Zoology into Veterinary?

jtaylol

Hey.
I'm a current Leaving Cert student, and am hoping to get Veterinary. However, the course has gone up from 565 to 585, and I'm really afraid that I won't get that high. I do work very hard at school, keeping my grades between B2 and A1 and average three hours study + homework during the week and six hours on weekends, but I just dropped to pass maths so I won't receive the extra 25pts. (Still have 6 other honours subjects and LCVP)
Back to the point, I was told that in UCD it's possible to do Zoology for two years and then convert into Veterinary. I've tried to look for information in handbooks but have found nothing of use.
Does anyone have any idea if this is true? Anything is appreciated, through answers or PM's.

beardedmaster

Never, ever heard of anything like that at all, to be honest. Sounds like a complete myth.
If you don't feel you'll get in with your LC points, in my opinion, your best bet is to do a degree in Physiology or Animal Science, or something like that, then apply as a graduate veterinary student, for the 4 year postgraduate-entry degree.

And don't forget with the LC, no matter how hard you work/how well prepared you are/how clever you are, there's always the possibility of things not going well on the day, so be sure to keep all your options open. Don't forget about applying to the UK through UCAS too.

The man in red and black

jtaylol wrote: »

Hey.
I'm a current Leaving Cert student, and am hoping to get Veterinary. However, the course has gone up from 565 to 585, and I'm really afraid that I won't get that high. I do work very hard at school, keeping my grades between B2 and A1 and average three hours study + homework during the week and six hours on weekends, but I just dropped to pass maths so I won't receive the extra 25pts. (Still have 6 other honours subjects and LCVP)
Back to the point, I was told that in UCD it's possible to do Zoology for two years and then convert into Veterinary. I've tried to look for information in handbooks but have found nothing of use.
Does anyone have any idea if this is true? Anything is appreciated, through answers or PM's.

My advice is to study as hard as you can for the leaving cert as that's the cheapest/perhaps easiest route in. You won't get into the graduate entry course unless you get a full level 8 degree and to get into the 4 year graduate course you have to have done very specific subjects in that degree, so doing 2 years of zoology is unfortunately almost certainly a rumour! Bear in mind the cost of fees, if you do one degree and then start vet you'll have to pay fees which will be prohibitively expensive for many as it's one of the most expensive courses in Ireland to run and maintain.

I strongly advise you to contact John Buckley, programme officer for veterinary medicine (http://www.ucd.ie/agandvet/contact.htm) and speak to a vet if you know one! Also don't rule out repeating the leaving cert, it's cheaper than doing a degree and going down the graduate route if it works. It's also worth applying to the 6 UK colleges. I think you can only put down 4 on your UCAS form. They'll base it mostly on an interview and you'll need to do work placement with vets to show you're interest. The very best of luck with this.

seanmacc

It is possible but very, very difficult. A vet friend of mine had a son who did this a few years ago. The courses are very similar for the first two years. He didn't get the points and his father advised him to go this route. He maintanined very high grades in Zoology and Vetenary does have a huge drop out rate but the UCD vetenary department were very reluctant to transfer him over. It took a lot of persuasion from his father to his professional peers to allow him in and he had to make a presentation to the department to show he had a background and interest in the career.

If you don't get the points its not the end of the road. Go out, get work in a related field or do a science based PLC or diploma or do a UCD access course and re apply as a mature student

jtaylol

beardedmaster,seanmacc and The man in red and black, thank you so much, all very helpful. I think my best bet is to just study as hard as I can for the next year and see how it goes. Will take a look at the Zoology thing though, as a last resort.

Raphael

seanmacc wrote: »

It is possible but very, very difficult. A vet friend of mine had a son who did this a few years ago. The courses are very similar for the first two years. He didn't get the points and his father advised him to go this route. He maintanined very high grades in Zoology and Vetenary does have a huge drop out rate but the UCD vetenary department were very reluctant to transfer him over. It took a lot of persuasion from his father to his professional peers to allow him in and he had to make a presentation to the department to show he had a background and interest in the career.

If you don't get the points its not the end of the road. Go out, get work in a related field or do a science based PLC or diploma or do a UCD access course and re apply as a mature student

Looking at the courses online, they don't look that similar at all - How many years ago did your friends son do this, was it pre-horizons?

(The reason the second link is Science Omnibus is that there are no demonominated science courses anymore)

seanmacc

Raphael wrote: »

Looking at the courses online, they don't look that similar at all - How many years ago did your friends son do this, was it pre-horizons?

(The reason the second link is Science Omnibus is that there are no demonominated science courses anymore)

This would of been mid-nineties in the old Ballsbridge era.

For potential vet students bear this in mind

http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/vet-breaking-news/2010/03/25/suicide-rate-high-among-vet-surgeons.aspx

Raphael

seanmacc wrote: »

This would of been mid-nineties in the old Ballsbridge era.

Right. In that case it was pre horizons, things were completely different, and it's now probably not possible to do.

