To think I can go to Uni to become a Vet

[Lilt1992]

Im mid twenties in a dead end job. I was brought up on a council estate with nothing, never had anyone to look up to, never took school seriously but I had potential, all my teachers kept telling me. I left with fairly ok GCSE's. Signed onto benefits by 18 years old and then went into full time work. Now that I have money behind me and I'm older, I'm regretting not going to Uni and getting a career. My dream would be to be a vet and I'm considering studying Veterinary medicine, a 6 year course. I've been doing a bunch of research but my next step is to speak to a Uni or vet surgery to get an idea of how I'll get accepted. However, part of me feels stupid to even consider myself good enough to do it. I'm having these constant doubts. Family have told me that anything is possible. Has anyone else got any experience with something similar?

Thanks @Lonecatwithkitten. We are prepared for that.
Has it been a good choice for you? Also, I'd really rather specialise in large animals. Is this an area of veterinary medicine that is harder to get into these days? I know in our area we have to have a vet for cattle who travels a sizeable distance away as one by one our local vets have either gone into purely equine or Smalls. I imagine being an equine vet is very competitive!

Back before most practices specialised I'd have said go mixed to start with then either stay mixed or move on through an internship. Mixed is still pretty common in more isolated areas (Scottish Highlands/Islands)

Equine is getting less competitive and more opportunities to come in as a new grad, certainly in the bigger corporate practices. However you may have limited experienced vets to learn from.

From a client perception level being confident handling horses is a big thing. Being a mature student also helps if you can act confident - young looking vets definitely suffer unless they are "known".

Farm wise you've got the general mixed practices vs the more progressive ones who have probably picked up a lot of the more modern dairy farms. The old fashioned type would be more reactive (illness/difficult calvings). More progressive practices will do a lot more herd health so probably less focussed on individual animals and more on farm.

There's a pretty decent number of women going into large animal practice now. Smaller hands are often better for lambings although sometimes in a big cow a tall gangly bloke will have the edge purely through reach. I don't think it's that competitive except the big name internships (Lambert Leonard and May). Farm is probably more interesting in an area with relatively low tb than say Devon where everything is on quick retests - I have been away from the west country since the centralised contract came in.

Generally there's a shortage of experienced vets so new grads get a look in where they would not have gone 5-10 years ago.

Working pattern wise, part of the reason for the split is that small animal practices are tending to centralise night/Sunday cover at a hospital location (in house if a group of locations or vets now) so you don't have to do full on call. Farm/equine keep ooh in house and farm can be very full on in lambing/beef calving season.

That's really helpful @randomsabreuse, thank you.
Ha plenty of experience handling horses; I've been a groom for all of my working life, with everything from top flight eventers to stallion handling, foaling and everything in between! Also have lots of experience with cattle, sheep and pigs as my partner has 500 head of cattle, 600 sheep and 40 oinks.
I'd really like to do large animal practice. My whole life has been bound up with the farming calendar and I'm very used to all hours with foaling, lambing and calving. That doesn't bother me at all.

@OrlandoInTheWilderness

Sounds good. Is just a pain to work around with kids and a traditional office job (I'm not the vet...) and obviously completely stuffs up the traditional work evening and weekends to minimise childcare costs wisdom when you can't do 1 in 3 or 4...

As a mature student with serious equine experience you should be attractive to equine practices if that's what you want.

However keep an open mind as you see practice, talk to the vets when you're in the car with them and you will get a better idea of what fits for you.

Vet Science is very competitive. You'll need excellent A Levels in Maths and some science subjects, and quite a bit of experience in working in a vet surgery, animal shelter, farm or the like - and ideally, a combination of all of those.

But you should talk to the few universities who offer Vet Science, and look at their requirements around mature-age students, and prior learning etc.

Yes @randomsabreuse, I agree. Luckily by the time I qualify, DD will be 16 so shifts etc become that bit easier!

