Robert Campbell

4th Year of 5 Year BVM&S - UK

What made you choose to study at The University of Edinburgh and The R(D)SVS?

Being Scottish, I knew I had two of the best vet schools in the world to choose from in Scotland. My sister who is 3 years older than me had studied in Glasgow so I knew the city well. However, going to Edinburgh on my interview day out at the Easter Bush Campus made the decision very easy. The vastness of the campus and the many different buildings catering to all aspects of veterinary medicine was really quite something to take in.

What stands out in your mind from your experience at Edinburgh and studying Veterinary Medicine so far?

The people have to be the most important part of this vet school to me. At the end of the day, we are all here to study and work hard to get through the degree and become vets, but it is the amazing friends that become your family that really make your time at vet school memorable.

Has Edinburgh become your home away from home?

Absolutely! My mum pulls me up on it every time I accidently call Edinburgh home, but it really has become my home away from home! Again, the people become your family as you are all going through the same struggles and you have to rely on each other to get you through it. It’s a beautiful city that many of my international friends are now wanting to make their home once they graduate – so that says it all really!

Was it difficult to transition into life in Edinburgh?

I started university very young at 17 and would have probably benefited from having a gap year. Living away from home wasn’t much of a problem for me, as I loved my first year student accommodation and the flatmates I had there. But the general lifestyle change is probably the biggest shock – having to get yourself to lectures each day, making sure to put in all the hours of studying without falling behind alongside not knowing how to even cook baked beans all made for a very interesting first year – but I survived it and somehow am now going into my final year. 

What aspect of the BVM&S degree do you enjoy the most and why

I really enjoy the practicals as I learn so much more from them than lectures. If you’re prepared well for a practical and covered the content needed then you can go in and get so much out of a 3 hour class where all the notes from the lecture suddenly make sense when you see it in a live one tonne horse in front of you or a dog dissection or a client communication class. For me, it’s the best way to learn and engage. We get around 10 hours of practicals a week, if not more so there is a big emphasis of practical based teaching on the BVM&S course.

Have your EMS placements helped to shape your studies so far?

EMS is invaluable in making the knowledge you learn in vet school become reality and not just a page on a textbook. I’ve had some magnificent EMS placements from India, to Thailand and then back to my home town of Inverness! Working alongside vets, nurses and clients makes all your learning worth it and you realise just why you went into vet school in the first place.

How is your programme equipping you for your future career?

The BVM&S programme really starts to pick up in the clinical years (3,4 & 5) where the focus shifts from cellular and systems level into clinical scenarios and the sick pet. It’s at this point where the vet school workload picks up tremendously but for good reason, as they want you to be as well prepared as possible for any situation that could come your way in the real world of clinical veterinary practice. The lectures, practicals, tutorials and self-study all have a case based function to them and this is crucial in getting students to think more like clinicians and less like undergraduates.

If you could give one piece of advice to any prospective students thinking of applying to the R(D)SVS, what would it be?

Pick the vet school that best fits you. This course is going to test you to limits you weren’t even aware you had, it’s going to give you the best times along with some of the worst because it’s a tough course. But it is the most rewarding experience I’ve had in my short 21 years. You need to match the vet school, the city and the course and it is hard to know what is right for you – but by the time you apply to vet school you will already be so committed to the profession. Due to the huge amount of hours put into studying, work experience and personal statement writing, you will have already decided that this is what you want to do for the rest of your life – so make the final decision of picking the R(D)SVS based on your own feelings to ensure those 5 years are going to be the best fit for you!