vet med

Hey, I'm a Northern Irish student with predicted AAA in biology chemistry maths, I have an offer for Bristol, Nottingham and Liverpool. I also did Geography AS but this didn't really have an impact on my UCAS at all, it was more for the Republic of Ireland schools. 6.5 hours is definitely great, some schools even have dropped their work experience criteria, like Bristol, so you'd definitely be at a great advantage there. I think I had applied with about 200 hours, so about five working weeks, but I also had a job as a receptionist in a clinic, so this was quite a bit of my hours. As long as your work experience is scattered, for example farming experience and small animal clinics, then you would be fine, meeting the criteria of work experience for your school you are applying to. If you are applying to Nottingham or Liverpool, I would recommend doing the online Nottingham MOCS during the summer and taking screenshots of it, I did the free version and it was accepted, this also counts as hours. Tbh, I'm not sure about the GCSE grades, as long as you meet their academic criteria usually you pass on to the next stage of application, for example interviews, but don't take my word for it, someone else may know better than me lol. What schools are you thinking of applying to? Good luck!

hi, thank you for your response that’s really helpful. my top choice is actually bristol and then i think im going to apply to liverpool, surrey and rvc.
for my work experience i have already done/ got booked 3 weeks at three different practices, 1 week lambing, 3 days dairy and then one day at the bristol uni abbatoir with the rvc vet students, im really hoping this will help with my application to bristol in particular!. other than that i want to get 1 week equine and 1 week cattery/kennels to ensure that i have a wide range of placements i think.

Hi. My daughter has secured 1 offer so far for ved med this year. Waiting for Bristol and RVC. She did lambing worked on a farm handling cows and sheep. Volunteered at an animal shelter. Bristol abbatoir with RVC students. Alpaca experience and a week at a farm park. Also 3 weeks at vet practices. Worked at a livery yard. They are looking at you as a person and what qualities you have and have you will transfer them to veterinary. She also has a part-time job. Dealing with customers and handling difficult situations always runs through the interviews. Read all the entry requirements as all are different. Good luck and drop me a message if you have any questions x

thank you! how did she find the bristol abattoir, i’m going next month and i don’t really know what to expect.

thank you! how did she find the bristol abattoir, i’m going next month and i don’t really know what to expect.

I went in November and it was really interesting (I think it helped that I have a big interest in food health/public health within vet med). I was pretty much treated as an equal with the RVC students so I was able to answer questions etc. It's like a talk about the standards for animal meat, the slaughtering process and what and how they check for afterwards. The person you arranged the WEX with should send you some pre reading closer to the day, so don't worry. Your work experience aim sounds brilliant, just double check uni requirements and make sure to reflect on the WEX. I'd recommend listening to the So You Want to Be A Vet podcasts as they have application guidance, interviews with students at uni and wider reading with vet professionals. Keep up to date with the vet times asw (even just 5mins in form time a week is helpful). BTW I've got offers for Liverpool (top UK choice) and Surrey, on hold by Bristol and reject by UCLan (I think due to my reference/personal statement not being formatted exactly in the specific way they wanted it). Hope this helps and isn't too much waffle 😅

yeah that’s really helpful thank you, makes me a feel a bit better about the abattoir visit. did you just email them after for a reference as proof that you went?

Make sure you get all the references in the format specified by RVC. They can be quite sticky about them.

I know I’ve been trying to get them as I go along as I’ve seen people say this. I’m wondering how I’m going to get a reference from the farmer I’m doing lambing with as I doubt he’ll be able to do it on letter-headed paper. Do you think they will accept an email instead or should I make some sort of template that he should sign?

I would create a standard word document leaving spaces for the farmer to fill in his name, address and contact details as well as the number of days/ hours worked with dates from and to etc ( check the RVC model to find out what they require as they used to specify hours rather than days) with the address of the farm on it and the contact details of the farmer . Then leave a few lines for him or her to write a short appraisal of your efforts and ask them to sign it.
The vet schools are aware that some farmers don’t have letterhead so don’t worry too much about that as long as the key information is there.
Farmers, especially during lambing, are incredibly busy and not very good at doing the admin for you. So if you have already done most of the legwork for them you are more likely to leave with your reference.
You can the scan the document and upload it when required.

hi! could anyone that got a vet med offer this year share their stats and what work experience they applied with. it would be nice to know as my plan is to get around 6.5 weeks of work experience however i don’t know what the usual amount is. i was also wondering if you have all of the required GCSE grades do they prioritise people who have higher or is everyone looked at as the same?

hi! could anyone that got a vet med offer this year share their stats and what work experience they applied with. it would be nice to know as my plan is to get around 6.5 weeks of work experience however i don’t know what the usual amount is. i was also wondering if you have all of the required GCSE grades do they prioritise people who have higher or is everyone looked at as the same?

Hi. My daughter has secured 1 offer so far for ved med this year. Waiting for Bristol and RVC. She did lambing worked on a farm handling cows and sheep. Volunteered at an animal shelter. Bristol abbatoir with RVC students. Alpaca experience and a week at a farm park. Also 3 weeks at vet practices. Worked at a livery yard. They are looking at you as a person and what qualities you have and have you will transfer them to veterinary. She also has a part-time job. Dealing with customers and handling difficult situations always runs through the interviews. Read all the entry requirements as all are different. Good luck and drop me a message if you have any questions x

heyyy! I am predicted 3 A stars, got 10 grade nines at GCSE and currently have 2 offers from Surrey and RVC, I am on hold for Bristol and got rejected post interview from Edinburgh. Work experience-wise I didn’t actually do that much- I did 70 hours in 2 small animal vet surgeries, 70 hours in a wildlife hospital and 2 online courses, and this was enough to get me all my interviews. Hope this helps!

I went in November and it was really interesting (I think it helped that I have a big interest in food health/public health within vet med). I was pretty much treated as an equal with the RVC students so I was able to answer questions etc. It's like a talk about the standards for animal meat, the slaughtering process and what and how they check for afterwards. The person you arranged the WEX with should send you some pre reading closer to the day, so don't worry. Your work experience aim sounds brilliant, just double check uni requirements and make sure to reflect on the WEX. I'd recommend listening to the So You Want to Be A Vet podcasts as they have application guidance, interviews with students at uni and wider reading with vet professionals. Keep up to date with the vet times asw (even just 5mins in form time a week is helpful). BTW I've got offers for Liverpool (top UK choice) and Surrey, on hold by Bristol and reject by UCLan (I think due to my reference/personal statement not being formatted exactly in the specific way they wanted it). Hope this helps and isn't too much waffle 😅

Hi, can I ask how you arranged your visit to Bristol Uni’s abattoir? I can’t see anything on their website. Thank you!