Journey on prepping for vet med

6

I am a year 12 student and I am preparing for applying to veterinary medicine at the moment. I have been hearing that it is a really competitive degree and it only accept one student per 10 students. And the pressure that is weighing on me is awful. I am thinking about applying to Bristol, RVC, Surrey, and Nottingham.
My questions:
1. Any advice on rearranging or changing my university choices? (Apparently these four unis are really competitive so perhaps I should go for newer schools?)
2. How do you manage the stress when applying and doing work experience and everything at the same time?

Reply 1

Bear26

8

Original post

by jolieliu

I am a year 12 student and I am preparing for applying to veterinary medicine at the moment. I have been hearing that it is a really competitive degree and it only accept one student per 10 students. And the pressure that is weighing on me is awful. I am thinking about applying to Bristol, RVC, Surrey, and Nottingham.
My questions:
1. Any advice on rearranging or changing my university choices? (Apparently these four unis are really competitive so perhaps I should go for newer schools?)
2. How do you manage the stress when applying and doing work experience and everything at the same time?

They are competitive, but let that be a motivator rather than overwhelm you. Apply to unis which you love the course content for and environment. As for work experience it isn’t too stressful to apply at the same time. It’s a chance to get a glance into the profession and it should make writing the application a lot easier 😊

I saw something that really helped me. I hope it helps others too!

‘And a final word about perspective. Gaining a place on a UK veterinary course is competitive, but you should not assume this means you will be unsuccessful. You can apply to four
vet schools, but remember that you only ‘need’ one offer. We worry that many good candidates do not apply because they overestimate the challenges involved or, more likely, underestimate their own abilities.
What we do know is that if you don’t apply, you will definitely not get a place’

Best of luck!

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 2

tropicalSunset48

1

Have a read of this, may answer some questions: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7489650

Reply 3

UniLancashire

Official Rep

16

Original post

by jolieliu

I am a year 12 student and I am preparing for applying to veterinary medicine at the moment. I have been hearing that it is a really competitive degree and it only accept one student per 10 students. And the pressure that is weighing on me is awful. I am thinking about applying to Bristol, RVC, Surrey, and Nottingham.
My questions:
1. Any advice on rearranging or changing my university choices? (Apparently these four unis are really competitive so perhaps I should go for newer schools?)
2. How do you manage the stress when applying and doing work experience and everything at the same time?

Hi @jolieliu,

Veterinary medicine is definitely becoming more and more competitive but please don't let this stop you from applying and pursuing the degree. Whichever university you apply to, make sure you visit, talk to the students and have a good look around the campus and city. Five years is a long time.

Engaging in voluntary or paid vocational experience helps to develop personal and professional attributes. It will also expose you to what it means to work with animals and people in different settings. This might include working with animals in some capacity, such as at a veterinary practice, farm, animal shelter or stables. It may also include roles that show your abilities in: engaging with the general public, communicating and problem-solving. This could be in a retail or hospitality setting.

You can find a lot more information about applying to study veterinary medicine with us, which you could apply for your other choices here.

Join us on Saturday 20 June 2026 for an immersive Open Day experience at the School of Veterinary Medicine, if you do decide to study with us and get an answers to your questions, see current students and explore the new vet school 🙂

Best wishes,
^Zac

Reply 4

ErasistratusV

21

You've mentioned you are somewhat concerned by the prospect of competition ratios. That is a logical and entirely understandable line of thought but this needs to be the very last time you concern yourself with them. This is a common theme amongst a lot of people contemplating a career in similar professions as this.

However, if you are 100% serious about qualifying and working as a veterinary surgeon you need to commit to that as an end-goal and tell us all here right now that this is what you want to do and prove it to yourself because the people want to do these kinds of courses need to be extremely committed to the course and the career from the outset. If you're serious about this as a career, you won't be put off by minor considerations such as competition ratios for a nanosecond and you wouldn't be much put off by not being accepted for a place in the first application cycle, either.

I would urge you to spend the time you have now considering how best to obtain the necessary work experience and confirm to yourself that the veterinary dream really does have it's hook into you good and proper. This will fortify you for the challenges ahead and help drive you through your A levels and beyond.

You can do this. Get signed up for an open day and go from there.

Wishing you all the best here.

Reply 5

amelia.fitzyy

1

Original post

by jolieliu

I am a year 12 student and I am preparing for applying to veterinary medicine at the moment. I have been hearing that it is a really competitive degree and it only accept one student per 10 students. And the pressure that is weighing on me is awful. I am thinking about applying to Bristol, RVC, Surrey, and Nottingham.
My questions:
1. Any advice on rearranging or changing my university choices? (Apparently these four unis are really competitive so perhaps I should go for newer schools?)
2. How do you manage the stress when applying and doing work experience and everything at the same time?

1.

I would say pick whatever unis are best for you, your range is good as the unis tend to have different ‘specialties’ depending on where in the UK they are. Not as in different teachings but different in the experience they prefer. Although, I would say it’s always good to get a range of work experience as that is one regret of mine is solely focusing on small animal vets. If you can’t get this experience look at non medical animal places, for example I helped my Biology teacher run the schools reptile club and I volunteer for the Riding for the Disabled Association- everything helps.

2.

I would just say for stress try and focus on the positives. Just think how cool it is that you get the opportunity to apply to this course and do all of the cool work experience. Also, try to space your work experience out not in exam season. One massive thing I would say is use your year 12 summer; get your work experience arranged now for the summer, when you go into Year 13 the application deadline is so soon so get it sorted for the summer, even if it’s a once a week thing you do for example dog walking/volunteering etc.
Make sure to relax though before Year 13!!!

Journey on prepping for vet med

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