Starting vet school

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mr cricket

mr cricket

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So I live down under (Australia). I'm finishing off my exams this month and I have got conditional entry to veterinary medicine. So most likely I'll be studying vet next year. However I'm getting really nervous. What's it like at vet school? I have talked to a few students at vet school and all of them say the studying is a nightmare. On top of the studying, we have to do so many placements at shelters, farms, etc. It seems all too much.

How do you guys suggest I prepare over the holidays?
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well i got 3 months of holidays. I'm not going to be partying for the whole 90 days.
 
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No seriously. Do it. Whenever there is the slightest break from exams/tests/assignments you'll generally find half my year getting messy together. You really miss being able to just do what you want, when you want. (ie, waking up at midday on a sunday and deciding to do a sesh, jumping in the car to spend a night out with friends, even just going to the movies for a while).

Vet school is actually NOT as scary as it sounds. I mean, YES, it is hard work, but as long as you work when you need to, and relax when you can, you'll be fiiinnneeee.

And you don't actually have as much in the way of placements as it sounds. It actually used to be a lot worse than it is! I'm not entirely sure about melbourne, but i know sydney and murdoch used to be 13 weeks of EMS before like, 4th year. Which IS a lot. But now both are down to 6 weeks, which is very doable.
 
Here at Melbourne, it is at least 6 weeks at a commercial farm and 2 weeks at a shelter (before the end of year 2). On top of that 29 contact hours per week in the first year, in addition to the expected 25 hours of study per week. On top of that some students tell me horror stories about the difficulty of learning anatomy!

I don't know how anyone would not be scared when hearing the above. Lol. Perhaps I should just relax for the moment and wait till next year to see what its like.

I'm not so much a party animal, but I will take your advice about just chilling whenever possible :D
 
Dude... thats pretty much standard. We do 6 weeks farm + 1 week clinic by the start of 3rd year (Here are Murdoch). And yeah, contact hours are about 30 a week in first year, and they just go up from there (Up until like, 45hrs/week in fourth year). But its SERIOUSLY not as bad as you think!!!

I mean, as I said earlier, its hard. You will struggle at times. But SO MANY people have managed it before you! I have lots of friends in older years, and when I feel as though I'm about to sink, I think about them and realise - if they've done it, it can be done! And if they let me in - *I* can do it! You don't have to be that book smart for vet school, you just have to study smart, and be persistant. You actually can't learn everything they throw at you, so the sooner you come to terms with that, the better off you are!

Don't be scared man. Be excited! This is the start of a long, but fun journey to the greatest destination on earth! (IMHO, anyway!:D) And just remember, you'll be there, in the same boat at about 90 other people, and most of them will be willing to help you out. The older years will be willing to help you out. The faculty staff will be willing to help you out. Vet school is like a family, or the marines - we leave no man behind! I mean, sure, some people fail, but they are the exception rather than the norm, and there are so many people willing to help you out and get you back on track before it gets to that point.

Slightly off topic - are you going to be in the first DVM class then? I suspect you may have more time on your hands than previous years then, as your vet degree is longer. Correct me if im wrong, but before it was 1yr prevet kinda, then 4 years vet? Isn't it now 3 years vet science + 3 years vet med?
 
And anatomy isnt really tricky. It just takes lots of late nights in the library to memorise! :p But there are compensations.

The first time i felt a baby cow inside a mummy cow, made all the all nighters ive pulled worth it :)

If you really want to do something over the holidays, maybe you should go shadow some vets, go out to the country do a bit of large animal, go watch some caesereans at a repro smallies clinic and play with the puppies. I know what it feels like to be scared that you can't do it, so go psych yourself before school begins. Take pictures of all your favourite patients, write up all your most inspiring, challenging and heartwarming cases, as well as a few that didnt go well. Make a scrapbook.
Then, when you are at vet school, and it all seems like a bit too much, you can go back through it, and remember why you're here, and why its all worth it.

I'm just finishing up first year, so if you have any specific worries, feel free to PM me :)
 
Thanks Sunshinevet for the reply. Really nice of you. I feel so much better now :).

