Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

too late to start?

hello,

currently a y12 student in the UK. up until now, i've been preparing for a biology application in october (oxbridge so early entry).

after work experience and looking into courses, i've really set my heart on vet med. although some of my work experience and extracurriculars are relevant, i'm really worried i won't have time to get all the work experience that a vet med application requires in the next six months! probably due to the fact im male, i was always pushed towards medicine and never really had the chance to consider vet med until now.

would someone be able to advise me on how much work experience i will need to try and find, and also which vet schools i have the best shot at? another concern i have is that i study only bio/chem and not maths/phys, do any universities not mind this?

academic profile
GCSE: 899 (Maths, Literature, Language) A* (French, History, Bio, Chem, Phys, Geo, Art) A (Further Maths)

A Levels: (Bio, History, EPQ, Chemistry and AS French) Predicted A* A* A* A a respectively.

work exp / extracurriculars
1 week small animal vet surgery (observing surgery and consultancies)
part time work in pharmacy (will be two years by time of university entry) in which i have experience giving healthcare advice in a medical setting
medical ethics conference
debate society (links to ethics?)
lipids and brain performance conference
3 days in skin cancer research lab
several oxford outreach schemes for biology (vet med not available) including sample lectures
involvement in a holocaust charity scheme in which i did presentations at various conferences and with schools

i know i need some animal husbandry experience, but my biggest concern is the fact that i won't be able to get the 200 hours asked by liverpool etc. also a lot of my experience is biology geared, as well as my EPQ being about drug treatments in the uk.

is it still possible to have a really competitive application ready by october? i'm just really worried that i'm going to get four rejections if i apply for vet med, as it is a relatively late decision to choose the course, considering most people seem to want to do it their whole life.

thank u, sorry for my stressing!

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 1

DOM26

Dont worry youve got loads of time, liverpool ask for 5 weeks, 2 weeks at 2 vets and 3 weeks across at least two core animal husbandry types. You can easily fit that in to the summer holidays if you book them in now. Nottingham has the highest wex requirements at 6 weeks and dont give extra credit above the 6 weeks. This is all you need. You only need bio and chem so that is fine. With those grades you could apply to any school.