@OrlandoInTheWilderness I qualified 22 years ago I had 14 years in mixed practice, but that dog is dead in the South East of England. Cows are so few and far between round here now that the typical large animal vet covers vast areas.
I have had 8 years now in exclusively small animal practice, I was already disillusioned with it ( the abuse, the accusations of profiteering, the nothing being right) and lockdown finally killed any joy I had left. I wrangled with how to keep my staff safe whilst trying to offer emergency and urgent care whilst clients abused us for not cutting toe nails. June has been the very final nail in the coffin clients wanting everything now, not understanding that it is impossible to social distance in the consult room and that those of us who worked through ( covering longer hours) are exhausted and need some time off.
My daughter both adores my job and hates and it has always been this way. She hates that our who,e lives are controlled by my on call rota, but she adores the puppies and kittens. She is not following the same career path as she says it is all poo, wee and sick.
What will I go on and do? I have a post graduate certificate in veterinary business management at distinction - which is rare. I have various irons in various fires to develop a career within the industry, but not in practice.

I agree with some of the more skeptical posters above. Why do you want to be a vet? Because you like animals? Everyone likes animals though, doesn't necessarily mean being a vet is right for you. Competition to get into a degree will be fierce. The study will be grueling. You'll probably wind up with debt, even if you don't pass. And even if you pass, finding a job will probably be tough.

If it's such a bad job then why do so many do it?
Also, I keep getting asked why I want to be a vet, being made to feel like an idiot!

Can I ask why the vets on here, decided they wanted to be a vet? I take it you like animals?

I've been speaking to many outsiders and they can't believe the negative comments I've had on here. I appreciate all the advice, I'm not an idiot and I have done my research into the reality of the job, I know il be dealing with blood, guts, and death. For some sick reason, I honestly believe I can do it after doing further research, and the people being harsh to me on here just motivate me even more.

It's very difficult to get into very medicine. A long time ago now but I had grades higher than needed and lots of voluntary experience but still couldn't get a place. You could look into widening access schemes though, I am sure you have lots of open to you, very medicine is perhaps one of the most difficult though.

@Lilt1992

Im mid twenties in a dead end job. I was brought up on a council estate with nothing, never had anyone to look up to, never took school seriously but I had potential, all my teachers kept telling me. I left with fairly ok GCSE's. Signed onto benefits by 18 years old and then went into full time work. Now that I have money behind me and I'm older, I'm regretting not going to Uni and getting a career. My dream would be to be a vet and I'm considering studying Veterinary medicine, a 6 year course. I've been doing a bunch of research but my next step is to speak to a Uni or vet surgery to get an idea of how I'll get accepted. However, part of me feels stupid to even consider myself good enough to do it. I'm having these constant doubts. Family have told me that anything is possible. Has anyone else got any experience with something similar?

It's one of the most acedemically challenging degrees going and usualy hugely oversubscribed without A levels and good GCSE results I really cant see you getting accepted to a course.

The most comparable profession is a doctor.

What research have you done that didn't include checking uni websites for entry requirements?!
Quite - I was wondering that & becoming more mystified as I read through responses.

Why do you want to be a vet? Because you like animals?
LOL - reminded me of when I first moved to London, I spent a lot of time with an old school friend who was training to be a paediatric nurse at Gt Ormond Street.
One of her cohort, as they were getting to the end of the training, and debating the future, came out with the astounding comment "I really want to work with children, but not sick ones"

Can I ask why the vets on here, decided they wanted to be a vet? I take it you like animals?

I always answer this with “lack of imagination” honestly I wanted to be a vet since I was about 5 and learned what a vet was. Work experience didn’t put me off and I was one of those annoying all-rounders at school who found it easy to get straight As and got multiple offers the first year I applied age 18. Got through uni and here I am 20 years later. Basically never thought of anything better to do since I was 5!

