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anyone care to share some insights on these 2 schools?!
RVC or Melbourne
- Thread starter mchhuang
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There's a lot of great threads if you search the pre-vet forum. The UK schools were very thoroughly discussed last spring, with some great insights from students there.
I know the Australian schools tend to have more of a focus on production medicine than American schools, which may or may not appeal to you.
I would pick RVC over Melbourne personally, but I love the fact that I can travel to/from London as easily and cheaply as if I went to Davis.
Are you interested in 4 or 5 year programs? RVC has both, but Melboune is 4.5 or 5 years.
I know the Australian schools tend to have more of a focus on production medicine than American schools, which may or may not appeal to you.
I would pick RVC over Melbourne personally, but I love the fact that I can travel to/from London as easily and cheaply as if I went to Davis.
Are you interested in 4 or 5 year programs? RVC has both, but Melboune is 4.5 or 5 years.
Melbourne actually has a DVM program starting this year replacing its original BVs program. If you enter at a graduate level it is only 4 years.
My friend graduated from the BVs program and she said it wasn't overly focused on production animals, however you do have the option to do so if you would like to.
Also not all Australia schools are production medicine focused, I don't know if this is true, but I've heard that USyd focuses on small animal practice. I've also heard that they are so focused on small animal practice, that they barely promote their LA medicine. They just have the bare minimum to be AVMA approved. (please don't quote me on this, because this is just something I've heard from my program advisor regarding one of his students going to USyd and wanting to be an LA vet, only to find that it was very small animal focused)
My friend graduated from the BVs program and she said it wasn't overly focused on production animals, however you do have the option to do so if you would like to.
Also not all Australia schools are production medicine focused, I don't know if this is true, but I've heard that USyd focuses on small animal practice. I've also heard that they are so focused on small animal practice, that they barely promote their LA medicine. They just have the bare minimum to be AVMA approved. (please don't quote me on this, because this is just something I've heard from my program advisor regarding one of his students going to USyd and wanting to be an LA vet, only to find that it was very small animal focused)
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RVC is far away and Australia is reaaaaaalllllllllly far away. RVC will have crappy weather and Australia is mucho warmer. RVC - you can still skype home and it works pretty good with time difference. Australia....that would be difficult.
RVC - have to do EMS. Australia - not sure if you do it there, but pretty certain you wouldn't? It's a LOT of time required and basically does not afford you the time to work during your breaks because you are doing EMS.
RVC - random, but told they do not do histology??
Pretty sure RVC now has a 4 year program?
Anyways, you will get a good education at both, i guess my point is that when you are at an international school, i think quality of life becomes very important, especially if you are going to want to go home during your breaks. Aus is backwards, so i presume your 'summer' break would be winter in US...another con for me.
Good Luck!
RVC - have to do EMS. Australia - not sure if you do it there, but pretty certain you wouldn't? It's a LOT of time required and basically does not afford you the time to work during your breaks because you are doing EMS.
RVC - random, but told they do not do histology??
Pretty sure RVC now has a 4 year program?
Anyways, you will get a good education at both, i guess my point is that when you are at an international school, i think quality of life becomes very important, especially if you are going to want to go home during your breaks. Aus is backwards, so i presume your 'summer' break would be winter in US...another con for me.
Good Luck!
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I can vouch for skyping and such in Australia, I was there for a few months studying abroad in undergrad, never had a problem with it, and I called home every week via skype!
What I would say is that the lifestyle down there is WAY laid back... which could be hard on the studies. In undergrad, the courses were not hard and did not mean too much at the time, so it was okay to just do the minimum and still get good marks. So for me, it would be very hard to try and go to vet school down there, but people do it all the time so it must be possible. Also, it is pretty expensive, living-wise. Not sure about the comparisons, but I recall things being just more expensive in general.
Good luck in your decisions!
What I would say is that the lifestyle down there is WAY laid back... which could be hard on the studies. In undergrad, the courses were not hard and did not mean too much at the time, so it was okay to just do the minimum and still get good marks. So for me, it would be very hard to try and go to vet school down there, but people do it all the time so it must be possible. Also, it is pretty expensive, living-wise. Not sure about the comparisons, but I recall things being just more expensive in general.
Good luck in your decisions!
Try contacting Lei. She's in the 4year RVC programme right now (1st year). I think her full name is Lei325? She's popped her head in the RVC interview thread a few times already. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=769488
I'm at the Dick Vet and didn't apply to either of those schools and have no insight, sorry! I can't think of anyone going to Melborne on this forum right now either... However, the huntsman spider is enough to make me never want to go to Australia. That's my only opinion.
Or maybe try looking for some blogs of vet students currently going to either of those schools? A good handful of us at the Dick Vet have blogs so the people back at home without Facebook accounts can keep in touch with us. There should be a good handful at other schools as well.
I'm at the Dick Vet and didn't apply to either of those schools and have no insight, sorry! I can't think of anyone going to Melborne on this forum right now either... However, the huntsman spider is enough to make me never want to go to Australia. That's my only opinion.
Or maybe try looking for some blogs of vet students currently going to either of those schools? A good handful of us at the Dick Vet have blogs so the people back at home without Facebook accounts can keep in touch with us. There should be a good handful at other schools as well.
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Can't believe I only just saw this...
