Veterinary Medicine Personal Statement Example 2

Long, skinny arms, and strong shoulders - the most important requirements for a large animal vet! (According to a lecturer at Vet Six '06.) I couldn't have agreed more, as I thought back to my first attempt to relieve dystokia in a ewe in Feb '04. That week spent milking and lambing on a farm in Somerset, my first farm animal work experience, served to fuel my childhood ambition of practising veterinary medicine.

It began from a love of science from infant school onwards, and a lot of animal contact at home. My family has always owned dogs and horses; At 3 years old, I saw the whelping of 7 healthy puppies from my Bearded Collie. Since then I have seen another litter of puppies born at home and the foaling of our welsh mountain pony. Our collection has now risen to 8 dogs, 9 horses, 50 chickens, 7 ferrets and a cockatiel.

Owning my first pony from age 4, I enjoy training both my own horses and those bought to sell on for profit. I compete in several equine spheres, notably eventing, almost every weekend and have represented both my Pony Club and Riding Club up to national level. A member of the Pony Club and British Horse Society, I hold my PC 'B' test, and BHS Stages I, II and III, demonstrating a high level of proficiency. I am Team Captain of my WHSG Horse Riding Team, which was set up by myself a year ago.

Employment as a riding instructor since Dec '05 has given me first-hand experience of a commercial riding school. It demands a high level of responsibility, as I am in sole charge of around 10 children aged 5 to 13, and several junior members of staff. This job has furthered my 'people skills' - the doting, pushy parent can be one of the most difficult of people, standing me in good stead for problems faced in the consultation room!

As previously mentioned, I have shown aptitude for science very early on; upon leaving my primary school I was awarded the 'Science Trophy', indicating the most capable scientist in my year. In year 8 at high school I attained the highest marks of the year group in the science end of year exams, and I continue to put full effort into my study of all three science subjects at AS level.

My capabilities are not limited to scientific subjects; at GCSE I enjoyed the humanities and have always been politically minded, a basis for choosing Government and Politics at AS. I am an active member of the Conservative party, and took part in canvassing in the recent local elections. I am also a member of the Countryside Alliance as I support their ideologies, and my school's debating club. Another subject I have always enjoyed is Drama; I am a keen student within lessons and always show support for extra curricular dramatic events, becoming involved in several productions and the House Drama competition. Additionally I have a place on the 3 upcoming part-time courses run by the School of Physical Theatre. These subjects not only broaden my studies but also build character and the ability to speak confidently in front of people. I develop these skills in my role as Senior Prefect, the main support for the Deputy and Head Girl. Organisational skills and responsibility are furthered by my active membership of my local scout association - most recently on a 5 day hike around the peak district, for the Queen's Scout Award, of which I have completed all the 'challenge' sections.

Since March '05, I have attended Cherrydown Veterinary Practice weekly to see consultations and many types of surgery, from routine spays to a splenectomy and toe amputation. From this I have gained theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience, for example practising skin sutures on dead animals brought in for autopsy and on one occasion I performed the skin sutures after a routine bitch spay. My employment at a kennels and cattery, another week on a cattle farm in Essex in Aug '06, and 2 weeks work experience at Runningwell E.C. in April '04 I feel show my high level of dedication and capabilities for a career as a vet.

Profile info

This personal statement was written by samkbrowne for application in 2007.

samkbrowne's Comments

This personal statement got me an interview at 3 out of my four applications for veterinary medicine. I ended up with an ABB offer from the RVC and AAB offers from Nottingham and Liverpool. I didn't make any of my offers - despite being predicted 4 A's I didn't try anywhere near hard enough to pass my A-levels. I am currently studying veterinary science at the RVC and will be applying for vet med as a post-grad, provided I achieve at least a 2.1. I wrote this about 3 years ago and to me, some sections look immature, but it worked at the time!! My advice would be, don't ever ever stop working hard. I had been told that getting the offer was the hard part - its not. ALL OF IT IS HARD!!! good luck everyone applying xx

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hiya, im in lower 6th on my

hiya, im in lower 6th on my second last year of secondary school now and looking to apply for veterinary medicine and was wondering when you mentioned you achieved a conditional offer of AAB did you say? and was wondering was is a definate AAA not required for entry? thanks!

To any vet students who have

To any vet students who have applyed or received offers from universities, please post your personal statements here, I would love to see one from someone who has applyed without having an obscene amount of exta-curricular activities to do as well as difficult a-levels to study for! I have loads of work-experience under my belt, but I don't do any extra-curricular activities except for piano & driving lessons and I 'm still struggling to get good grades at a-level. How can anyone possibly have the time to do all of this?! Please, any people who are in a similar situation, post your personal statements. Thankyou.

