Category Archives: Applications

Work Experience – How do you get placements?

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Farm vet, bannerOkay, 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:

Organisation, Forethought & Planning

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?

 

Targeting

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.

 

Attention to Detail

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 🙂

Wait. Wait some more. Probably wait longer than you’d like.

It sucks but it has to be done.

 

Follow-through

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).

 

Some Tips for letter and email writing:

  1. Ensure spelling (especially the name of the addressee) and grammar are correct. If unsure then ask someone to proof-read it for you.
  2. Try and limit any requests to no more than a single side of A4. Any longer and a busy person is unlikely to bother reading till the end.
  3. Use an easy to read, clear font and make it a decent size (11 or 12 is fine). Again, if they have to pull out the microscope to read your letter, the chances are that they won’t bother.
  4. Expect to send out lots and receive very few, if any, positive responses. The competition for decent placements is fierce and it sometimes just comes down to playing the numbers game. With perseverance and application of good methods there is no reason why you won’t be the one who comes out on top though.

Good luck 🙂

Work Experience – is it important?

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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 be a vet?

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.

 

Do the vet schools really care?

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.

Vet School Interviews – Question Time

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There are several different types of question that you might be asked at interview and although it is impossible to predict exactly what will be asked, you can certainly ensure that you are generally prepared so you know not to panic if you are asked a particularly testing question on veterinary ethics, for example. There are several broad categories into which you can divide most interview questions:

 

Questions that you must prepare an answer for.

These questions are so likely to come up that failing to consider them beforehand would be foolish. They are nice questions – assuming you are prepared for them – as they allow you to settle in to the interview. For example, being able to explain clearly and confidently why you want to study veterinary, and especially at that particular university, will enable you to tackle tougher questions with more confidence when they are asked later in the interview, as you will be in your stride.

 

Questions you will be expected to know quite a bit about from either your A-level (or equivalent) syllabus or from work experience.

This type of question is hard to prepare for specifically and you will need to rely on the academic ability and hard work you have done to date in your studies to help you. Similarly, you should have done a decent amount of varied work experience by the time you are called for interview so try and relax and remember that if you’ve done the basic preparation beforehand then you’ll be fine. This type of question is often expanded to move into the next type of question.

 

Questions that take you out of your comfort zone

You will inevitably get this type of question at interview and they tend to be the ones that students complain about afterwards! Being asked a tough question, or one without an immediately obvious answer, is actually a really good sign as it means that the panel want to stretch you and really see how your mind works. This means that they’re seriously considering you for a place and want to make sure you have the aptitude and attitude for the course. The aim of these questions is for you to extrapolate your current knowledge, either from your academic work or work experience, and apply it appropriately to the question at hand. The important thing to remember when faced with a question to which no obvious answer exists is to avoid getting flustered and either blurting out the first thing you think of or just sitting there like a rabbit stuck in headlights. There is no such thing as an impossible interview question but it is vital that you take a moment to think it over before answering. It often helps to talk through your thought processes as this will enable the interview panel to see how your mind works and they may even subtly prompt and guide you to help keep you on track.

 

Questions that can trip you up.

There are certain questions that offer you the potential to really stick your foot in it if you just blurt out the first thing that pops into your head. We will see some examples of this sort of question later in the chapter.

 

Questions which open up a debate.

These questions have no correct answer and you need to be able to show an appreciation of both sides of an argument and discuss them rationally, before offering your own balanced opinion. Questions on ethics often fall into this broad category.

 

It is the latter type of questions which tend to really help differentiate you from the other candidates and make the interviewers remember you at the end of a long day speaking with multiple students, all of whom will be broadly similar. The course is a lengthy one and they will likely be teaching you for a large proportion of it. As such they will want to admit students who can think for themselves, approach topics rationally and engage in interesting and lively debates rather than just being fact-regurgitation machines. If you are able to be this type of student then you will make their lives far more interesting and increase your chances of being offered a place.

