Veterinarians in the US train by completing a 4 year (different to the UK where undergrad vet courses are typically 5 years) DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) course. This is a post-graduate training program which is, again, different from most UK vet training.
The following colleges offer veterinary courses in the US:
Work-experience is still the most reliable way of being sure that training to be a vet is what you really want to do, as it lets you see and experience first-hand exactly what you’re letting yourself in for by choosing a veterinary career. In spite of the challenges associated with securing placements, it is a vital part of your vet school application and should be taken as seriously as your academic work. This means careful planning, determination and showing enthusiasm at every stage. If you really have your sights firmly fixed on a place at vet school then you’ll relish the challenges and opportunities presented by work-experience, and have a lot of interesting experiences to discuss at interviews.
In a word: Yes. Yes, they do. Training a vet is a lengthy and expensive process, and with the competition for places the vet schools really do have their work cut out differentiating between all those students who eagerly submit applications each year. They need to feel confident that those applying to study veterinary really truly know what it is they are letting themselves in for, as the commitment from both sides is HUGE! Seeing that applicants have completed a broad range of practical experience goes some way to reassuring the admissions tutors that the student they are reviewing has given the idea serious considered thought and knows, to a lesser or greater degree, what being a vet and working within the profession actually entails. Of course there will still be aspects of the job and career that one cannot possibly glean from a relatively short period of time ‘seeing practice,’ but the surprises should be far less marked than if people simply decided to apply to vet school on a whim convinced that the job simply involved petting puppies all day.
Excellent question. The answer is a broad range of different placements is best as opposed to weeks and weeks of one type. For example, two weeks spent at a small animal practice, a week at a dairy farm, another at a riding stables, and another couple shadowing a large animal vet or doing some lambing will be far more informative and useful experience than spending 8 weeks following around the world’s greatest small animal surgeon. At the end of the day the vet schools are not looking to offer places to students who already know all there is to know about veterinary – there would be little point in trying to educate such accomplished people anyway! Seeing evidence of understanding across a broad spectrum of professional functions is the key, as this will enable applicants to speak about their experiences and lessons learned with conviction.
Basically by asking. The overused cliched saying of “If you don’t ask, then you don’t get” is absolutely spot on. Do your research on a particular placement provider, for example by checking out their website, and ideally ascertain who it is you need to write to/ speak with that can make the decision as to whether or not you can do a placement with them. It might be the owner, for example, or maybe a junior member of staff who has been charged with the role of work experience coordinator. Find out who you need to contact and please ensure that you know how to spell their name correctly for the purposes of writing to them. A few rules for securing a work experience placement:
Simple really. Thank them. Again, a well written letter goes a long way to showing your gratitude and is always well received. A decent cake or some biscuits on your last day probably won’t hurt either 🙂 The other key thing to remember to do following your placement is to request a reference to be written, preferably as soon after finishing as possible whilst you’re as fresh in everyone’s minds as possible.
Work Experience is not only an essential part of any serious application to vet school but is also often good fun, so do remember to HAVE FUN and ENJOY YOURSELF.
(Remember to check out Vet School: Part One for an even more extensive look at Work Experience)
Anyone who has read my books will know that I took a Gap Year before starting vet school in Bristol and absolutely loved it. In fact I would go so far as to say it was one of the most important years of my life in terms of preparing me well for life away from home as a confident, self-reliant student whilst at university. I had, however, been set to go straight from A-levels into the vet course but when results day came around I suddenly had this overwhelming sense of needing to press the pause button and just take a breath for a bit before diving head first into several years of intense training and a major life change.
Thankfully, Bristol was open to the idea of me deferring – in large part due to having been oversubscribed that year from what I understand – and so I had the green light to go off and fill a year before taking up my (now confirmed, phew!) place the following Autumn.
So….. what to do? I had been so used to having a structure to my days and a firm, fixed goal in mind – do well in exams, get grades, go to vet school – and yet now I had a blank slate on which to create something. Where on earth do you start?! I had initially advised the university that I intended to spend the year working, primarily in order to save money to pay for what I knew was going to be a very expensive stage in my young life, and complete some more work experience, perhaps somewhere overseas. Other than that basic ‘plan,’ if indeed that’s what you could call it, I was clueless.
