staging.vettimes.com

Tag: veterinary school

Practice in practices makes perfect, in practice…

In a world currently filled with sacrifice and compromise, the cancellation of a week’s EMS over the Easter holidays did not, at first glance, seem like a hardship.

Of course I had been looking forward to my first ever farm-practice placement – especially as only a week or so before I had tried my hand at my very first rectal exam and even understood, with sudden and unexpected glee, what some of those lumps and bumps actually were.

But the idea of a little extra time with the family and a whole additional week to focus on upcoming exams meant that, initially, I was not too disheartened.

What does it mean?

Now we’re several weeks deep into lockdown, with no clear end date on the calendar and firm Government advice to “not expect a return to normality anytime soon”, what does this mean for my friends, colleagues and peers at veterinary school – my unlucky year in particular? The situation is different for each year.

First-year students

Poor freshers have had to miss out on Easter lambing season – an unspoken rite of passage into the vet student community. After all, if you’ve never come home without bodily fluids in your hair, are you really one of us?

Second-year students

Second years are having to postpone pre-clinical EMS, compared to those in their fourth year who are sacrificing what could be termed “the good stuff” – that is, real problems in real practices, suturing, injecting, slicing, dicing and all of that (though maybe not the last one). But hopefully the majority of these students will have managed to gain experience in their respective levels of training over the summer of 2019.

Final-year students

Final years have been somewhat of a priority, and rightly so, with special arrangements being made to ensure they graduate fully qualified and at no more of a disadvantage than those who graduated the year before.

My friends and I

Enter now the third years – the year I myself am a part of.

This year marks a transition for us; a stepping stone from sweeping dung from a variety of sources and essentially stepping back to watch the magic happen, to actually doing the magic – or at least attempting it with a sweaty brow under the watchful eye of several veteran professionals.

It’s a big thing. A big, scary, daunting prospect of a thing, but a thing nonetheless – and, given the uncertainty we’re facing in terms of what the future holds for anything and everything, the question is being opened as to what this means for the next generation of vets.

Abnormal

We’ve been told by many officials not to expect “normality” for some time.

“Normality” in this case meaning “the way we’ve always done things” – crowding together in coffee shops, restaurants, and hospital and practice waiting rooms without a care in the world.

“Virus? What virus?” we would say.

But, although certain establishments can change the way they operate – cafés can upregulate hygiene and waiting rooms can impose distancing restrictions – EMS is another matter entirely.

Impractical

Veterinary practices and animal hospitals are undoubtedly some of the cleanest places in the world – because they have to be – and vets themselves are no strangers to singing Happy Birthday twice before eating their lunch. But opening their doors to one or several new vet students each and every week in the coming months might just not be feasibly possible.

A lot of practices – especially independents – are small compared to their human counterparts, which has never really been a problem for us because, luckily, a lot of animals are also rather small. It does mean, however, that, a lot of the time, the two-metre rule just wouldn’t be practical – even if your only purpose is to stand and observe.

For those still needing to undertake pre-clinical placements, a whole new set of challenges exist, including the willingness of farmers to take on students whose help would not be essential, as viral exposure for them could mean a complete loss of livelihood.

Preclinical conundrum

It is an RCVS requirement for all students to complete a minimum of 12 weeks’ preclinical and 26 weeks’ clinical EMS. However, fourth-year students have already had their mandated clinical minimum halved to a mere 12 weeks.

While other years are currently expected to be able to “make up” any missed placements before graduation, the fact the situation is constantly in flux means the RCVS has admitted further reductions may be needed.

While this would certainly be helpful and take some of the pressure off for those of whom meeting the usual requirements would be an impossible feat, one has to worry how this will affect student confidence in the long run.

Key experiences

There is a reason the RCVS has always asked for a certain amount of EMS, and while the number seems daunting at first, it’s only during (or perhaps after) each placement that you can truly see its value.

