DS announced he wants to do veterinary science

[Lozza70]

After years of wanting to be an airline pilot DS who is currently doing GCSE’s has announced he now wants to be a vet. What is the best A level combination to do?

at the moment he has Chemistry, Biology, Maths and Spanish in mind.

@Makethetea start of 5th apply to the corporates. It’s first come in job market so early interview more options. And there’s a fantastic Facebook page where independents post their jobs. A v nice man on here told me about it. In the end mines gone for a corporate vets because it’s a large hospital which she wanted. Referral surgeon is her goal ! Equine internships are the most competitive and mixed has been v hard to find this year. It really is badly paid for the job though. And they get clients morning at tu fit being greedy and rich as it costs so much ! The vets don’t get that cash !!

Hi @mumsneedwine out of interest is it equine your dd has gone for? Mine has an equine internship at a large hospital, just wondering if yours has too!

Mine doing small animal, but several
of her friends are doing equine internships. They sound like v v hard work !

@Lozza70 if DS is still interested after your talk about what’s driving this sudden interest and you’re unable to find a vet shadowing opportunity (which I imagine will not be easy), I would recommend watching the Beebs fly on wall doc ‘Vets in practice’. I wanted to be a vet way back when and the show although from the late 90s gives a really good unfiltered insight into the world of trainee vets. Though from the late 90s, I doubt much has changed in the sheer hard work it takes them to train. Would be worth hunting it down on YouTube or some such!

Mine is currently a Vet Med Student.

for it to be an option:
Chemistry is a must, Biology is usually a must.

If he wants to go to Cambridge they now sit the ESAT exam (engineering) that has a compulsory maths section and then you can choose the other science section eg biology, physics or chemistry. So he must choose Maths as well or be at a disadvantage for the ESAT.

Different universities want different things. She did 5 A levels but this is very rare and she did 5 as she did one in Year 11 early. This is not the norm at all. For him I would go Biology, Chemistry, Maths, Physics and do 3 out of those choosing the ones he enjoys.

Mine did Maths (early) then F maths, biology, physics and chemistry and EPQ. But that was for mine and I wouldn’t recommend it. It wasn’t necessary.

If he is equally strong in sciences I would do Biology, physics and Chem (and AS maths if able) or Biology, chemistry and maths.

If he wanted to switch and do any sort of engineering he needs Maths and Physics. He needs to cover all exits.

All of the A levels above are hardcore and not for the faint hearted. Most universities was AAA for vet med and they are looking for other stuff as well.

Mine had 6 weeks of work experience at abattoirs (she was lucky and knew someone who helped her get this) and 3 different small animal vet practices, 1 large animal vet practice and 1 zoo. She also had two weeks of work experience with a consultant (human medical) in a hospital. She also had 3 years of yard volunteering at a local stables and a week of lambing at a farm. She did and organised them herself I wouldn’t help other than to give lifts to and from WE - she needed to organise it. All of these she secured through networking and mainly at county shows. She showed willing talked about her passions and got a named contact and then emailed to say ‘lovely to meet you at the x county show and talk to you about your veterinary practice. Would love to secure work experience with you. Aware you are busy ….. etc ‘…..

Some university have a deadline for work experience and you must have completed it in the last 18 months before applying.

She also did a Gold D of E. Super enrichments for Biology, Zoology and summer schools for Cambridge and access courses. As well as mentoring younger swimmers, house captain roles etc / most didn’t even make it into her personal statement. The school was supportive. They are looking for stuff that relates to your studies. For mine Gold D of E was important she has a physical disability and two of the things she did were about showing physical grit.

School needs to be on board as you need to apply by October in Year 13. Mine had a dedicated teacher who formally did admissions at Oxford for medical and also had 5 staff helping her - Cambridge exam, interviews etc

Some universities have different requirements and all have different weights to different things eg personal statement, gcse, work experience etc

We also warned her the career is not for a faint hearted. The degree is a minimum of 5 years. She is doing an extra year and intercalculation year so it’s 6 years.

interviews and ESAT were stressful. We also warned ours you need one interview and one place and to have a back up - you can only apply to 4. She agreed and we had a back plan if no interviews then it was a year on work experience and then round2. She got 4 offers but that if pretty unheard of. We weren’t expecting it.

I believe they weren’t looking for grades of her predicted. Yes they want academic but they are looking for

• do you know what you are getting into
• do you know the hard bits (eg putting animals to sleep) abattoirs etc are relentless
• have you got resilience
• have you got grit
• have you got empathy
• can you work as a team
• can you make difficult decisions

I don’t know what previous posters are saying. Every one graduating this year from her uni has a job already lined up - that EMS and networking. You can also work anywhere in the world eg Australia, South Africa, America etc as our vet qualification is recognised in their country.

