Uma Selvon

Why I chose Surrey

I know it sounds cliché, but I’ve always really loved animals. I’d grown up watching vets on TV and had in-person interactions with them with my own pets and thought what they did was incredible. I wanted to be like them. I’ve always wanted a career where I could see or do something different every day. I wanted to make a difference to people’s lives - something different to an office environment. And that’s what veterinary medicine is for me.

I chose Surrey for a variety of reasons:

• The new facilities
• The different programme structure incorporating intramural rotations with external partners
• The great transport connections to London for days out and visiting friends
• The option to share halls with non-vet students
• Proximity to home.

My course

I really like the small teaching groups and practical class sizes on my BVMSci (Hons) Veterinary Medicine and Science course. The small groups allow me to get loads of hands-on practical experience and one-to-one time with supervisors if I’ve got any questions or need help. Having different people in my group every year, and occasionally for each module, means I get to meet new peers and work with people that I wouldn’t have ordinarily had the opportunity to. I’m going into my final year now and there’s people in my rotation groups I haven’t worked with before!

The teaching staff are really nice, extremely knowledgeable and so helpful. They’re also patient in practical classes. If you’re struggling to get something, they’ll make sure you’ll achieve and understand it before you leave. They love to have a good laugh with us, and they can even be seen at some of our student society social events.

The clinical skills facilities are awesome and incredibly helpful to practise in, before experiencing real-life scenarios!

My extramural studies (EMS)

I’ve done quite a few EMS placements with different organisations. I’ve done lambing and dairy husbandry placements, as well as helping on a livery yard, at a dog groomer’s and at a wildlife charity hospital. For my clinical EMS, I’ve gone to an exotics practice, Westpoint Farm Vets, several equine practices and have recently started regularly going to my local Medivet.

Throughout these, I’ve done a lot of shadowing on consults and scrubbing into surgeries. These have allowed me to practise restraint, gain an understanding of what’s ‘normal’ and prepare for my clinical exams. I’ve been able to apply a lot of different clinical skills across various species too, such as blood sampling, castrations, dentals and vaccinations!

There’s at least one experience from every placement that stays with me. My most recent highlight was from my last small animal placement. The vet was great at getting me involved in operations. We had a lump removal come in, and while I thought I was just going to observe the whole procedure, she had me calculating and drawing up the drugs, placing the IV, inducing and intubating – and then talked me through how she wanted me to excise the lump for lab analysis, while she observed. I even got to discharge the patient. It was awesome and gave me so much confidence in my abilities – I felt like a real vet!