Practice makes perfect – but, more than that, it builds confidence. It provides an environment in which mistakes are not life-threatening and are safe to be learned from.

With the loss of these key experiences that have helped shape generation after generation of vet students, it is perhaps inevitable that vet schools will have to adapt even further than they already have to limit the knock-on impact of a scenario we have never had to face before.

June 10, 2020
Being powerful during a crisis, pt 4
4: Call out the greatness

All great leadership begins with self-leadership – and now is a prime time for leaders at every level to elevate their thinking and ground themselves in the values that define the leader they aspire to be.

This could be compassionate, calm, courageous… what words embody your ideal leader?

Reflection

First, stop and reflect. It is something we rarely do, but it is exactly what is needed right now. Look back and acknowledge the struggles you have faced in the past – with yourself, your business, or with your family or team.

Maybe it was the loss of a family member, a failed business venture, not getting to vet school, losing your job… Look where you are now – you may have survived and moved forward, or are in the process of bouncing back.

Perhaps at that time, like we face now, it felt like you would never come through it. But you did – and you will.

This, too, will pass.

Competence and confidence

You have demonstrated greatness in the past, so acknowledge those moments of courage in your life and remember how you overcame those situations, as well as the exact steps you took along the way.

How can you use what you did then to help you now? How can you pull confidence and competence from those situations?

Take courageous actions every day. Confidence grows from developing competence – for some, it takes an act of courage to take action, to then help you build competence. This act of courage could be:
- enrolling on a course
- sitting an assessment
- learning something or trying something new
- forgiving someone
- pushing harder with your fitness
- reaching out and asking for help
- volunteering
In this together

Rally your team or family around a common purpose. We are all facing a common threat right now – and while we may not be coming together physically, let people around you know we are in this together and will get through this together.

This can build trust and strengthen relationships in ways that can never be done in calmer times.

Think of new ways to connect – a virtual dinner party, an online pub quiz, an internet fitness class, a virtual gallery tour – but use this incredible technology to still connect and collaborate.
May 13, 2020
What’s the worst that could happen?

A few years ago, I noticed my family cat had a lump on her neck that seemed to be getting larger. We had it removed by the local vet who told us it was almost certainly benign, and that sending it off for testing would be overly expensive and potentially unhelpful, depending on the results.

These were my pre-vet school years, but I could still appreciate the ethical minefield of chemotherapy in companion animals, as well as the “financial to practicality ratio” of diagnostic medicine.

Although it’s always frustrating not to have a firm answer, we took her home in the hope that all was well.

Worst case

Upon returning home for a weekend recently, I happened upon another lump – much smaller, but in a similar place.

To be honest, it was so long ago I couldn’t remember if the lump was even on the same side, let alone in the exact same location, but my mind immediately leapt to the worst-case scenarios – a myriad of potential diagnoses flashed through my head, along with the treatment plans, prognoses, clinical signs, etc.

It took me a few seconds to slow my train of thought down long enough to remind myself of all the less severe – and also far more likely – causes.

Knowing

I’ve talked about the curse of knowledge before when it comes to working in any medical field – that once you embark on your veterinary training, you lose your ability to appreciate an animal in its own right. Every dog, for example, is no longer just an adorable bundle of fluff, but a walking, barking list of potential things that can go wrong.

They say doctors and nurses make the worst patients – and from experience with friends and family on these courses, I wouldn’t argue otherwise. It probably doesn’t help that, to know how to make the body better, you must also learn everything that can possibly go wrong: a sneeze is no longer just a sneeze…

On reflection I think it’s important to fight this instinct and to recognise that just because something can go wrong, doesn’t mean it will. It sounds nigh on impossible – and perhaps counterproductive, seeing as “planning for the worst-case scenario” and “expecting the unexpected” are all part and parcel of life in clinic.

Sit back and relax?

Nobody wants a vet that’s 100% laid back – it’s the capacity to plan and expect that causes such stress outside of practice, but is so valuable within it.

