Royal Veterinary College


Today we had a very adventurous day at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in London. We specifically visited and toured the Hawkshead Campus in Hertfordshire. We were provided tours by student ambassadors who answered any questions we had! This campus was more rural but very beautiful. During the tour we even got to attempt at a stimulated cow rectal palpation.


Continuing, we got a tour of the veterinary hospital where students help the veterinarians while also learning about the profession. This clinic sees 15,000 animals a year which compared to the U of M Veterinary Medical Center is a bit less as they see 40,000 animals. The RVC has 1,800 students and is the largest vet college in England while the U of M has 416 students. Another difference is the class sizes as they do a lot more of 'teamwork' based classes earlier on than we do at the U of M.

One very unique opportunity that the RVC has is a 5 year program that you begin right after high school to become a veterinarian. This is very different than the entire United States as we do 4 years of undergraduate and then 4 years of veterinary school. Another unique opportunity that the RVC had was a veterinary nurse which is either 3 or 4 years of college and it is a position that does more than a veterinary tech but a bit less than a veterinarian.

At the end of the day, we toured their animal facilities where they house 100 dairy cattle, 400 sheep, a few pigs, chickens, and turkeys. They had many hands-on opportunities that seemed to give their students good experiences while attending the Royal Veterinary College.




English Word of The Day: "cubicle" which is what we know of as dairy cattle free-stalls.


- Madison & Miriah

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