Can I still be a Vet?

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eloise kelly

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Hi,
I'm curently studying at AS biology, Law and English Language (I did take Chemistry but the college dropped me)
I want to be a Vet but don't feel I am cut out/clever enough to be one.
I have horses/dogs/cats/chickens.
I am sorting out work experiance at a Farm in the Spring for lambing, the guide dogs association next summer, a dairy farm, a cattery, a zoo, and obviously 4 weeks in veterinary practise. I have work experiance on a Stud farm and with handling horses. And I am also going to Vet Med sim next summer.
The work ex isn't my problem, I just feel like I am not academically bright enough to be a Vet.
I'm currently on for B's in my As's and I know I need A's but I honestly don't think I'll get them.
I've been looking down the road of Vet nursing and I seem more suited both academically and emotionally to this but I just really want to be a Vet!!!
Is there anyone out there who can help me?
Are there any other ways of becoming a Vet?
Can you go on to train as a Vet once you're a qualified Vet nurse?
What is being a Vet actually like?
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated as this is my dream.
Thankyou,
Eloise
 
I would have thought you would have needed A-levels in Biology, Chemistry and Physics/Maths to get into vet school... probably all at A* level these days (I assume they dish out A*'s at a-level now!)

And edited to add... yes you could probably well go on and apply to uni to do vets after doing a uni course for vet nursing... BUT (unless things have changed) you will not get funding to do a second undergraduate degree. I wanted to do a second undergraduate degree a while ago for change in direction in my life. My previous degree was funded by my employer as a part time degree. I wasn't entitled to a penny. You may also find that if you are up against people that have a (human) medicine/GP/doctor degree, they may be given preference over something like vet nursing.
 
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I am involved with undergraduate psychology and biology at a big university. Quite a few students have used our courses as a route into vet school because they didn't get accepted straight out of college. It's quite common to do veterinary sciences as a second degree. Expensive, but everyone I know to have done it felt it was more than worth it.
 
It is possible to do a degree first as a way in to vet school,but you need to speak to them to find out which degree they would accept. Also plenty of work experience in the areas you have suggested also helps your application.If you can see regular practice at a local vets and get a letter of recommendation that can also be useful. Good luck.
 
Firstly, I think it's great that you want to go into a veterinary career, however, at the moment it would be extremely unlikely that you be looked at by a vet school as you are not studying chemistry. Chemistry should be offered probably to A2 level for most unis, and should be at A grade for most, however, I know that the RVC has a minimum requirement for B to AS (which I guess isn't impossible). Is there any way you could move colleges and study chemistry elsewhere, starting over again? I do have much sympathy-A level chemistry is a horrible subject! Bs in your ASs wouldn't be disastrous, however you will need your college to predict you As for A levels, and you will need to get them. Not all vet schools recognise the A* yet, so don't worry about them.

There are no other ways of becoming a veterinary surgeon without doing a degree. You cannot pass from vet nurse to vet, unless you applied for uni, but being a qualified vet nurse probably wouldn't help you get in. There are other entrance pathways-you could apply as a postgraduate, for instance. However, you may still need the same A levels as if you were applying straight to vet. There are also 'gateway programmes' for those with lower grades,and from a low income background, but places are very limited.

Being a vet can be very tough, I think. Especially the getting up in the middle of the night to go out on call. But then, it depends on what sort of vet you want to be. It's not always got superb pay either, despite what a lot of people think.


I wish you the best of luck in pursuing your career, but, and I don't wish to be horrible, your chances of getting in are unfortunately limited :(. It is a very academic course indeed, and there are so many things you have to 'do' to get an offer. This is largely thanks to the huge numbers of people who wish to study it, and a great deal of people will be rejected by a uni along the way.
It is a massively competitive course, and you may need to look at some other options. Good luck anyway, and I hope that this helps :)
 
Pretty much what everyone else has said really, but wanted to add that my friend also applied. Now she's clever, can't remember what her grades were but they were very good indeed. She got rejected and instead is doing vet nursing. I *hear* that you have a higher chance of being accepted after being rejected initially-- it shows a level of commitment and enthusiasm I guess.