I should have been a bit clearer about the course. Because this is mainly an American site, I thought I'd call it vet med (I don't know if Americans know what vet science is). So anyway I got into the prevet year and have a guaranteed spot in vet science next year (It's the last cohort of vet science from melb uni. The next cohort onwards is DVM). So this year I studied chem, bio, physics and an elective (prevet science). I've found this year pretty cruisy (mainly because it feels like a repeat of year 12).

I'm simply trying to brace myself for the way more difficult vet course. Now that you have calmed my fears, I feel quite excited about next year. Nevertheless I'm still a bit nervous. Lol.
 
Haha, I know what you mean about a repeat of year 12! I was in the first "pre-vet" year at Murdoch last year, which was pretty much the same, and this year has been my first "real" year of vet. So do you have another 5 years to go, or four? Melbourne's system always confused me!
 
after this year I have 4 more left, which is pretty good. you have 6 years in total right? I was actually going to move to perth, but I ended up getting enough marks to stick with melbourne. lucky i didnt move there, it would have cost heaps for accomodation. were you a school leaver too?
 
Yeah, I have six years in total. So four more after this. I'm from our nations lovely capital - so I had to move somewhere for vet school. I was also accepted to CSU (hard to turn down! :() and JCU (lol, safety...) but I figured that since Murdoch was the first Oz school with NAVLE accred, and given its rep, I should probably come here. And I haven't been disappointed! Perth is absolutely lovely and the vet faculty here at murdoch is amazing. I was a school leaver, but only about 1/3 of the class is my age - most is 22+. Some mature age students are awesome, some think they're better than you just cuz their older... we ignore them...

I didn't bother applying to Melbourne as last I heard the cutoff was 99.6? I'm not that smart, lol! And I really don't like big cities - Perth is big enough for me! :p
 
A school leaver here in Australia is someone who went to uni straight after finishing year 12. (end of highschool). Unlike America, we don't recieve any university acceptances until we actually finish year 12 and our final marks come out. In Australia, your year 12 results give you a number out of 100, indicating what percentage of the population your scores are above (ie, 99.6 means that your year 12 marks were equal to or better than 99.6% of the population)

The majority of Aussies do stay to complete year 12 these days, it can make it quite difficult to get a job without it.

Some universitys (Esp U of Melb, UWA) here in Australia are trying to swap over to the US system, making people do a generic degree in either Sci, arts, commerce etc before going on to something like med, vet, law, eng etc. Personally, I don't see the point. I can't imagine how much money you guys must waste doing 4 years of classes, most with minimal relevance to the future!!!
 
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Shanomong said:
Do many of those students get accepted into programs and leave school to start immediately?
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Basically as Sunshinevet has said above:

1. Complete primary school (prep - year 6).
2. Complete high school (year 7- year 12). Once completed - "school leaver"
3. Complete an undergraduate degree in ANY field (at University).

So something like Veterinary science (equivalent to DVM), will be completed at an undergraduate level. The course length is usually 6 years total (consisting of about 3.5 years of non-clinical stuff and 2.5 years of clinical stuff). It's the same structure for other courses in Australia such as medicine. Entry to any undergraduate course is based solely on year 12 results (few courses ask for extra tests, such as the UMAT).

Melbourne university will be changing to the US system from 2011. So vet will take 3 years science + 4 years DVM. I think this will be the trend in the future.

By the way, the Australian tertiary education system is based on the English (U.K) system.

It seems I have just repeated what Sunshinevet has said, but in my own words. lol
 
I would have loved to do a bit of study in history and astrophysics before getting into the seriousness of vet. So I'm kind of all for the US system. However most people in Australia absolutely despise it. There's protest over it all the time.

It's seen as a ploy to make more money by universities. Why? Because all undergraduate courses in Australia go for less than 7 years and majority of uni fees are covered by the Government (students pay less than half of the actual cost). By introducing the US system, it forces students to study a graduate course, which is not covered by the Government. Plus it makes most courses over 4/5 years.

