Veterinary Medicine

Cambridge offers a world class opportunity to study the scientific basis of veterinary medicine and clinical veterinary science. Our course provides the fundamental building blocks on which to develop and excel in any veterinary field.

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Overview

Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge

The Department of Veterinary Medicine has an international reputation as a centre of excellence, and is performing world class veterinary research.

A major strength of the Cambridge course is the extensive use of practical teaching and the emphasis on small-group teaching from Year 1. Our staff includes world leaders in their field and our facilities include state-of-the-art equipment.

Facilities and resources

The modern facilities in the Queen's Veterinary School Hospital include:

a five-theatre small animal surgical suite
active ambulatory farm animal and equine units
a fully-equipped intensive care unit
an equine surgical suite and diagnostic unit, with an MRI machine capable of imaging standing horses
a state-of-the-art post-mortem suite

We also have one of the leading cancer therapy units in Europe with a linear accelerator used for delivering radiotherapy to both small and large animals with cancer.

In addition, our Clinical Skills Centre houses interactive models and simulators for students to practise and refine essential technical skills individually and as integrated clinical scenarios – excellent preparation for the case responsibilities you have in the later years of the course. The Centre is accessible to students in all years of the course.

Small animals, farm animals and horses are housed on-site to provide continual opportunities to consolidate your animal handling skills. The nearby University Farm also allows all students to become involved in lambing and dairy management.

Selection

We are looking for committed students who are interested in the scientific principles that underlie both the health and disease of animals. In addition:

trainee veterinary surgeons must satisfy the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ fitness to practise requirements, both when applying and throughout the course
offer holders are required to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check
successful applicants are required to complete a confidential occupational health questionnaire

If you are an applicant with a disability, including specific learning difficulties or a long-term health condition, you should contact a College Admissions Tutor or the Director of Teaching at the Department of Veterinary Medicine as early as possible to discuss your particular situation and the course requirements. Such disclosures are considered independently of your academic qualifications and the interview process.

Course costs

Tuition fees

Information on tuition fee rates for Veterinary Medicine is available on the tuition fees page.

Additional course costs

Years 1 and 2

Lab coat, overalls, waterproof trousers, wellington boots (with toe protector) – Estimated cost £33.45
Dissection kit, gloves, safety glasses, loan of locker key, loan of dog skeleton – £42
University approved calculator (optional) – Estimated cost £17
Prospective applicants should be aware that lecture material is provided on an online platform and they should therefore have a suitable device, for example a laptop – Cost will depend on the type of device you choose to purchase.

Year 3

Costs dependent on the subject taken during Year.

Pre-clinical extramural studies (EMS)

All students are required by the RVCS to complete 12 weeks during the vacations (at Cambridge, this is years 1-3). Costs vary depending on placements chosen – students should approach their College for travel grant support.
The Department of Veterinary Medicine covers the cost of British Veterinary Association insurance cover for pre-clinical EMS placements at £40 per year.

Years 4, 5 and 6

Essential items, including basic stethoscope, clinical and digital thermometers and forceps (full details listed on Department website) – Estimated cost £40
Yard boots (steel toe-capped leather boots) – Estimated cost £30-40
Many students choose to buy a higher quality stethoscope in later years, plus a fob watch for use in theatre (optional).
White theatre shoes (for Year 6) – Estimated cost £22.68
Protective clothing for theatre (for Year 6) – Estimated cost £6.18

Clinical extramural studies (EMS)

All students are required by the RVCS to complete 26 weeks during the vacations (of years 4-6 at Cambridge). Costs vary depending on placements chosen. The Department of Veterinary Medicine provides a daily subsistence rate and travel allowance to assist with costs.
The Department covers the cost of British Veterinary Association insurance cover for clinical EMS placements at £42 per year.

Further details about additional course costs can be found on the Department website. Most of the equipment listed above can be purchased from the Veterinary School and if you require any further information/guidance, please contact the Department of Veterinary Medicine (see fact file, right).

Some students may be eligible for the Cambridge Bursary Scheme and some College funding may be available to support students’ studies, see individual Colleges for details.

Changing course

To be able to change course, you need the agreement of your College that any change is in your educational interests, and you must have the necessary background in the subject to which you wish to change – in some cases you may be required to undertake some catch-up work or take up the new course from the start/an earlier year. If you think you may wish to change course, we encourage you to contact a College admissions office for advice. You should also consider if/how changing course may affect any financial support arrangements.

