Zookeeper > Vet?

Hi! I am looking for advice. My goal is to study veterinary medicine in the UK.

I have a BS in Geology from the States (but did not do exceptionally well as I was not interested in the subject but did not want to give up on my dream of studying in the US). Immature, I know, but you live and you learn 🙃.

After college, I stayed in the U.S. and eventually found my way to the animal care field and have been working as a primary Primate Keeper for the last few years. In my current role, I have been able to shadow our Zoo Veterinarians for several procedures, lend a hand in the hospital, learn how to take radiographs, etc. I adore my job but want something much more challenging.

I am a 27 year old UK citizen and have been out of school a while (~5 years). Would an access to HE be an option for me? Are there other alternative pathways? Any other suggestions? I am open to doing anything regardless of length of the path. Whatever gives me the best shot as this is truly what I want to do.

The UK vet schools are my goal due to some of them being AVMA accredited, which would give me the option to return to the U.S. if I ever needed to.

Reply 1

wombats

7

There are people on my uni course who have degrees and then did an Access to HE course to get onto it, so I don't know why it wouldn't be an option for you. Not all of the universities accept them, unfortunately.

Are you aware there's no second degree funding for tuition-fees for veterinary? This is true even if you did your degree abroad.

Reply 2

ALEreapp

21

Original post

by Vce3716

Hi! I am looking for advice. My goal is to study veterinary medicine in the UK.

I have a BS in Geology from the States (but did not do exceptionally well as I was not interested in the subject but did not want to give up on my dream of studying in the US). Immature, I know, but you live and you learn 🙃.

After college, I stayed in the U.S. and eventually found my way to the animal care field and have been working as a primary Primate Keeper for the last few years. In my current role, I have been able to shadow our Zoo Veterinarians for several procedures, lend a hand in the hospital, learn how to take radiographs, etc. I adore my job but want something much more challenging.

I am a 27 year old UK citizen and have been out of school a while (~5 years). Would an access to HE be an option for me? Are there other alternative pathways? Any other suggestions? I am open to doing anything regardless of length of the path. Whatever gives me the best shot as this is truly what I want to do.

The UK vet schools are my goal due to some of them being AVMA accredited, which would give me the option to return to the U.S. if I ever needed to.

Access to HE would be an option, you would have to self fund (that and the rest of your degree) and check the programs as some want you to be a resident. I would say it’s your best bet.
Also consider funding options generally, you defo won’t get any loans and I’m not sure you would get home fees having been out the uk for a while (that’s an argument you would need to have with the vet schools!) so there’s a potential of 40-50k a year in just tuition without living costs. Unfortunately the uk schools are very expensive because of their status and accreditations.
Your solid AVMA accreditations are Bristol, Liverpool, Notts and Edinburgh (who don’t accept access at all), keep an eye on RVC and Glasgow because theirs are a bit shakey rn

(edited 1 month ago)

Zookeeper > Vet?

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