When contemplating the unknown it’s never a bad idea to do some reading and see what others who have trodden a similar path before you did and look for inspiration from them. I guess that’s what you are doing when you read Vet School, for example. So, a trip to the library and a pile of ‘Gap Year’ titles was the result. This was, however, all done against the backdrop of finding a job as I knew that whatever I decided to do I would need some dosh. Agency sign-up complete. Rather dull but regular office temping job secured. Now time to do some dreaming and planning.
It quickly became apparent to me that the idea of spending an entire year just working for the sake of saving was about as appealing as documenting paint drying and I started to get those classic twinges that come with the travel bug. I had always enjoyed seeing new places but until then my experiences were very very limited indeed. I had never really traveled properly or been out of Europe, unless you count my time as a foetus in Florida or my first 3-4 years in South Africa, of which all I can really recall is hiding out in a large laundry basket (odd what you remember!). As such, the world very much was there to be explored. But where should I go? What should I do? Should I be going off and engaging in some selfless charitable work? I quickly decided that the cost alone of signing up for some of the expeditions on offer was prohibitive and would only have enabled me to spend a very short time ‘traveling.’ Well, I knew I wanted adventure and I was sensible enough to realise that chucking myself in at the very deep end of the global traveler experience might have been a little much. My dad had, for a period in his hairier days, spent time living and working in New Zealand and so I had always been a little intrigued by the land of the long white cloud. A little research later and it was confirmed – New Zealand was perfect!
It was English speaking, which as a first time traveler made me feel a little more confident, far away so as to feel like I really was going on a huge adventure, and had so many options for doing crazy, nutty, adrenaline-fueled activities that it was as if it had been designed as an adventure playground. I had always wanted to try skydiving and bungy jumping and skiing, and all of the other such sports that Kiwis just get to do almost as a matter of normal life. With the where confirmed, I then did some more research and discovered that you could apply for a working holiday visa for a year. Perfect! Adventure that was going to pay for itself. Rather than jump on a plane myself and jet off into the unknown I did, again, think somewhat sensibly and found out about an organisation called BUNAC, who ran trips out to various parts of the world, including New Zealand. The advantage of booking through them was that they helped with every aspect of putting the trip together, from the important work visa, to booking flights. The most important reason, however, for electing to go through an organisation rather than be all independent was that a) I got to travel out to New Zealand with a diverse group of like-minded individuals from all over the UK, providing not only some semblance of reassurance – remember, I was a fresh faced naive wee young thing from Norfolk, UK – and a great social circle from the get-go. Meeting so many interesting and varied characters at the very start of the adventure was a great introduction to the experience of truly traveling and being somewhere new and embracing the rich experiences on offer – much like starting university where meeting and getting to know new and unknown people is so vitally important. The other advantage of traveling with an organisation was that I had a known support network in place once in New Zealand. Although my time in the country was ultimately very independent and I soon headed off on my own adventures, I knew that should things go awry then I had the backup of a team of professionals in the UK and Auckland in New Zealand. The other advantage was that I often ended up bumping into many of my original ‘BUNAC buddies’ during my travels round the country, which was lovely.
I guess the take-home message here is to a) have some idea of what you might like to do during a Gap Year – is there anything you’ve always wanted to do? Anywhere you’ve always wanted to visit? A Gap Year is the perfect time to indulge in such dream activities. However, the other thing to try and remember is to b) keep an open mind – do some research, talk to people who have had Gap Years and this way you’ll be surprised at how much inspiration and how many ideas you can generate that you wouldn’t originally have come up with. A Gap Year is, ultimately, a very personal experience and it is very much your blank slate on which to etch on to. Of course, if you’re planning on taking a Gap Year in order to resit exams or apply/ re-apply to vet school then there are some restrictions. Having said that, it is still a great chance to organise something unique, perhaps a “golden ticket” work experience placement.
