Vet Medicine at Melbourne

[Vanitor]

Hey guys, I need some advice... If anyone could help me out, it would be amazing.

I saw a similar post from mid 2013 and was wondering if there was anyone who could provide an updated response; perhaps someone who is currently studying the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Melbourne, or has successfully entered the specialisation of the major (Animal Health and Disease [Veterinary Bioscience]). Or even someone who failed to get into the DVM or the specialisation (Veterinary Bioscience), but found a happy alternative occupation in the biotechnology specialisation.

I read these selection guidelines and they freaked me out. A lot.
http://www.vet.unimelb.edu.au/docs/SelectionGuidelinesDVM.pdf

I'm currently in my second year of Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne.
This semester I took Foundations of Animal Health 1, and Biochemistry. Next semester I intend to take Foundations of Animal Health 2.

I keep being told that the requirements for a Commonwealth Supported Place in the DVM is something like 85+ average; this terrifies me because I average H3s (60s). Although I'm proud of having never failed a subject, I realise that amongst the high achievers (ie. the other applicants), I undoubtedly rank abysmally.

Is it really that hard to get into the DVM through the specialisation of the major?
And just how hard is it to get in through graduate entry? (I'm assuming just as hard, if not harder? ... But I'm hoping otherwise!)

And if (when) I don't get into the Veterinary Bioscience specialisation, I've read that I'll end up in the "Animal Disease Biotechnology" specialisation of the Animal Health and Disease major. Does completing this major give me any kind of upper hand in the selection process towards the DVM? If not, is there anything I can even DO with this major?

And lastly, can I still become a vet somehow, despite my mediocre grades? I spend almost all my time studying, I never party (heck I've never even been drunk, or to a club), but overall I've just been having difficulty scoring well in this degree. I don't really consider myself stupid (93.00 ATAR in 2012, if that's any kind of indication), but I think I have a lot of trouble with the university-style of learning.

tl;dr
I'm in the middle of second year and my grades suck. Am I screwed if my grades suck, and they continue to suck all through third year? Are my dreams of being a vet over?
If so, can you suggest an alternative, animal-related, hands-on occupation that will make my science degree useful?


Thanks in advance,


A desperate and pessimistic (or perhaps simply realistic) UoM BSc student (wanting an equally realistic response)

[spalvains]

Hi there! I'm a third year science student this year hoping to get into the DVM, although I didn't try to get into the major and am pinning all my hopes on postgrad entry. I also have friends who are in my year but failed to get in (and are doing the Biotech major), so I know a bit about the process - though please take note that this is mostly second hand info so it may not be 100% accurate.

Firstly, the GPA needed to get in isn't 85+, it's more like 81-82, though you have to remember that experience and Graduate Access Melbourne can add a few points onto the GPA (that's why everyone says 85+, just to play it safe). Just because you didn't do so great in first year doesn't mean that it's impossible - for example, in my first year I didn't end up with any H1s at all, just due to moving out of home, working too much etc. However, in my second year I ended up with a H1 average, just because the subjects were more interesting to me. Hopefully the same can happen to you! Your first year grades are only worth 25% of your entry GPA and, if you end up going for postgrad entry, they don't even count your first year marks at all (which I am definitely taking advantage of.) Also, that GPA is around the same for entry to the major and to postgrad.

Unfortunately no, the Animal Disease Biotechnology major doesn't give you an upper hand in the selection process. However, if you do get in, the subjects allow you to only take 62.5 points worth of subjects in your first year instead of the normal 100 (see https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/view/2014/MC-DVETMED under the heading 'DVM 1 with advanced standing'). Though, just remember that you don't have to do that major at all for postgrad entry. If you have your heart set on vet school but don't end up getting the grades to get in this year, make sure you pick a major that you enjoy and that you think you can score well in.

Unimelb is very different to other Australian vet degrees in that grades are the most important criteria, by far. Universities like Charles Sturt, Murdoch and Sydney (who are changing from a bachelors to a DVM as of next year) take experience and/or an interview into consideration with greater weighting than Unimelb does. If grades aren't your strong point, your best bet might be to get lots of experience and try other unis as well. I suggest looking up other unis that offer it and see how they weight their criteria.

