Why would vet school students start out at 18/19? And what is the curriculum like? Just wondering because I was thinking about RVC too.
They don't require "undergrad" in the UK-- this is their form of "undergrad". That's why it's called the BVetMed. Most of their home students are 18/19 years old.
Like I said before, FOR ME this was not the right place. Had I not gotten in to my IS school (or anywhere in the States) I most likely would have gone- and would have enjoyed it and learned a lot.
Sorry this is so long but I couldn't upload it and don't have the time to separate it. Their website didn't have any information about curriculum that I could find.
BVETMED CURRICULUM
.What is so special about the BVetMed curriculum at the RVC?.
.In 2007 the RVC launched a radical new curriculum for the professional degree programme, the Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (BVetMed). The College has always prided itself on providing a course that offers a wide range of stimulating teaching and learning methods designed to equip you for a fulfilling career in veterinary medicine. Now, with the added strength of the only Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in a British veterinary school, we have taken a fresh look at how we can bring together the best elements of technological change, clinical and scientific progress, and best practice in teaching methods. The result is a degree programme that will equip you for a variety of careers in the veterinary professions over the course of your lifetime..
.We have made a number of changes starting this year. One of the most important is that we have reduced the amount of detail that students are expected to cover. Scientific and veterinary knowledge has exploded in the last few years, and you can't hope to learn more than a fraction of what might come in useful one day. What you can do, though, is to achieve a thorough understanding of the key concepts and essential facts that form the basis of veterinary science and medicine, ..and develop vital problem-solving, clinical reasoning and communication skills. .
.Programme content.
.As the only veterinary school in England accredited by both the US and European authorities, we provide a curriculum that meets all the requirements laid down by the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Veterinary Directives of the European Union. The programme is designed to help you acquire:.
- .an understanding of the basic biological principles of normal body function and disease.
- .the ability to distinguish the pathological from the normal.
- .the ability to prevent disease and safely manage the processes of animal production.
- .the expertise to diagnose and treat disease and alleviate suffering.
- .the professional skills you need to work and communicate effectively with your colleagues and the public.
.We teach the curriculum from a comparative perspective. We use only one or two species - primarily the dog - to teach many aspects of the basic and clinical sciences, but we teach so that you will learn principles that can be applied to other common species. In the more clinical teaching later in the course much of the teaching will focus on common cases that you would encounter in veterinary practice, and on cases that will help you to understand the most important clinical principles. Teaching of Special Species (exotics, wildlife, birds, fish etc) is integrated into the mainstream teaching of body systems. .
.Veterinary medicine is first and foremost a scientific discipline, and you will not get very far as a veterinarian without a sound grasp of the scientific theory underpinning veterinary practice. But wherever possible the science will be presented in the context of its clinical relevance, so you have a clear understanding of where it all leads. .
.The classroom-based teaching during the first three and a half years is organised into ten "Strands". Seven of these focus on major body systems, which will normally be encountered three times, so that your knowledge of the system steadily increases and consolidates. The seven systems are:.
·.Locomotor.
·.Skin.
·.Cardiovascular and Respiratory.
·.Neurology and Special Senses.
·.Endocrine.
·.Alimentary.
·.Urogenital .
.The other Strands, which occur throughout the course, are:.
·.Principles of Veterinary Science.
·.Professional Studies.
·.Public Health and Population Medicine.
.Your first two years will be spent mainly at our London Campus, with visits to Hertfordshire for lectures and practicals in animal health and handling. You will study the healthy animal in its normal environment and acquire basic skills in handling and examining horses, farm animals and companion animals. The basic veterinary sciences are taught in an integrated manner on a body systems basis, with the clinical relevance of the sciences highlighted at every stage. But we also showcase some of the stimulating stories that have inspired scientists at the RVC and elsewhere in their quest to push back the frontiers of knowledge..
.You will undertake a minimum of twelve weeks Animal Husbandry ExtraMural Studies (AHEMS) during your first two years, giving you an opportunity to tackle real-life problems in a variety of settings such as dairy and sheep farms, stables, kennels and catteries. The first year's work includes three weeks' lambing during your Easter vacation. At some stage during Years One and Two, you must spend two weeks at a dairy cattle farm, two weeks at a pig farm and two weeks working with horses. Four weeks may be spent working with an animal of your choice. You may spend up to six weeks on overseas AHEMS, an opportunity that is particularly valuable if you are planning on going into Farm Animal practice in the USA after you graduate. .
.The third year and the first half of the fourth year are spent at the Hertfordshire Campus. This phase provides the framework of knowledge and basic practical skills relating to the pathology of disease, diagnosis, prognosis, and medical and surgical therapy necessary for you to participate fully in clinical practice at the RVC and in private veterinary practice. Detailed consideration of specific diseases is based on integrated teaching of individual body systems, building on the material learnt during the first two years. During the Third and Fourth Years, you will spend increasing amounts of time in the College's state-of-the-art Clinical Skills Centre, the first of its kind in the UK, practising a wide range of clinical skills under expert guidance. The Clinical Skills Centre has been inaugurated so that you can learn essential skills in a "safe" setting where no animal can be harmed, meaning that you will already have started to develop many of the skills essential for practice when you start your clinical placements..
