Vet Med Wiki - Everything you need to know to apply to vet school

VETERINARY MEDICINE RESOURCES THREAD (2nd Edition)

Welcome to the Veterinary Medicine Forum! If you're here, you're probably somewhat interested in becoming a vet. This is an extremely challenging career, but one that can also be highly satisfying. The application process is no different, and so this page has been created as an introduction for those who are interested in what it takes to become a veterinary surgeon.

The application process can be loosely broken down into these steps:

1. Choose the right qualifications to study.
This link contains a list of all the veterinary courses in the UK. Please browse these to get an idea of the grade requirements you need to meet.
Most vet schools require Chemistry and Biology and one other A Level. If you're eligible for Gateway courses or are not taking A Levels then information regarding what qualifications are suitable will be on the course pages. If you have any confusion over entry requirements, you should email the admissions office of the vet school to get them to confirm for you.

2. Get work experience.
This link contains a list of the work experience requirements for each vet school in the UK.
All vet schools require some form of non-academic demonstration of dedication to becoming a vet. This is most commonly shown in the form of work experience. Some vet schools will have a minimum requirement of how much work experience you will need for them to consider your application, whereas others have no formal requirement but will still expect to see evidence of your work experience (remember, even if a vet school doesn't ask for something, you are competing with hundreds of other students for a place, so you'll still want to look like you've gone the extra mile!).
There are three types of work experience, clinical (in a vet practice), non-clinical/husbandry (with animals but not in a vet practice) and 'regular' work experience (such as a customer-facing job or volunteer work without animal involvement). A good applicant will have a mixture of all of these.
The Big and Shiny Work Experience Bible is a great place to help you start thinking about how to complete your work experience and what you should be getting from it. The bible is slightly outdated (for example, large animal clinical experience is no longer essential, and in most cases impossible for pre-uni students to acquire), but the general principles are exceptionally useful to help you get work experience placements and how to use them to get you into vet school.

It is important to note that Veterinary Medicine is one of the most competitive university courses. Whilst not all of the vet schools 'officially' require work experience, there are over 10 applicants per place at vet school, and most of the other applicants will have several weeks or more work experience. If you do not complete any work experience, you will be at a disadvantage. Completing work experience also helps you excel at the interview stage. Trust me, it's much easier to answer the question "why do you want to be a vet?" when you know the profession inside and out! So please, to make yourself a competitive applicant, do some work experience! Just not to the detriment of your grades

3. Decide where to apply.
See this guide on how to choose between the veterinary schools.
Note: a very common question we get on this forum is "Are my grades good enough for ___ vet school? Is my work experience good enough?" and similar. Some people have more complicated cases and you should email the Admissions Team for the university if you're unsure. But for most people, just consider: if you meet the entry requirements, you will be considered. However, if you don't meet the entry requirements, your application will not be considered. It's relatively simple, and once you understand that, it's just a matter of meeting the entry requirements and trying to make yourself a more competitive applicant. 🙂 Therefore, apply strategically to vet schools where you're sure you meet the requirements.

4. Write your personal statement.
You'll need to write a personal statement for your UCAS application. It's becoming common for vet schools to not consider your personal statement when looking at your application, however, some universities still do, and the ones that don't will consider your personal statement if you are neck-and-neck with another student and they are deciding which of you to give an offer to. Additionally, universities which do panel interviews do tend to have your personal statement in front of them when they meet you. It's therefore in your best interest to still make a good effort with your personal statement! Vet school personal statements are written a bit differently to other courses. See the links below for advice.
Here is a great guide to writing personal statements for vet school.
Here are some examples of successful personal statements for vet school.
Other tips for writing a veterinary personal statement.

5. Apply and fill in questionnaires.
The UCAS application deadline for veterinary medicine is mid-October, so make sure to send your application off by then. Once you've sent your application, you'll likely have to complete some questionnaires. Depending on where you apply, some of these are due on the day of the UCAS deadline - so don't get caught out by doing them too late - but usually you will have a week or two after the UCAS deadline to complete them.
Most vet schools will email your questionnaires to you, but some vet schools you will have to obtain the questionnaires yourself from their website. This is why it's important to read the entry requirements of the courses very carefully, as that will tell you what is expected from you. Also, make sure you check your 'junk' email inbox daily during these couple of weeks; you don't want to miss anything the vet schools have sent you!
There's little advice we can give you about completing these. You'll have gained a lot of the skills you need to complete these tests well just from writing your personal statement and reflecting on your work experience placements.