As I mentioned, I had intended to enter vet school straight after my A-levels and so I guess I ended up deferring by rather unorthodox methods. I think the chances of being able to do the same are slim and if you apply to go this year then I daresay you will be expected to turn up this year. The options when it comes to deferred entry are therefore two-fold:
1. Apply for deferred entry – some vet schools will consider applications for deferred entry, the advantage being that you have an offer confirmed and can head off into your Gap Year safe in the knowledge that you have a place at vet school to come back to. Not all do so it is worth checking the latest applications info on each vet schools’ website to see if they clearly state their position on deferment.
2. Take a Gap Year and apply during it – after getting your results you could then take those stellar grades and submit an application for the following year’s intake. Obviously you would then need to be on hand to attend interviews and deal with any other associated administration, such as work experience questionnaires and university accommodation, and finance matters, but there would likely be more than enough time and opportunity – especially once final offers have been made – to indulge in some great Gap Year activities.
I am asked often whether students should mention their Gap Year plans in their application personal statements or not, and my answer is “it depends.” If you have something firmly planned and confirmed, and it is of relevance to your vet school application then absolutely include it. The key with personal statements is reflection and illustrating your suitable and favourable qualities for vet schools so if you have organised a trip to go off and do some amazing experience somewhere, not even necessarily animal-related, then mention it and say what it shows about you (eg adventurous, determined, charitable, eager to educate etc etc). Simply stating that you are heading off to kayak the Zambezi without any further explanation does nothing really for your application, even though on the face of it is awesome. If you don’t have any plans for a Gap Year or they’re just unconfirmed ideas at the moment then I would pause before writing anything. Remember that it is easy to say what you’re going to do – for example, I am “going to” complete an Ironman next year – but universities are only really interested at the end of the day in what you have done as this is all they can realistically and fairly assess candidates on the basis of.
What ideas have you got for an amazing Gap Year? Share your ideas and plans here or on the Facebook page so that others can feel inspired. Some ideas that I can think of to get you started include:
The options are endless…..!
The sun is shining (occasionally), the weather is sweet (yeah), makes me want to move my writing hand…. and produce an awesome application in September.
Perhaps not the lyrics to an epic summer anthem but surely summer is indeed a great time to be thinking of and preparing for the application obstacle course that is soon approaching. It is truly amazing how rapidly deadlines can loom – I only have to think of the ones I impose on myself for writing the newsletter (and have, to my shame, occasionally missed spectacularly) – and the one for your vet school applications will be no exception. In fact, as far as deadlines go it probably represents one of THE most important ones you will have at this stage in your young lives.
So, when is the deadline? Well, when it comes to applications submitted through UCAS to Cambridge, Oxford and professional courses, including Veterinary, the final deadline for application submission is 15th OCTOBER. Go ahead and write that somewhere prominent in BIG, BOLD lettering as it is very very important to keep that date firmly in mind.
Although many deadlines are there to be actually reached, this is one that you should really aim to come well under. In other words, you would be wise to aim to get your application finalised and submitted in advance of the deadline, with the best time to do so actually being when applications start to be accepted, which is September. “Why so early?” you might ask. The fact is that most applicants will leave theirs until the very last minute and as such the admissions tutors at the vet schools literally receive huge tsunamis of applications close to the deadline. They only have a finite amount of time in which to carefully read and appraise each and so naturally the time available to really appreciate your carefully crafted masterpiece is limited compared to much earlier in the process.
If you had a million and one (thankfully not literally) applications to read through you would be very keen to skim read and quickly assign submissions to either the “yep, lets interview them” pile or the “nah, not feeling it” pile. You have a much higher chance of being in the former the earlier you submit, in my opinion, purely due to fact that tutors will be able to spend a little more time actually reading your statement properly, thus enabling all of the wonderful things there are about you and your prospects as a future vet to be fully appreciated, much like taking the time to really savour a fine wine as opposed to quickly glugging it down.
