Hi, I’m Stephanie, nice to meet you!
I’m entering into my 3rd year of Veterinary Medicine in UCD. It still hasn’t sunk in that in less than 3 years I will be fully qualified and have MVB permanently etched after my name. It truly is a dream come true.
One question I always get asked is “Why on earth did you want to do Veterinary?” As a Dublin girl living in Dundrum my entire life and with most of my friends being perpetually afraid of dirt it’s a very understandable question . Growing up I spent a lot of time around animals; both large and small. My granddad had a dairy farm so I was always scooting around cattle, I did horse riding for ten years and I always had pet dogs, cats, hamsters, fish etc. To me veterinary always seemed like an inevitable, logical progression. As a child I idolised the vet that came to my grandfather’s farm, from a child’s perspective here was this man who donated his life to travelling around helping and saving animals. Magic.
I was lucky entering into the course I had plenty of experience with a wide range of animals, not everyone did. However by the end of second year everyone is on a level playing field thanks to one thing HANDS ON EXPERIENCE.
In UCD veterinary they don’t tell you how to inject a cow, they hand you a needle and show you. They don’t demonstrate how to turn a sheep, they throw you into a pen of them and yell instructions from the safety of the other side of the gate. Veterinary is a practical job and the course equips us to deal with it. There are two ways that we get experience; one is Lyons farm (UCDs research farm) and the other is 12 weeks pre-clinical work experience which you must source and complete yourself. We get experience with all types of animals; 2 weeks with each of the following ; sheep, dairy cows, beef cattle, horses, small animals and pigs (yes pigs and no the horrible smell is not a rumour)
If you’re thinking about applying for veterinary medicine and entering our crazy, amazing student community bear in mind that entering the course there are only 3 things you need;
1. Determination and drive
2. To enjoy working with animals
3. To be sociable and enjoy working with people
The rest we will teach you (or like me you’ll learn it the hard way)!
