RVC or Bristol for vet med?
Hello, I was wondering if any students from RVC or Bristol could go through their experiences at RVC and reasons to choosing their vet school. Both course use the spiral system however Bristol uses CBL which I think is great. I think I prefer Bristol and only wanting to go RVC because it is ranked number 1. Also one quick question, will going to the RVC benefit me in terms of future job prospects and opportunities to specialise.
Any advice or info will bee greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Any advice or info will bee greatly appreciated. Thank you!
(edited 1 month ago)
(I’ll start this by making it very clear I am a Bristol vet student so biased)
Please don’t just pick a vet school based on its ranking. Rankings are done in a number of ways but one of the primary factors is the amount of international students they take in and therefore money. Some rankings have rated Cambridge number 1 and look what’s happened there. Rankings mean near enough nothing for vet med. The way the Bristol course is run means based on the metrics used for rankings it just scores quite poorly generally but our accreditations speak for themselves.
Please don’t just pick a vet school based on its ranking. Rankings are done in a number of ways but one of the primary factors is the amount of international students they take in and therefore money. Some rankings have rated Cambridge number 1 and look what’s happened there. Rankings mean near enough nothing for vet med. The way the Bristol course is run means based on the metrics used for rankings it just scores quite poorly generally but our accreditations speak for themselves.
Original post by BFR25
Hello, I was wondering if any students from RVC or Bristol could go through their experiences at RVC and reasons to choosing their vet school. Both course use the spiral system however Bristol uses CBL which I think is great. I think I prefer Bristol and only wanting to go RVC because it is ranked number 1. Also one quick question, will going to the RVC benefit me in terms of future job prospects and opportunities to specialise.
Any advice or info will bee greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Any advice or info will bee greatly appreciated. Thank you!
I’ve been tagged in on this one but my experience is only as the mother of a Bristol student. My D started on the modular system with CBL integrated, but not to the same extent as those who started later like @ALEreapp . So I can only give a general overview of the vet school.
I can honestly say that my D has loved every moment of it. Obviously there are moments of stress around exam time, but the staff really do take care of you and your wellbeing. The opportunity to spend 3 or 4 years in the city centre is amazing. There really is something for everyone, and the bus journey out to Langford isn’t something that should be seen as a negative. It’s not every day, doesn’t take long, is time that you spend with your cohort in a relaxed atmosphere and provides that down time between lectures and home.
The OSCE‘s are well organised and prepared for and really do provide you with sufficient knowledge to go on EMS feeling a minimum confident. Afterwards much depends on your attitude to your studies and placements but Bristol has provided my D with sufficiently good grounding that she’s had excellent assessments from all of her outside providers and has been asked to return to all of them which makes finding clinical placements easier as a network starts to be put in place.
Outside of a couple of individual short projects most work is done in groups, exams are MCQ or short answer, so you will not be snowed under by a huge number of essays that have to be written, but you will need to be organised if group work is to get the best results.
Vet med is content heavy so organisation is key. I read somewhere a first year student saying that you have to get used to being behind in you work. I couldn’t disagree more. All of the current students on here and at a variety of different schools, or those I know personally at Bristol, will say the key to success is minimising stress and maximising efficiency. This means doing the lectures which are provided online in advance before you go to the actual in person lecture. This way you know where you have difficulty and can ask for the relevant explications and rather than scribbling or typing notes you can listen effectively and the learning experience is maximised. Revision times are short so understanding things first time through is a great bonus. This is true for all of the vet schools. @RambleAmple who’s at Liverpool will tell you that if she hasn’t read the lecture through before the in person session, it’s not worth going. It’s too fast, you can’t keep up and you get very little out of it. So NO don’t think it’s normal to get behind, it makes life very complicated. The good students are a week ahead of the schedule. The number of work hours are the same just planned differently, but it makes a world of difference.
(edited 1 month ago)
Original post by ALEreapp
(I’ll start this by making it very clear I am a Bristol vet student so biased)
Please don’t just pick a vet school based on its ranking. Rankings are done in a number of ways but one of the primary factors is the amount of international students they take in and therefore money. Some rankings have rated Cambridge number 1 and look what’s happened there. Rankings mean near enough nothing for vet med. The way the Bristol course is run means based on the metrics used for rankings it just scores quite poorly generally but our accreditations speak for themselves.
