animal behaviourist/vet

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[martini55]

If you are in the UK and don't do vet med as an undergraduate degree (ie. if you rely on other degrees to get you into vet school) I am pretty positive you have to pay for tuition fees (I'm scottish so referring to the scottish system) which is around £65-70k I believe. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Sorry I can't help you with courses but just thought I would let you know.

[Pink's lady]

NOpe, not a vet I'm afraid. I'm guessing you're in the UK?

You MUST have AAABB in highers (which is the second last years of school) and ABB in advanced highers (last year of school) with the A in chemistry. In theory you can go and do a chemistry, biology or zooilogical degree (a NHC or NHD isn't nearly enough) and apply from there but it doesn't happen often.

You also need a huge amount of work expereince at farms, kennels, stables and vet centres.

And, like martini said, if it's a second degree the course cost £17,000 a year

Not sure about behaviour though - it does require much lower academic grades but probably just as competative to get into.

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[martini55]

There certainly are ways to do it. But you can do all those and still get rejected. I'm sure you can only apply twice too? Why not email admissions at some universities and ask for some guidance or go to a career advisor? I wanted to be a vet but never stuck in at school (really stupid I know) as I clashed with some of my teachers and others just put me down and called me stupid so I began to believe them. I was going to do a 4 yr science degree at uni and then apply... until I found out that I would be in so much debt .

[galadriel]

Hmm...over here behaviorist seems to be a specialist vet certification--first you get the vet qualifications, then you study behaviorism. I took one of my dogs to a vet conference recently--they had a panel of vets studying to be certified as behaviorists who needed dogs and cats to evaluate. It was fascinating!

[Pink's lady]

have got 10 GCSE's 5 - d's n 5 c's (could have done a load better - but isssues etc lol)

2 as levels

and im getting another 3 (hopefully) at and a grade

To be honest I don't think they're anywhere near good enough to get you onto vet med. You're are expected to get them all at one sitting too.

I got 7 1's (bio, chem, physics, maths, english, geography, german), 5 A's (biology, chemistry, physics, maths and english) at higher and 3A's (chem, bio and maths) at advanced higher and that's the normal offering grades.

You need to phone up the university to ask them what you need and what else you could do.

As for work experience you are expected to do lambing, milking, loads of different vet centres, stable work, kennel work, abbitor if you can get it.

Are you truely sure it's what you want to do? If you are considering behaviour, I suspect not. It is NOT all about petting animals - in fact for the first two years you don't see a single live animals - it's all prepared specimens. It is basically pure biology and chemistry, with a little statisitics for good measure. And after that it's very little hands on - you get no time to play with them - just examine them - and chop them up once they're anesthetised. And it's damn hard work - even with my grade I struggle with the amount of work involved - god know how those with a lower academic level would cope - I don't think they would to be honest.

By all means have a look into it, but I think you'd be much more successful following the behaviour route. IN the UK you don't have to be a qualified vet, athough being a vet nurse helps. I know edinburgh Uni runs a small animal and horse behaviour course.

[Wobblydeb]

Pink's Lady has got it spot on. I know a couple of people who applied to vet school after doing related first degrees (actually both of them have PhDs). One got offered every school other than Cambridge, so the annual cost was going to be £17,000 on fees BEFORE all the living costs. The other was accepted at Cambridge where you just pay the normal £3,000 per year (although this may have changed since). She is academically brilliant though!

[emma314]

I finished my degree in Animal Behaviour last year. Although I went the A-Level route, there were several people on my course who did the National Diploma. I really enjoyed the course, however it is still a Biology subject so very science based. We spent a LOT of time learning about ecology, the environment, genetics, etc. There will be parts that you have no interest in at all but it does all tie together and you cover all the aspects of why an animal behaves as it does. You also have to be interested in ALL animals, we learnt about everything from bees and ants to elephants and whales.

At the end of the course I think you would have enough knowledge to become an animal behaviourist. However, the practical side of it is just as (if not more) important than the qualification. Have a look at the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors website http://www.apbc.org.uk/index.htm

If you have any questions about the degree course then just ask and I'll do my best to help!

[Taeling]

I've just finished my BTEC National Diploma in Animal Management and got a MPP which i'm quite pleased with as our second year got messed up so much (We were the first year to do it in my college). It's so hard to get all distinctons especially with your IVA that you'll get in your second year. It's sooo hard, time-consuming and boring. If you want to get all distictions (DDD) then your gonna have to work very hard.