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Are there any vet medicine gateway / foundation courses?

Hey everyone, I have been wanting to become a vet for years now however my current predicted grades aren't good enough to be able to get me any offers from universities and unfortunately my teachers will not raise them. I know you can do a gateway course to a few unis but they need you to come from an underachieving school etc, which personally I think is a joke. But was just curious if anyone knows what I should do.
Thanks
Original post by LucasCC
Hey everyone, I have been wanting to become a vet for years now however my current predicted grades aren't good enough to be able to get me any offers from universities and unfortunately my teachers will not raise them. I know you can do a gateway course to a few unis but they need you to come from an underachieving school etc, which personally I think is a joke. But was just curious if anyone knows what I should do.
Thanks


You could complete your A-levels and then apply to vet schools with your achieved grades as then you wouldn't need predicted grades. This option is the only option if you can't get your predicted grades increased. If you mess up your A-levels then you could resit and reapply but otherwise you would have to do another degree and apply once you have completed that first degree (which is extremely expensive).
Reply 2
ooooooo finally something I think I can help with.........
First of all you could apply to RVC Gateway. They require CCC HOWEVER you must meet three of the following criteria: you live in area with POLAR4 score of 1 or 2, attended a level 2 school with RVC contextual flag, attended a level 3 school with RVC contextual flag, low household income, refugee or if your parents didn't attend higher education. So if you meet three of these you're fine to apply :smile:
Also, you mention gateway offer for underachieving schools is a joke? How so? I attended a RVC contextual flagged level 2 school where most people failed. It wasn't my choice, it's due to the area I live. But hey, I passed. Not everyone has is surrounded by the influence of others who attended higher education so nah mate it's not really a joke is it. :smile:
ANYWAY, Nottingham gateway is also an option which require BBC for A-Level and a minimum of 4 weeks of animal-related work experience.

If you don't meet the criteria, you could study zoology and then go on to study Veterinary. There's always a way :smile:
Reply 3
Original post by Amarra
ooooooo finally something I think I can help with.........
First of all you could apply to RVC Gateway. They require CCC HOWEVER you must meet three of the following criteria: you live in area with POLAR4 score of 1 or 2, attended a level 2 school with RVC contextual flag, attended a level 3 school with RVC contextual flag, low household income, refugee or if your parents didn't attend higher education. So if you meet three of these you're fine to apply :smile:
Also, you mention gateway offer for underachieving schools is a joke? How so? I attended a RVC contextual flagged level 2 school where most people failed. It wasn't my choice, it's due to the area I live. But hey, I passed. Not everyone has is surrounded by the influence of others who attended higher education so nah mate it's not really a joke is it. :smile:
ANYWAY, Nottingham gateway is also an option which require BBC for A-Level and a minimum of 4 weeks of animal-related work experience.

If you don't meet the criteria, you could study zoology and then go on to study Veterinary. There's always a way :smile:


thats the problem with the gateway courses I dont meet any of the criteria so am unable so what I am thinking of doing is doing zoology/ animal biology and then somehow transfer course type thing but am still unsure. Thanks for the advice!
Original post by LucasCC
thats the problem with the gateway courses I dont meet any of the criteria so am unable so what I am thinking of doing is doing zoology/ animal biology and then somehow transfer course type thing but am still unsure. Thanks for the advice!

@OrangeArcher gives the correct advice in my opinion. I would recommend you concentrate on your A level grades for now, hopefully then you will get the grades you need. Take a gap year and do as much work experience as possible after you finish your A levels and apply next October for 2020 entry with your achieved grades. Nottingham doesn't look at predicted grades however so if you meet their GCSE and work experience requirements then you could still apply to them even with low predicted grades, but the application process will take you away from your studies and if your teachers won't predict you what you need then I would be concerned that you need to work really hard to prove them wrong and applying would make this more difficult.
Original post by LucasCC
Hey everyone, I have been wanting to become a vet for years now however my current predicted grades aren't good enough to be able to get me any offers from universities and unfortunately my teachers will not raise them. I know you can do a gateway course to a few unis but they need you to come from an underachieving school etc, which personally I think is a joke. But was just curious if anyone knows what I should do.
Thanks