Okay, so you know that you should aim to get your application in early. What next? Well, planning and writing is the key step here and this time of year is the perfect time to start doing both. How do you write a masterpiece? Funnily enough authors tend not to just sit down and have a bestseller flow effortlessly from their fingertips in the first sitting. They ponder, plan, jot, scribble, cross out, proof read and generally go through several drafts before they are finally happy with the finished product. That, as it turns out, is also the key to a great personal statement. I won’t go into too much detail here about what should be your statement as that is a whole blog post, and actually chapter, in and of itself. Instead, the key take home message here is to prepare yourself adequately for success by starting early and preparing well. The old saying “to fail to prepare is to prepare to fail” is so true but the good news is we can do something positive to avoid it applying to us.
1. Be aware of the character and line limit – as much as you want to tell the vet schools everything about everything, there is only a finite amount of space for you to effectively state your case for why that vet school place should be yours. Being aware of the limit will help you get used to being succinct and to the point.
2. Summarise your work experience to date & identify lessons learned – vet schools want to see evidence of reflection following work experience and not just a meaningless list of placements completed. They want to know that you actually paid attention and identified what important traits go towards making a great vet and why you have shown evidence of such traits. I would advocate taking a large sheet of paper, making a big table and writing down what placements you have done so far, when they were, what key experiences stood out from them and what important lessons or skills you took from them. For example, working with the nursing team to prepare a patient for orthopaedic surgery at your small animal placement may well have highlighted to you the importance of effective teamwork and communication. By tabulating your experiences in this way you will also be able to spot at a glance any areas of experience that might need adding to, with time over the summer to hopefully do so. The other advantage is that you have a very simple to refer to summary of all of your work experience placements for when it comes to completing any additional supplementary work experience questionnaires, which some of the vet schools do ask you to complete.
3. Identify skills and attributes that you demonstrate through school and extra-curricular activities – the vet schools are keen to see that you bring more to the table than just an impressive ability to ace exams. What else do you do, both at school and outside of it and what do these activities tell the vet schools about the kind of person you are, and the sort of vet you might make? Again, summarising with the use of a large sheet of paper and a table can really help to pick out the key points when it comes to writing your initial drafts.
4. By all means be inspired by what others before you have written – the key word there was to be INSPIRED, not simply plagiarise. There is nothing wrong with taking a look at what others have written, including their style of writing, the flow of their statements and the kind of information included. What is not acceptable, however, is simply copying the work of someone else and passing it off as your own. Your statement should read and feel like it is actually you speaking and if it doesn’t then it will certainly become obvious come interview time. As I say, there is nothing wrong with gaining inspiration from others and there are a number of sources of previous veterinary personal statements that you may be able to use, from friends or family who have already been through the process of applying to vet school, to the example statement included in my Vet School book, or even to other example statements that become available. We all need a little inspiration sometimes. This, however, is definitely something to do at an early stage in the writing process as you will want to be focused on your own words later down the line.
5. Write drafts, scribble notes, read and read again – it is highly unlikely that you will produce a perfect statement on your first attempt so several drafts are to be expected. Write something initially, read it and then you have the basis for tweaking. The earlier you start this process then the easier it will seem and the better the results you will see.
6. Do a little each day – the cumulative effect of spending small amounts of time each day working on a project, such as your personal statement, can be incredible and I guarantee that by applying yourself in this way, as opposed to panicking and trying to bring everything together in one last minute mammoth effort, will lead to you producing better work and feeling much happier in the process. Don’t worry if it feels as if you’re not achieving huge amounts initially – that’s the beauty of cumulative effort: it adds up over time to a big, impressive result. Why not start or end each statement preparation session with a short period of reading up on scientific and veterinary current affairs, thus applying the same cumulative principle to your interview preparation. It will barely feel like work.
A few sage bits of advice I am sure you would all agree. The hard bit, however, will be implementing them and practicing what I preach. It will be worth doing so though. Good luck and enjoy your summer – you’ve earned it!
Okay, so you know WHY you need work experience in order to apply to vet school, you know WHAT placements you should be looking to get, but the big question that is likely forming in your minds right now is HOW to go about actually getting said placements.