Please don’t just pick a vet school based on its ranking. Rankings are done in a number of ways but one of the primary factors is the amount of international students they take in and therefore money. Some rankings have rated Cambridge number 1 and look what’s happened there. Rankings mean near enough nothing for vet med. The way the Bristol course is run means based on the metrics used for rankings it just scores quite poorly generally but our accreditations speak for themselves.
Hi ALEreapp, could you tell me more about Bristol U Vet Med about the things you like in the course? And usually how many lectures a week in your year? In Glascow, the 1st year have 50% lecture time and 50% practical work, while the clinical works most in yr 3&4. What would you say, lectures or clinical works, what is more important in your point of view? Thank you.
Original post by ALEreapp
(I’ll start this by making it very clear I am a Bristol vet student so biased)
Please don’t just pick a vet school based on its ranking. Rankings are done in a number of ways but one of the primary factors is the amount of international students they take in and therefore money. Some rankings have rated Cambridge number 1 and look what’s happened there. Rankings mean near enough nothing for vet med. The way the Bristol course is run means based on the metrics used for rankings it just scores quite poorly generally but our accreditations speak for themselves.
Please don’t just pick a vet school based on its ranking. Rankings are done in a number of ways but one of the primary factors is the amount of international students they take in and therefore money. Some rankings have rated Cambridge number 1 and look what’s happened there. Rankings mean near enough nothing for vet med. The way the Bristol course is run means based on the metrics used for rankings it just scores quite poorly generally but our accreditations speak for themselves.
It’s good to know rankings don’t matter as that makes the decision a lot easier; I really appreciate the insight.
I was wondering if you could explain how the teaching is structured in Years 1-3. Specifically, what percentage of the course consists of lectures, case-based learning (CBL), practical sessions involving live animal handling, and dissections? Additionally, could you clarify how the inverted classroom model and CBL are incorporated into the teaching approach?
I’d also like to understand the logistics between the two campuses. How do students typically commute between them? In Years 4 and 5, are students expected to live at Langford, or do they commute there regularly? If commuting is necessary, would I need to arrange my own transportation?
Also last bit, how is the social life in Bristol?
Thank you again for your help!
I am not a vet med student (my friend is and loves it) but there is only one answer: Bristol.
This is doubly if not triply true if you are particularly interested in large animal practice as you are right in the West country where small, medium and large 4-legged animals are found in abundance.
There is a regular bus service between Langford and Bristol with extra laid on for students if necessary as I understand. The nightlife, well, it can be pretty 'animated' if that is what you are interested in. It is a huge and richly diverse city to which anyone can themselves feeling at home.
This is doubly if not triply true if you are particularly interested in large animal practice as you are right in the West country where small, medium and large 4-legged animals are found in abundance.
There is a regular bus service between Langford and Bristol with extra laid on for students if necessary as I understand. The nightlife, well, it can be pretty 'animated' if that is what you are interested in. It is a huge and richly diverse city to which anyone can themselves feeling at home.
Original post by 3bbb
Hi ALEreapp, could you tell me more about Bristol U Vet Med about the things you like in the course? And usually how many lectures a week in your year? In Glascow, the 1st year have 50% lecture time and 50% practical work, while the clinical works most in yr 3&4. What would you say, lectures or clinical works, what is more important in your point of view? Thank you.
It really varies week to week, there’s no set you have this many lectures a week vs practical sessions. I’ll be honest I have friends at Glasgow and in first year they definitely did not do 50/50 because there’s just no way of learning the content if you have that many practical sessions.
Neither is more important than the other, you need a healthy balance. If you don’t have the teaching practical classes are useless but if you don’t have the practical classes it’s very difficult to visualise key concepts and structures.
I’m a big fan of CBL, there’s some teething issues this year with the new course but these will be well ironed out by the time it’s your turn it’s just because we are the first cohort of the new curriculum. Bristol have also started to integrate clinical skills a little bit earlier which is nice as it gives you some perspective bug it’s not loads because you just don’t need that so early! You will never have more than 2 days a week in first year with 6+ hrs of lectures and even then that’s incredibly rare. They really do push independent learning and this has pros and cons for different people x
Original post by BFR25
It’s good to know rankings don’t matter as that makes the decision a lot easier; I really appreciate the insight.
I was wondering if you could explain how the teaching is structured in Years 1-3. Specifically, what percentage of the course consists of lectures, case-based learning (CBL), practical sessions involving live animal handling, and dissections? Additionally, could you clarify how the inverted classroom model and CBL are incorporated into the teaching approach?
