med to vet school?

very odd question but i have an offer for medicine in the uk at a uni that also offers vet med. ive recently been wondering if vet med is more suited for me (even though medicine sounds fun aswell!) and i've heard so much sad things about being a doctor in the uk! can i transfer to vet or should i reapply? thankyou :smile:

Reply 1

oliviaparisx

9

Original post by ani_a

very odd question but i have an offer for medicine in the uk at a uni that also offers vet med. ive recently been wondering if vet med is more suited for me (even though medicine sounds fun aswell!) and i've heard so much sad things about being a doctor in the uk! can i transfer to vet or should i reapply? thankyou :smile:

There is no chance you can transfer unfortunately. As there are very little vet schools (11, soon to be 12) compared to universities that offer medicine, therefore, it’s very competitive. Also, you need an array of work experience (small animal vets, equine, farm, lab, abattoir, customer experience etc) which I’m guessing you won’t have due to focusing on medicine.

I think you really need to have a think about what you want, as both medicine and veterinary medicine are long courses, requiring complete commitment. Most of us who have applied/are doing vet medicine have been working towards this from a young age, and whilst I’m not doubting someone can have a change of heart, I really do think you need to experience a veterinary practice and see if this is truly what you want. The veterinary profession is facing similar issues to that of human health care and from the ten years I’ve experienced in the profession, it’s changed quite a bit. Just want to make you somewhat aware that vet med isn’t all glamorous and there are similar issues along the way and post qualifying

Reply 2

oliviaparisx

9

Original post by lanky_giraffe

Just because there are less vet schools doesn’t mean it’s more competitive. There are more medical schools yes, but there are also a lot less applicants for veterinary medicine (I think they are equally competitive (stats say so) and you have to do the UCAT for medicine and you don’t for vet med). And some veterinary medicine schools don’t require work experience like Cambridge.
But you’re right that they most likely wouldn’t accept a transfer. They might though.

Where did my post say it is more competitive? I simply stated it is competitive. It’s quite often that people have to apply multiple times to be accepted on to a course, same as medicine. Or they end up doing a first degree

By not doing work experience in hope of being accepted into one vet school, which will definitely not be available in clearing is unrealistic. The original poster is best really assessing what they want and following the full entry requirement and applying to 4 uni’s to better their chance. Almost all vet schools don’t become available in clearing - bar Nottingham April cohort, but once again the original poster would need the work experience, as multiple people who have missed out of their place will be fighting for it

Reply 3

RambleAmple

17

Original post by lanky_giraffe

Just because there are less vet schools doesn’t mean it’s more competitive. There are more medical schools yes, but there are also a lot less applicants for veterinary medicine (I think they are equally competitive (stats say so) and you have to do the UCAT for medicine and you don’t for vet med). And some veterinary medicine schools don’t require work experience like Cambridge.
But you’re right that they most likely wouldn’t accept a transfer. They might though.

I can tell you right now that they would 100% not accept a transfer.

Reply 4

RambleAmple

17

Original post by ani_a

very odd question but i have an offer for medicine in the uk at a uni that also offers vet med. ive recently been wondering if vet med is more suited for me (even though medicine sounds fun aswell!) and i've heard so much sad things about being a doctor in the uk! can i transfer to vet or should i reapply? thankyou :smile:

As the other poster said, you can’t just transfer, they don’t even really allow transfer between vet schools unless there is extreme extenuating circumstances. You’d have to go through the entire applications process again from the start, including getting all your weeks of work experience at various animal establishments - which would be a win win for you if you did want vet med as you’d find out if vet med is more suited to you or not. But, speaking as a third year vet student, don’t look at the profession with rose tinted glasses. We are very low on vets because so many leave the profession after a few years. Vets have one of the highest suicide rates. It is tough, you are making life or death decisions very literally based on an owner’s finances and attitude towards their animal, then the owner will blame you for a bad outcome saying you don’t love animals, don’t know anything you’re talking about and are just money grabbing despite going through 5+ years of vet school. Of which the 5 years are tough themselves - forget you ever liked having holidays because instead of those you can be doing 10-16 hour shifts on your feet lambing in the cold with a farmer shouting at you. All these placements which you also have to sort yourself which can be an added stress.

That being said, if you feel vet med is for you, go do a couple weeks of work experience, preferably lambing or dairy work as that gets you right in there experiencing all the “real” things that happen within vet med with fluids, bad scenarios etc. Look up the National Sheep Association work experience list, there may still be some farmers who offer accommodation who could do with a student for at least a few days. Despite what I said, I love vet med and (despite right now living through one of the worst weeks ever timetable wise) definitely feel I am where I need to be, and wouldn’t want to consider any other career. If that’s the case for you, go for it, but do your research into all the vet schools including curriculums and the application processes.

Reply 5

monkeh2

8

I will say, at my uni they do allow transfers between biology/medicine and vet med, but only after you’ve done a year of that degree first. And you have to interview again for the vet med course.

Reply 6

flamingolover

22

Original post by monkeh2

I will say, at my uni they do allow transfers between biology/medicine and vet med, but only after you’ve done a year of that degree first. And you have to interview again for the vet med course.

Is that in the U.K.? Only uni I can think of that would consider that is Cambridge because the first year of med/vet are pretty much the same (to my knowledge at least)

Reply 7

monkeh2

8

Original post by flamingolover

Is that in the U.K.? Only uni I can think of that would consider that is Cambridge because the first year of med/vet are pretty much the same (to my knowledge at least)

Yes, it’s Cambridge lol

med to vet school?

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