Nevertheless Melbourne and UWA and quite a number of courses at some uni's have switched to this system. So in about half a century I recon the Australian education system will mirror that of the US. What can we do, the US sets the standards and rest of the world HAS to follow. LOL
 
TBH, my view on making our tertiary education system more like the American system is probably to do with my view on university - for me, it is exclusively a means to an end. Sure, I have fun at uni, I join all sorts of organisations and I've made friends I will always have, but I regard my university life as different to the other factors that round me out - I read a lot of history, I take italian classes, I take salsa lessons and I surf - I came to uni to become a vet, not to be "well rounded" - I kind of regard the rest of life for that. I agree that doing extra time at uni may be helpful to those who are more unsure or unexposed to their career path, but my original top choice uni admitted on marks as well as other factors, and so I had to do considerable volunteer and veterinary work before I applied.

Not to say I don't miss studying other subjects - I took physics in highschool, it was my best subject, and I do miss it. But ultimately, its not what I want to do with my life, and so I put it in my "outside university education" box.

And Mr Cricket - you can get FEE-HELP for graduate courses. So slightly different to hecs, but still the same kind of thing. However, I do wonder that if degrees change to undergrad then graduate, this may disappear.
 
I'm not talking about the Government giving a loan to pay back later. I know about the FEE HELP (and yes it is similar to HECS).

I'm talking about CSP (commonwealth supported places), where fees are heavily subsidized by Government. That's only for undergraduate students. Therefore those who do graduate studies (for example DVM) will have to pay the full fees (making the uni's more money and bankrupting all the students).

In terms of producing well rounded individuals, it's getting really annoying, with all uni's saying ... our aim is to produce well rounded graduates..blah blah. lol. Sure it's important, but people go to university to get an education so they can find a job.

My support of the US model is simply me being selfish and wishing I studied a bit of history and astrophysics. I recon I may have even being persuaded to study astro instead of vet if I did a bit more study about it. In hindsight good thing I didn't study it.
 
hi guys.. im from australia too... uq :)
only difference is that im paying full fees for my degree because i didn't get the 99 in high school :( sometimes i doubt this decision...... my parents are paying since there's no way i could pay my own way......
but then i haven't been living in australia since i was 8, my parents never paid australian taxes, so they say its just fair that i'm paying more.....
on a side note, i guess that's why rudd removed the full fee places in '09? to stop those whose parents who can pay getting in (when they only got 95 in high school..)? :p
 
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ps. hope i didn't sound like a spoiled brat!
i wasn't sure about paying full-fees myself, but it was the only offer i'd got..
otherwise i'd have to take a BSc and transfer, but i didn't do high school in australia (so no UAI, TER, OP, etc for me, just an "equivalent ranking"), so i wasn't sure if i'd be offered a place again the year after (since i did pretty badly in chemistry in high school, and don't know why they accepted me in the first place!!)
 
Yeah, I kind of agree with the removal of DFEE for undergrad. Murdoch doesn't accept DFEE students for vet, but I know sydney does. You can get into sydney with 93 if your DFEE - I do feel it kind of cheapens the hard work of the other students IMHO.

Jellyfish, what is UQ like? When I applied, I was told to not apply to UQ, as they were making a mess of moving and I wouldn't want to get caught up in that mess. Are you excited about the new campus?
 
yeah it sucks people are able to pay their way into uni (ie. get in with lower scores simply because they can afford it). Luckily Melbourne scrapped it for my year (and off the top of my head, the previous year too), so everyone in our year (for vet) has a 99+, except for those who transfers after 1 year of science. Most of the people in vet in their 3rd/4th years tend to be from very good schools (such as Carey grammar), 'cos at that time Melbourne allowed full fee places.