Applying for and successfully booking work experience is not rocket science – trust me. However, it does require a high level of organisation, forethought, planning, targeting, meticulous attention to detail and, most important of all, follow-through.
Ok, so from the top:
The first thing you should do is have some idea of the breadth and type of placements that you want to complete as a minimum. You can find details of what constitutes this minimum in the earlier work experience post, or in the book. Once you know WHAT you need to achieve, the next step is to sit down and work out how much TIME you have available in which to fit in work experience. If you’re starting nice and early and have a few years in which to gradually build up experience with animals and vets then great. However, many of you will have decided you want to be vets either around the time of your GCSEs (or equivalent) or A-levels (or equivalent), and so many only have a finite number of school holidays in which to fit placements around your other commitments. This is why planning how much time you have available is important, as it enables you to identify the really important placements and focus your maximum efforts on securing them.
Ok, so lets say you have a total of 10 week’s vacation time before applying and you know you need to get at least two weeks at a small animal vets and a week on a dairy farm, what next?
Where do you want to do your various placements? You may have no idea, and that’s fine, but you will need to draw up a list of places to apply to and know why it is you want to do so. There is little point applying a scatter gun, one-size fits all, generic model to applying to placements, as it is less likely to work and will probably just see your email or letter land in the bin. Do a little bit of research on the businesses and establishments that you are planning on applying to, taking note of who it is that you need to address when applying to do placements – many vets, for example, will have a dedicated member of staff assigned to placement requests so a letter or email directed personally at that person would be a smart move.
If it’s not clear from their website, assuming they have one (many farms, for example, would be unlikely to have a web presence) then jot down their phone number and put in a polite call to ask a) whether they take students and b) if they do, who to address a request to, ensuring that you check any non-obvious spellings of names. One key piece of advice here is DO IT YOURSELF. I personally hate it when parents come in asking about work experience for their sons and daughters. Those same young people wish to be veterinary professionals and so will be expected to interact with people on a daily basis. Why not start that process of development now – you’ll get far more attention and kudos by being the one to pick up the phone or write the letter. Trust me.
You now have a comprehensive list of target placements (do yourself a favour and don’t pile all of your eggs into one basket – apply to several of the same type of placement so that there is a better chance of success with one) and know who to address your email or, preferably, letter. Now comes the slightly dull part: writing them. As stressed before, don’t just write one generic, catch-all letter and fire it out to everyone. It just screams “couldn’t be arsed,” and usually winds up in the bin. Obviously include all the key info on all of them, such as your name, address and other contact information, what stage you are at school, and which dates you are actually available for any placements they can offer. Open the correspondence with ‘Dear [name of the key contact you researched for that placement]’ and introduce yourself. If you have any personal connection with the establishment, such as your pet is treated there, then it can make a nice, personable opening sentence to a letter, but is not essential. State very clearly, but politely, that you are intending to apply to vet school (this is important as it will differentiate you from the applications they will undoubtedly receive from vet nursing candidates and other, general animal experience students. Give some indication of any previous relevant experience, and then state what it is you want (eg I am looking to book a placement with you for two weeks, either continuously or over the course of more than one placement) and the options for when you are free. These two steps are important as they a) enable the person reading the letter to decide straightaway if they can even consider your request, and b) whether they have any free slots on the dates given. Simply saying “I would like some work experience,” tells nobody anything and unless the person reading is particularly generous and hasn’t got much else to do with their time than come back to you with a range of options, it is likely to be too much like hard work to bother with.
Close your letter with a simple thank you in advance, and by saying that you look forward to speaking with them soon. There will be no surprise on their part then when you follow-up your letter or email a few days later.
End your request with a polite sign-off (eg yours sincerely), sign your name and type your full name at the bottom.
Proof read what you have written, thus ensuring any spelling errors are detected and corrected, and that the information, including the addressee is correct. Now, you can send 🙂
It sucks but it has to be done.
This isn’t a description of a good golf swing, but rather the oft ignored practice of following-up on previous correspondence. People are busy and it is not their job to remember to get back to you and make your desires a reality. The simple truth is that most of the time they will have had good intentions of replying to you but life and the busy professional nature of their work simply intrudes and distracts them, resulting in your request inevitably getting pushed further down the priority list.