Flyhi: Yes, we do histology! 😛 In the 4 year program we just don't do a lot of it; it's a lot of self-learning (which sucks, because we hardly have time to do extra self-learning).
RVC is pretty awesome. I mean, it's the only vet school I've ever attended and I do love it here. There are some things that cause headaches (the banking system, the NHS, etc), but on the whole, I feel that I'm getting a good education.
We're required to do 12 weeks of AHEMS (work placements on farms) in order to pass to the next year of the course, but to me that's a pretty good thing because as vets, we'll need to know how to handle these animals in order to treat them.
Also, you're in London for the first year (for 4 year program) or two (5 year program), which is a very vibrant city and offers a LOT of things to do. Theatre, sightseeing, concerts, shopping...it's got everything.
The program is also really good, although a bit overwhelming. They're cramming everything the 5 year students learn in 2 years into our one Graduate year, so it's an overload of information at times. But if you think you can handle the stress, it's worth trying.
If you want to read about my journey getting here and some stuff about living here, I've got a blog: http://ellieintheuk.blogspot.com.
Hope this helps! 🙂 Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.
Flyhi: Yes, we do histology! 😛 In the 4 year program we just don't do a lot of it; it's a lot of self-learning (which sucks, because we hardly have time to do extra self-learning).
RVC is pretty awesome. I mean, it's the only vet school I've ever attended and I do love it here. There are some things that cause headaches (the banking system, the NHS, etc), but on the whole, I feel that I'm getting a good education.
We're required to do 12 weeks of AHEMS (work placements on farms) in order to pass to the next year of the course, but to me that's a pretty good thing because as vets, we'll need to know how to handle these animals in order to treat them.
Also, you're in London for the first year (for 4 year program) or two (5 year program), which is a very vibrant city and offers a LOT of things to do. Theatre, sightseeing, concerts, shopping...it's got everything.
The program is also really good, although a bit overwhelming. They're cramming everything the 5 year students learn in 2 years into our one Graduate year, so it's an overload of information at times. But if you think you can handle the stress, it's worth trying.
If you want to read about my journey getting here and some stuff about living here, I've got a blog: http://ellieintheuk.blogspot.com.
Hope this helps! 🙂 Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.
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thanx everyone for the inputs
I will be interviewing for RVC in the US and we'll see how that goes. I don't have a GPA of 3.4 (but i do have an decent general GRE) so I don't know how likely i'll get in.
Lei325 -- just wondering if you are planning to buy a car there? Since I heard from the RVC blog that getting to the farm/the other campus is not so convenient... And do they have heater in the classroom (read from another blog post saying they don't).
Are the professors approachable?
How big is the class?
Thank you for your patience!
I will be interviewing for RVC in the US and we'll see how that goes. I don't have a GPA of 3.4 (but i do have an decent general GRE) so I don't know how likely i'll get in.
Lei325 -- just wondering if you are planning to buy a car there? Since I heard from the RVC blog that getting to the farm/the other campus is not so convenient... And do they have heater in the classroom (read from another blog post saying they don't).
Are the professors approachable?
How big is the class?
Thank you for your patience!
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I'll probably buy a car for next year. Getting to the Hawkshead campus is inconvenient if you don't live in Potter's Bar but parking isn't so great. That's hopefully going to change. Classrooms are cooler because the UK govt has had to cut costs in education funding, so RVC had to cut corners somehow, and heating was one of them. It's not THAT cold, but a scarf and an extra sweater are needed in some lecture theaters. The lecturers are definitely approachable; most are very happy to be teaching and always willing to help when you are confused about something. Class size? Well, G&T this year has about 50 students, but after this year, we enter BVetMed Yr3, which has around 120, I think? I'm not sure the exact numbers, but there are a lot in the year.
I didn't know that was you! I almost posted this link since I remembered a comment on my blog sited your blog as the author. 😀
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LOL! The only reason I recognize which blog belongs to who (I'm terrible at remembering things...might not go over well when I have my exam next week) is your avatar picture; I recognized it from one of your blog entries. 😀
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I don't want to sound too creepy, but I regularly read BOTH of your blogs!
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sorry Lei! It was just a terrible rumour
LOL! It's ok. It's kind of true...
Oh, and ckd: not creepy at all! It's out in the open for a reason! 🙂
I don't want to sound too creepy, but I regularly read BOTH of your blogs!
Definitely not creepy. 😀
Though I am a wee bit confused on how you'd know about my blog since I don't remember mentioning it. I also don't remember the password to get into my bank account (or other important things I used to know), so I guess it doesn't mean much anymore...
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well, i haven't mentioned mine either, but i've written about my Dick Vet experiences thus far.... http://roadtodickvet.blogspot.com/
Creep away 😀
Creep away 😀
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YAY! More info to keep me satisfied until I hear back from them... 😳
Also, chii chan: I'm not sure how I found yours! Either you mentioned it somewhere on here or someone else's blog linked to yours in their blog roll. 🙂
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ckd618...dont feel bad you are not the only one lol. I regularly stalk both of those blogs to get my Dick Vet and RVC fix until I can find out where I get in. And seeing as how I just discovered this forum the other day, I stalked it out on my own lol. My friend goes to RVC and I found their blogs from hers. They have both been very helpful and have helped me figure out which one might be better for me if I get into both and have to make a decision. I love those blogs and I have to say they might have been the root of my demise during finals this semester 🙄