If numbers permit and they satisfy the entry requirements for Veterinary Medicine, students studying another science course at Cambridge may be able to change to Veterinary Medicine. This would usually happen at the end of the first year, though students would have to take up Veterinary Medicine from the start of the first year. Students interested in changing to Veterinary Medicine should seek advice from the Director of Teaching at the Vet School in addition to their Director of Studies.

Occasionally, having studied the first year of Veterinary Medicine, students have left the course and changed to Natural Sciences, starting in the second year.

Professional qualification

While the University is responsible for the teaching and examination of the courses leading to the BA and VetMB degrees (awarded after three and six years, respectively), their content and standards are scrutinised by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) and must also conform to the Veterinary Directives of the European Union.

Achievement of the VetMB degree allows you to become a member of the RCVS – the professional qualification required to enter practice.

Careers

The Cambridge course equips you with the clinical skills and scientific understanding required to enter practice and other areas of veterinary work.

Many of our graduates subsequently enhance their clinical skills by obtaining further professional qualifications in a wide variety of clinical disciplines.

However, the Cambridge veterinary course also gives you the scientific understanding needed to enter many other areas of veterinary work or biomedical science, and to understand and respond to the rapid progress being made in veterinary science. For example, there are opportunities to enter research in universities, Research Council institutes and private companies, and to obtain specialist postgraduate qualifications. In addition, career openings are available with government agencies, animal charities (RSPCA, PDSA etc), pharmaceutical companies, and in academic clinical posts.

Course Outline

Course outline

At Cambridge, you study the basic veterinary sciences first before learning to apply that knowledge to veterinary practice as a clinical student.

During your pre-clinical studies (Years 1-3), you are taught through lectures and practical classes (including 120 hours of dissection across the three years) in the central science departments, and College supervisions – you can typically expect 20-25 timetabled teaching hours each week. The clinical studies teaching is a mixture of lectures (in Years 4 and 5), practicals, tutorials, supervisions and clinical classes, with a lecture-free final year.

In addition, you must complete a minimum of 12 weeks’ work experience (pre-clinical extramural study) during the University vacations in Years 1 and 2 to gain knowledge of animal husbandry. During your clinical studies, you must complete at least 26 weeks of clinical extramural study, some of which may be undertaken abroad. You are supported in the activities by your Vet School Clinical Supervisor.

Your progress is continually reviewed by your supervisors and your Director of Studies. Formal assessment, which determines your progression through the course, takes a variety of forms including written essays, short answer questions and practical examinations.

Years 1, 2 and 3 (pre-clinical studies)

Years 1 and 2

In Years 1 and 2, you are taught the core scientific knowledge and skills needed as a veterinary professional.

Taught by some of the world’s top academic scientists and veterinary surgeons, we provide you with the scientific and practical basis that will allow you to develop your veterinary career to the full, whether your aim is to deliver outstanding care or to push forward the boundaries of academic veterinary medicine.

In addition to core science, you follow the Preparing for the Veterinary Profession course (an introduction to the ethical, social and professional responsibilities of the profession) and courses in animal handling and management.

The main areas of learning are covered by courses in:

Principles of Animal Management – an intensive course in animal husbandry and management, including comprehensive animal handling training across a wide range of species
Preparing for the Veterinary Profession – introducing you to the professional, ethical, financial, legal and social dimensions of your chosen career
Homeostasis – covering the physiological systems which underpin the animal body's regulation of its internal environment and its responses to external threats. You also have practical classes in related aspects of experimental physiology and histology
Molecules in Medical Science – looking at the chemical and molecular basis of how cells and organisms work, as well as the genetic foundations of animal populations
Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology – functional anatomy of organs and tissues of domestic animals, and the direct relevance of animal structure in clinical veterinary medicine. The course involves extensive dissection of eight species, integrated teaching of diagnostic imaging as well as topographic anatomy sessions in live animals
Introduction to the Scientific Basis of Medicine – covering epidemiology and how it’s applied in veterinary medicine
Biology of Disease – dealing with the nature and mechanisms of disease processes, and the mechanisms by which animals detect, resist and destroy agents of disease
Mechanisms of Drug Action – providing a clinically-focused understanding of how drugs enter animals’ bodies, how they’re distributed around them, how they act on cells and organs, and how they’re removed
Neurobiology and Animal Behaviour – covering the structure and function of the sense organs and central nervous system, and introductions to neurological examinations of live animals
Veterinary Reproductive Biology – looking at the physiology of fertility, pregnancy, development, birth and the neonate in domestic animals
Comparative Vertebrate Biology – an introduction to the biology of fish, reptiles, birds, rodents and ‘exotic’ mammals, including practical classes in the handling and husbandry of these species

Read more about Years 1 and 2 on the Faculty of Biology website.