Also remember there are 1000's of people wanting to be vets, therefore uni's can really pick the cream of the crop.

You also say that you think you a more academically and emotionally suited to be a nurse-- so why a vet?:) Its good to have a long hard think if it really what you want-- did you have Veterinary Medicine in mind when you chose law/ English? Because I have heard that they are after sciences/maths. Someone I know did All three sciences, maths and then BTEC horse care (as an AS), I don't know how he managed! Or whether he actually applied for Vet Med.

Good luck anyway :) Your work exp sounds fab, and I know that's a really important factor.
 
abroad??


the uni of kocise (i think!)? does english speaking and it is accepted by theRCVS when you practise over here??



they accept lower grades with an entrance exam i think
 
what grades did you get in your GCSE's? The uni's expect straight A's/A*s in those as well as A levels. You are unlikely to get into vet school without an A at A level in Chemistry as well as Biology and Physics or Maths. Sorry, but Law and English Language are not going to get you a place at vet school.

If you are really determined then you need to get yourself studying the right subjects and put every ounce of effort into getting those grades or accept that you wont get in straight from college and will have to do another science degree first and try and get in to vet med as a 2nd degree. You'll need to be rich or prepared to be in debt forever though. Fees for a 2nd degree are huge and fees for 1st degrees aren't cheap these days either.

Why do you want to be a vet? Being a vet is very little about actually doing stuff with animals, more about solving puzzles and communicating with owners as well as practical skills. It's tough, stressful and poorly paid in comparison to other professional graduate jobs. It takes a very different person to be a nurse than a vet. I love animals and care about their welfare deeply but I dont want to spend my days looking after them, cleaning them out etc. I thrive on the challenge and variety that being a vet gives me.
 
I am actually taking AS chemistry back up next year for AS and then staying on the extra year to finish it off for A2 so that's an answer for that.
I am also going to do a Maths for Science course through the OU to improve my maths.
And when I researched the Uni's they asked for Biology specificaly in all of them, and Chemistry and then most said any other subjects.
I chose Law as I think everyone should have an understanding of the Law as we all have to abide by it?
Also the knowledge I have obtained in my Law lessons has recently helped me to understand and find out how to go about reporting and prosecuting an individual at my previous stable yard for the neglect of animals as they let a 3month old foal starve to death.
So by the sounds of it my chances of becoming a Vet are 0 to none. Vet nursing it is then.
 
If you really want to be a vet you won't enjoy being a nurse. They take very different skills and types of people. If you can take chem and biology through to a level and get a's then you should be ok but biology, law and English won't get u in. What were your gcse's? if you're really determined you'll find a way to do it. It takes a lot of determination to get thru vet school and keep going as a vet. Don't give up at the first hurdle.
 
In GCSE I basically got the B's I needed to get onto my Alevel courses and I am going back to retake my physics and Maths as well as doing the OU Maths for Science course, work experiance, staying on the extra year to do A2 Chemistry, Vet med sim next summer and working my arse off to get A's this year.
Hmm, this isn't very encouraging and it looks as if I may be unlikely to become a Vet.
What other Animal related jobs are there? I honestly couldn't do anything else apart from Animals, defo not sitting in an Office at a Computer all day.
 
A lot of the unis ask for a minimum of 5 As at GCSE now. As someone said earlier, there are so many applicants that the unis really can just pick and choose - you have to be strong in every area of your application. If you're not, the uni can just pick someone else out of the other 2000 applicants :(

One thing I would consider is that, if you are finding A-levels hard, how hard will you find the degree? I'm not going to lie, I find aspects of it really difficult (and other parts very easy - but you have to pass every module!) despite finding my science A-levels really quite easy. On the other hand I found english A-level (I did it as a fourth subject, along with biology, chemistry and maths) difficult! It depends on how your mind works.