A simple, polite follow-up email or, preferably, call to the person anything from 3-7 days after they would be expected to receive your letter/ email (remember to allow postal time for letters) is perfectly acceptable and will likely just prompt them to give you the answer you’re longing to hear there and then, or at least a commitment to get back to you asap. Try and time your call wisely though, in order to avoid bothering them when they’re likely to be at their most stretched. That means calling on a Monday morning or Friday afternoon is probably not the best times. Needless to say, if the answer is that they will get back to you and you don’t hear anything for another week, then there is no rule against following-up as many times as is needed. Basically, follow-up until you either get a yay or a nay.
ps: if you get a “no” then politely ask why (if it’s something you can change then you’ll be better placed to do so) and if they could suggest anyone else to try (a personal recommendation/ referral tends to be more successful than a random, cold call).
Good luck 🙂
With the half-term break upon us and many of you either busy arranging work experience placements for the next break or currently on one as we speak, I thought I’d delve into the chapter on Work Experience from the brand NEW Vet School book that I am currently finishing, in order to bring you some helpful advice on how to get the very best from your placements…
There is nothing more aggravating to a vet, or any other placement provider, than having students present who clearly do not wish to be there. I have worked in clinics when we have had work experience students who couldn’t be less interested and it ends up being more work trying to enthuse and share insights and knowledge with them. Thankfully, the vast majority of you are not like this as you are genuinely motivated to become vets and learn from your experiences. That would be the key message here: show an interest. Even if you find some aspects of the placement dull, frustrating, or unsavoury – and you will, especially when asked to help with dirty jobs such as cleaning up muck – remember the end goal and show willing. If we can see that you’re keen then we’re far more likely to put in an effort to explain things to you, get you involved in cases and, ultimately, offer you a unique insight into the profession. There are, however, some limits, which it is a good idea to just bear in mind. The following applies specifically to small animal practice, but the same principles can easily be applied to all placements:
Its never a bad idea to take in cake on your last day – vets, and indeed any work experience provider, are suckers for such things and you’ll well and truly cement your status as ‘The Best Work Experience Student Ever’ by doing so. Some call it creeping, I just call it a nice thing to do. If that’s not your style then no worries – it’s not compulsory 🙂
The main things to do after a work-experience placement are: a) thank the placement, by sending a card or a letter, for example, and b) remembering to follow-up on a request for a reference, if you were not able to obtain one before the end of the placement. The sooner you can get your hands on a reference then the better, as the longer it is left, the greater the chances are of either not receiving one at all or it being bland, generic and basically written for anyone and everyone.
If you are keen to do further experience at a specific placement, then making them aware of this as soon after finishing as you can is a sensible idea. Many students find themselves able to book further placements or agree a long-term work-experience arrangement, such as coming in to help on Saturdays. This is one of those times when the saying “if you don’t ask, then you don’t get” is very apt.
Keep a good, organised and clear record of the placements that you complete, including dates, locations and the main activities you undertook or interesting things that you saw. Such notes will definately come in handy when it comes to completing your applications and especially the supplementary work-experience documents that many of the vet schools ask applicants to complete.
Enjoy your time on placement and use it to gain as much insight into the veterinary profession as you can. Good luck 🙂
Lots of the questions that I receive from you guys relate to work experience, whether it be what experience is necessary through to how to actually go about finding and securing placements. Some ask if it’s even really that important.
The answer to the last question is yes, it is undoubtedly one of the most important factors in a successful vet school application and should definately be taken seriously.
How do you really know that you want to do something? The answer is by doing it. You might think that you know what being a vet is all about from watching TV shows, reading vet books and watching your pet’s vet in action on their annual vaccination trips, but the truth is that until you pop the hood and take a look at the mechanics of the car that is your chosen career option, then you’ll not be able to make informed decisions about what is actually one of the most important decisions of your life.