Year 3

You specialise in one of a wide range of other subjects offered by the University to qualify for the BA degree. Options include:

a single Part II Natural Sciences subject
Part II Biological and Biomedical Sciences in Natural Sciences (offering a range of subjects such as Pathology, Physiology, Zoology, History and Ethics of Medicine)
a subject less obviously related to veterinary medicine, such as Anthropology or Management Studies

This feature of the course gives you the opportunity to specialise in an area of interest to you, expanding your knowledge and preparing you for a career after graduation. Following this, you then continue to the three years of clinical studies at the Department of Veterinary Medicine, which is just a short walk or bike ride from the city centre.

Years 4, 5 and 6 (clinical studies)

Year 4

The emphasis of the clinical studies is to give you sufficient clinical knowledge and skills to begin to practise veterinary medicine (‘day one competencies’) and also to provide you with the scientific background you need to benefit from future trends and advances in veterinary medicine.

In Year 4, you study topics including:

animal breeding, nutrition and welfare
anatomical and clinical pathology
microbiology and veterinary parasitology
clinical pharmacology
radiography
anaesthesia
gastroenterology
respiratory system diseases
communication skills
practical clinical skills

You also learn about veterinary public health, including food hygiene, state veterinary medicine and the medicine of ruminants, rabbits, rodents, reptiles and birds.

Clinical tuition begins with basic clinical methods and integrated teaching in the husbandry/management and medicine of horses and farm species. Two mornings each week are given over to practical clinical work including basic clinical examination of the main domestic species, radiography and post-mortem investigation. You also develop a range of technical and practice-related skills in the Clinical Skills Centre.

Year 5

You continue the different courses in species medicine started in Year 4, and instruction is given in subjects including:

cardiology
neurology
oncology
endocrinology
various surgical topics
communication skills
practical clinical skills
practice management

Five mornings every week are again set aside for practical clinical work. This includes visits to external establishments such as the University-affiliated RSPCA clinic, and opportunities to further hone your consultation and practical skills in the Clinical Skills Centre.

Part II of the Final Veterinary Examination tests your understanding of principles and concepts of veterinary medicine, as well as your ability to integrate information across the Part I series of subjects.

Year 6

This is a 40-week lecture-free year with tuition centred on clinical teaching, in which groups of just three or four students rotate through different disciplines in the hospital with individual clinicians. The small size of these groups means each student’s caseload is higher and they are given the maximum possible responsibility for the management of clinical cases. This allows you to develop your clinical and problem-solving skills and client communication skills in a real clinical practice environment.

Subjects covered during the year include:

small animal surgery (soft tissue and orthopaedic surgery)
small animal medicine (including oncology, neurology and clinical pathology)
equine studies
farm animals
anaesthesia
out-of-hours care
diagnostic imaging

Finally, you have a period of eight weeks’ elective study in which to explore a special interest.

During the year, marks awarded in continuous assessment count towards Part III of the Final Veterinary Examination, which is examined in May of the final year.

Achievement of the VetMB degree allows you to become a Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (MRCVS), which is the professional qualification required to enter practice.

For further information about studying Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge see the Department of Veterinary Medicine website.

Entry Requirements

Typical offers require

A Level: A*AA
IB: 40-42 points, with 776 at Higher Level

For other qualifications, see our main Entrance requirements pages.

You may enter up to four veterinary medicine/science courses in your UCAS application. Your remaining choice can be used for an alternative course without prejudice to your commitment to veterinary medicine.

Course requirements

See Veterinary Medicine: Subject Requirements and Typical Offer by College for College-specific requirements/preferences. All undergraduate admissions decisions are the responsibility of the Cambridge Colleges. Please contact the relevant College admissions office if you have any queries about College-specific requirements.

See also Entrance requirements and The Subject Matters for additional advice about general requirements for entry, qualifications and offers.

Please note that in the following ‘science/mathematics subjects’ refers to Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics. It does not include Psychology.

A Levels

A Levels in Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics, Mathematics.
Most applicants have at least three science/mathematics A Levels and some Colleges require this and/or particular subjects. See individual College websites for details.

International Baccalaureate

A Level subject requirements also apply to the IB – Higher Level subjects satisfy A Level subject requirements.

Please note, IB applicants starting the new IB Mathematics syllabus are expected to take IB Higher Level 'Analysis and Approaches' for any course where Mathematics is a requirement. If this option is not available at your school, please contact the College that you wish to apply to directly for further advice and guidance.