Switching off is never easy. It’s been said that being a vet is more a lifestyle than a job, and, though I’m still years from graduating, I can already relate.

That being said, I think it’s worth the try. It’s only through switching off that we are able to rest, recuperate and come back stronger. I believe we owe it to ourselves and our clients to try leaving the white coat at the office when we go home at the end of the day.

March 7, 2020
No strings on me

No one likes change – it’s a scary thing. And there’s perhaps nothing scarier than spending five long years on the course of your childhood dreams, graduating and emerging into general practice, only to find that this might not be for you after all.

Obviously, I’m not speaking from personal experience, but, according to a two-hour seminar my year received from people who really have experienced this, it’s a lot more common than people might think.

But it doesn’t have to be scary at all…

No fear

I think it’s fair to say no one really knows what to expect from vet school until they’re there, and I imagine it’s much the same in the transition from degree to profession.

So far, I have loved every bit of my journey towards becoming a vet, and I’m still really looking forward to everything that’s yet to come. I hope, when I find myself in the real world, I’ll love it every bit as much as I think I will – but if that’s not the case, it’s nice to know so many other options are out there.

After hearing from speakers from large veterinary conglomerates, pharmaceutical representatives and civil service workers, it became apparent that our degree can steer us in so many different directions.

Different strokes

Just because you don’t go in that same direction as most of your cohort, it doesn’t mean those five years of hard work were in vain; veterinarians make very strong candidates in a variety of job markets, and your experience will immediately help you stand out from the sea of other applicants.

No one was lying to you when they said the vet course would teach you transferable skills. Vets are trained to work under pressure, both independently and as a unit, to problem solve and go the extra mile, as well as having a firm knowledge of biology, pharmacology, cytology… the list is nearly endless. Not to mention the extensive interpersonal communication skills that are drilled into us from day one.

The take-home message from the seminar was this: do what makes you happy. Don’t let yourself be bullied by the majority or be swayed by the views of family, friends or cohorts.

(im)Perfect fit

Only you know if something is a perfect fit or if it’s just not working, and the latter is not a failure; it takes a lot of courage to go against the flow and make such a big life-changing decision, but it turns out the rewards can certainly be worth the risks.

There are obviously benefits of having what some of our guest speakers referred to as a “real job”: regular hours, a more predictable work day and a more manageable work-life balance – although they all admitted they did miss working so closely with animals.

I’m still not sure exactly which line of work I’ll settle into in the end. When I was first applying to vet school, I always saw myself as a farm vet, but over the past few years I’ve developed a large interest in exotic species and wildlife. But as long as I find myself in a job I can come home from at the end of the day feeling both happy and fulfilled, there’s nothing else I could really ask for.

February 22, 2020
Who runs the world?
Toward the end of my first year at university, a friend of mine stumbled upon a funny online student-made list of “things NOT to expect at vet school”. From memory, I think it included things we all related to such as Christmas holidays (curse you, exams), summer holidays (why, EMS, why?) and “a coolness status to rival the medics” (we are real doctors, I swear).

But what was probably the most relatable, and yet the one nobody really expects before vet school without already being in the know, is: “an abundance of men”.

Now, I’m not saying I signed up to the course for the sole purpose of a live action performance of It’s Raining Men, but, at the same time, you can’t help but be taken aback by the sheer volume of girls compared to guys the first time you walk into that lecture theatre.

While stereotypical – are women more likely to love all things cute and fluffy? – wonders Eleanor Goad.

Why, oh why?

Just to put it into perspective for you, my cohort for the year is roughly 150 students and 10% of those students are male.

According to gender statistics recorded by the Vet Futures project, it’s been like that for some time, in fact, the veterinary graduates’ ratio of female to male has only been increasing over the past few decades.

