/11 weeks is fine, because they look for quality as well as quantity. I applied this year, to start in September, and I had 10 weeks of work experience plus volunteering at my local city farm. I had two interviews, Bristol (offer as well!) and Nottingham, and two rejections, the RVC and Surrey. The rejections weren't for a lack of work experience
Reply 3
Original post by Little Tail Chaser
'Enough' to apply everywhere (including RVC), yes. More than enough.

However, the concept of 'enough' isn't particularly helpful. Whether that will get you an interview will depend on many factors including how well you are able to reflect on your experience in your personal statement, and the calibre of the applicants you're applying against.

10-11 weeks isn't 'nothing' at all :nah: . Yes it's absolutely possible to do much more even without a gap year, but remember that some people take gap years which can really help to get their numbers up. It's not all about numbers anyway, it's about the variety of placements you do as well as your ability to learn from them.

I've seen people get offers with <10 weeks, but I would advise looking carefully at where you apply and avoiding universities that appear to place a lot of emphasis on work experience.

Good luck with your application :smile:


Original post by horsewithnoname
Liverpool is the strictest uni regarding work experience, requiring a minimum of 10 weeks. A lot of people who apply to Liverpool will have much more than that. For the other 7 vet schools, 10/11 weeks is fine, because they look for quality as well as quantity. I applied this year, to start in September, and I had 10 weeks of work experience plus volunteering at my local city farm. I had two interviews, Bristol (offer as well!) and Nottingham, and two rejections, the RVC and Surrey. The rejections weren't for a lack of work experience


Thanks loads for the advice
Original post by horsewithnoname
Liverpool is the strictest uni regarding work experience, requiring a minimum of 10 weeks.


Just to clarify, Liverpool have changed this recently, reducing it to five weeks. See here.

They still seem to rely heavily on it when making decisions though :yep:
Original post by Little Tail Chaser
Just to clarify, Liverpool have changed this recently, reducing it to five weeks. See here.

They still seem to rely heavily on it when making decisions though :yep:


I didn't realise! I was put off applying there this year because I only just had enough work experience.

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