Would you be happy doing vet nursing? Or would you rather not work in a practice, seeing vets every day? Vet nurses do a fab job and it is something I would have considered, had I not been able to get the grades for vet med, but not everyone would enjoy working in practice wishing they had the other person's job. Other routes that people go down are things like bioveterinary/animal sciences, which opens a lot of doors for research, animal welfare, lab work, nutrition etc, or you could even do something more vocational, like training to be an equine dentist, or a physiotherapist (although you would have to do human physio first, to be ACPAT registered.). Or even something completely unrelated, that you hadn't previously considered. For example, my 'back up plan' was to train as a Pharmacist - I even got so far as having an unconditional offer for it, and would have taken it if I hadn't got into vet school - although it wouldn't have involved animals, or being out on farm, it was still something that I know I would have enjoyed and felt worthwhile doing, and it pays a damn sight better than being a vet too :p

Have a good long think about your options, try your best at your A-levels, and if you decide you still want to be a vet it doesn't matter how long it takes you - if you have to take a chemistry A-level another time, or take a year out to gain more experience, or even take some time off to try out different career paths you might take, then do it. A few years before starting uni will make NO difference in the long run :)
 
There is no such thing as can't, if you want it that badly you should set your mind to it and up those grade expectations. I do not say this to be blunt or mean...but there are lots of people that show me every single day that if you truly set your mind to something and believe in yourself and put in the painful effort...you can achieve whatever you want.

A quote from Steve Jobs...
Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact:
everything around you that you call life was made up by people that
were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it,
you can build your own things...
The minute that you understand that you can poke life, you can mould it...once you learn that, you'll never be the same again.
 
You can definitely go to vet school if you're determined enough, you dont need excellent grades as everyone keeps saying, they take alot more into account at certain Unis

Someone i know is currently at Nottingham Uni studying to be a vet on this course-

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ugstudy...veterinary-medicine-surgery-gateway-year.aspx

Course Requirements-
minimum of five grade B GCSEs - grade Bs in chemistry, biology, physics (or dual science), maths and English; A levels grades BBC - grade Bs in biology and chemistry and grade C in a third subject

Work Expereince is so important, she didnt have any 'A's at GCSE or A level but got a place, she spent months doing lots of work experience at every place possible like you.

Good Luck and keep positive :-)
 
maxine1985 said:
You can definitely go to vet school if you're determined enough, you dont need excellent grades as everyone keeps saying, they take alot more into account at certain Unis

Someone i know is currently at Nottingham Uni studying to be a vet on this course-

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ugstudy...veterinary-medicine-surgery-gateway-year.aspx

Course Requirements-
minimum of five grade B GCSEs - grade Bs in chemistry, biology, physics (or dual science), maths and English; A levels grades BBC - grade Bs in biology and chemistry and grade C in a third subject

Work Expereince is so important, she didnt have any 'A's at GCSE or A level but got a place, she spent months doing lots of work experience at every place possible like you.

Good Luck and keep positive :-)
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Yes - however for this course there are also these requirements:

Other information:

We do not consider graduate students for this programme. Will only consider applicants entering HE for the first time.

Students must fulfil at least 3 of the following criteria:
• Being a first generation entrant to Higher Education
• Family, cultural or financial reasons for needing to study in the East Midlands
• Attending a school or college without a strong tradition of progression to Higher Education
• Attending a school or college with a low average A level score
• Living in a deprived home location
• Being (or having been) a refugee
• Being (or having been) in local authority care (looked after)
• Other disadvantaging circumstances (reviewed on an individual basis)

Does this apply to you?

You can qualify as a vet nurse without taking a degree - you can go down the vocational route. That way you can amass heaps more experience of the vet profession than any school leaver and work on getting the grades you need in your A levels if you miss them. Then apply to vet school for a first degree and get it paid (or get a loan for it at any rate).

I actually think I would have enjoyed being a vet nurse - was just thinking that today actually! There are many opportunities for specialisation and further education for bright nurses and it can be a very rewarding career.

Have you considered becoming an ACPAT physio? You'd need to study human physiotherapy first, then go on to do animal work.