I’d also like to understand the logistics between the two campuses. How do students typically commute between them? In Years 4 and 5, are students expected to live at Langford, or do they commute there regularly? If commuting is necessary, would I need to arrange my own transportation?
Also last bit, how is the social life in Bristol?
Thank you again for your help!
I was wondering if you could explain how the teaching is structured in Years 1-3. Specifically, what percentage of the course consists of lectures, case-based learning (CBL), practical sessions involving live animal handling, and dissections? Additionally, could you clarify how the inverted classroom model and CBL are incorporated into the teaching approach?
I’d also like to understand the logistics between the two campuses. How do students typically commute between them? In Years 4 and 5, are students expected to live at Langford, or do they commute there regularly? If commuting is necessary, would I need to arrange my own transportation?
Also last bit, how is the social life in Bristol?
Thank you again for your help!
I’m not a 3rd year so right now unfortunately I can’t help with that as it will be a new curriculum for us so no one has experienced it yet!
Again I can’t provide exact percentages but I can give you a rough overview of a first year week and second year week for example.
So first year;
Monday- online CBL group session and potentially lectures in afternoon
Tuesday- heavy lecture day generally sometimes the odd lab
Wednesday- afternoon off so you will have your CBL wrap up session in the morning and sometimes a lecture
Thursday- Langford day so in TB1 this is when you do your animal handling, you start a new CBL case in your groups, every week alongside potential other lectures
Friday- anatomy dissection always and then sometimes lectures in afternoon (again if you have a heavy lecture day on Tuesday it’s unlikely you will have more Friday)
In first year the absolute max amount of lectures we had in a week was 20hrs (incl CBL)and that I think happened once or twice
Second year follows much of the same structure in that you will go to Langford atleast once a week, often twice a week. You will have your anatomy dissection Thursday. Wrap up case based learning is a Monday and you start a new case at Langford every Tuesday. Animal handling drops significantly although there are clinical skills classes every so often. After Xmas we have pig, chicken and exotics handling but that’s near enough the only handling for this year.
CBL is probably approx 40% ish of your learning.
Practicals eg dissections tend to supplement your CBL nd lectures.
Inverted classroom is only really used for practicals and dissections and is just a booklet or exercises to complete before attending. Mainly for your own benefit so if you don’t do it, then there’s no real consequences.
CBL has replaced some lectures so instead of sitting in lectures all day everyday you discuss real cases and work through them to find out information.
You commute between them via a coach service provided by the vet school, there is also a bus service but this doesn’t have huge capacity and so it’s encouraged to use the coaches that are paid for by the vet school for our use.
Year 4 I don’t believe you are expected to but it’s a lot cheaper and your teaching is mainly there so most do, and you also get a bus pass provided rather than the coach service to link you to main city centre campus. 5th year I believe the structure has changed very recently (including the removal of exams) but for your core rotations I believe you do a couple of days on call so you need to be within 20 minutes. How you go about that is up to you but living in Bristol centre you would be too far away and especially if you don’t drive it’s impossible to get there in under an hour!
Social life in Bristol is what you make of it, bristolians are the friendliest people going. The student scene is relatively thriving and there’s something for everyone with such an array of pubs and bars aswell as clubs with all sorts of music. Independent businesses are everywhere and it does have that small town vibe despite being a city (why I love it so much). I’ve never heard of anyone complain about the social life we get, if you want to go clubbing there’s clubs but if you prefer more ‘wholesome’ activities there’s also plenty to do x
Original post by ALEreapp
I’m not a 3rd year so right now unfortunately I can’t help with that as it will be a new curriculum for us so no one has experienced it yet!
Again I can’t provide exact percentages but I can give you a rough overview of a first year week and second year week for example.
So first year;
Monday- online CBL group session and potentially lectures in afternoon
Tuesday- heavy lecture day generally sometimes the odd lab
Wednesday- afternoon off so you will have your CBL wrap up session in the morning and sometimes a lecture
Thursday- Langford day so in TB1 this is when you do your animal handling, you start a new CBL case in your groups, every week alongside potential other lectures
Friday- anatomy dissection always and then sometimes lectures in afternoon (again if you have a heavy lecture day on Tuesday it’s unlikely you will have more Friday)
In first year the absolute max amount of lectures we had in a week was 20hrs (incl CBL)and that I think happened once or twice
Second year follows much of the same structure in that you will go to Langford atleast once a week, often twice a week. You will have your anatomy dissection Thursday. Wrap up case based learning is a Monday and you start a new case at Langford every Tuesday. Animal handling drops significantly although there are clinical skills classes every so often. After Xmas we have pig, chicken and exotics handling but that’s near enough the only handling for this year.