But from 2011, Melbourne is going to offer graduate vet only, ie DVM. So half the places are CSP (25), while the rest are full fee (25). And we can't forget the full fee paying international students (70). Melbourne uni sure loves the money they get from international students. lol
 
hi sunshine!

yes, we're moving out there next year.. time to say goodbye to good old brisbane :(
i haven't been out in the "new" campus much (its not new its just that the school is moving there.. the vet techs and ag ppl have always been there) but when i'm there i see them still building stuff?? they say it should be done by feb next year..& they say the facilities are going to be great, but im no country person, so i can't say i like the idea of moving much, i grew up in metropolitan cities (including good ol' sydney~), its going to be a change to move into a town..

just out of curiosity.. how much did u get in HSC/the exam you took?
i did the UK system of A-levels and they converted my marks to 95 in queensland, but no idea what i got in nsw because they rejected me (even for courses requiring a UAI of 70, no idea why, maybe they have particular pre-requisites?!)
 
mr cricket said:
But from 2011, Melbourne is going to offer graduate vet only, ie DVM. So half the places are CSP (25), while the rest are full fee (25). And we can't forget the full fee paying international students (70). Melbourne uni sure loves the money they get from international students. lol
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25,25,70? does that mean 50 are locals and 70 are internationals??? :eek:

mr cricket said:
yeah it sucks people are able to pay their way into uni (ie. get in with lower scores simply because they can afford it). Luckily Melbourne scrapped it for my year (and off the top of my head, the previous year too), so everyone in our year (for vet) has a 99+, except for those who transfers after 1 year of science. Most of the people in vet in their 3rd/4th years tend to be from very good schools (such as Carey grammar), 'cos at that time Melbourne allowed full fee places.
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i know what you mean.. i was in the last cohort that allowed full-fee payers.. i dunno if that was lucky or unlucky for me cos i got in, but have to pay more.. i could have tried transferring from science :p but then, no guarantees there..
 
jellyfishing said:
25,25,70? does that mean 50 are locals and 70 are internationals???
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Yeah, Melbourne uni accepts 50 locals and 70 internationals. Majority of the internationals are from Singapore, Canada and US. Us locals are outnumbered big time, not that it matters. The more international, the more opportunity to keep in contact with people from all around the world. It may come in handy one day.
 
Murdoch has a class of about 90, with about 25 as school leavers (vet entry), 30 as locals competing for spots from murdoch/other unis, and the remainder as internationals. Though there is a large proportion of the school leavers from singapore/malaysia, so theres probably actually only 15 australian school leavers. We have a pretty diverse class, with a wide age-range, which is pretty cool!
 
no offence to anyone at all..
but isn't it a bit disturbing when half your class aren't local students?
i feel like they are allocating less seats to our own kids, it gets harder and harder for us to get in.. i have a friend in melb uni(non-local) who got in with grades i couldn't have got in with.. :(

uq has a lot of internationals too, around 1/3 of us..
the uni's seem to love money a lot don't they.. :(
 
mr cricket said:
It's seen as a ploy to make more money by universities. Why? Because all undergraduate courses in Australia go for less than 7 years and majority of uni fees are covered by the Government (students pay less than half of the actual cost). By introducing the US system, it forces students to study a graduate course, which is not covered by the Government. Plus it makes most courses over 4/5 years.
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I spent a year in Australia doing cons. research post undergrad (US.) I personally don't think it is so much about making money, at least not in the US. Probably because most uni fees are covered by loans here, via the government, but not forgiven by the government. Even programs in human med require at least 6 years; so I don't think uni is spent taking 'irrelevant classes' since chem and nutrition are pretty relevant for what I am doing in vet school. I know that Aus and US are doing more joint programs, which may contribute to that. It may also be a nod to the increasing demands of the field (more science, more technology, more diversity of options, more pharms, etc.) Some of the DVM's teaching now only had to attend 2 years of vet school....but I don't see how all the stuff I am learning now could be crammed into 2 years.

Also, coming from a lib arts college, I have a strong belief in a well rounded education. I would like to see the US have more 'direct entry' programs (2yr UG + 4 yr DVM) but we are going the opposite way with more vets having a 4yr BA/BS, a 4yr DVM, and a 2-4yr grad degree than ever before. Also, as long as there is so much competition for spots here, I doubt there will be much of a change. In Aus, perhaps it is different at the highschool level, but here I definitly see a lack of maturity/career skills/etc in most students coming out of HS. Also, liability here means that few students coming out of HS would have the relevant experience to really know about the field. I am fond of Aus's caps on lawsuits and such...we don't have that here.

