Veterinary Science? (2 Viewers)

[pearlwaif]

Hello!
I'm in Year 10 right now, but I'm thinking of studying veterinary science at Sydney Uni...but I have no idea how to prepare?!
I don't want to be cramming and loading myself with stuff I could have done now in Year 11 and 12 too much, so I was just wondering how many weeks of
work experience I should do to get in? I currently only have 5 days at a vet clinic haha..I'm thinking of asking around for some volunteer work.
Also, this year I will be choosing my Year 11 subjects...are there any subjects I should be looking into as a prerequisite of vet science?
And could someone also explain to me how the units work? I'm really confused about that...

Sorry for all the questions!

 

[starshine02]

I have a couple of friends who are looking to get into vet science this year at usyd and most of them seem to do around 1-2 hours per week at vet clinics. One of them even spent a couple of days at a farm in outer Sydney for experience (this was during the summer break though). I think the amount of experience you need doesn't necessarily have to be a lot, rather it needs to be diverse. Try having a look at the dedication sheet on their website. But I think about 1 hour a week, most weeks should be enough experience.

Does your school do work experience in Year 10? Taronga Zoo would be a nice place for work exp but I've heard the spots fill up quite quickly so you'll have to apply early if you're interested.

 

[pokka]

Hello pearlwaif, I used to consider going into vet and I also know someone who has gone into vet and is in her 2nd year now.

In terms of work experience, it's great you have already done 5 days of work experience already but you should look for more. My vet friend has done one week work experience at a vet in Year 10 and the same for Year 12 which was sufficient enough. It doesn't necessarily have to diverse even though it is preferable. Just make sure you write it all in something called a commitment statement.

You should also do something called STAT which is a multiple choice test on general knowledge of numeracy and literacy. You are required to get at least 150/200 or over in this test. For more info, go to http://www.uac.edu.au/stat/what-is-stat.shtml

For prerequisite subjects, it is recommended you do Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. Biology is considered to be a distinct advantage but is not necessary. If you choose to not do some of these subjects for HSC, it's ok as long as you do something called a bridging course for the subjects you didn't do. This is basically a crash course of the subject before you start your degree and occurs during the summer holiday before and costs money.

You can read all this information here http://sydney.edu.au/vetscience/bvsc/entry.shtml and you'll notice on the right is the link to the commitment statement so you have an idea what you need to fill when you apply end of next year. If you want to know about assumed knowledge/prerequisites then just click the tab "Assumed Knowledge" on the left.

Now answering your question about units: each subject has a certain number of units basically. For example, Chemistry is considered a 2 unit subject and so is Physics and Mathematics. You can also have extra units for subjects if you want to do a higher level. For example, Advanced Mathematics is a 2 unit subject, Mathematics Extension 1 (or 3 Unit Maths) is a 3 unit subject. Same for English and some other subjects.
For Year 11, you want the total number of units for your subjects to be at least 12 units. So for example, I can choose Chemistry (2 units), Physics (2 units), Mathematics Extension 1(3 units), English Extension 1 (3 units) and Legal Studies (2 units). Add it altogether and you have 12 units

 

[pearlwaif]

Thanks a lot for clearing the units up, I think I understand now . And wow, I never knew that you needed a commitment statement! How did 2 weeks suffice in order to tick all of those boxes (and there are quite a lot!)? Approximately how many boxes do you need to tick in order to be considered?

 

[CM07]

Hi pearlwaif,

I am currently in Year 12 and aiming to get into USYD's vet course. Since you are only in Year 10 right now you should not get too worked up about preparing. Although preferable, you do not have to do subjects just because it is assumed knowledge for the course. Do the subjects you are interested and do well in. As mentioned above, bridging courses are always open.

About the commitment statement - with the amount of experience I have right now, I definitely can not tick off all those boxes (someone tell me where to find cows and sheep and pigs!), however at the bottom of the document it states "You may include explanations of how you may have lacked opportunity to handle animals." so you can use that space when the time comes. I did work experience at a vet in Year 10 and I volunteer for a couple of hours every fortnight now and it is not affecting my studies too much. You still have some time in Year 11 and 12 for co-curricular activities!

Best of luck on your journey.

EDIT: As pointed out below prerequisites are necessary! The recommended subjects are not compulsory.

 

[Madridismo]

Hi pearlwaif,

I am currently in Year 12 and aiming to get into USYD's vet course. Since you are only in Year 10 right now you should not get too worked up about preparing. Although preferable, you do not have to do subjects just because it is a prerequisite for the course. Do the subjects you are interested and do well in. As mentioned above, bridging courses are always open.

Did you just understand what you just said?
If a uni requires a prerequisite you NEED TO DO IT! OTHERWISE YOU HAVE 0 chance of getting considered. If you meant to say recommended than that is different.
Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics are recommended not prerequisites(According to one of the above posts). I just don't want the OP getting confused.

 

[Jewls]

Considering that veterinary graduate unemployment has quadrupled over the last 6 years, does driving a taxi count for work experience?

 

[CM07]

I did mean recommended. My mistake.

 

[pearlwaif]

Considering that veterinary graduate unemployment has quadrupled over the last 6 years, does driving a taxi count for work experience?

I understand that vets are now garnering less opportunites in the workforce. I was simply asking a question about a course I am not even 100% sure I will attend, let alone meet all the requirements for.




By the way, does this mean that USYD vet science has no prerequisites??

 

[madharris]

By the way, does this mean that USYD vet science has no prerequisites??

The only prerequisite is a 150/200 in STAT

Not doing Maths, Chemistry and/or Physics will still allow you to get into the course however you will struggle if you don't do them.
My cousin did vet for a semester, she said first semester was mainly maths, chemsitry and biology (even though biology isn't assumed knowledge, it is highly recommended)

 

[Chronicole]

I sat in a bio lec for fun and just sayin, if you didn't do bio I think it'd be difficult. It was the introductory lecture too.
But ultimately there are people in uni who will help you with your courses in uni so you will be able to manage without doing the assumed knowledge.

Just clarifying, there is a difference between prerequisite, assumed knowledge and recommended knowledge. Prerequisite is something you must have or else you wouldn't even be considered for the course, assumed like the name suggests expects you to know the info already, whilst it's not compulsory they won't spend too much time going over the basics and recommended is that it will be beneficial but they will go through the basics.

 

[Jewls]

I didn't do Bio. Bio is possibly the easiest as it is mostly rote learning. Physics/Chem/Maths are more based on founding principles.
Best option is to do what you are good at so you can get good marks though. But then if you get good marks you could do medicine where you don't have to deal with people complaining about costs and confining their pets/not treating them properly. Plus you would have about 10 times better chance of getting a job once you finish uni. And you could donate to animals if you wanted to...

 

[liz2814]

I got into vet science this year at USYD, and to be honest they didnt seem as picky with the work experience as like CSU. I didn't have any experience with farm animals, but around 80 days with domestic animals through my local vet clinic just from doing work experience in my holidays in years 11 and 12, and 10 days with horses in the break after HSC ended and I got straight in Be wary that vet science is a lot of work though and a lot of stress, really interesting stuff but the chemistry and anatomy is pretty intense. I'd really recommend chemistry, maths and Bio. I did chem and bio but not maths and thats definately what im struggling with most at the moment, as a lot of the chemistry course is maths based ive found.

 

[Jewls]

Wait until you graduate, that is when the real stress starts. Rising unemployment, people complaining about costs, having to kill animals, bosses asking you to sell more, having animals suffer because owners don't want to treat, boredom because you can't use the knowledge you learnt at uni due to low patient visits from too many vets and budget restrictions...