Yes, I like animals. But honestly, that’s not what my job (small animal general practice branch vet) is really about. It’s about people. It’s about developing relationships with clients, managing staff, supporting & mentoring students, liasing with colleagues, ensuring the financial viability of the branch etc. Yes I do medicine and surgery and dentistry on animals, but it is so so so much more than that, that’s not the difficult bit (but it does require that easy-straight-A mind to be able to do well). I’ve known plenty of colleagues who thought that was all we did - I thought that was all we did when I started - get disillusioned or just exhausted and leave practice. Some now do completely different things, some still use their degree working in research or for pharmaceutical companies, diagnostic laboratories etc - no clients to deal with - some go into management or veterinary education - way better hours and pay.

For me, I found I actually thrive off the people aspect. My job is actually about helping people, by looking after their pets, and I love it. But I love it to the extent that it is the primary focus of my entire life - relationships have absolutely suffered because of it, my current relationship is successful as my partner has a similarly all-consuming job so we understand and don’t mind it can be days at a time we barely see each other! It is not family friendly at all, if we decided to have children it would be very, very difficult to continue in my current role. I can’t plan anything in the evenings as I don’t know what time I’ll get home from work. Several times I have had significant episodes of mental health issues, exhaustion/breakdown etc as the job takes a massive mental toll. I lost a colleague to suicide and am well aware that could be a risk for me if I am not on the ball to look after myself. My physical health is also rather shocking, no real time to exercise regularly aside from squeezing in dog walks, appalling diet again due to being very time poor, and various physical injuries sustained at work - some which threatened to end my career. The financial side isn’t great either - it’s taken me until nearly 40 to be able to buy a home and that’s only with a partner and help from both our families (we are in south east though).

As I mentioned above I mentor WE students and every year support a few that impress me through their applications. But I always say they need to not be able to think of anything else they could possibly do with their lives. If there was anything else I could think I’d be happy doing, then it would be a no brainer to switch careers, I’d be healthier and richer and have a way better overall quality of life! But I can’t, so here I am. I think the issue in the profession is that my kind of full-on role is pretty much the norm, but it only suits a small minority of people, and even if we enjoy it, it’s bad for us. The profession does really need to change what our norm is. Long term I am developing a few specialities that I currently integrate into my practice, but so that I could work as a part-time referral specialist in the future. Not easy though as studying at master’s level alongside this job is just ridiculous really!

Sorry that was really long. But hopefully honest and useful.

Why did I become a vet?
I wasn't a natural straight A person I have not fabulous GCSEs and I slugged to get A-levels a land it took 2 attempts I worked for 9 months on a farm in the dales milking cows and mucking out pigs after I retook my A-levels.
I come from a long line of vets some of they very eminent and my family were farmers or race horse trainers. I like people ( a must my disillusionment is due to falling out of love with people), I like animal and I have always been fascinated with the body and how it works even as a toddler I wouldn't allow my Dad to prep the pheasants without me watching.
The clients have changed they believe what we do is easy that a bit of google is all they need and that we over charge for what we do. Yes - I charge a lot per minute for surgical time, but I am a very good surgeon it has taken 22 years to hone my skills and soft tissue wise in my practice I am considerably faster, neater and can tackle more complex surgeries. That is a really valuable asset and why should I not charge appropriately - I am cheaper than friends I was at uni with who are human surgeons or even a film editor.

Hi OP, I’m a careers adviser. You can either do A levels (inc 2 sciences) with typical grades of AAA or take an access course. Applications for Veterinary are difficult, in schools pupils usually start preparing at the beginning of Year 12 to make their UCAS application. You will need to have relevant work experience - criteria differs between the universities but they usually want at least some time with a vet and other relevant such as a farm or animal charity. Some unis ask for a reference from the vet you did work experience with. You will also need to demonstrate wider academic reading (ie not just what is part of the curriculum for A levels or access course). At interview, you are often asked about both of these things. You can totally do this! You just need to plan well - use your contacts, friends, family, colleagues for contacts for work experience. Look online for wider reading lists and academic lectures (the Royal Agricultural Uni have one coming up on Equine Neuroscience). Ensure in your personal statement that you say what life experience you have and how these skills translate to veterinary. Go for it!!

I think the biggest issue with asking the vets on here why they became vets is that the profession is not what it was when they made that decision. DH always says he would have gone into human medicine if he'd been making the decision now, probably looking at emergency medicine.