Nobody is really sure why. In human medicine the ratio is relatively even, so what is it about animals that strikes a chord with women more than men?
- A maternal nature?
- A love for all things fluffy?
Both these solutions seem a little stereotypical and, to be honest, we’re probably most unsure about the reason behind the numbers because nobody wants to touch this landmine of a topic with a 10-foot barge pole.

I really don’t have the answers myself, either – but it’s a curiosity I can’t not address.

Imbalance

I suppose I never noticed it growing up, or even doing work experience prior to vet school – which makes sense when you look again at the statistics as the gender gap seems to rein in after graduation. So, although around 70% of vet graduates are female, the number of practising female vets is more like 50%.

That difference doesn’t seem so odd once you’ve factored in maternity leave, but it’s not the only disparity. Despite the fact the veterinary population spewing out of universities across the country each year is overwhelmingly female, men make up the majority of those working as RCVS specialists, as farm/mixed practice vets and as RCVS fellows – the people committed to advancing the veterinary profession.

In essence, the vets who specialise outside of “general practice” are confusingly male. Positions of power in general practice, such as partner positions, are also held by men in a greater proportion than women.

How can this be?

As a veterinary student with, as yet, only a teeny tiny foot in the clinical world, I can only really speculate.

The best-case scenario for these statistics would be simple chance, that more men happen to have been interested in specialised careers than women, but this seems unlikely. It could also be down to the fact that maternity leave and childcare can unfortunately, but ultimately, lead to a lack of “career propulsion” (for lack of a better term), and can make it a little harder to advance in your profession at the same rate as male peers. More woman might choose job stability over returning to education or pursuing a less predictable career for the same reason.

These outcomes are understandable, but at the same time, nobody should be – or feel as if they are being – held back.

It’s my hope that, in future years, the gap between the genders closes, for more guys to aspire to a veterinary career, and for more practising female veterinary surgeons to pursue whatever career they chose, general or specialised.
January 22, 2020
Hitting pause

I’ve known for a long time I wanted to be a vet. This has meant that, since a very early age, a lot of my big decisions were pre-decided; GCSE and A-level options, university course, etc.

My choice in universities was narrowed down to a one-digit figure before I’d gone to my first open day – and even then I could only apply to four of them, while all my non-medical friends applied to five.

Even in the vet school itself, there’s very little wiggle room or chance to apply individuality to the curriculum. I don’t see this as a negative, as I understand why that is: when professionals graduate, an assumed blanket level of knowledge for everyone, the same playing field, same skills and knowledge base so that we can all perform equally in a career that requires us to do so.

That being said, it’s the ability to self-direct my learning in a way I’ve never had a chance to before that’s made me jump at the prospect of intercalation.

A year out

Intercalation, for vets at Bristol, involves taking a year away from their studies between years three and four to pursue something related to their course and/or future careers, but that they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn otherwise. You can choose to do these at your current university, or somewhere new, and there are a variety of different intercalation courses you are briefed on in years two and three.

It essentially allows students to broaden the depth of their knowledge in a specific area, either one they’re particularly interested in or that they feel will benefit their chosen career paths.

For me, it’s a bit of both. I don’t see it as a distraction from the veterinary course and what I’ve learned, but as a way for me to figure out how I best want to utilise it.

How long is too long?

I know for a lot of people, especially non-vets, taking an intercalation year in the middle of a five-year-long degree might seem a little unnecessary – do you really want to double the length of the average degree? And is it really worth it?

Looking back, though, the idea of a five-year course never fazed me; it was just another decision I took for granted as not really being a decision at all, and to be honest I wanted to be a vet so badly the course could have been a decade long and I’d probably have been just as keen.

Worth it

In terms of worth, I think it all boils down to what you want to get out of your degree, and indeed your career. It’s also worth thinking about money, as well as time management – although, of course, it’s never too late to keep learning. If you wanted to return for another course at university after graduation this would take you longer than a year, and currently postgraduate student loan funding isn’t as easy to navigate as the undergrad scheme.