Vets work in many different capacities, from small animal practice to equine to farm, and beyond. Our training is still one in which we are taught, examined and ultimately qualified across the board. If you find that upon starting your training there are aspects of being a vet that you cannot cope with, such as meat production, then you’ll either find the course incredibly difficult to complete or feel compelled to leave vet school, with the heartache and stress of having potentially wasted a number of years of your young life that you could have spent focusing your efforts on a far more suitable career. The value of work experience is in drastically reducing the chances of this from happening by exposing you to the realities of the veterinary profession before you apply. This will either have the effect of confirming your wish to pursue a career as a vet, in which case your application will undoubtedly beam with passionate enthusiasm and wonderful examples of your dedication to and knowledge of the profession, or inform you that it perhaps was not quite what you had first imagined and that your future may lay in a different direction. This is what is mean’t by making an informed decision and is why I believe work experience is the most important aspect to anyones’ preparation for applying to vet school.
Yes, they do. Training you to be a vet is a costly, lengthy process and it really sucks to have students drop out of the course during their degree. By focusing on recruiting students who have shown that they have seriously considered their options and made an informed choice that veterinary is what they want to do, the vet schools significantly reduce the chances of you not sticking with things. The drop-out rate for vet degrees is incredibly low, in large part due to the fact that in spite of it being really tough at times, each vet student accepted their place with eyes wide open to what lay ahead and the prize at the end.
Most vet schools will assess your level of work experience through reading your UCAS application and specifically your personal statement. If they see potential then you will likely be invited for an interview during which you may well be asked to expand on your experiences. Some, such as RVC and Edinburgh, request extra information on your work experience to be submitted separately to your main application.
This is such an important topic that I plan to bringing you more on the subject, in addition to it making up a rather large chapter in the upcoming edition of Vet School. If you have any specific questions about Work Experience, then please contact me via Facebook, the vetschoolsuccess website or Twitter.
The answer is lots. You can, obviously, work as a vet. The true value, however, of a veterinary education is so much more broad-based than this and the fact remains that veterinary degree courses offer one of the most complete, well rounded, multi-disciplined scientific training programmes on offer. Not only are you taught anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, and all of the other ‘ologies’, but you also develop a range of transferrable soft skills, from leadership and project management to conflict resolution and effective communication skills. The transformation that is seen in vet students from when they start university to graduation is staggering, with the vet training system taking in raw talent and drive and turning out well rounded, competent and effective professionals at the end of it.
It is a direct result of this multi-skill training that vet graduates find it relatively straightforward to change from a vet career into other areas, something that many do at some point during their lives for many reasons. I personally know of fellow vet school graduates who decided towards the end of their degrees that they no longer wished to go into clinical veterinary practice, and chose to pursue other career choices. Not one of them found having a vet school training to be an obstacle and all opted to complete their degrees, safe in the knowledge that the vet degree is a widely respected and recognised qualification. Now, you’re obviously dead-set on being a practicing vet so we’ll limit talk of not doing just that, but it is important to realise the broad appeal of the vet degree and take pride and comfort from it.
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“Why do you want to be a vet?” It’s worth getting used to this question now as you are going to hear these eight words countless times as you start your journey toward becoming a vet. So, why do you want to be a vet? Perhaps you’ve grown up around animals, either living on a farm or owning pets, and really enjoy interacting with them on a day to day basis. Its possible that it was an early experience of visiting the vets, either with a new, healthy pet or, as is often the case with those who hear the call, with an ill animal who may have made a remarkable recovery or perhaps been put-to-sleep by the kind and sympathetic vet. Maybe you’re drawn to the sciences and see veterinary as an excellent route into pursuing science as a career option, of which it is an excellent one. You may feel very strongly about animal welfare issues and wish to dedicate your life to helping animals that can’t fight for themselves. You may simply have seen one of the many fascinating, exciting and touching TV shows that grace our screens from time to time and which offer interesting insights into the varied careers of today’s vets. Whatever your initial trigger to developing an interest in veterinary as a possible career, the fact remains that it is ultimately a wonderfully varied, exciting, challenging, intriguing, at times messy and emotional, and rapidly developing profession, with the kind of highs and lows that only ever come with both a medical career and one that brings us into direct close contact with both animals and humans alike.