I think I agree with whoever said that if you struggle academically at all with science and maths that a vet degree might push you too far - it's very demanding.

My daughter has just applied to vet school and is waiting to hear whether she has any interviews (no news is good news right now as at least she hasn't been rejected yet!) so we know heaps about applying - PM if you would like any info.
 
Wow, thankyou so much everyone this has been really helpful! I don't know or have anyone to ask these types of Questions to normally so it's fantastic to hear from people who know what they're on about!
I've actually really been thinking about all this Vet stuff and after all the responces I feel much more determined to become a Vet than I did before! I am really going to go for this and work as hard as I can to get there, I emailed my local Vets today asking about work ex so fingers crossed!
Is it worth not rushing into Uni and staying back a few years to get work experiance etc? Will this effect me going to Uni? Are there any Vets out there who can describe what their Job is actually like?
 
I did put what the job is like in one of my earlier replies. It's stressful, challenging, frustrating, sad, happy, satisfying and rewarding all rolled into one.I wouldn't do anything else. I spend half my time seeing ten min consults trying to take history, exam, diagnose and treat in ten mins and the rest of myt time operating and doing paperwork Go onto the individual vet school websites, find out what their minimum requirements are and make it your mission to get them. Be careful as some won't accept resist. You may be more suited to Nottingham if not so academically minded as its more practical. There is also a new vet school about to open in Guildford in Surrey said to be basing around similar principles to Nottingham.
 
If you don't feel able/aren't able to get into vet school straight from uni then you can do another undergraduate degree, usually of a science nature, and privided you get at least a 2:1 you can go to vet school as a graduate but it is an expensive way to do it as you get very little support for a second degree.
 
eloise kelly said:
Is it worth not rushing into Uni and staying back a few years to get work experiance etc? Will this effect me going to Uni? Are there any Vets out there who can describe what their Job is actually like?
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There's no rush! :) We have quite a few post grads (so all 21+ at time of entry) at my uni, as well as those who've taken a gap year (or two, or three!) and none have had any problems integrating with the younger students, or struggled more with the work because they're older (we all slog along cursing certain lecturers regardless!) In fact, being that little bit world-wise has made certain things much easier for me - I took a year out first and worked :)
With regards to your final question, you should find out when you're on work experience at a vets. It varies depending on what kind of practice it is, but like Star said, some cases are good, others are gutting. No two days are the same or predictable.

mynutmeg said:
If you don't feel able/aren't able to get into vet school straight from uni then you can do another undergraduate degree, usually of a science nature, and privided you get at least a 2:1 you can go to vet school as a graduate but it is an expensive way to do it as you get very little support for a second degree.
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I believe you still need AAB at A-levels anyway. Good news for post grads however is that some of the unis (eg Edinburgh) seem very keen on accepting them, purely because they pay so much to study there - £20000+ for four years...
 
Perhaps your calling isn't either job?

A friend of mine us studying Animal Science at uni, I guess this will open a few doors for him to move on to studying to be a vet but also could lead to a other careerto do with animals

Another optionis to have a total rethink and apply for a course like Stud management, equine dentistry etc
 
What Star said about veterinary medicine and vet nursing being two totally different jobs and requiring different people is a very good point, as is the rest of her advice.

The other thing to think about is your chance of employment. Currently there are a surprising number of last year's graduates who haven't been able to find jobs. We recently advertised for a new graduate and got 15-20 enquiries/applications when in previous years we might have had 3 or 4. I think that there are almost twice as many graduates per year now as there were when I qualified. The formation of another vet school is only going to add to the problem.

One of my best friends is a head nurse at an equine hospital and has a lot of responsibility. She only does clinical work - no endless clearing up muck - and is in charge of diagnostic imaging in the hospital. She does a lot of dripping, intravenous injections, she can sedate and radiograph a horse without a vet standing over her (obviously the vet has to do the interpretation). She often rides horses for lameness/performance work-ups too as she is a competent dressage rider. Would something like this appeal? Some practices are a lot more pro-active than others about using their nurses for actual nursing.
 
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