Miss Lockhart

seanmacc wrote: »

It is possible but very, very difficult. A vet friend of mine had a son who did this a few years ago. The courses are very similar for the first two years. He didn't get the points and his father advised him to go this route. He maintanined very high grades in Zoology and Vetenary does have a huge drop out rate but the UCD vetenary department were very reluctant to transfer him over. It took a lot of persuasion from his father to his professional peers to allow him in and he had to make a presentation to the department to show he had a background and interest in the career.

I really can't see this having happened - at least not in the last 35 years. The courses are very different. Also, veterinary does not have a high drop out rate - where is that information coming from? At the very most 2 out of every group entering year one - more often than not it's one or none. Veterinary has one of the lowest drop out rates of all courses. See here:

http://www.hea.ie/files/files/file/New_pdf/HEA%20Study%20of%20Progression%20in%20Irish%20Higher%20Education%202010.pdf

stop animal cruelty

jtaylol wrote: »

Hey.
I'm a current Leaving Cert student, and am hoping to get Veterinary. However, the course has gone up from 565 to 585, and I'm really afraid that I won't get that high. I do work very hard at school, keeping my grades between B2 and A1 and average three hours study + homework during the week and six hours on weekends, but I just dropped to pass maths so I won't receive the extra 25pts. (Still have 6 other honours subjects and LCVP)
Back to the point, I was told that in UCD it's possible to do Zoology for two years and then convert into Veterinary. I've tried to look for information in handbooks but have found nothing of use.
Does anyone have any idea if this is true? Anything is appreciated, through answers or PM's.

not sure about the zoology...but one route, l'm pretty sure if you do veterinary nursing in ait you can go to turkey & do veterinary there! l'v heard of alot of irish students going, l know of one girl who did l think bio medical science? in UCC for 2 years & got into veterinary in Turkey!

you should talk to your guidence councellor tho to get accurate info!

if l had the brains l'd love to have done veterinary! Best of luck with it!

stop animal cruelty

seanmacc wrote: »

This would of been mid-nineties in the old Ballsbridge era.

For potential vet students bear this in mind

http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/vet-breaking-news/2010/03/25/suicide-rate-high-among-vet-surgeons.aspx

no need to fighten the girl/boy! suicide can happen in any profession...l don't see how that link was nesscessary.

Miss Lockhart

It can happen in any profession but the reality is that the suicide rate among vets is significantly higher than the general population and higher than other professionals. It a huge issue for the profession and one which is the a constant focus of discussion among all the professional bodies and in all the professional publications.

Aru

It is not possible under the horizons system to transfer into the Vet program.There are to many prerequisite modules,
Study your heart out and hope for the best is the only advise I can give you on the academic side of things.

From the personal side of things speaking as a new vet graduate of UCD I would advise you to think long and hard about this degree. At the moment approx. 9/10 people from the course are working in the Republic of Ireland out of a class of 70 odd. The rest who have jobs, and no not all of the graduates of the 2012 class have jobs yet, have went to northern ireland,england wales,australia, america and canada.

Job prospects are not great for new graduates. I do not see that improving in the near future or indeed the far off future. The seven UK and Irish vet schools have drastically increased the amount of graduates each year. Theres also theWarsaw,Slovakia and Budapest Vet schools to consider..Across the globe with america and australia are facing the same issues. There are a lot of vets going to graduate in the next few years.

If you do go for this job be prepared to work long overtime hours for a quite frankly crap salary. People will try to tell you not to worry,vets are loaded but in reality its senior vets who own and run well established practices that make money.With experience the wage will increase but not all that drastically. For the hours you will work as an associate you will get a few euro over the minimum wage and thats if you are being a well paid new grad.....But you will be glad to have gotten a job.If insurance wasn't so expensive I would be working for free to gain experience right now. Not quite what I expected when I got into the course five years ago.

You have to be a bit mad to study veterinary but at least knowing you are mad going in will stop you feeling a bit cheated when your unemployed and facing emigration a few months after graduation.

The comment about suicide is a point to also make. It is extremely high within the profession.
The darker humoured people among us like to joke we just know how to kill ourselves better than most...but in reality it is a genuine concern within the community... its not all that surprising really though... to throw out a few of the issues..
young vets face isolation when they move to new areas with little if any of a support system in place. Vets are generally high achievers so dont really like to fail. The job is challenging stressful job where you will fail frequently. You will lose patients, some due to your own mistakes or oversights some due to to financial pressures, others for no damn reason you can find. You will put down animals some of whom you know you could have fixed and deal with the emotional baggage that goes with it. The owners will often blame you regardless of why the animal died. Deal with challenging members of the public highly stressful. Dealing with grieving members of the public more so. At some point in the first few years you will be sued. You will face personal injury from large animals and small animals on a daily bassi.Add in the unrealistic demands of people in general,with a bit of financial pressure,sleep deprivation from on call and working 60 to 70 hour weeks .....then add the knowledge and access to lethal drugs and Tada you get the bare surface of the issues....

And yet somehow in spite of knowing all this I am still not yet regretting being a Vet....did I mention you need to be mad to do this course?

apache

Very insightful aru. Thanks for sharing. I always wanted to be a vet but could never be disciplined in studying.
Interesting about the suicide stats - would never have known that!