The Student Room Group

Should I take a gap year?

So like most students I still don't really know what I want to do. I started my first year of sixth form wanting to go into medicine so that is where my work experience is based but towards the end of the year I changed my mind. I'm interested in veterinary medicine now which I know is just as hard a course to get into and requires a lot of work experience. I have a couple weeks work experience planned for the next couple months but no where near enough for the application deadline in october. And to be honest, I am not sure if that is what I want to study. I really don't want to take a gap year and it's never really something I was interested in. If I was to look into veterinary would there be a way of getting out of taking a gap year? I really am just unsure on what I want to do, I think I would love veterinary but at the same time I would love medicine and a lot of other careers and I am just unsure on what to do.
I would strongly advise you try and gain enough experience between now and October and this isn't completely impossible it just may change which universities you would have the strongest application for. Liverpool for example is very work experience heavy whereas Cambridge is far less so. But as well as work experience in veterinary practices try and gain experience in other environments such as a stables, kennel and farm. These placements will be far easier to organise as many are more than happy to accept free labour. You may find that a veterinary career is not for you as it is definitely not what the majority of people imagine it is from the outside. If veterinary really is what you wish to do though then consider you will be fighting for a place alongside people that have wished to follow that path since they were old enough to talk and they will have the experience to back it up. Without 100% commitment your chances of getting a place are not the highest.
I would echo VMD100's comments; try to get as much work experience as possible, to both help you decide if veterinary is indeed what you want to pursue and to increase your chances of getting onto the course. Unfortunately there is no foolproof way of not having to take a gap year if vet is what you end up applying for; enough people who are 100% certain end up having to take a gap year because the competition is so fierce.

What about veterinary medicine is attracting you right now? There are many similar courses that you could potentially get into through Clearing if you end up without any offers for vet med. Bioveterinary science and biological sciences at the RVC both reliably go into Clearing, for example.

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