 

Examples:

There are about a million and one questions that you could be asked by the interviewers, and some vet schools seem to have their own unique style and preferences for their interviews. What follows are some examples of questions students have been asked and which may come up in one form or another in your interview.

1. Have you been to the university before?

If you attended one of the open days then say so and take the opportunity to elaborate, for example, by telling them which part of the open day you found most interesting. It is also a great opportunity to tell them if you have been to the vet school or university before in a non-official capacity, for example, to visit a friend who is studying there. This will demonstrate your determination, resolve and resourcefulness in finding out as much as you can about all aspects of the course and specific school. Needless to say, however, if your only visit to the vet school involved a midnight ninja-style climb over the wall then probably best not to mention this!

2. How do you think you’re doing with your exams?

This is a great chance to really sell yourself, so if you’re doing well then say so and highlight that you are working hard. If you’re not doing so well then unless it’s glaringly obvious in your personal statement, referee report or general application then it’s probably better to just gloss over this and reassure them that you are doing well – you don’t, after all, want to offer them any excuse not to offer you a place. If it’s possible try and steer the conversation onto a subject that you are particularly interested in and that has some veterinary focus.

3. Tell us something about your work-experience.

This isn’t an invite to just list your placements – they will have your statement in front of them. What they want from you is to hear what lessons you learnt and whether there were any interesting experiences.

4. Name an interesting operation you have seen.

This will likely be in response to some mention of seeing some “interesting surgery” in your statement and/or if you happen to have a surgeon on the panel. If you specifically mentioned watching a particular type of operation (eg. a TPLO procedure, which is one technique used to manage cranial cruciate ligament injuries in large dogs) then be fully prepared to expand your answer and discuss it with the panel. This does not mean you should go away and memorise chapters from surgery textbooks. Asking the vet who performed the surgery to explain the main principles and being able to understand and relay this information will be sufficient. After all, you are applying to be trained as a vet, not demonstrate that you already know everything.

5. What are the main lessons you have learned from your work-experience?

This is a potential follow-up question to the first and it is important to highlight the breadth of experience you have. Try to make it clear that you have learnt that veterinary isn’t just all clinical and that there are numerous hats that modern day vets must wear, including that of business-person. It is also a people-centred profession so demonstrate your awareness of that fact in your answer. Where possible try to illustrate your answers with specific examples. For example, “When I saw practice with a small animal vet doing a heart scan, I….

6. ”What causes mastitis?

Like the neutering question, this requires a moment of careful thought before just jumping in with the obvious answer, that being ‘bacteria,’ which although correct is not the entire story. Mastitis is inflammation of the mammary tissues and is something we occasionally see in all animals, including pets, but are most familiar with when talking about dairy cattle. It is a particular problem in dairy practice as the milk from cows with mastitis cannot be added to the tank and so represents lost revenue to the farmer. Cows with mastitis also cost the farm money through the need for antibiotic treatment and the fact that they still need feeding etcetera even though their milk is not being sold. It also represents a welfare issue for farms, with nine out of every ten cases currently seen being due to cow-adapted strains of the environmental bacteria Streptococcus uberis. This bacterium enters the mammary gland via the teat canal and ‘hides’ in white blood cells. The main problem is that when the cow is treated with antibiotics, the bacteria remain within the white cells with the antibiotic being cleared faster than the infected white cells meaning that recurrent cases are common. As such, a lot of vets extend the treatment period in cases where Strep.uberis is confirmed, the aim being to ensure that the bacteria emerge into an antibiotic rich environment and are thus killed. The bacteria that cause mastitis can be broadly divided into two categories: environmental pathogens, such as Streptococcus uberis and E.coli, which are present in to the environment; and contagious causes, including Staphylococcus aureus, where it is generally better to dry the cow off than risk having it potentially spread the bacteria to other cows in the milking parlour.

 

For more example questions and extensive advice on vet school interviews, be sure to get your copy of Vet School (parts 1 & 2 available from www.vetschoolsuccess now in both print and e-book format)