Unfortunately I don't have any info about other field relating to animals, hopefully someone else can help out there. If you have any other questions about the selection process or anything like that I might be able to help - I've done extensive research on it. Good luck with it all

[Belgarion]

Hi there! I'm a third year science student this year hoping to get into the DVM, although I didn't try to get into the major and am pinning all my hopes on postgrad entry. I also have friends who are in my year but failed to get in (and are doing the Biotech major), so I know a bit about the process - though please take note that this is mostly second hand info so it may not be 100% accurate.

Firstly, the GPA needed to get in isn't 85+, it's more like 81-82, though you have to remember that experience and Graduate Access Melbourne can add a few points onto the GPA (that's why everyone says 85+, just to play it safe). Just because you didn't do so great in first year doesn't mean that it's impossible - for example, in my first year I didn't end up with any H1s at all, just due to moving out of home, working too much etc. However, in my second year I ended up with a H1 average, just because the subjects were more interesting to me. Hopefully the same can happen to you! Your first year grades are only worth 25% of your entry GPA and, if you end up going for postgrad entry, they don't even count your first year marks at all (which I am definitely taking advantage of.) Also, that GPA is around the same for entry to the major and to postgrad.

Unfortunately no, the Animal Disease Biotechnology major doesn't give you an upper hand in the selection process. However, if you do get in, the subjects allow you to only take 62.5 points worth of subjects in your first year instead of the normal 100 (see https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/view/2014/MC-DVETMED under the heading 'DVM 1 with advanced standing'). Though, just remember that you don't have to do that major at all for postgrad entry. If you have your heart set on vet school but don't end up getting the grades to get in this year, make sure you pick a major that you enjoy and that you think you can score well in.

Unimelb is very different to other Australian vet degrees in that grades are the most important criteria, by far. Universities like Charles Sturt, Murdoch and Sydney (who are changing from a bachelors to a DVM as of next year) take experience and/or an interview into consideration with greater weighting than Unimelb does. If grades aren't your strong point, your best bet might be to get lots of experience and try other unis as well. I suggest looking up other unis that offer it and see how they weight their criteria.

Unfortunately I don't have any info about other field relating to animals, hopefully someone else can help out there. If you have any other questions about the selection process or anything like that I might be able to help - I've done extensive research on it. Good luck with it all

A friend of mine asked me about this degree a while ago and i couldn't give her an answer so maybe you could given you have done the research. She is currently a second year biomed student and in case she didnt get into medicine, she wanted to know if the post graduate vet degree at melbourne could be an option for her. Any thoughts?

[Vanitor]

A friend of mine asked me about this degree a while ago and i couldn't give her an answer so maybe you could given you have done the research. She is currently a second year biomed student and in case she didnt get into medicine, she wanted to know if the post graduate vet degree at melbourne could be an option for her. Any thoughts?

From my research, post-grad vet is definitely an option. I think as long as you complete MCB (or an equivalent to it) you can actually do the second year subject "Foundations of Animal Health" during post-grad; in fact, half the students in my current class are second year undergrads, and the other half are DVM!


Also - thanks for the response spalvains! May I ask which major you're doing at the moment?

I'm not too sure which major to do if not the biotech one; despite being in second year I feel like I still haven't found what my strong areas are. Literally all my grades are H3s/Ps, and I find almost every subject quite challenging, so I don't really get a good indication of what I'm good at.

I've also been looking into the other interstate unis, and because of my dual Aus-Canadian citizenship I've even been looking into some Canadian options... Not much luck yet though, I feel like I might struggle financially if I moved out of home.

[spalvains]

A friend of mine asked me about this degree a while ago and i couldn't give her an answer so maybe you could given you have done the research. She is currently a second year biomed student and in case she didnt get into medicine, she wanted to know if the post graduate vet degree at melbourne could be an option for her. Any thoughts?

Vanitor is right - for postgrad entry into vet at Melbourne Uni, you only need a biochem subject and a general biology subject, and a major in life sciences (pretty much any of them - see here: http://www.vet.unimelb.edu.au/docs/SelectionGuidelinesDVM.pdf on page 7).