I keep wondering what I would have to do to relocate and practice in Aus or NZ. Loved both places.
 
sumstorm said:
Also, as long as there is so much competition for spots here, I doubt there will be much of a change.
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Unfortunately, competition for vet places in Aus is only going down... for some stupid reason, uni's think its a grand idea to open more vet schools. We have 7 atm, and another wants to open! :eek: WE HAVE MORE VET SCHOOLS THEN CANADA!!! WITH A POPULATION OF 19 MILLION!!! :mad: At the rate we're going, I'm not going to be able to find a job when I graduate!!!:mad:
 
don't worry...we aren't correcting our shortage in the states, you can work here!

Actually, that might be a reason for admitting so many internationals.
 
There is a new Aust vet school about to open? Which uni? This sucks. There isn't even a shortage in Australia for vets. Demand and supply was nicely balance when we only had 5 vet schools. And 2 had to open last year. Againg this sucks
 
i thought adelaide was the newest (the 7th) one??
i didn't know there is going to be a new one next year.. :oops:
but then, CSU, JCU and adelaide aren't accredited even in australia yet..? (as far as i know?)
 
CSU will be accredited by the end of this year. People are all like, ooohh... you shouldnt go there, they're not accredited yet! but the accreditation is really more of a formality - you can't gain accreditation before your first class graduates. The same goes for JCU, and will also apply to adelaide. I don't know how you figured two opened last year, the only one to open was Adelaide, JCU and CSU are each in their 6th year this year.

Deakin is apparently keen-bean to open a vet school. Shoot me now, plz. though I'm not sure when their first intake will be.

And the problem with admitting so many internationals is that most of them never go home!!! And it does annoy me that international students applying for international spots can get in off lower marks than Australian students - I think it should just be the cream of the crop. That said, if we were applying to american schools, I'm sure they would accept americans before us, even with the same stats. The only reason murdoch accepts so many internationals is for the money.
 
sunshinevet said:
And the problem with admitting so many internationals is that most of them never go home!!! And it does annoy me that international students applying for international spots can get in off lower marks than Australian students - I think it should just be the cream of the crop. That said, if we were applying to american schools, I'm sure they would accept americans before us, even with the same stats. The only reason murdoch accepts so many internationals is for the money.
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I get really pissed off with this. Most of the internationals at Melbourne aren't that smart, 'cos they got in with MUCH lower scores. And nearly all of them plan on staying here in Australia. It's effing stupid.

And screw Deakin uni
 
jellyfishing said:
no offence to anyone at all..
but isn't it a bit disturbing when half your class aren't local students?
i feel like they are allocating less seats to our own kids, it gets harder and harder for us to get in.. i have a friend in melb uni(non-local) who got in with grades i couldn't have got in with...
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If Australia funds the veterinary science programs like NZ does, it's not the school but the government who determines how many places in vet school are subsidized. NZ and Australian students get a 75% tuition subsidy (!) at Massey. That's why there are limited local spaces, but expanding international/full-fee paying places. Plus, internationals pay 5x the amount that local students do, which, if you do the math, is netting the university a surplus that they can then plow into vet programs that benefit everyone -- local students included.

mr cricket said:
I get really pissed off with this. Most of the internationals at Melbourne aren't that smart, 'cos they got in with MUCH lower scores. And nearly all of them plan on staying here in Australia. It's effing stupid.
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Sometimes it's better to think before typing. Really. I don't think there is much difference in grades between local and international students once vet school is underway (at least at Massey). And didn't you say you hadn't started vet school yet?


I do like the fact that US and Canadian vet schools take students with a few more years of life experience under their belt.
 
I can understand how Mr Cricket feels. Imagine working your ass off to get into vet school, and yet other people with lower marks then you get in, just because they pay the university more. Is it fair? No. Does it happen in every AVMA accred school is Australia? Yeppers. Would the same american students go nuts if a similar thing happened in the US? You bet!

And its not that the government is choosing to support fewer CSP students - in fact, in net, they are supporting more. It is the unis who chose how much of each get let in.

