Cambridge vet med a-levels

Hi, i'm aiming to go to Cambridge for vet med and am currently doing chem, bio and classical civ.

I went to the open day recently and they said it was preferable i do 3 sciences which i understand (they want ppl who love science) but it isn't a requirement at least for the college i want to go to (downing).

My fear is they'll see classics and immediately discard my application. do you think this is a very real scenario?

Reply 1

melancollege

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Hworhw

Hi, i'm aiming to go to Cambridge for vet med and am currently doing chem, bio and classical civ.
I went to the open day recently and they said it was preferable i do 3 sciences which i understand (they want ppl who love science) but it isn't a requirement at least for the college i want to go to (downing).
My fear is they'll see classics and immediately discard my application. do you think this is a very real scenario?

If it is not an explicit requirement (always email your college's admissions office to check as requirements change year on year), then it is unlikely that they will discard your application immediately. However, it may make your application less competitive. "Most applicants for Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge have at least three science/mathematics A levels and some Colleges require this and/or particular subjects." Specifically, 89% had all of Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics at A-Level.

Reply 2

Hworhw

Original post by melancollege

Yeah, I've messaged a few people currently doing the course at cambridge and they said that on average, they only accept 1 person per year doing less than 3 sciences. Realistically, i'll probably switch to maths. Thanks for the help!!

Reply 3

Athena9

Hi, so I went to the veterinary medicine 2023 vetcam at Cambridge. so I stayed 3 days overnight at Cambridge doing vet stuff as part of experience and understand go the course.

In one of the talks they were talking about it, I did biology, Chemistry and English literature. I TOO was scared thinking I would be accepted.

In the talk they said they will accept an academically achieved a level. And that a student did get into the course with English literature as it was considered academically hard ( not verbatim but along those lines).

I am not sure what classic contains but they say MOST students take science routes I did not and neither did some of the students that got in. But there is no ADVANTAGE to taking all science courses.

Instead, they may offer you higher entry requirements than the minimum. instead of A*AA it might be A* A* A* or A*A*A.

If your still not certain you can always email them hope it helps