Now is a great time to study. In 5 years - end of their course. All the lockdown pets are 10 on 2030 and will need more care. You are go into conservation, small animals, large animals etc

she secured 4 offers and got in. Her best friend got 4 offers to do medicine. Her friend is heart broken over the NHS situation and doesn’t wish she had done very medicine she still wants to work with people but sees very very different challenges in each profession. Mine wanted to be a vet for 14 years she considered medicine and did work experience and then went 100% back to vet med.

@mumsneedwine Good luck to your dd, it’s been a long slog. Yes equine internships are ridiculous but a means to an end 😬
Sorry for going off topic @Lozza70 my dd did maths, biology and chemistry but debated about Spanish and I think it’s a good choice instead of maths. As everyone says it’s a difficult road, especially with the extra work required in holidays which is exhausting and expensive. You definitely need to be fully aware of what both the course and the job involves.

It a great profession. It’s not poorly paid no matter what others have said. The lowest starting salary is £40 K for DD friends and it quickly rises especially when you are a partner or have your own Vet practice. I know of no poor vets. It’s hard though and not a job if you aren’t full of grit.

He still has time to organise work experience despite what others are saying, unis don't want years of experience and often it's wanted within a certain timeframe, ie last 18 months before applying.
look everywhere, agricultural colleges often need things doing over summer months, wildlife rescue places (my DC did this during A levels every week which really added to their weeks needed )
Your son needs to really research himself on all the uni websites to see most current requirements etc and not rely on what you read online or other places.

FWIW, my DC was predicted and achieved 3 A stars (chem, math and bio) had 4 interviews and ended up with 1 offer. Just about to finish 2nd year.

Cambridge admitting vet students for 26/27
And I'm sure beyond that! 🤞🤞🤞

Excellent advice here! My DD qualified 7 years ago so I'm a bit out of the loop on what the unis want, but I wanted to say was she loves her job and can't imagine doing anything else. She's a small animal vet in a fairly small, but corporate backed, practice. Salary wasn't great to start with but climbing steadily. No out of hours work. The first few years after qualifying can be pretty stressful,as it's a lot of responsibility and they're still learning. I love seeing how confident she is now (having said that she has a near miss with a patient's surgery recently which kept her up at night! All turned out ok thank goodness).

The importance of decent work experience is key - they need to be able to refer to what they gained from it in their personal statements.

I'm surprised to hear a few people say it's tricky getting work - I was under the impression that there's a shortage of vets.

Good luck!

Yes they are and getting themselves sorted. I would weigh it up though. Read the reports. Cambridge did not have a good inspection.

@ramonaquimby Cambridge course post 2026 is being discussed. They’ve lost RVCS accreditation so it’s a right old mess.

@zizza there is a massive shortage of vets. There is also a shortage of money.

Yup, know all this. DC is at Cambridge

@zizza yours must be at a c small vet school if you know the destinations of every student ! Corporate jobs are down by over 40% this year.

@ramonaquimby have they sorted out finals this year ? Are the 5th years having to take an extra exam - I feel so sorry for them being caught up in this mess.

They haven't actually lost this , they have been granted conditional accreditation. But one to consider carefully for sure

@zizza sorry that was meant for flaky. Not sure how a parent knows the employment status of 150 other students 🤷‍♀️

@ramonaquimby the RVCS said if they had not accreditation sorted by May they could not give the students membership unless they sat the international exam. I really hope it’s been sorted for them - my DD has not wanted to ask friends there. They all get so close at AVS weekends.

And doctors do earn a lot more than vets (I have one of each). Still rubbish pay for both though.

I’m sure it will be fine but be aware if applying there

https://www.bva.co.uk/news-and-blog/news-article/bva-calls-for-meeting-with-cambridge-university-over-future-of-vet-school/

My DD is a recently qualified vet, she started her degree in Bulgaria and later moved to Poland (but already had a BSc and Masters from the UK). Quite a number of British and Irish students take that route.

I’m not a vet, but someone very close to me is a senior & vastly experienced small animal vet who is currently working for a corporate. She has very few good things to say about what the job has become and in recent years she has seen many idealistic new graduates become very disillusioned and very unhappy very quickly.

Veterinary practice has been completely transformed in the last 20 years by the corporate takeover of the industry. I suggest he speaks to some vets before he begins the process of applying. Strong academic results are essential, but on their own are not nearly enough. He absolutely needs to get as much work experience as he can, as soon as possible, so he can begin to understand the realities of the job. Particularly if he hasn’t grown up around animals.

Yeah finals finished about a month ago for the 6th years (they have to intercalate in Y3)

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