The reason for asking is because I've watched so many young and enthusiastic students/newly qualified vets become disillusioned and eventually leave the profession (we had quite a lot of regular students stay with us to see practice then join the practice in a previous job).

In the last 5 years corporates have gone from being around to being everywhere. There are now very very few prospects of having any real control over your working environment unless you are very lucky or very loaded. At least one of the corporates considers the manager (non vet, might but not necessarily be a nurse) to be equal to the clinical director - so you have to fight to be allowed to carry enough stock to cater for emergencies and justify why a stitch up takes the time it does... Corporates are also way more expensive do economic PTS is a lot more common!

Please go for this - follow your heart. I have so many friends now in their 40s in jobs they hate because they didn’t follow their heart in what career they wanted and now the money they get in a career they hate is too good for them to want to switch.
I don’t think it matters at your age what GCSEs you got but if they are not what you need I am sure you can find another way. My sister was rebellious and while she studied for her end of year exams high school she refused to sit them (fear of failure I guess). But when she decided to go to uni to do a science degree she took a night school and sat them - she is now graduated and has a job she loves which pays her well enough to have bought a house etc.

the negative comments I've had on here. I appreciate all the advice, I'm not an idiot and I have done my research into the reality of the job

I don't see any negative comments. I see realistic advice, advice about getting back to study at a high level after so many years out of formal education, and information about the competitiveness of getting into the few VetSc degree courses in the UK.

You say you've done the research - what have you learnt about the A Levels required at each university? What have you learnt about the different degree courses available? What have you learnt about the Widening Participation/Access to learning schemes at each of the universities you're thinking of applying to?

That would be research ...

You can start with the UCAS website, to work out what your end goal is: admission to a university Vet Sci degree. Then work backwards from that.

You need a plan:
Information
More GCSEs (you'll need more than you have)
A Levels
A range of work experience

tHinking about how you will support yourself while getting A Levels at A or A*

Realistic advice is not "negative" - you need to be far less sensitive if you take good solid helpful advice as "negative" - learning is about getting it wrong sometimes, and then learning from that, and doing it better next time.

OP, you will repeatedly be asked why you want to be a vet during work experience and at uni interviews - it's a long slog to study for so it's important you do it for the right reasons.

I'd get cracking with finding an access course - if you do your work experience and decide you want to apply for veterinary nursing, veterinary physiotherapy, zoology, biology, whatever instead, you'll still be on the right path. I found that the vets, rescues and farmers I approached for work experience were keener to take students who were on a course too.

I did mine through Birkbeck (actually a certificate of higher education, so Level 4 rather than Level 3), and when I decided that VetMed wasn't the right fit, they let me transfer into the second year of a BioMed degree as my grades were high.

I now have a First, and a place on a graduate accountancy scheme. I also come from a relatively deprived background and am the first in my family with a degree, so I have changed my life, even if it's not the direction I originally set out in!

My plan is to earn enough money to have the lifestyle I want - ideally I'd like to work as an accountant for a charity, volunteer for a rescue and have time for a dog, chickens and maybe a horse or two one day.

Ultimately, for me, VetMed wouldn't have given me the work-life balance I needed, but I had some amazing experiences (like lambing, which was incredible) whilst working that out!

@Lilt1992

If it's such a bad job then why do so many do it?

I'm not sure why you think so many do? Up to 40% of new grads leave the profession in the first 5 years after graduating
https://www.vettimes.co.uk/news/professor-high-attrition-rate-in-new-grads-disappointing/
And the suicide rates are alarming
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-somerset-47283443/suicide-rate-for-vets-four-times-national-average
We have a national shortage of vets - it's on the reserved professions list despite increasing numbers of vet schools and students.
If it's such a good job, why do you think that is the case?

Also, I keep getting asked why I want to be a vet, being made to feel like an idiot!

