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Veterinary Nursing or Veterinary Medicine?
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02-05-2010 8:36pm#1
Comments
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There are grad entries into the Vet Med course at UCD
https://myucd.ucd.ie/program.do?programID=53
You will need to sit a type of entrance exam and you must have an honours degree to apply. You will also pay full fees.
The UK colleges also have this route of entry. Your Vet nursing degree would allow you to apply for grad entry and give you a fantastic basis in the subject. You would be well ahead of the rest of the students
It's an option, albeit a long and expensive option. For saying that, getting 570 points in the LC on random selection would be very tough indeed.
best of luck0 -
As regards doing vet med as a postgrad, I asked my guidence counsellor about this and she looked into it for me. If you had already done a science based course then you'd only need to do 4 years, however she said its about 20 grand a year.
This was at the start of this year so maybe im not remembering properly but im pretty sure thats what she said.
She said the best way to get into it would be to do vet nursing or something like ag science in UCD, get in with the right crowd and apply for postgrad.
Iv applied for letterkenny IT to do vet nursing this year, really hoping I get it. Was asking around as regards job prospects for vet nurses, when I asked someone at the UCD open day they said its very good at the moment, but when I asked my local vet's wife (bearing in mind he's a large animal practise, and well she's a little up in herself) she said its crap and that id have to go to england for work. 0 -
HI Dee
http://www.ucd.ie/registry/adminservices/fees/undergraduate.htm
Fees for the grad entry mentioned here, 19500E (bottom of page).
Sorry typed large reply but accidentally deleted it!
Ok jobs: don't mind the vets wife. Plenty of places to look for work but may have to move to a bigger town. Jobs situation not great for anyone at the moment and WILL have improved by the time you leave college.
Places to consider: Cross VetPharm (makes vet drugs), the Zoo (:)), animal shelters, labs that use animals, colleges.. I'm sure there are more!
When you get your Vet Nursing place start (or better start now) looking for volunteer places with you local ISPCA, cat shelter etc. They will all appreciate having a vet nurse on board. Another is the Blue Cross charity which travels around (you may have heard of them). They are volunteers and they help people you can't afford vet fees.
Best of luck.. i can't rememberwhat else I said in the original reply! Old age will get to ye!:)0 -
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Hey !
Thanks for all the replies they've been very helpful replies:P I'm still unsure of what I really want to do :S as I come to finishing my Leaving Cert next week I don't know if i could do it all over again but I keep thinking if its something I really want to do I may just have to repeat. It's nice to know that there are some other job prospects for vet nurses and as for graduate entry it seem it could be more difficult to get in through than actually getting the points aswell as the 20.000E a year :0
Justy out of curiousity would many lads do veterinary nursing or is it a female dominated course?
Thanks again 0 -
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HI Dee
http://www.ucd.ie/registry/adminservices/fees/undergraduate.htm
Fees for the grad entry mentioned here, 19500E (bottom of page).
Sorry typed large reply but accidentally deleted it!
Ok jobs: don't mind the vets wife. Plenty of places to look for work but may have to move to a bigger town. Jobs situation not great for anyone at the moment and WILL have improved by the time you leave college.
Places to consider: Cross VetPharm (makes vet drugs), the Zoo (:)), animal shelters, labs that use animals, colleges.. I'm sure there are more!
When you get your Vet Nursing place start (or better start now) looking for volunteer places with you local ISPCA, cat shelter etc. They will all appreciate having a vet nurse on board. Another is the Blue Cross charity which travels around (you may have heard of them). They are volunteers and they help people you can't afford vet fees.
Best of luck.. i can't rememberwhat else I said in the original reply! Old age will get to ye!:)
Thanks, hate when you type a big detailed reply and lose it, happens me all the time!
I figured id have to look for work in town practises as opposed to small country practises, hopefully your right about the job oppurtunities improving. Not really sure id like to work in a lab that uses animals but I guess its something id have to get used to. Already have plenty of experience working with a rescue and its something I will continue to do in the future, have also done work experience in both a small animal practise and a large animal practise, and have a bit of experience when it comes to horses. I have heard of the blue cross but I think they only operate over in dublin, I could be wrong?Hey!