Dundee does a 1 year gateway to medicine course, its especially for students without a science back ground but if you are doing science a levels the entry requirements are considerably lower (i think its BBC) if your predicted grades aren't high enough you can just wait till you get your actual results and apply directly with that, sometimes you may be able to get an offer for the same year but if not you may have to take a gap year or you could apply into this 1 year course and hopefully after you will have the requirements for a university. I've linked below the gateway course at Dundee, think its worth checking it out.

https://www.dundee.ac.uk/study/ug/gateway-to-medicine/
Original post by axataaarrr
Dundee does a 1 year gateway to medicine course, its especially for students without a science back ground but if you are doing science a levels the entry requirements are considerably lower (i think its BBC) if your predicted grades aren't high enough you can just wait till you get your actual results and apply directly with that, sometimes you may be able to get an offer for the same year but if not you may have to take a gap year or you could apply into this 1 year course and hopefully after you will have the requirements for a university. I've linked below the gateway course at Dundee, think its worth checking it out.

https://www.dundee.ac.uk/study/ug/gateway-to-medicine/


Unfortunately I think this only works to access the Dundee medicine degree, the OP is asking about veterinary medicine.
Original post by LucasCC
Hey everyone, I have been wanting to become a vet for years now however my current predicted grades aren't good enough to be able to get me any offers from universities and unfortunately my teachers will not raise them. I know you can do a gateway course to a few unis but they need you to come from an underachieving school etc, which personally I think is a joke. But was just curious if anyone knows what I should do.
Thanks


Yes, there are several universities that offer a Gateway course with lower entry requirements - currently Bristol, RVC, Nottingham and Liverpool I believe. The whole purpose of the Gateway course is to widen participation to those from underachieving schools and disadvantaged backgrounds - I'm not quite sure how you can perceive that as a joke? :confused: Perhaps you could clarify why you think this.

Alternatively, Nottingham offer a Preliminary year where you would need to get AAB in no more than one of Chemistry/Biology and two other subjects.

If neither Gateway nor Prelim are suitable, you could either take a gap year, get your grades up to scratch and apply with your grades already in hand, or as a last resort complete another degree first and then go down the postgraduate route. The latter option (postgrad) is obviously the longest and most expensive, and no guarantee that you will then be accepted onto VetMed.

The best course of action, in my opinion, would be to work as hard as you can this year, get the grades you need and then apply. Oh, and maybe not dismiss widening participation as a joke.
(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 8
Original post by A_Vet_Student
Yes, there are several universities that offer a Gateway course with lower entry requirements - currently Bristol, RVC, Nottingham and Liverpool I believe. The whole purpose of the Gateway course is to widen participation to those from underachieving schools and disadvantaged backgrounds - I'm not quite sure how you can perceive that as a joke? :confused: Perhaps you could clarify why you think this.

Alternatively, Nottingham offer a Preliminary year where you would need to get AAB in no more than one of Chemistry/Biology and two other subjects.

If neither Gateway nor Prelim are suitable, you could either take a gap year, get your grades up to scratch and apply with your grades already in hand, or as a last resort complete another degree first and then go down the postgraduate route. The latter option (postgrad) is obviously the longest and most expensive, and no guarantee that you will then be accepted onto VetMed.

The best course of action, in my opinion, would be to work as hard as you can this year, get the grades you need and then apply. Oh, and maybe not dismiss widening participation as a joke.


When I said joke, it was more to the fact that its rather unfair and in some ways discrimination, the fact that some people have the opportunity and others don't. Assuming that if you are from a nice area or a nice school you have had a good upbringing etc, that's what I meant.

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