Top Tips for Students & Parents Applying to Veterinary Medicine
Advice for Students applying to Veterinary Medicine
1. Start at the Bottom and Work Your Way Up
Securing work experience at veterinary practices can be tough, but it's crucial. Begin by gaining basic animal husbandry skills in settings like catteries, kennels, stables, or farms. Learning how to handle animals and recognise what “normal” looks like is a great foundation. Once you have this experience, ask your supervisors if they can recommend local vets or write you a letter of recommendation. Getting a placement through recommendations is often much quicker than cold emailing unfamiliar practices.
2. Consider Both Sides of Every Argument
There are many controversial topics in Veterinary Medicine and Farm. For example, if an owner asks you to euthanise a healthy dog, your first instinct might be to say "no." However, it’s important to consider the situation carefully—sometimes animals are euthanised due to behavioral issues, changes in their environment, or because the owner can no longer afford them. Understanding the complexities of these situations will help you think critically, and prepare you for the ethical questions you may face in your vet school interviews.
3. Keep a Work Experience Diary
As you gain work experience, make sure to write down your observations and reflect on them. Keeping a detailed diary will help you remember what you’ve learned over time. Look up diagnoses and treatments you've seen during your shifts to deepen your understanding—this will make it easier to recall specific examples when you’re asked about them in interviews.
4. Writing a Personal Statement for Veterinary Medicine
Writing a personal statement can be daunting. Start by making a list of qualities that define a good vet—such as empathy, strong communication skills, and the ability to prioritize. Then, provide concrete examples from your work experience or day-to-day life that demonstrate these qualities. Avoid simply listing work experience—admissions officers will already have this information, so focus on how your experiences have shaped you into a strong candidate for veterinary school. For me support with this visit the we run online 1-1 sessions.
Advice for Parents of Veterinary Medicine Applicants
1. Keep Track of Deadlines
Students applying to veterinary medicine often juggle numerous responsibilities—work experience, homework, and application writing. Parents can help by ensuring that all deadlines are marked on the calendar. The UCAS application deadline for vet school is earlier than other programs, and missing this deadline could result in the application being dismissed. Other important dates included submission of work experience forms, supporting questionnaires and if applying to Cambridge university the admission tests application.
2. UCAS, UCAS, UCAS
UCAS is the portal for university applications in the UK. Students can apply to five courses through UCAS, but only four can be for veterinary medicine. The fifth application should be for a subject with lower entry requirements, allowing your child to have an alternative option if they don't achieve the required grades. If your child is only interested in veterinary medicine, some universities offer pre-vet courses that can count as the fifth application. These courses lead onto or provide an automatic interview for the veterinary medicine degree.
3. Visit the Universities
Different vet schools have their own unique strengths, environments, and teaching styles. It's important for both you and your child to visit potential universities before the interview process. This helps ensure that they’ll be comfortable with the location and people, and prevents surprises when the interview day arrives.
4. Seek Guidance When Needed
We are always happy to offer help and advice to both students and parents about the veterinary school application process. If you’d like assistance, don’t hesitate to get in touch via our contact page.
Additional Opportunities
If you’re looking to gain equine and farm animal veterinary work experience, consider our Pre-Vet Course running in August 2025. This course is designed to give students valuable hands-on experience in farm and equine veterinary care. Alternative consider our 1-1 online support sessions.
Good luck with your veterinary school applications!
What to expect from Stud Work Experience: Foaling Complications
Foaling is a stressful time for everybody involved and when it goes wrong it can have catastrophic consequences. This blog is about mares developing colic post foaling; one of the mares a Skelwith Stud developed severe post foaling colic resulting in Maeve the foal becoming an orphan. The blog talks about why post foaling colic occurs and how you approach rearing an orphan foal.
What is Colic in Horses?
Colic is a term used to describe abdominal discomfort in horses, which can range from mild to severe. A horse experiencing mild colic might show signs such as going off its food and repeatedly watching its flanks, while a more severe case could involve the horse violently rolling around in pain, even after receiving a large dose of pain relief.
Colic can occur at any stage of a horse's life. However, certain causes of colic are more frequently associated with foaling mares, making this a particular concern during and after birth.
Katie (right) and Maeve (left) playing in the field together.
Three years ago, at Skelwith Stud, we had a case of post-foaling colic. Sadly, in this case, Liz had to make the heartbreaking decision to put the mare to sleep because she was too poorly to be transported to a referral hospital. We attempted to find a foster mare to raise the orphan foal, Maeve, but unfortunately, we were unsuccessful. Maeve was hand-reared and fed every 4 hours until the time she would have naturally been weaned.
Maeve was a bit lonely in her first few days of life, so Katie, the Shetland pony—very kindly donated by young Poppy Launder—joined Maeve to keep her company.
Young Poppy Launder enjoying a riding lesson on Katie with Liz whilst Maeve encourages her rising trot.
The mare suffered from a torsion of the large colon. Foals take up a large volume of space within the abdomen during pregnancy. After foaling, the abdominal organs move back into this space; however, in the case of our mare, her large colon twisted during this process. A colon torsion is an equine emergency. In cases where the twist exceeds 270°, the venous drainage and arterial blood supply to the colon are impaired, resulting in a breakdown of the mucosal wall. This breakdown allows bacteria and bacterial toxins to enter the bloodstream, causing a widespread inflammatory response throughout the body, known as endotoxemia.
However, this story does have a happy ending… Maeve, the foal, is now all grown up and has traded her field for an arena. She has now outgrown her loyal companion, Katie!
If you would like to learn more about breeding horses and stud medicine make sure you register an interest in the Equine Breeding and Stud Medicine Course; and if you do come and visit us you will have the opportunity to meet Maeve for yourself!