American Undergrad Student Looking For Vet Med Grad School in UK (preferably England)

I'm a freshman in university but I want to start looking for the graduate school I'm going to attend because I'm making my academic blueprint and I want to take all the necessary prerequisite classes early on for the specific school I'm going to attend. I first wanted to attend Royal Veterinary College, but it's very expensive for international students and I've heard some bad things about it. I've been searching for reviews of multiple universities veterinary medicine graduate programs, but I can't seem to find anyone's personal experiences or reviews.

So, for current or post veterinary medicine students in the UK, what has your experience been like at your specific school? Do you feel like your school has adequately prepared you to work in the field? What hands on experience do you get? For example do you work with mostly live animals or deceased ones?

Also, since I'm an international student and the price of tuition is going to be higher, would it be smart to move to the UK, specifically England, and get my citizenship so I wouldn't have to pay the price international students have to pay? I have family in England so that helps but I'm not sure if waiting a couple years for my citizenship then going to vet school is a worse decision than going to vet school right after I get my Bachelor's Degree.

Reply 1

wombats

Original post by GalaxZ

I'm a freshman in university but I want to start looking for the graduate school I'm going to attend because I'm making my academic blueprint and I want to take all the necessary prerequisite classes early on for the specific school I'm going to attend. I first wanted to attend Royal Veterinary College, but it's very expensive for international students and I've heard some bad things about it. I've been searching for reviews of multiple universities veterinary medicine graduate programs, but I can't seem to find anyone's personal experiences or reviews.
So, for current or post veterinary medicine students in the UK, what has your experience been like at your specific school? Do you feel like your school has adequately prepared you to work in the field? What hands on experience do you get? For example do you work with mostly live animals or deceased ones?
Also, since I'm an international student and the price of tuition is going to be higher, would it be smart to move to the UK, specifically England, and get my citizenship so I wouldn't have to pay the price international students have to pay? I have family in England so that helps but I'm not sure if waiting a couple years for my citizenship then going to vet school is a worse decision than going to vet school right after I get my Bachelor's Degree.

I had a look at a couple of other unis (Bristol and UCLan) and both are in the region of £40k a year, sadly.

What stops you considering veterinary schools in the USA?

To be eligible for UK home fees, you have to have lived in the UK for three years prior to the start of your course. It's not just a single year like in the USA.

Reply 2

ReadingMum

There is plenty of comment about the various vet schools. You might be struggling to find it if you are looking for graduate programmes specifically. In the UK vet med is an undergraduate programme - you don't need to do another degree first. If you join as a graduate you might be able to do a 4 year instead of 5 year course.
The lowest international fees are likely to be the newer schools e.g. Harper Adams @ £33k per year. The majority will be in the £40k - £50k range. There won't be an easy way to avoid that by getting citizenship.

(edited 9 months ago)

Reply 3

ALEreapp

Original post by GalaxZ

Just to add to the citizenship thing. Citizenship in uk does not give you cheaper/home fees. You have to have been an ‘ordinary’ resident in the uk 3 years prior to starting your degree aka you cannot just move here to study. On top of that I’m not sure if you’ve looked into the citizenship process but it’s not quick (you are an adult so I’m pretty sure that means you have to be in uk for atleast 5 years before you can apply) and it’s expensive.

I’m a second year at Bristol vet school. I really enjoy our curriculum and the way it’s done but it’s not for everyone as it’s very independent study based. This will probably apply to most vet schools but if you work with live animals more than ‘deceased’ aka cadavers you are not getting taught correctly. You cannot study the level of anatomy we need to know on a live animal it’s just not possible or ethical. Atleast in the first few years you will spend far more time looking at preserved and fresh parts of animals than the live ones themselves. The uk vet schools are heavily regulated by the RCVS with something called day one competencies so every vet school will do live animal handling because they are obligated to.

Reply 4

GalaxZ

Original post by wombats

I had a look at a couple of other unis (Bristol and UCLan) and both are in the region of £40k a year, sadly.
What stops you considering veterinary schools in the USA?
To be eligible for UK home fees, you have to have lived in the UK for three years prior to the start of your course. It's not just a single year like in the USA.

I personally don't like the US for a lot of reasons so I'd like to go elsewhere. I'm aware every country has it's flaws and is far from perfect and I might not like it in the place I move to but I'm willing to take that risk. I decided I wanted to go to school in England around 8th grade, so that contributed as well. Honestly if not the UK I'd like to go to Canada or Ireland.

I understand vet school is going to be extremely expensive no matter where I go, but I'm trying to save on the cost of grad school in anyway I can and give myself a little less debt in the future. It's sucks to hear that the cost per year is still very high, but I've accepted the fact that I'm going into debt no matter what. Btw, thanks for looking that up for me! I really you taking the time out of your day to research that.

Also I didn't know about the time period I had to live in the UK. Three years is quite a long gap, and I want to go to vet school either right after I graduate or 1 to 2 years after. So that plan's a dud:/

Reply 5

GalaxZ

Original post by ALEreapp

Just to add to the citizenship thing. Citizenship in uk does not give you cheaper/home fees. You have to have been an ‘ordinary’ resident in the uk 3 years prior to starting your degree aka you cannot just move here to study. On top of that I’m not sure if you’ve looked into the citizenship process but it’s not quick (you are an adult so I’m pretty sure that means you have to be in uk for atleast 5 years before you can apply) and it’s expensive.
I’m a second year at Bristol vet school. I really enjoy our curriculum and the way it’s done but it’s not for everyone as it’s very independent study based. This will probably apply to most vet schools but if you work with live animals more than ‘deceased’ aka cadavers you are not getting taught correctly. You cannot study the level of anatomy we need to know on a live animal it’s just not possible or ethical. Atleast in the first few years you will spend far more time looking at preserved and fresh parts of animals than the live ones themselves. The uk vet schools are heavily regulated by the RCVS with something called day one competencies so every vet school will do live animal handling because they are obligated to.

That REALLY sucks to hear. I knew gaining citizenship in a country is hard because my parents are immigrants but that's ridiculous. I said in another reply that I'm trying to lower the debt that I will inevitably go into in any way that I can, so I thought it would be smart to become a citizen. I guess not. Well thanks for warning me now because I refuse to wait 5 or more years just to be told it's not going to be cheaper anyway.

I read in a post from a vet student attending Liverpool that they don't work with live animals as much as other schools do. Here's the discussion and post I'm referring to: Pros and cons, Liverpool vet school
They said that they had worked with 3 live animals the first year and only a couple their second year, so that's why I asked because I was like 'isn't more effective/practical to work with live animals frequently?' So thank you for the reassure that I will be (and should be) working with live animals more frequently than cadavers. I don't mind independent study at all, often times I prefer it depending on if I'm confident in my knowledge and understanding of the material.

Reply 6

oliviaparisx

Not sure what your long term plans are, but if you want to work internationally (or to keep your options open), I would recommend you look at universities with full accreditation (AVMA and EAEVE etc)