6. Sit any entrance exams and interviews.
Very few vet schools require you to sit entrance exams now - Cambridge is an exception, which requires you to sit the ESAT. From November to March, vet schools will start sending out interview invites. Some send out all their invites at once, some send them out in batches. You'll most likely to be able to pick from a choice of several days.
Almost every vet school will require you to sit an interview (Bristol is the notable exception, who decide who to give offers to using the questionnaire). Most vet schools use the MMI style of interviewing, but quite a few do traditional panel interviews, too. You might also see group or practical parts of the interviews.
Veterinary Medicine Interview Preparation Thread

7. Get your offer, and study hard to meet it!
Easier said than done, I'm sure! From November onwards, offers will slowly start to trickle in. Many offers are made in February and March after the last interviews are done. All the universities do it differently; some send out all the offers at once, some send them out in batches, and some send out a couple at a time. You might also get waitlisted during this time, try not to worry too much.
Once you've received all your decisions back, you can firm one offer and choose an insurance offer. Here is an article about how to choose between vet schools. After this, it's time to knuckle down and get the grades you need! Best of luck!

8. If at first you don't succeed, try again.
Here is a guide about your options after an unsuccessful application: Rejected from Vet School. Now what?

Further Information
4 Years of Vet School - Vet blog with memes and applicant advice.
Dr Ferox - Australian vet blog.
Vet Student Journey - Košice vet student blog.
A Vet's Guide to Life - Vet blog.
Pawcurious - Blog of a qualified vet, with some informative posts for pet owners.
Veterinarians Behaving Badly - Comedic veterinary blog.
Ill Creatures Great and Small - Blog of a Notts student.
Cappuccinos and Cows - Another Notts student blog.
Road to Vet School - Applicant advice blog.
Four Paws and Whiskers - New Zealand Vet Blog.
The Musings of a Vet Student - Liverpool student blog.
Little Tail Chaser's Blog - RVC student blog.
Catherine Graham - Edinburgh student blog.
Vetcetera - Vet blog with lots of resources.
Ingenous Vet - Atlanta vet student blog.
Vet on the Edge - Alaskan vet blog.
What Comes Next - Vet blog.
Can't Spell, DVM - Vet blog.
The Homeless Parrot - Emergency North Carolina vet blog.
Dr Snark - Vet and practice owner blog.

Suggested Reading

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Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics is Fueling Our Modern Plagues (2014) - Martin J. Blaser.

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Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat (2014) - Philip Lymbery.

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Zoobiquity (2012) - Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers.

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Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic (2012) - David Quammen.

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Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals (2010) - Temple Grandin.

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Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know (2009) - Alexandra Horowitz.

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The Secret Life of Cells: How We Live and Why We Die (2009) - Lewis Wolpert.

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Why Evolution is True (2009) - Jerry Coyne.

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Your Inner Fish (2008) - Neil Shubin.

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The Emotional Lives of Animals (2007) - Marc Bekoff.

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Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behaviour (2005) - Temple Grandin.

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Our Inner Ape: The Best and Worst of Human Nature (2005) - Frans de Waal.

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Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2005) - Sean B. Carroll.

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The Ancestor's Tale (2004) - Richard Dawkins.

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The Pathological Protein: Mad Cow, Chronic Wasting, and Other Deadly Prion Diseases (2003) - Philip Yam.

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Fatal Flaws (2003) - Jay Ingram.

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A Primate's Memoir: Love, Death and Baboons in East Africa (2002) - Robert Sapolsky.

Lastly, a HUGE thank you to Little Tail Chaser, Angry Cucumber and Nightwing51214 for their contributions to the
first edition of this Resources Thread, as well as RambleAmple for helping me to update it!
Original Resources Thread

(edited 1 month ago)