CBL is probably approx 40% ish of your learning.
Practicals eg dissections tend to supplement your CBL nd lectures.
Inverted classroom is only really used for practicals and dissections and is just a booklet or exercises to complete before attending. Mainly for your own benefit so if you don’t do it, then there’s no real consequences.
CBL has replaced some lectures so instead of sitting in lectures all day everyday you discuss real cases and work through them to find out information.
You commute between them via a coach service provided by the vet school, there is also a bus service but this doesn’t have huge capacity and so it’s encouraged to use the coaches that are paid for by the vet school for our use.
Year 4 I don’t believe you are expected to but it’s a lot cheaper and your teaching is mainly there so most do, and you also get a bus pass provided rather than the coach service to link you to main city centre campus. 5th year I believe the structure has changed very recently (including the removal of exams) but for your core rotations I believe you do a couple of days on call so you need to be within 20 minutes. How you go about that is up to you but living in Bristol centre you would be too far away and especially if you don’t drive it’s impossible to get there in under an hour!
Social life in Bristol is what you make of it, bristolians are the friendliest people going. The student scene is relatively thriving and there’s something for everyone with such an array of pubs and bars aswell as clubs with all sorts of music. Independent businesses are everywhere and it does have that small town vibe despite being a city (why I love it so much). I’ve never heard of anyone complain about the social life we get, if you want to go clubbing there’s clubs but if you prefer more ‘wholesome’ activities there’s also plenty to do x
Again I can’t provide exact percentages but I can give you a rough overview of a first year week and second year week for example.
So first year;
Monday- online CBL group session and potentially lectures in afternoon
Tuesday- heavy lecture day generally sometimes the odd lab
Wednesday- afternoon off so you will have your CBL wrap up session in the morning and sometimes a lecture
Thursday- Langford day so in TB1 this is when you do your animal handling, you start a new CBL case in your groups, every week alongside potential other lectures
Friday- anatomy dissection always and then sometimes lectures in afternoon (again if you have a heavy lecture day on Tuesday it’s unlikely you will have more Friday)
In first year the absolute max amount of lectures we had in a week was 20hrs (incl CBL)and that I think happened once or twice
Second year follows much of the same structure in that you will go to Langford atleast once a week, often twice a week. You will have your anatomy dissection Thursday. Wrap up case based learning is a Monday and you start a new case at Langford every Tuesday. Animal handling drops significantly although there are clinical skills classes every so often. After Xmas we have pig, chicken and exotics handling but that’s near enough the only handling for this year.
CBL is probably approx 40% ish of your learning.
Practicals eg dissections tend to supplement your CBL nd lectures.
Inverted classroom is only really used for practicals and dissections and is just a booklet or exercises to complete before attending. Mainly for your own benefit so if you don’t do it, then there’s no real consequences.
CBL has replaced some lectures so instead of sitting in lectures all day everyday you discuss real cases and work through them to find out information.
You commute between them via a coach service provided by the vet school, there is also a bus service but this doesn’t have huge capacity and so it’s encouraged to use the coaches that are paid for by the vet school for our use.
Year 4 I don’t believe you are expected to but it’s a lot cheaper and your teaching is mainly there so most do, and you also get a bus pass provided rather than the coach service to link you to main city centre campus. 5th year I believe the structure has changed very recently (including the removal of exams) but for your core rotations I believe you do a couple of days on call so you need to be within 20 minutes. How you go about that is up to you but living in Bristol centre you would be too far away and especially if you don’t drive it’s impossible to get there in under an hour!
Social life in Bristol is what you make of it, bristolians are the friendliest people going. The student scene is relatively thriving and there’s something for everyone with such an array of pubs and bars aswell as clubs with all sorts of music. Independent businesses are everywhere and it does have that small town vibe despite being a city (why I love it so much). I’ve never heard of anyone complain about the social life we get, if you want to go clubbing there’s clubs but if you prefer more ‘wholesome’ activities there’s also plenty to do x
This was extremely informative and helpful. Thank you so much!!
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