Am just qualified from UCD as a Vet Nurse. I did the 3 year part time diploma course and thought this was the only way to do it. Doing the 4 year full time degree course is, in my opinion, a waste of time. At the end of the day people doing this course will be doing the same job as vet nurses who have been working for the past few years. Vet Nurses in Ireland do get a LOT of crap! Especially in small towns/country practices. Wages in particular are awful, I know one girl with qualified from Athlone with a degree and was payed 8.65 an hour starting out of college. At the moment im in a great practice and get to do a lot of vet nurse jobs (not just cleaning - which is the case in most practices) for good wages. If I were you I would try and get some work experience in a big practice with a lot of vet nurses, and ask them their opinions. The degree course does offer a lot more in job prospects, working more with science/lab.
If I were to do it all again? I would go repeat my leaving cert and try for Veterinary Medicine. It is 20,000 for Vet Med if you apply as a mature student too, but thats just wasting a LOT of time and money. You could go to the UK and try get in to a college there?
Any questions feel free to ask!!
I have thought of repeating and aiming for veterinary med but I honestly don't think id be able to get the points, I guess if I stuck my head down and didn't come up for air all year its possible.
I agree 20,000 is A LOT of money each year, and id be a long while repaying it back! I looked into going to scotland (no fees whereas as in england you have to pay fees) to do vet med, but I don't think id be able to move abroad.
Do many vet nurses go into other areas like dog grooming, dog training or just other branches of animal related work?0 -
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Sorry about the delay in getting back, he only answered me this morning. He said there was no problem in transferring over, the only thing that was a nightmare was the exemptions. He said the course has changed a bit since so this might not be as much of a problem.
If your not in a rush to do it, do the 3 years of vet nursing and the exemptions will help you to move on quicker in Budapest. and it works out cheaper that way too as you may be able to do 2 years in one which would help.
He didnt have to do an entrance exams, you only do that if you apply derectly from school.
He reckons if time is not an option (you want to get it all over and done with as quick as possible) do the vet nursing then transfer over, that way you will be used to living away from home, living in uni and your not thrown in the deep end.
Hope it helps with making you decison!! 0 -
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Hi!
I may have come to this discussion a bit late, but for what it's worth, I'll give you my two cents I'm a newly qualified vet and remember being in your position a few years ago, and I know I would have loved some good advice at the time!
As I see it, your main options are:
1. Repeat and go for veterinary in ireland. (cheap and fast option!)
2. Repeat for veterinary in Ireland, and also apply to the English colleges.
3. Apply straight to Budapest this year. (a lot of Irish people seem to go this route now)
4. Become a vet nurse and stick with it (by the way, it is female dominated, but who cares! And there is jobs in big towns even now, when times are tough)
5. Do a nursing (or other) degree and then go for veterinary through the graduate route (there are other nurses who have done this, and they're amazing at the job - added advantage of a few years extra practical experience! But this is VERY expensive.)
I have to say, I don't see a whole lot of point in doing half a nursing degree before you go to Budapest - you can get into Budapest straight from your leaving cert, and (I may be wrong but) I don't think it's any harder to get in this way. Also if considering applying to the english colleges - apparently they only really consider 'first time' LC'ers when looking at Irish students. All the same though, what the heck, no harm applying anyway. Stranger things have happened!
But I think the most important advice I can give you is: decide if you want it, REALLY want it, and if you do, it'll be worth anything - study, moving abroad, etc. In a few years time, when you get to where you want to go (as I just did), you'll be SO glad you went for it. I didn't get in to vet college the first time around, but repeated and REALLY worked for it, and got in. And I have to say it was TOTALLY worth it.
There were very few people in my class who got off their first leaving cert anyway - loads of people did their LC twice, some did it 3 times (really!), and some even left jobs/college to go back and do the LC as mature students, all to get in. So you'd be in no way unusual if you got in 2nd time around. And in the grand scheme of things, what's another few months of study, for a job you'll do until you're 65?
If it's something that you're unsure whether you really want or not, or if you still can't decide between nursing & vet med, try to get some good work experience in a practice which has both people types of people working in it. Both careers require dedication and hard work - they aren't easy; but if its what you want to do, you'll love it.
Good luck in the future whatever you decide! 0 -
Okay, this is probably a moot point now but having worked as a vet nurse and having done the UCD part-time course which is now no longer an option I have a couple of things to point out.
I don't think DVET is correct about Ireland being cheaper, perhaps over all including accomodation costs and food etc it might be but over all I think it pans out the same cost for doing the course here or there as the course here costs about 20,000 a year or so i was told. And in budapest the course is only 12,000 all up and the cost of living over there is nothing compared to here, lets face it your parents will still have to pay money on top of that to feed you etc here.