I know it’s not for everyone, but I personally find the idea of intercalating and looking beyond what I need to know and a little more into what I want to know so, so, so exciting. And if it helps to give me the time and self-insight to figure out exactly what type of vet I want to be when I graduate, then I feel like that’s going to make me a better vet all around.

November 22, 2019
Mid-sessionals – the dos and don’ts

Right now, a lot of vet students are heading towards their first mid-sessional exams – the first university level exams the majority of them will ever have experienced.

The rest of us have mid-sessionals, too, off course, and while we no longer have the luxury of ignorance and the bliss it comes with, these are no longer uncharted waters and we do have some advice.

Don’t

Panic

While, unlike other courses, the first year of veterinary medicine does technically “count”, you won’t be graded in the way the majority of students are. It’s a nice and clear-cut pass or fail system. Also, if you have the worst time with your mid-sessionals and don’t even reach that passing grade, there’s plenty of time for you to make that up with coursework and the summer exams, which will carry a lot more weight. Both the university and your faculty members understand the transition to university is a whirlwind, and these first exams while you’re still finding your feet might not reflect your best work; therefore, your mid-sessional results do not have to reflect the rest of your year.

Just talk – listen!

Nobody is going to send you into those exams blind! The uni will give you all of the information you need to know – it might be online, or in a lecture you didn’t go to because it didn’t look particularly important. A lot of the answers to your questions can be found just by paying attention.

Burn yourself out

I have been guilty of this. I can sometimes get so caught up in maximising my revision that I run out of steam with maybe a week or two still to go before the exams and realise, suddenly, I could have given myself a bit more slack. Be smart, kids; don’t be me.

Just revise the interesting stuff

It can be tempting to ignore revising the content that bores you or you can’t see the relevance of learning. Trust me when I say if you are being taught it, it is important and even if It seems like common sense, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t even give it a glance when you come to revision.

Make study groups and draw from each other’s strengths, says Eleanor Goad. Image © Rawpixel.com / Adobe Stock

Do

Talk to people

Right now, everyone around you is in the exact same boat, without a clue what’s going on. How much content in each lecture do we need to know? How are questions worded? How many questions are in a paper? What’s 2 + 2, again? Talk to each other, work with each other, make study groups and draw from each other’s strengths. Talk to your lecturers; you are allowed to ask them what kind of stuff they expect you to take away from their lectures. Talk to your personal tutors and staff members; they might be able to direct you towards some sample questions.

Start revising early on – and stay organised!

Know which notes are for which topic, and, maybe, even make a handy list of all of your most hated topics/lectures so you can maximise your study time.

Your best

I know it sounds super corny, but at the end of the day it’s all that you can do. You’ve made it into vet school so trust in yourself and your abilities. You can do this.

November 7, 2019
Tips for vet school: the first few days

The first few weeks of university life can be a little scary, and it’s understandable you might just want to hang back to try and digest it all.

Trying to be outgoing, charming and outlandishly sociable when you’ve just been thrust into a new city, a new environment, and left to fend for yourself can feel like a daunting task. But I really can’t encourage you enough to get out there as soon as possible…

Get to know as many people as possible in your first few days

By now, you’ve probably heard something along the lines of “the first person you sit next to in uni becomes your new best friend”, but try not to get so comfortable that you completely stop socialising after the first day.

While there is some truth to this rumour (I can personally relate), university is a massive new chance to meet people from all walks of life. You might find yourself immediately gravitating towards those who are familiar – maybe from the same region of the country – but it’s important to fight this instinct and expand your friend group to those with different ideas, concepts, etc.

Trust me, it will come in handy during those group revision sessions in the future.

Know you won’t always be top of the class

I’m sorry if reading this makes you upset or mildly infuriating, but that may mean you are the kind of person who needs to hear this the most. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, for those new to the game: you do not have to know everything; you will not be able to know everything; you will get things wrong – and every one of these things is okay.