And finally, no, we dont have lots of room in Australia. It is a large country, but most of it is uninhabitable. And we already had a vet surplus with 6 vet schools - no, we don't want the internationals staying!!!
 
laurafinn said:
If Australia funds the veterinary science programs like NZ does, it's not the school but the government who determines how many places in vet school are subsidized. NZ and Australian students get a 75% tuition subsidy (!) at Massey. That's why there are limited local spaces, but expanding international/full-fee paying places. Plus, internationals pay 5x the amount that local students do, which, if you do the math, is netting the university a surplus that they can then plow into vet programs that benefit everyone -- local students included.
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The thing is though, Murdoch is shrinking its class, and increasing the number of international spots. And its not because of a lack of government funding.
 
sunshinevet said:
The thing is though, Murdoch is shrinking its class, and increasing the number of international spots. And its not because of a lack of government funding.
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But weren't you just commenting a few messages ago how many new vet schools were opening up, how little competition there was for vet places, and how so many new vets would be flooding the job market? That kinda makes me think you're just arguing for the sake of arguing at this point.


Would American vet students be angry if the same thing happened to US vet schools? Well, I think American pre-vets would be thrilled to have any new vet places available at this point, even if it came with the caveat that they were to allow 25 or 50 or 75 Australians to sit beside them in class and be admitted under a different stream. And if those same Australians were helping to subsidize the Americans' tuition? I could see that building some resentment, but at some point they either: a) realize that when all is said and done the situation is mutually beneficial; or b) accept that sometimes life isn't fair and move on.

Of course, American society doesn't have any anti-Australian sentiment brewing under the surface, so it is perhaps not similar to the situation in Australia or New Zealand.
 
To any American or Canadian who might be thinking about going abroad to an AVMA-accredited school, this thread has brought up a very interesting and relevant issue.

I should emphasize that my classmates have been very welcoming and I have enjoyed my time in vet school. Any issues I discuss in this thread tend to simmer beneath the surface and rarely are openly discussed.

Some of the local students do resent North Americans coming into their vet school. Not all, but some. And there may be the perception that you do not deserve your space in the class, and that you are someone who got in based on their bank account, rather than merits.

Is there a grain of truth to this? Of course. There are students who didn't get into US schools at school here, and there are international vet students who earned half a grade less than the Kiwi average in the pre-selection semester who have been admitted, but it is also true that there are North Americans in our class who are A+ students and winning awards, and I don't think that North Americans are clustered at the bottom of our class ranking. I am only speaking about my perceptions of my school -- others may differ.

As a full-fee paying student, do you sometimes feel like a cash cow? Absolutely. But as I mentioned in a previous post, I think it really is a mutually beneficial thing, and overall I'm really happy to be here. And there is a little bit of sick irony in being widely regarded as rich while racking up $200K worth of student loan debt. :oops:

Anyway, some food for thought.
 
laurafinn said:
But weren't you just commenting a few messages ago how many new vet schools were opening up, how little competition there was for vet places, and how so many new vets would be flooding the job market? That kinda makes me think you're just arguing for the sake of arguing at this point.
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im guessing sunshine means that there are an increase in vet school spots (because of an increase in number of schools) but that more of them (especially avma accredited ones) are being allocated to internationals?

its true internationals get accepted with lower scores - it doesn't have anything to do with getting the "same scores" when you are in vet school, let's face it, do you really think that only the top 1% of the student population is capable of passing the vet course? the vet course is by no means an easy cruise, but entry scores are there because of the demand, not due to the capacity of the student being able to graduate in the end

i don't dislike americans/internationals - and given my situation, it would be hypocritical to do so?! i am second generation australian, my parents migrated here
i'm all for them staying in australia if they wanted to, and are able to
after all, most of australia's population are immigrants.. unless you're aborginal/torres strait island origin
 
But weren't you just commenting a few messages ago how many new vet schools were opening up, how little competition there was for vet places, and how so many new vets would be flooding the job market? That kinda makes me think you're just arguing for the sake of arguing at this point.
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My point is that we don't need ANY new spots, for locals or internationals. Because, lets face it, I would say half of the internationals who say they will go home never do.
And I don't feel that internationals DO subsidize my education - I get "charged" just as much for my education as an international, just the government pays most of it to the uni for me. It's not as though the Americans are actually paying more than me. The uni gets their money either way. They just get it more directly through the internationals, and they don't have to deal with the government/HECS system.

