Writing a personal statement to apply for Veterinary Medicine

Your personal statement is what’s going to make you stand out from all of the other applicants that have the same high grades as you.

With only a 4000 character (including spaces) word limit you don’t have a lot of room to tell the admissions tutors everything they need to know about why you want to study Veterinary Medicine and what makes you the ideal candidate for their university.

This means that everything you write needs to be clear, concise, and relevant to the course and subject.

Having a good personal statement could be the difference between you being accepted to study Veterinary Medicine and another student being chosen instead.

Here’s our advice on writing a personal statement to apply for a Veterinary Medicine degree:

Keep your points short– you haven’t have pages and pages so don’t ramble on for three paragraphs about how you swam with dolphins on holiday
Keep it relevant– see point above about the word count and swimming with dolphins. If it isn’t directly related to your course, leave it out!
Don’t bend the truth– as much as you want to sound amazing, if it didn’t happen, don’t say it did. You may need to discuss your personal statement in your interview so make sure you tell the truth.
Don’t copy someone else’s personal statement– theirs might be perfect but you won’t win points for plagiarism
Don’t mention specific universities– remember your personal statement will be sent to all of the universities you apply to
Take your time– start drafting early on and leave yourself plenty of time for rewriting and editing
Proofread– and then proofread again, and again, and again…
Show your personal statement to other people– get advice from friends, family, and teachers before sending

What do admissions tutors look for in a good personal statement?

Essentially what admissions tutors want is for you to answer two questions:

Why do you want to study Veterinary Medicine?
Why are you the right candidate for this university?

As long as you can answer those questions and communicate clearly, without poor spelling or grammar, you’ll have written a good personal statement.

With a limited word count it’s important to focus on your passion for the subject and your work experience – as well as demonstrating that you understand the challenges you’ll face during your career as a veterinary professional.

Try also to show that you have the necessary interpersonal skills and talk about any hobbies or extracurricular activities that are relevant to the course.

What should I avoid putting my personal statement?

As well as all of the things you need to include in your personal statement there are certain things you should definitely leave out if you want to be considered by the admissions tutors:

Spelling and grammar mistakes – OK, one spelling mistake won’t get you put to the bottom of the pile but communication is important and if you’re going to use medical terms, make sure they’re spelt correctly
“I’ve wanted to be a vet since…” – this is a cliché and you can guarantee the admissions tutors will have read it a million times before
Too much technical detail – the admissions tutors want to see that you’re knowledgeable about your subject but don’t make it sound like you’ve swallowed a medical dictionary
Forgetting the animals – it’s not all about science, dealing with animals is going to be a large part of your future career so don’t just talk about the medical side of things

Where can I find examples of personal statements for Veterinary Medicine degrees?

It’s important to remember that you shouldn’t be tempted to copy someone else’s personal statement and that examples should only be used to give you an idea of what to include and how to structure your essay.

We have examples of generic personal statements and specific examples for a Veterinary Medicine degree on the Apply to Uni website.

Where can I find more information on writing the perfect personal statement for Veterinary Science?

The university admissions teams will be able to give you a better idea of what they’d like to see included in a personal statement. The university open day is the perfect time to discuss this with the faculty.

You can also find more information on the perfect personal statement on the Apply to Uni website.