.In your third year you will begin Clinical Extra Mural Studies (EMS). To progress to Year Four, you will need to have spent eleven weeks at a variety of veterinary practices. In total, you must complete 26 weeks of Clinical EMS within this final three-year timeframe, via a balanced programme of placements at general veterinary practices, specialist veterinary centres, the State Veterinary Service, research institutes and, as importantly, at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA). One week must be spent studying meat hygiene in an abattoir. Up to nine of your 26 weeks of Clinical EMS may be spent overseas, which provides another good opportunity to prepare for practice back in the USA..
.From the mid-point of the Fourth Year onwards, most of your remaining time will be spent gaining hands-on experience in RVC clinics (IntraMural Rotations: IMR). IMR covers the following areas:.
- .Small animal medicine, surgery and emergency critical care. This is based in the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals (the QMH - Europe's largest small animal hospital), the Beaumont Animals' Hospital (BAH) and other major hospitals in the London area. Apart from the emergency service, the heavy caseload at the QMH comprises secondary and tertiary referral cases, whilst the BAH is a first opinion clinic and it is here that you will gain extensive experience of spaying and neutering..
- .Equine medicine and surgery, based in the Sefton Equine Hospital and our equine practice. The Equine Hospital specialises in referral work (both medicine and surgery) whilst the equine practice provides a first opinion service..
- .Farm animal medicine and surgery, reproduction and herd health investigation undertaken on our farm, in our farm animal practice and at specialist practices in other parts of the UK under the guidance of RVC staff.
- .Pathology, including training in our diagnostic laboratories and veterinary surveillance centre.
.During this year, you will also spend eight weeks devising and executing a research project on an aspect of veterinary science that interests you. Self-motivation is key here, but a supervisor will be assigned to provide support and advice..
.Specialisation.
.All UK veterinary graduates are required to have acquired basic competence in all the species (companion animals, food animals, equines) most commonly encountered in veterinary practice. However, we recognise that most students have a particular preference, so in the new curriculum we have created more opportunities for students to gain further knowledge and experience with their preferred species, both through additional time in more advanced classes, and through supplementary clinical rotations. You may also have the opportunity for more advanced study of other topics that particularly interest you, such as work with exotic species, anaesthesia, reproduction, or veterinary entrepreneurship, in the Final Year. We are also working on the possibility of introducing choice into the work that you do in the last few weeks of the Second Year..
.Teaching and Learning in the BVetMed .
.We have always provided a course that offers a wide range of stimulating teaching and learning methods. Now, with the support of our Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, we are introducing a number of techniques that are new to the RVC. .
.Most lectures have been timetabled early in the week, with usually no more that two lectures per day. In the new curriculum you will spend less time in the classroom, giving you more time to really master the material you need to learn. Lectures will be followed by timetabled Private Study Sessions, usually eight hours per week. The remainder of the week will comprise a mixture of practicals, dissections, academic tutorials, Integrated Structure and Function (ISF) tutorials using live animals, and Directed Learning (DL), which aim to help you consolidate and apply your knowledge. .
.We will help you to monitor how well you are learning the material by using the handheld voting systems that we have introduced in the lecture theatres on both campuses this year. .
.On many Fridays you will be offered the opportunity for self-evaluation of your knowledgeusing computer-based MCQs, which will offer immediate feedback on why your chosen answer may be wrong, offer a further hint to the correct answer for a repeat attempt at the question, and quote a reference so that you can extend your knowledge through further study. This feedback is designed to help you assess how you are coping with the demands of the course, and meeting our expectations. Should you encounter problems with learning, support is available through our Learning Support Officers as well as the tutorial system..
.The tutorial system has been completely revamped this year. You will meet monthly in groups of six for an hour with an academic tutor, and besides reflecting on your learning in broad terms, you may be asked to discuss your understanding of one of the topics from the previous month's classes; discuss a hot scientific topic that you have been asked to research and think about in advance; or there may be an occasional journal club. These groups will also be a route for learning through sharing of experiences, successes or problems. .
.There are three terms a year in the early years of the course, and they normally last for between 8 and 11 weeks, including examination periods. The Spring Term is usually the shortest, to allow adequate time for practical experience on sheep farms during the lambing season. Placements generally take place during vacation periods, except in the Final Year when each student has an individualised and continuous programme of internal and external clinical rotations, interspersed with research blocks and vacations..
.Although the class size is between 220 and 240 students, you will only be together in formal lectures. In all other teaching formats - tutorials, dissections, clinical rotations, groupwork - you will be divided into much smaller groups, often only four to six students..
.Examinations.
.The BVetMed is very demanding and there are rigorous examinations throughout the five-year programme. Like the other veterinary programmes in the UK, there is an opportunity to retake each examination. However, a student who fails an examination twice is usually required to withdraw from the College, unless an appeal panels accepts that there are convincing mitigating circumstances. .
.Graduation and Licensure.
.You will be entitled to practice as a veterinarian in the UK as soon as you have earned your BVetMed degree and registered as a Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) will recognise your degree as equivalent to those awarded by veterinary colleges in the United States. The RVC is the only English veterinary school accredited by the AVMA, and this gives you a real advantage. Some of the USA's major veterinary employers recruit actively among our Final Year students. The College runs a revision class for students who are preparing for their NAVLE, drawing on the expertise of the many Board Certified clinical faculty with experience in North America. .
), I didn't want to add an additional year (especially at OOS prices) and it just wasn't for me.
strange, but funny.
