Veterinary medicine timetable

[Vetmedscitimetabke]

My daughter is hoping to study veterinary medicine/science at uni. She is wondering what the timetable looks like in terms of hours per day and what holidays they get. Am I correct in thinking it’s likely to be 9-5 Monday to Friday with maybe Wednesday afternoons off for sport if lucky? I’ve no idea on holidays. I got loads as an undergrad but not as a student nurse (post grad).
Would anyone be happy to share what the timetable is like please? She’s looking at Liverpool and Nottingham as preferences.
Also in terms of financing uni, does your child have time for part time work or is the timetable too demanding? She should be entitled to a full maintenance loan/grant but looking at accommodation costs I’m thinking she will need to get part time work.
TIA.

I'd imagine all universities would be different
I've got a child at Cambridge.
no time to do any part time work
timetable v full with lectures, supervisions, labs and tutorials. And occasional Saturday am stuff too. Can start first thing and quite late at night
def not 9-5 with Wed afternoons off

v long holidays but they have to fit in their EMS during those times

Sorry I should have specified that I mean 9-5 lectures. Placements would be different hours of course with some of them unsocial hours.

This is from their website as an example timetable: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/vet/study-with-us/undergraduate/example-timetable.aspx

Have you managed to get to any of the open days? Each one we have been to have given an example of their timetable, and they’re pretty full on!

Is s/he going to be able to complete the degree without issue? I was horrified to learn of the proposal to close the Vet School

Dd hasn’t mentioned any open days.
I didn’t realise they have timetable examples on their websites, thank you. She’s not really talked about it to me very much.
She’s doing work experience on a Saturday at a local farm but I think she should be getting a part time job to get the customer facing experience she’ll need.

Yes, it's not closing for a while, they will graduate before then.

I think general public just get the headlines and not the full story.

Sraff are already leaving though, it's been quite stressful for everyone

My DD is in the same position in year 11 so we are doing research. She’s found that in the first year or so students might be able to work in holiday times but not in term times. Then as the degree progresses it becomes difficult as ems placements take up a lot of holiday time. Also these placements often involve arranging accommodation if not local so this is also an additional cost. I started saving a few years ago but it’s gonna be a costly 5 years 😩

Universities publish their term or semester details: very easy to google:

https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/term-dates/

Remember that university "holidays" are recesses from lectures. Students will generally have assessments, work & study to do over the breaks from scheduled classes. I'm in the humanities & we always set essays to be done across Christmas & Easter breaks.

I heard a detailed discussion on a veterinary podcast.

What was the podcast?

I think the timetables won’t help much. My DD did vetmed. She had either lectures or tutorials or practicals most days - not all day obviously but her spare time was used writing up notes, doing assignments etc. She was quite hard working and graduated with a first.

The students had to arrange quite a lot of their own EMS in the earlier years. Later on they got to choose from a list but it was allocated randomly and difficult to plan.

My DD had a gap year and learned to drive and bought a car, which was helpful for placements as it widens what you can do, but not essential.

She managed to do some casual work on and off. This was through my DH’s workplace that took on casuals and she was also paid for lambing that coincided with a vacation. But a regular part time salaried job is out of the question, due to having to spend time away from uni or home on placements.

Timetables will vary massively between Unis and then again depends on which year you're in. It's a lot of contact time though and having a job would be hard as not always the same hours every week (practical sessions will be split into groups).
EMS during holidays also eats into time.

@Parcell yours got a 1st ? Just out of interest what Uni gives that classification for vet med ? Usually just distinction, merit of pass.

@Vetmedscitimetabke she'll need a few weeks at some vet practices or animal places

Liverpool interview everyone who has the required wex.

The MOOC is v good

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/vet-school-application-support/4

Bristol uni was full time 9-5 lectures/labs

one friend managed a few hours in the student bar and another friend a few hours a week cleaning during term time - most vet students would struggle to do paid work as well.

I did quite a bit of bar work in the holidays which I could fit in at night after EMS placements finished for the day (I did most placements as locally as I could but had to go away for lambing/dairy)

this was in the Bronze Age though

Daughter in Dublin and she’s almost finished . It has been a very intense 5 years . So much practical to complete as well as all the academics. She adores it though . As in lives and breathes it . Hopefully your daughter will also ❤️!

It doesn't seem to have changed much !

DD graduated last year and a few friends worked in the bar and some helped with the milking at Uni farm. But other than that it was too full on to do much more (although they seemed to have a v v good time !!).

What stage is your daughter at? Has she already applied or is planning to this year? As others have said, the timetables will differ at each vet school, but broadly speaking, expect either lectures, practicals, or tutorials every day for most of the day and most have Wednesday afternoons off for sport. There are random free periods here and there but often depends on when your group is doing a particular practical so not always much notice as to when it will be,making it difficult for fitting in a part time job. Financially, if she is likely to get a full loan, she should be able to cover accommodation out of that if she budgets well. Long ‘holidays’ but the EMS requirements are full on, meaning that many weeks of the long holidays are spent on placement, again, meaning that fitting in part time summer jobs is quite tricky unless very flexible hours. Tutoring often works well as they can choose what hours to fit in around their studies.

She’s in year 12. They run a medics, dentists and vets course at her college but so far she’s not achieved the grades to get on it. Her GCSEs were all 7-9s but college is proving a different kettle of fish. She’s not mentioned open days at all since going to college. We were going to go to Aberystwyth last year but she changed her mind and is thinking about Liverpool and Nottingham. She’s not visited either and has never even been to Nottingham. She did think about Cambridge but if the school is closing then that’s out. She doesn’t want to be too far from home (North West England) and Liverpool and Nottingham are equidistant from us. She needs to focus because application time will come around fast.

If she’s in year 12 and wants to apply in October yes she will need to get visiting universities soon and looking at work experience and grade requirements. My dd is in year 11 and is starting on her work experience now so she has the required hours. Liverpool want three weeks and some of this has to be in a vet practice and some in other animal settings. I think Nottingham want 5 weeks if I remember correctly so it’s a lot to get in a short period of time. Your dd may well be sorted with all that but worth looking on their websites. We had to book work experience 10 months in advance in two vets as they get so booked up. There are also foundation years if grades are proving tricky to get. My dd is aware that science at gcse is a bit of a different kettle of fish to A level so we shall see how she gets on. Good luck to your dd!

She’s volunteering at a farm on a Saturday but has only done around 7 days so far. No vets locally will take students until they are at uni.

@Vetmedscitimetabke please tell her not to have favourites. If you get one offer that's good and you need to be pragmatic as being a vet is the goal. I've put the wex required for L and N on here so make sure she has this as otherwise it's a straight rejection. Her GCSEs are good enough so not sure why her college are not helping - AAB/AAA grades needed. It's a tough application process as there are 10 applicants for every place so making sure you are as clued up as can be is v important.

Then you'll need to look further afield. The minimum wex is not negotiable I'm afraid.

@Vetmedscitimetabke as you are up in the North West, UCLAN is worth a visit; their work experience requirements aren’t as prescriptive. They have very impressive facilities.