Vet Med 2027

[VetMedMum]

Any parents out there whose kids are looking at Vet Med for 2027 entry?

No vets or medics in our family so it’s all new to me. She is progressing with her work experience, but it’s all starting to get a bit real now…

School have them draft their PS in June so they are ready to submit early in Autumn 2026.

Booked 5 open days so far 😬

Can you go there yourself and ask for it? IIRC, Liverpool required a form filled out by the place that provided WEX. We drove around the work experience places with the form or posted if needed. But Edinburgh and Glasgow only wanted the name, address, date etc. Not all of them require a direct reference though I assume they do spot checks so I wouldn't make anything up.

@Onthesofawithmydog Liverpool is the only university on my daughter’s list that requires references. She has used their form. She did work experience a couple of years ago at a stables, before she knew to collect references. Fortunately she still rides there so it wasn’t too much of a bother getting a reference.
Which universities will your daughter apply to? I think RVC and Aberystwyth are the only other 2 that require evidence, but that has to be within 18 months of application so the wildlife centre wouldn’t count. If she has Liverpool on the list then use their form - your daughter can fill all the details (dates, description of duties, address etc) and it’ll just need signing.

@follygirl my daughter is wondering how your daughter found the travelling between the city campus and Leahurst. As far as we can remember, most of the lectures are held at the city campus in years 1-3 but the students do travel to Leahurst for animal handling every week?

We didn’t get to see Leahurst as they only do visits on offer holder days but she liked the city campus.

@Nella68I will check with my daughter but I don’t think she went every week. When she did go, the Uni provided a coach. I know in the first term they went a few times to check that they were competent enough to start doing their animal handling placements which they do for the first 2 years. I believe my daughter’s year is the last one with the higher requirement of weeks completed.
I will check in with my daughter though in terms of how she found the travelling.

She is only year 12 so not sure yet but probably Bristol, Nottingham and Surrey and then either RVC or Liverpool. We are south west so she def won’t want to travel further afield. Oh I didn’t realise there was a form. I will have a look. I just found a list of accepted formats and we have asked for the references to be in that format which they are. She will have more than enough so maybe don’t need to worry about the wildlife one, which she did in year 10 and yes won’t count for RVC.

I get that but if they call her and she manages to pick up the phone (shock!) won’t she just verify that my daughter did work experience there? I’m not lying! She did write a confirmation on the schools form but that wasn’t in the right format for unis. I just don’t see the issue in writing my own letter in her name tbh. 🤷‍♀️

@Onthesofawithmydog the form is on page 5 of this document. https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/veterinaryscience/pdf/admission/evidence-your-work-experience-E2027.pdf

Liverpool will accept references in another university’s format, but I can’t see that RVC will do the same. It’s probably easier to stick with RVC’s requirements- but your odd wildlife lady might be willing to sign the Liverpool one!

Ah great all her other ones are emailed from the companies email address so they aren’t on the form but they do match the examples that Liverpool give. Perhaps one day I’ll make the 1.5 hour round trip there and see if she’s there to sign the form and hope she’s not out collecting hedgehogs!!

Anything that shows breach of any kind of integrity will get you banned from the course. It's v risky. The owner will be asked if they wrote the reference. They say no. You are an automatic rejection.
I'd drive there and speak in person.

@Onthesofawithmydog I can see why you would be tempted- as you say she has done the work experience; however it would be a disaster if the references were checked! As in human medicine probity is a vital part of the profession.

I was talking to parents of one of my daughter’s friends who is applying this year too. He hasn’t done enough weeks for Nottingham but when he and his parents found that they don’t ask for evidence, they openly admitted that he’s planning to make his work experience up. I was horrified and hope he gets caught out if interviewed…

Oh gosh thats not good. Tbh she will have more than enough work exp as she has 2 and a half weeks in a vet, about 2 weeks lambing and will be doing another week in a zoo, along with volunteering every week with young kids and a part time job. so she wont really need the extra reference from the wildlife place, where all she did was clean up poo in all honesty.

Your daughter will have more than enough! My daughter shadowed a vet for a morning doing cattle TB testing but didn’t get any evidence, so she’ll just leave it off Liverpool’s form.

He hasn’t done enough weeks for Nottingham but when he and his parents found that they don’t ask for evidence, they openly admitted that he’s planning to make his work experience up. I was horrified and hope he gets caught out if interviewed…
I really do despair. A cheating vet-to-be is highly disconcerting, it's morally so wrong and some like that will maybe get their hands on unwell animals. 😢

I also hope he gets found out. All unis should have a reference system ideally in a standardised format.

Desperately unfair to those with integrity who have worked hard to get work experience. I hope he's found out too.

Almost the same Universities as DD. She was in Edinburghfor the Open Day last week and adored it and DH was blown away by the facilities as well. What did your DD think? Liverpool Open Day next week so I hope she likes that as well.

On the wex data it is crazy they are all different, you'd think that submitting the references could be standardised even if they all still want to have additional pre-interview questions.

All Unis used to ask for them (my DD had to either download them or take with at interviews). Think they now do more spot checking. You'll get caught out at interview I'm sure as they'll ask a question about the wex.

Has anyone's DC tried to log onto the Nottingham portal yet? We got the email last night but the link from the log in link goes to a "this page is intentionally blank" site.

@TonysGotANewMotor I’ll ask my daughter later. She said that she had been sent a few links to various university portals but not sure about Nottingham.

@FruAashild We both loved Edinburgh- the city and the campus. It is so beautiful. Before we visited my daughter was concerned about the journey to and from the vet school each day, but she’s not now.
I’m crossing my fingers that she gets an interview so we can go on another mini break!

It’s a shame with the Liverpool open day that they don’t get to see the Leahurst campus. She liked what we saw of the city. I think if she gets an offer from
them we’ll have to stay for the weekend so she can see more of the city.

Which universities has your daughter listed or is she waiting until after the Liverpool visit?

Is anyone going to the Surrey open day next Sunday? It’s our first one. Any tips welcome or what to do or see. We have the vetmed stuff booked but I don’t know what else we need to see or do.

What age can young people help with lambing season?

@Onthesofawithmydog we visited Surrey recently so it’s fairly fresh in my mind.
It was a well organised visit and you’ll get to see a lot of the vet school and associated buildings. There’s a hall of residence next to the vet building if you want to see that.
We went by train and there’s frequent shuttle buses but the main campus isn’t far to walk from the station.
We allowed about half an hour to get from the station. The talk starts about half an hour after the advertised start time so don’t stress if you are a few minutes late.

We visited the main campus too as well as Guildford.

My dd did it last year aged 15. I guess totally depends on the farmer. Lots of kids and teenagers who live on farms regularly help with lambing so it’s all to do with whether they consider it too much of a risk to have a teen they don’t know so well. In the end the farmer seemed to trust my dd and regularly left her alone in the lambing shed to sort out the newborns. We got in through a friend who lives next door. So helps to have a personal contact I think. Before she started she did a lambing course at a local vet and it was mostly full of teenagers the same age as her, mostly kids of local farmers

You don't need lambing if can't get it.

Thanks for this. We are coming by car so will have to work out where to park. What did you see on the main campus? Did you book any particular talks or just wander? I think she has booked the vetmed stuff from 10-1 or something so that gives us the afternoon.