Edinburgh vs RVC for Veterinary Medicine (please help answer questions)

Hello,

I'm an international student and I've been fortunate enough to receive offers from vet schools.

I've always been set on RVC but after going through the application process and the interviews, Edinburgh really appealed to me and now I'm torn between the two.

Can anyone give me insights on both universities? I would love if someone could list down the pros and cons.

Some pointers I'm looking at are:
- Social life (mixing with non-vet students, number of international students, size of course and university, does RVC feel "small"

Accommodation (anyone know where to find pictures of rooms in College Grove

- Quality of education, professor and staff

- Cost of living in general

- What examinations are like
- What daily life looks like for a first year vet
- Life in edinburgh vs life in london

Also... Is transport an issue from central Edinburgh to Easter Bush?

Thanks in advance!

£5-10/week food.

Is that a mistake and if not, how are you able to pull that off in London?! That's anywhere from under £1/day for food to under £2! As someone considering applying to RVC, I mean this question honestly.

Hello, apologies it's taken me so long to reply to this. I'll try and give you a few pointers now.

I can relate to your dilemma, RVC and Edinburgh were the two offers that I was torn between and I even had Edinburgh down as my firm for a few months before I got it changed to RVC, where I am now a third year. I'll try to give a balanced view of the two as far as I can!


I don't think you can find a better place for student life than London! We have more clubs than you can shake a stick at, as well as a load of other attractions (many free or extremely cheap for students) such as activities, museums, comedy clubs etc etc if you have other interests. Don't forget we're just down the road from London Zoo which offers fellowship to students, to give you unlimited entry.

With regards to non-vet students, we're a part of the University of London which is the biggest student body in the UK. The HQ, Student Central, is a 20 minute walk away and has a bar. We're more than welcome to join any of the UoL societies (e.g. for societies that RVC doesn't have, or if you're already quite proficient at a sport you can compete for London and not just the RVC), and even if you don't end up doing that a lot of the RVC sports teams hold joint socials with sports clubs from other universities.

Number of international students = shedloads. I appreciate that isn't a quantitative figure for you, but really it is a lot The majority of international students hale from north America (primarily USA) but we also have a lot from Asia (mostly Singapore and Hong Kong) and mainland Europe. We have societies for American and Chinese students (although anyone is welcome to join either of them!), as well as the International Veterinary Student Association which organise trips abroad to other vet schools for if you want to meet more people in their home country (you can host exchanges too ). College Grove is almost exclusively international students, but there are always a handful at the other halls too.

I don't think the RVC feels small at all, much the opposite, being the biggest veterinary school! Certainly Camden in particular is different to other universities that I have visited that had a more spread out/campus layout, but I tend to find that both campuses have everything you need there. Still in third year there are people in my year that I don't know (which you can interpret as a good thing or a bad thing), but the university alter the people in your dissection group/seminar group every year to encourage you to mingle.


I will try and get some pictures of College Grove for you.

In short most of the accommodation is quite similar; en-suite rooms within flats of 5-7 people. College Grove and Mary Branker House have single beds while Emily Bowes has 3/4 beds, although there is less floor space.

Overall I don't find people have too much of a problem with RVC halls (aside from the cost). Each have their pros and cons which I am happy to go into further if you like.


Both RVC and Edinburgh are excellent, highlighted for example by the fact that along with Glasgow they have the highest level of accreditation from global veterinary governing bodies of all vet schools in the UK. I would personally say that I think the RVC has a bit of a better reputation (I advise taking league tables with a pinch/entire ladle full of salt, but if it means anything to you the QS Global rankings put RVC #3 in the world and #1 in Europe). I hear a lot more about the research coming out of RVC, but then I would


Admittedly this is probably a point where London falls down a bit. I can't comment on Edinburgh but to give you an idea for London by costs in first year were £175/week rent, £15/week travel and £5-10/week food. Obviously there are a lot more costs involved but those are the essentials/things most likely to vary with location. Travel will be a lot less if you are not living in Emily Bowes as I was.

How I like to frame it is that while living costs in London are the highest you'll find in the UK, it's also the place where casual work is most easily found. I personally worked as a student ambassador for the university (okay, you can do that anywhere), as a pet sitter (my agency only operate in London) and I did a bit of bartending, but I know people who did things like tutoring GCSE/A level students, retail work, shift work (i.e. waitressing/stewarding; many agencies for this are only in London) and modelling/being an extra. Increasingly there is pressure on employers to pay the London living wage (while optional for employers, considered the 'minimum wage for London', it's higher than the minimum wage elsewhere).


Will answer the rest later, it's 2am here now. I'm taking my sweet time