Rejected from Vet School - Now what?

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Wait for clearing. It's rare for spots at vet school to come up in Clearing, but it is possible and sometimes happens.

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Take a Gap Year and try again. If you truly want to be a vet then this option probably gives you the highest chance of succeeding. When taking a Gap Year and reapplying, you need to reflect and identify where you went wrong - did you miss your grades? Then resit your exams. Did you not do enough work experience? Use your Gap Year to do more. Did you not perform well at interview? Then use your time to read up on veterinary-related topics and practise, practise, practise. It is very common for people to get into vet school on their second try. If you need help planning what to do to improve your application, post on the veterinary medicine forum and we'd love to help advise you.

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Apply for a different course (with the aim of applying to a graduate veterinary medicine course). I would really recommend against this option. Taking a Gap Year and reapplying means you would graduate in 6 years time, however if you study a degree and then apply to vet med as a graduate you're extending this to a minimum of 7 years, likely 8. The Graduate Entry (4 year) courses are even more competitive than the regular vet course, so you could potentially have studied a whole undergraduate degree that you didn't want, and still end up without a place at veterinary school. To reiterate, gaining a Bachelor's degree does NOT necessarily make you a more competitive applicant. In addition, if you are lucky enough to get into vet school as a graduate, you are NOT entitled to a student loan for your second degree. You would need to fund your tuition fees yourself, which is a minimum of £9250 per year. This is simply cost-prohibitive for most people.

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Apply for a different course (and forget about veterinary medicine). I'm sorry that you're considering this route. If becoming a vet is truly what you want to do, then I urge you to consider trying again. Taking a Gap Year is no time at all in the scheme of things, and veterinary students come in all ages and from all backgrounds - you won't be the odd one out if you want to try and apply after a Gap Year! If you still don't think you want to apply again in a year's time, then no worries. I hope you find something that brings you as much joy. You can use your fifth option on UCAS to select a non-vet course, or you can apply to another course through clearing.