Deferring vet med

My daughter has applied to Bristol, Liverpool and Nottingham for entry to vet med in 2025 but thinks she would like to defer a year as she’s been offered a great opportunity for a gap year. She has one interview so far at Liverpool. Has anyone experience of how and when to ask the unis for deferring? Before the interview? After an offer? Unclear on websites. Will it affect her chances? Should she just phone admissions to discuss? Thanks for any insight.

Hi! I'm currently on a gap year and hold a deferred unconditional offer for Bristol 2026 entry, though my course is for engineering. Not sure if this is the case for Bristol Vet Med but for engineering I didn't have to have an interview so I just awaited my offer (on hold for a month until November last year). At the time, I wasn't planning on taking a gap year which is why I didn't defer as soon as I got my offer. In May or so, I firmed Bristol as my first choice, still undeferred. I inevitably (due to personal circumstances) had to take a gap year and submitted a request via the Bristol applicant portal (which I believe is available to people who have an offer / accepted their offer) for deferred entry, which I recall was approved within a week or two. This was at the very end of June (after I had done all my A level exams), so I'd say the time is quite flexible for Bristol. I mentioned that I was taking a gap year for work experience / opportunities in engineering + finances so I think they were fine with it.
Sorry for the rambling but to summarize -- for Bristol (engineering at least) they approved my year change request after I received + firmed my offer, and as late as beginning of July. If she's certain on taking a gap year, I'd say wait until she gets an offer and then apply for a year change request on the applicant portal. Do keep in mind that some unis don't like deferred entry / gap years (e.g. imperial I think?) and but from my experience I do think that Bristol values opportunties during gap years, etc. Sorry I don't know much about Liverpool and Nottingham but good luck to her for her interview and everything she plans to do!!