Would American vet students be angry if the same thing happened to US vet schools? Well, I think American pre-vets would be thrilled to have any new vet places available at this point, even if it came with the caveat that they were to allow 25 or 50 or 75 Australians to sit beside them in class and be admitted under a different stream.
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I think they would be significantly less thrilled and probably really angry if you told them that you were reducing positions available to them in existing schools, in favour of international students that may not be as "competitive" as them. No-one is arguing whether they do just as well in vet school - admissions should go on who is "best".


Of course, American society doesn't have any anti-Australian sentiment brewing under the surface, so it is perhaps not similar to the situation in Australia or New Zealand.
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its got nothing to do with being American. And I am not at all unpleasant to my american class mates - some of them are my greatest friends, they're all fantastic people and I have no personal problem with them at all. The problem I have is with the system. I feel exactly the same about other internationals from asian countries, the UK, Canada etc.
And despite the amount of anti-american sentiment there is in australian society, I don't tend to feel that way.

Personally, I do feel that if the situation were reversed, American students would not be nearly as welcoming.
 
sunshinevet said:
they don't have to deal with the government/HECS system.
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:thumbup: true. in australia the average tax payer pays around 25-30% of their income as tax :eek:

which in a way, means the parents of the student has subsidized their own child to go to uni too (or the student themselves, if they are mature aged/working)
 
jellyfishing said:
:thumbup: true. in australia the average tax payer pays around 25-30% of their income as tax :eek:
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My parents pay 35% of their income as tax.

And to the comment about scores: Melbourne uni GUARANTEES places in vet science for international students who get a 95 enter. For local students their isn't a guaranteed score, it depends on year to year. This year the cut off was 99.1. Now tell me how this is a "half a point difference". This is massive, not to mention the fact that if there is more competition, local scores would skyrocket. Also if more internationals decide to apply one year with over 95, this will reduce the number of local places.

I'm not being racist here. All I'm saying is EVERYONE (local or international) should have the same requirements for entrance.
 
The Australian universities operate like a business and they depend on foreign students for income. An international vet student pay up to 4-5 times the amount a domestic student would pay.

If Australian universities were to apply strict rules on entry (the same as domestic students) then there will be less international students = less money for the uni. So naturally the logical response is to lower requirements for international students.

Anyway, plenty of jobs to go around. Australia still faces a shortage of vets in critical areas.

http://www.vet.unimelb.edu.au/news/2009/dairy_vets_scheme.html

http://www.workplace.gov.au/NR/rdon...8C7D-DCC8303FF980/0/234711AUSVeterinarian.pdf
 
sunshinevet said:
Unfortunately, competition for vet places in Aus is only going down... for some stupid reason, uni's think its a grand idea to open more vet schools. We have 7 atm, and another wants to open! :eek: WE HAVE MORE VET SCHOOLS THEN CANADA!!! WITH A POPULATION OF 19 MILLION!!! :mad: At the rate we're going, I'm not going to be able to find a job when I graduate!!!:mad:
Click to expand...

Vet schools are cash cows for the uni, milking international students...they are more profitable since they can command a higher school fees than science faculties or arts faculties.

Medicine, Dentistry are also cash cows as well.... MoooOOoooo
 
sunshinevet said:
Unfortunately, competition for vet places in Aus is only going down... for some stupid reason, uni's think its a grand idea to open more vet schools. We have 7 atm, and another wants to open! :eek: WE HAVE MORE VET SCHOOLS THEN CANADA!!! WITH A POPULATION OF 19 MILLION!!! :mad: At the rate we're going, I'm not going to be able to find a job when I graduate!!!:mad:
Click to expand...

Vet schools are cash cows for the uni, milking international students...they are more profitable since they can command a higher school fees than science faculties or arts faculties.

Medicine, Dentistry are also cash cows as well.... MoooOOoooo
 
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