Don't use this!

This is a great example of what a personal statement should not be. Addmissions tutors see through the rubbish but they don't overlook it. Anybody tempted to emulate this style of personal statement please think twise as it may cost you an interview and will certainly get you a grilling from your interviewer on things you claim to have done but may actually not know much about!

in reply...

to the first person who commented - i think you are asking if you do not always need 3 A grades to get into vet med? In my experience, the offer they give you will depend on the quality of your interview. The RVC offered me ABB because they thought my interview went well - a very good reason to practice this part of the application A LOT!!

2nd comment - 2 other girls from my school with less work experience than me got offers for veterinary medicine, and lucky them they made the grade and are studying the course now! You do not have to do loads. But the more you do, the more it helps your application. Don't let extra curricular get in the way of your studies though!! The pub was my downfall... oops :P xx

3rd comment - of course you should not use this personal statement. this is MY personal statement, about ME! it covers everything i have done both inside and outside of education. The point of a personal statement is to sell yourself to the person reading it. Clearly this worked well as I got three interviews out of four - most people I know only get one. Also, everything on the statement is true so how can I be 'grilled' and given are hard time when I do actually know what I'm talking about?!

You've basically accused me of bullsh*t on the statement. Out of interest, have you ever had a successful application for vet med? Be interesting to know.....

Wow you had so much w/e well

Wow you had so much w/e well done you! Hope you do well in your degree and make it in to vet med next time you apply. I think you come across as very passionate about what you wwant to do!

Whilst this is not a bad

Whilst this is not a bad statement, I might point out that whichever veterinary surgeon let you close up a bitch spay was terribly irresponsible! Letting a student us a staple gun which has a set tension is one thing, but imagine if it were your pet and it all went wrong!

Thanks for everyone that said

Thanks for everyone that said nice things :D

also, skin sutures aren't that much of a big deal when the vet is watching your every move and talking you through it... there's also a technique so you literally cannot get the tension wrong. If you did a bad one the vet can always correct it... plus he had taught me on the dead animals before so it all ran pretty smoothly so don't worry he wasn't being irresponsible! (this is my personal statement btw, forgot my password so didn't login :P)

This is brill!

To the person who said this personal statement is bad, you're so wrong. I applied to vet med this year, got 2 out of 4 interviews (one being Liverpool who don't even look at your PS, the other was Nottingham and I only got that cos I scored highly in the questionnaire) and from unis that I didn't get interviews for they said it was because my personal statement is very poor - me being completely misguided by my school. When e-mailing for feedback I sent detail of everything I'd done extra curricular and wrk exp in bullet points and was told had I specified in this way in my personal statement I would have been assessed differently. I was rejected as soon as they read it - they didn't even look at my wrk exp references until I asked for feedback.

Mine is the complete opposite to this, and having spoken to external careers advisors, I'm not surprised at all that this got so many interviews. I have a similar amount of work exp & extra curriculars, plus had 2 jobs yet my format was awful and I didn't portray myself well.

So what I'm trying to say is that your personal statement is SO unbelievably important and from my experience if your school isn't great at giving advice (we hardly have ever had vets) then seriously go and find someone external who is.

Good luck to future apps!

Also, I believed that you

Also, I believed that you were an undergraduate however, to be employed as a riding instructor, and not a junior helper you must be over the age at 18 and at Runningwell over the age of twenty one. I know this as I have connections with management. Good luck in the future.

Fabulous

I think your statement is brilliant, it covers every aspect of you as an individual. i want to be a vet nurse and your statement has been a great inspiration to me!! best of luck with your course!!! thank you for all he hep as well :)

to be quite honest this is

to be quite honest this is pretty good..no wonder you got it with all that experience. I even enjoyd reading it haha

I thought your personal

I thought your personal statement was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, most definately the best one i've read! Hope you're enjoying university!

I'm writing my personal statement at the moment, and was wondering whether you think it would be a good idea to include philosophical quotes which can be related to veterinary medicine, in order to demonstrate other types of knowledge from my philosophy and ethics a-level?(i've heard they like ethical studies)

Sajinthan Theivasothy

Sajinthan Theivasothy
33 Newbury Road
Erith
Kent
DA8 2BZ

01322342559
Sajinthan1994@hotmail.co.uk

SqmCreIPSb

A round of applause for your blog post.Really thank you! Will read on...

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