Anyway sorry off topic there, I am going to be doing the Budapest course this September because quite frankly I can't stand being a nurse. I'm more interested in surgery anyway but most of the clinics out there keep the nurses as receptionists and cleaning staff. The good ones will let you do other nursing stuff such as x-rays and the like but a lot of places the vet will do all the catheter placements etc so the nurse will be there only to hold the animal and prep the patient and possibly medicate them. I found this frustrating as what nurses are taught we can do a lot more. It's an evolving position here and unfortunately vet students are not told how important vet nurses are and how useful they can be so they are pretty much written off most of the time. Plus the wages are awful. I can't highlight enough how bad they are, for a career that you have to have to legally be educated to do there are no set wages and vets take advantage of this in a big way. The hours (be it vet or nurse) are usually pretty awful, vets have it slightly better in that they can disappear when clinic is over until the next clinic session but either way the hours can be tough at first. I would not recommend doing the nursing, if you are good at chemistry and biology then just try applying to the vet course in budapest, they have an entrance exam and an interview but if you know your stuff this should be fine for you. I was lucky thanks to the nursing course I got in without having to sit the exam. And while the nursing is a female dominated course I know a couple of male nurses who did it to be able to apply to UCD once they got their degree. If you want to do the course in England there is also an entrance exam you must sit and they are quite strict with the rules regarding results if you didn't get them ts. I hope this helps! Oh and one final note I loved working with the animals but not being able to work to the full of my potential frustrated me, so if you want to do the nursing first and then go on to veterinary by all means go for it! 0 -
Thanks very much for the replies, if i was to go to Budapest I would have to repeat chemistry and by repeat i mean undertake a crash course as I did'nt study it for the LC, at the time I thought veterinary was inachievable. However reading through these replies I think I may either repest or travel to Budapest,all of you who have gone through repeating are prime examples that if you work you can get what you want.
Thanks again 0 -
Hi!
I may have come to this discussion a bit late, but for what it's worth, I'll give you my two cents I'm a newly qualified vet and remember being in your position a few years ago, and I know I would have loved some good advice at the time!
As I see it, your main options are:
1. Repeat and go for veterinary in ireland. (cheap and fast option!)
2. Repeat for veterinary in Ireland, and also apply to the English colleges.
3. Apply straight to Budapest this year. (a lot of Irish people seem to go this route now)
4. Become a vet nurse and stick with it (by the way, it is female dominated, but who cares! And there is jobs in big towns even now, when times are tough)
5. Do a nursing (or other) degree and then go for veterinary through the graduate route (there are other nurses who have done this, and they're amazing at the job - added advantage of a few years extra practical experience! But this is VERY expensive.)
I have to say, I don't see a whole lot of point in doing half a nursing degree before you go to Budapest - you can get into Budapest straight from your leaving cert, and (I may be wrong but) I don't think it's any harder to get in this way. Also if considering applying to the english colleges - apparently they only really consider 'first time' LC'ers when looking at Irish students. All the same though, what the heck, no harm applying anyway. Stranger things have happened!
But I think the most important advice I can give you is: decide if you want it, REALLY want it, and if you do, it'll be worth anything - study, moving abroad, etc. In a few years time, when you get to where you want to go (as I just did), you'll be SO glad you went for it. I didn't get in to vet college the first time around, but repeated and REALLY worked for it, and got in. And I have to say it was TOTALLY worth it.
There were very few people in my class who got off their first leaving cert anyway - loads of people did their LC twice, some did it 3 times (really!), and some even left jobs/college to go back and do the LC as mature students, all to get in. So you'd be in no way unusual if you got in 2nd time around. And in the grand scheme of things, what's another few months of study, for a job you'll do until you're 65?
If it's something that you're unsure whether you really want or not, or if you still can't decide between nursing & vet med, try to get some good work experience in a practice which has both people types of people working in it. Both careers require dedication and hard work - they aren't easy; but if its what you want to do, you'll love it.
Good luck in the future whatever you decide!
Hey just wondering, what subjectd did you repeat, did you keep with your strengths or did you just repeat all the common subjects? 0 -
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Hey I had the same problem aswell, but don't let it put you down, last year I rang the college and they said if you can get the points for veterinary ie without chemistry,you could repeat chemistry the following year(to matriculate) and then apply for veterinary medicine. I hope you understand what I meanHannah Emilie wrote: »I wanted to do veterinary medicine sooo bad and was devastated when i found out you need to do chemistry!! 0 -
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