Also - thanks for the response spalvains! May I ask which major you're doing at the moment?

I'm not too sure which major to do if not the biotech one; despite being in second year I feel like I still haven't found what my strong areas are. Literally all my grades are H3s/Ps, and I find almost every subject quite challenging, so I don't really get a good indication of what I'm good at.

I've also been looking into the other interstate unis, and because of my dual Aus-Canadian citizenship I've even been looking into some Canadian options... Not much luck yet though, I feel like I might struggle financially if I moved out of home.

I'm majoring in Cell and Developmental Biology, with a specialisation in animal cell biology. It's not a popular major - only 30 or so doing my specialisation this year, and it's available in both BSc and BBiomed! But I love it if your grades are pretty standard across the board, you just have to find something you're interested in, and hopefully that will lead to good results. For example, I'm quite good at memorising protein pathways, amino acid structures and the like, so I almost majored in Biochem, but I didn't want to do all the prac subjects (for multiple reasons). I ended up just going down the list of majors in the Handbook to find one, and I liked the idea of cell biology. The subjects so far have been well coordinated, which makes it easier to get good marks. Plus, I like how broad it is, I feel like that will give me an advantage if I get into vet school.

Also, just a heads up, in America and Canada the application system is very different than Australia - they value experience a lot more than any vet school in Australia. I'm talking hundreds, if not thousands, of contact hours under the direct supervision of a vet. I'm not sure why it's so different to here in Aus (maybe it's just a lot more competitive), but at least us Australians get to pay like 1/4 of the fees that they do for a DVM :S

[daphaneng]

tl;dr
I'm in the middle of second year and my grades suck. Am I screwed if my grades suck, and they continue to suck all through third year? Are my dreams of being a vet over?
If so, can you suggest an alternative, animal-related, hands-on occupation that will make my science degree useful?

Hi there! I don't know much about vet, but I'm majoring in Zoology - so if you have questions about this side of the animal world, let me know

[LeviLamp]

If it helps, the average to get into the Zoology Masters degree is 65, rather than ~80. And the practical experience with the animals you study could be considered relevant to vet science depending on what you researched, if you wanted to pursue that later Things like possums or wallabies would be especially good animals to work on for vet-relevant experience, if you chose to pursue that pathway.

[spalvains]

Although Masters is a great way to explore other options in the animal-related field, I wouldn't endorse doing a Masters just to increase your chances of getting into Unimelb's DVM. Masters by coursework only adds +1 to your GPA, and Masters by research only adds +2.

For the experience part of entry (that can add up to 4 points to the GPA), I've heard that getting 4 points is only possible if you've pretty much been volunteering with animals your whole life. So, two years' worth of Masters may only qualify you for 1 or 2 points for experience.

Obviously if you just scrape under admission +3-4 could help, but there's no point doing it if your GPA ends up being quite low and it's just being used as a tool to get into vet med. (My friend was able to find out where she was in the rankings, so it's possible to plan for this.) Plus Masters is quite expensive. Then again, you could find out you have a love for research and don't want to do vet med after all

Honestly, if you don't get in I suggest trying for Sydney - for the next few years the number of applicants will be lower for the postgrad DVM, as NSW school-leavers will be applying for the BVetBiol/DVM.

[Vanitor]

Honestly, if you don't get in I suggest trying for Sydney - for the next few years the number of applicants will be lower for the postgrad DVM, as NSW school-leavers will be applying for the BVetBiol/DVM.

Was definitely looking into this a few days ago too... Might be a bit tough to survive interstate though, I've never needed to do that.

Thanks for all the great advice guys.

[asdf666]

Hi, i have just recently started bachelor of science at Melbourne (only 2 weeks in), my whole life i have had a dream of becoming a vet and already i see the dream slipping away from me, due to all the competition and the complexity of the work.  I am an average student. Can someone who has gotten into DVM please tell me how hard was it and what grades i should be getting, because i don't know if i want to change course now to a more specific course (such as podiatry at latrobe) as i would not just want to be left with a science degree after three years! please offer your advice.