What’s more, everyone in your whole year (indeed, your whole course) is just as fallible as you are. You are not competing against them any more, they are your allies, your sounding boards, your tutors and tutees.

Also, don’t expect 90-100% on your first test… or the second.. My point is you shouldn’t be upset with yourself when you’re not perfect, because nobody is – and that’s okay too.

If you like taking hand-written notes, Eleanor suggests you bring lots of pens and a bottle of electrolytes for the resultant hand cramp. Alternatively, invest in a laptop or some type of tablet. Image © WavebreakmediaMicro / Adobe Stock

Stay organised

If I could time travel, this is one of the main things I really wish I could tell myself. If you were perfectly organised for your A-levels, then that is excellent – but now forget everything you know.

Revision

Of course, you may be the exception that proves the rule, but for nine out of 10 people, the best revision methods you employed for your GCSEs and A-levels will not be the best method for your university examinations. In fact, it may take you a while to find out which method works best for you (flash cards, quizzes, etc).

Note-taking

Finding the fastest and most efficient way of taking notes is also paramount, ideally (though not essentially) before stepping into the classroom.

If you like taking hand-written notes and find you produce more in this way, then be sure to bring lots of pens and a bottle of electrolytes for that hand cramp. If you’re a little slow at writing or find you lose paper notes easily – *cough* guilty *cough* – then I would suggest using a laptop or some type of tablet – something light and portable that you’re comfortable with.

Once you’ve found which type of note-taking works for you, and what revision type works for you – stay organised.

Everything in order

If you find yourself having trouble understanding certain lectures, read ahead on these topics so you know which questions to ask the lecturer. Also, understand there are a number of different broad topics to veterinary medicine, and then try filing your notes in these groups – take my word for it, it makes everything so much easier when you take your end of year exams, which are often divided into units.

And, most importantly of all, have fun. Get the most out of it, grab it by the horns, carpe diem and all of that.

I hope you enjoy the next big chapter of your life.

September 23, 2019
Two down, three to go

Eleanor Goard says that, at the start of your course, it’s hard to envisage how you’re meant to metamorphose into a competent and qualified vet in just five short years. However, two years into her studies, it no longer feels impossible. Image © stevecuk / Adobe Stock

I feel so incredibly lucky to be where I am today: two years down as a vet student, on the course of my dreams and heading toward the career I’ve been aspiring to since I was six years old.

And it’s still as surreal, stressful and exciting as ever!

For Bristol uni, at least, the gap between the second and third years is significant in that it’s where we transition from pre-clinical to clinical content; moving from the nice safety bubble of learning and classrooms to more of the practical stuff, and the “this is why you were learning it in the first place”.

Holding pattern

If I’m being honest, it’s a little daunting. It’s uncharted territory – just like the beginning of the course.

I think I’ve fallen into a comfortable pattern of learning, digesting and regurgitating theory, so the idea of breaking away from that is, quite frankly, a little scary. One thing that keeps the nerves at bay, however, is acknowledging how far I’ve already come.

When you start vet school and walk away from those first few lectures realising how much you already have to learn, it can be really hard to envisage how on earth you’re meant to metamorphose into a competent and qualified veterinary surgeon in just five short years. But here I am, two years later… and I think the pieces are starting to come together.

Voyage of discovery

I know so much more now than I ever thought possible: how everything works, why it sometimes stops working and how to make it work again – the gist of any medical degree at its heart.

The fact I will be able to call myself “doctor” in just a few short years still seems incredible, but no longer impossible.

Yes, it’s something new, something slightly intimidating; but I’m so excited to explore this new part of my degree, where I’ll begin to learn new skills I will use for the rest of my career – to start discovering what being a vet actually means, and what kind of vet I want to be.

August 22, 2019
Things I wish I’d known

Looking back, applying to vet school was probably one of the most stressful times of my life – and for good reason.