That's because you've given very little information and are seeking answers to questions on MN when you should be looking at vet school entrance requirements - you aren't coming across as a committed candidate or one that actually knows much about the profession. Additionally comments like the one above shows that you genuinely aren't aware of, or are wilfully disregarding the realities of the profession and you haven't actually done any work experience so I'm not sure what your perception of what the job is based on?

I've been speaking to many outsiders and they can't believe the negative comments I've had on here.

That's because 'outsiders' think vets earn loads of money and fix animals all day. What you've had here are responses from people actually working as vets. It's up to you if you'd rather take the opinions of random outsiders than informed professionals but you may want to spend some time considering why the vets on this thread have been negative.

the people being harsh to me on here just motivate me even more.

All I would say is take some time to gain experience and reflect on the reality. Don't let stubbornness or a lack of imagination give you tunnel vision.

My husband somewhat regrets the stubbornness that made him fixate on being a vet. He stuck at it because it paid the bills as a young grad, back in the days when starting salaries were higher than they are now (ignoring inflation) and you had a flat and car provided by the practice. Flat/house was tax free as well...

It used to be a well paid profession where eventually you got invited to buy into the practice and became a part owner. Then various changes came along and veterinary pharmacies online became a thing, so you couldn't cross subsidise surgery with mark up on drugs and the rules changed so that professional practices could be owned by non professionals, so suddenly the venture capitalist types came along and offered lots of money to the partners who were vaguely contemplating wanting more time and less work, often sold as giving more time to concentrate on 'vet' stuff and outsource the boring accounting, HR type stuff. This removed the possibility of buying in as a partner so you're left doing 50- 70 hour weeks for 35-40k/ year and probably needing a nanny, au pair or parents staying in your house if you have children unless your partner is a SAHP. For mixed/equine you have to live close to work (or stay overnight in the right place) to cover on call in your area - and a lot of the job is easier in a more affluent area (equine bias here) so you're tied to an expensive area on a mediocre salary.

I would say it kind of works if you're married to someone with a good income - part time pays well compared to most part time jobs, and unlike many professional jobs you can more or less limit work (not compulsory training) to your working days rather than the joys of law/commercial work where you get paid 60% of the salary for 90% + of the work... But then the same goes for medical careers.

The veterinary profession is in a mess at the moment, the government is trying to fill a bucket with water, but the bottom of the bucket is more hole than metal, and the government's solution is to get a fire hydrant to add more water (more vets/vet schools) rather than actually try to fix the problems with the profession!

Honestly I'd go down the route of preparing for a science/medical science degree, get as much work experience as possible, see if you can get onto some vet career type Facebook groups, but also think about what you want to do and whether vet is the best way to do that. Would a career in medicine, pharmacy, robotics, agriculture, conservation suit your interests better than the seemingly obvious vet degree/career?

Vet med is necessarily a very tough degree, and will always have tough entry standards because there is so much information to learn - medicine but for at least 5 very different species from obligate carnivores to ruminants, with all the random different reactions to drugs (Donkeys are weird and need totally different pain relief to horses, rabbits are basically a hopping suicide mission). It does have a tendency to attract people trying to prove they can get onto the "toughest" degree, who interviewers will be trying to spot.

OP, try not to be upset by what you think are harsh responses on here.

People on an anonymous forum will tell you their thoughts a lot more honestly than people in real life will. People in real life a lot of the time will agree/encourage but not point out the tough stuff.

Listen to people on here, lots of them have experience of what you want to do! The stuff that's hard to hear is the stuff you need to know. You'll face a lot worse than this as a vet!

"Fairly ok GCSEs" might not cut it.

You'll need top-top A-Level grades in all 3 sciences. You'll need lots of practical, hands on experience with animals (vets, animal sanctuaries, rescue centres, farms) before even applying for university, dating back a good couple of years.

Veterinary Science is probably the most competitive course to get on, and they only accept the academic high-flyers, and those with lots of existing experience.

Here's how it might look:
1 year to re-sit a few GCSEs.
2 years of A-Levels
1 "gap" year to gain further experience.
6 years of university.

To get through the whole system, you're looking at a decade AT LEAST before you qualify.

I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't think it's realistic.