Other examination systems

We expect applicants taking other recognised examinations to demonstrate a level of understanding in science and mathematics roughly equivalent to those applying with A Levels. Refer to the Entrance requirements page for details of other qualifications and please consult any College Admissions Tutor for further advice.

Graduate entry

Graduates wanting to study Veterinary Medicine may apply as an affiliate student to one of Lucy Cavendish, St Edmund’s or Wolfson Colleges with:

a good Honours degree (2.1 or above, science subjects are desirable)
passes at A Levels (or equivalent), as above

Work experience

Work experience is not a requirement for applicants but some experience is useful to understand the profession and what is required of its members. We recommend applicants acquire two weeks of work experience, if possible.

For students applying for 2021 Entry, we’re mindful that the COVID-19 crisis may prevent prospective applicants from completing work experience. Not having completed work experience will not disadvantage your application to Cambridge. Further advice and guidance can be found on the Veterinary School’s website.

Admission assessment

For 2021 entry, all applicants for Veterinary Medicine (including applicants to mature Colleges) are required to take a pre-interview written assessment on 5 November 2020, at an authorised centre local to them (for a lot of applicants, this will be their school/college). You need to be registered by 15 October 2020 to take the assessment, and your assessment centre must do this for you. Please note that open centres may set an earlier deadline for accepting entries, and it is your responsibility to check if this applies at your centre. See admission assessments for full details.

Assessment format

See Natural Sciences pre-interview written assessment for more information about the assessment format, and to download past papers.

Please note that your performance in the pre-interview assessment will not be considered in isolation, but will be taken into account alongside the other elements of your application.

Submitted work

Applicants are not typically asked to submit examples of written work. Some may be asked by their College to do some reading in advance of their interview, but if this is required the College will provide full details in the letter inviting the student to interview.

Selection requirements

We are looking for students who are committed to the veterinary profession, and who are really interested in the scientific principles that underlie both the health and disease of animals.

Applications from students who have failed at or been excluded from other veterinary schools will not be accepted at Cambridge

Professional expectations

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) has certain expectations regarding the attitudes, behaviour and performance of veterinary students. Trainee veterinary surgeons at Cambridge must satisfy the RCVS fitness to practise requirements, both when applying and throughout the course. These requirements are in place to ensure the safety of patients and patients' owners.

Disclosure and Barring Service check

If you are offered a place to study Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge, you're required to undergo a standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Overseas students are asked to provide similar evidence.

Students are required to undergo a standard DBS check on entry to the Veterinary surgeon profession. The University will send further instructions on registering with the DBS as part of the admissions process.

Minor misdemeanours will not necessarily prevent you from entering the veterinary profession but you should declare these in your UCAS application and you will be sent the relevant forms to complete if you are offered a place.

More details can be found on the University's Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) webpage and on the Faculty of Biology website.

Your health

Veterinary surgeons, even as students and trainees, have a responsibility to be honest and open about their own health and all successful applicants are required to complete a confidential occupational health assessment. A questionnaire will be included with your offer letter and, once completed, should be returned to the University’s Occupational Health Service.

The assessment is also to identify any long-term health conditions or disabilities that you have which require specific support, so that this can be in place before you start the course.

Health surveillance

All veterinary students will be seen in Occupational Health at the start of the course for allergy screening and to commence health surveillance due to the work with animals that will be undertaken.

Disability, specific learning difficulties (SpLDs) and health conditions

A disability, SpLD or long-term health condition needn't prevent you from becoming a veterinary surgeon if you can satisfy the professional fitness to practise requirements.

In these circumstances please contact a College Admissions Tutor, or the Director of Teaching at the Department of Veterinary Medicine as early as possible to discuss your needs and the course requirements. Such disclosures are considered independently of academic qualifications and the interview process.

The University's Disability Resource Centre (DRC) can provide general advice and guidance to prospective and current disabled students including those with a SpLD or long-term health condition.

For further information about studying Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge see the Department of Veterinary Medicine website.

Resources

Find out more about Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge

Vet School Undergraduate Admissions - For more information about what it’s like to be a vet at Cambridge, and how to apply, see the Vet School Undergraduate Admissions webpages

Department of Veterinary Medicine - Explore Veterinary Medicine in more detail on the faculty website.

Basic Science Concepts - Basic concepts you will be expected to be familiar with during your first year.

Costs of Studying Medicine or Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge - Information on the additional costs associated with the study of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.

Rules and legal compliance - All offers to study Medicine or Veterinary Medicine are dependent on an enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service for UK applicants.

Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons - Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons website.

Vet School Facebook - University of Cambridge Vet School

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