There’s a lot to get your head around; I was juggling A-levels, work experience, open days and, in hindsight, I‘m so thankful for whatever pearls of wisdom regarding the whole the process I managed to glean in the form of various blogs, websites and face-to-face talks with my local vets.

It’s only been two years since I, too, was anxiously waiting my results. So much has happened since then, vet school of course bringing its own set of trials and triumphs, but nevertheless, as the month of exam results looms I can’t help but empathise with those who are now where I was not so very long ago.

I know when I was at that stage I had so many unanswered questions. About student life, the course, the application requirements… So I’d like to try and help any others who might feel the same way by going through a few misconceptions I heard floating around when I was applying to vet school, with a little bit of friendly advice thrown in for good measure.

Common misconceptions

# 1: It’s all about the grades

Now, to all you budding vets out there, I’d love to tell you that grades don’t matter in the slightest, but the vet course is demanding and most vet schools out there expect the standard three As.

That being said, if you fall short just a little it doesn’t have to be the end of the road. The University of Nottingham requires an A in Chemistry and Biology with a B in another chosen subject, and one of my closest friends in my year was admitted to Bristol with two As and a B. What stood her apart and made the university look past her grades is a part of the application process that outranks exam results in so many ways: interviews.

Didn’t quite hit the mark? Don’t worry, says Eleanor Goad. If you fall slightly short of your three A-grades, it doesn’t have to be the end of the road. Image © highwaystarz / Adobe Stock

Universities receive so many applications each year, most of which promise academic excellence and prowess. But, when it comes to sorting through these candidates, what really helps you stand out from the crowd is what you‘re like as a person. Not the letters on a piece of paper, or even your personal statement when all’s said and done – just you. This is where you show your passion, your enthusiasm and, most importantly, get to make eye contact with an actual human being instead of filling out a variety of forms.

It’s daunting, I know. I remember the butterflies at my first and, in fact, all my interviews. But the key thing to remember is you’re only nervous because of how much this means to you, and if you let the interviewer see this for themselves it says far more about you than your grades ever could.

# 2: You will live, sleep and breathe the vet school, you will have time for nothing else

One of the main things I kept hearing, especially on open days, was that the curriculum of vet school was so demanding it would consume my entire student life. I was told many times I would have no time to work, to socialise or live my student life in the same way as the rest of my cohorts.

I know that every uni experience is different and indeed each vet course is different but, in my opinion, it IS possible to have your cake and eat it too.

If you manage to get into vet school you already must have excellent time management skills and so if you’d like to get a small term-time job (I even managed two) or join several societies or explore the nightlife of whatever new city you’re venturing to has to offer, a little time management is all it takes.

I’m not saying you won’t be busier than some of your friends on other courses or that you can slack off – rolling into bed at 4am every morning, but you can have a life outside of vet school if you so wish.

# 3: I need to study all the sciences and have 100 weeks of work experience to be good enough for vet school

Honestly, this one is just plain wrong.

If you’ve got an itch only science can scratch, then by all means enjoy those triple sciences – maybe maths too if you’re that way inclined. But if you’re anything like me and you have a penchant for English, economics, history or something that doesn’t seem entirely “vetty”, unless you’re looking to apply to Cambridge or Glasgow (these do require more “academic” subjects) it is okay not to go down the all-science route.

Vet schools look for well-rounded enthusiastic individuals and if your choice of A-levels are brought up at interview, as they were at mine, it’s much easier to enthuse over a subject you’re genuinely passionate about than one you’re taking for the sake of it. And in regards to work experience, not all of us can be fortunate enough to live within range of three farms, two vet practices, a vet hospital, a cattery, a kennel (etc) or to even have access to, or the funds to travel to, all of them.

As long as you get as much varied work experience to the best of your ability, for example the RVC only asks for a minimum of four weeks, then you won’t be dismissed for not having enough.

August 7, 2019