Its probably worth, at this stage, telling you why I decided to become a vet. My story is one that is fairly typical of many veterinary graduates: I grew up with pets, initially a small family dog, followed by rabbits and a gerbil with a particularly unpredictable mood, called Ernie, and so liked animals from an early age and had visited the vets a few times with said pets. As such, the idea that I could spend my adult life with animals seemed like a pretty good one. I was also a bit of a nerd and am not ashamed at all to say that I liked school, and did rather well. One of the subjects I remember enjoying and being fairly adept in was science, and so the idea of doing something ‘sciency’ that also enabled me to work with animals led me to explore what I would need to do in order to become a vet. The more I read, saw and experienced, the more certain I became that there was simply no other career that I could see myself engaged in. The fact that veterinary was, according to my teachers and some of what I read, one of, if not the, most difficult courses to gain entry onto reinforced my determination to succeed. There are many character traits that vets seem to share and one of them is definately a steely determination and attraction to doing anything that others deem to be “too difficult” or, a particular favourite of mine, “impossible.” The combination of a course that was not only fiercely competitive and difficult to get onto, that offered the chance to work with animals every day and which meant I would be using my science skills and knowledge was impossible to ignore and so I set out down the long path to vet school. In spite of brief flirtations with other career options, namely the Household Cavalry, architecture, stockbroking and for a very short two-weeks, wanting to become a heart surgeon, inspired by a new TV medical drama, it was always veterinary that I was ultimately committed to pursuing. The rest, as they say, is history but one that now sees me qualified and working as a vet, and able to share my experience and advice with you as you set on down the path yourself.
Essentially, a vet is qualified to diagnose and treat disease in animals, and basically is the animal kingdom’s equivalent of our very own doctors and surgeons. Most of us, when we think of vets, will likely see the classic image of a vet in a consulting top at our local small animal clinic, giving our pets their annual health checks and vaccinations, and occasionally seeing them if they are poorly and need medicine or surgery. The truth, however, is that a degree in veterinary is a ticket to a myriad of opportunities and career options beyond those that we classically imagine. Vets are employed in many capacities and across lots of industries, from scientific research, to teaching, to specialising in one specific area of veterinary, such as oncology or surgery, to marketing and sales in businesses, such as pharmaceutical companies, even to protecting the food that we eat and ensuring that it is safe to do so. The vet degree is, at present, still very much a broad-based, all encompassing education, which prepares new vets for future specialisation and any number of different and varied career paths. One thing that is worth developing an appreciation of now, at this early stage, is the fact that you are very likely to see your career change a number of times throughout your professional life and it is always fascinating to speak with vets and hear how their current career is often very far removed from what they saw themselves doing when they were fourteen, or even when they first started vet school. That’s one of the truly incredible things about a career in veterinary: the flexibility that it affords you, both in terms of what you might find yourself doing, but also where you might find yourself doing it, such is the international nature of animals and working with them as a professional. So, if its a career that offers huge challenges, variety, the option to travel and make real differences in both the lives of animals and people, then veterinary may just suit you well.
(If you’re interested in learning more about my own personal experiences of applying to vet school, including top tips, then you’ll enjoy my book)
At this time of year hundreds of prospective young vets converge on the campus at Nottingham University for a week of lectures aimed at providing some insight into veterinary and what being a vet may well entail. It is an event that I have personally been to for many years in a row, both lecturing on a range of subjects, from Life as a Vet Student to Cancer in Animals, and The Importance of Taking a Good History, one of my favourite sessions, and in my capacity as an independent source of advice and guidance on vet careers and vet school. My first book, Vet School, had it’s launch in Nottingham back in 2009, and I have been back each year since. This year I return once again to speak with you all and to be on hand to provide advice, much of which is also immortalised in my new book, Vet School Success, which is exclusively available this week. But what advice is there for getting the best out of the week itself. Well, I thought it would be helpful to offer some Top Tips to Vet Lectures:
There you have it, a guide to getting the best out of your lectures this week. Take it easy.