Royal Veterinary College (London) vs. VMCVM

[dogtor2023]

As gracious as I am to have been accepted into two programs this application cycle, I am now running into the issue of deciding on a program. On top of becoming a Veterinarian, it is also one of my major life goals to travel and see the world. RVC and VMCVM both have wonderful programs, and RVC is ranked the #1 Vet School in the world by QS World University Rankings this year. I have visited both and love both facilities. The concerning part is the financial/debt obligation. VMCVM is my instate school and is estimated to be about $187,000 over the course of 4 years while RVC is estimated to be about $246,000 worth of loans. With the deadline coming up, I'm truly at a stalemate over my decision and would truly appreciate some input and the opinions of this community. Thank you in advance. <3

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[SkiOtter]

With the money you save throughout your lifetime by going to your in state and not paying an extra SIXTY THOUSAND back in just principle, you could travel and see the world. That 60 thousand is not even with adding on interest for the next 30 years.
Vet school rankings DO NOT MATTER.
Go for your cheaper option.

Take that 60k you saved by going in state and travel.

 

[MixedAnimals77]

Echoing ski and lots of other people will say the same things: Rankings dont matter trust me look up how they figured out. You'll get a great education at VMCVM. The amount on money is not worth it. Plus im pretty sure COL is more expensive over there than here. You can take all the money you save and travel the world with that. You'll thank yourself later for going to VM.

 

[SkiOtter]

Plus im pretty sure COL is more expensive over there than here.

Oh 100% is more expensive to live in London than Virginia

 

[LabLuv004]

If I had an instate I would have 100% went there rather than come to RVC. It is more expensive that you can even predict. I wanted to travel as well, but I honestly don’t even have that much time. It’s worth saving the money and going on amazing vacations once you’re working.

 

[britzen]

Just wanted to chime in and say if you're interested in traveling or seeing the world, you can do external rotations during clinics pretty much anywhere as long as you can get it approved by your advisor at VMCVM. You could take the extra $60,000+ you'd spend in tuition and living costs at RVC and instead spend it on interesting educational experiences in far-flung places for externships or for summer work / volunteering.

How much freedom you have to do external rotations is very dependent on your track here. Small animal trackers spend almost 100% of their time at VMCVM - they get two 3-week rotations that could potentially be external. Some of the other tracks have much more flexibility and you could potentially spend up to nine 3-week rotations externally during clinics (so, 27 weeks total).

I'm just getting started on planning for my clinical rotations, but if the stars align and I get everything I want for externals, I'll be spending 3-6 weeks apiece in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Mongolia, and Rome during clinics. I'm also putting some feelers out for rotations in California, Montana, Dubai, Namibia, Kuwait, and Egypt. (I'm also looking into things closer to school in VA, DC, and MD too, obviously.)

I won't do ALL of those rotations (there's not enough time and it would be cost prohibitive), but there are a lot of options out there if you want to make them happen. You can potentially spend two of your summers (after 1st year and after 3rd year) anywhere you want as well. For this coming summer I applied to jobs in about half a dozen states (I basically applied anywhere that I could live for free with family or friends). People I know have also spent summers working, volunteering, or doing research abroad in South America, Africa, and Eastern Europe.

My understanding of the UK veterinary school system is that you spend at least some of the summers doing husbandry stuff locally? I'm not really sure, but it's something to look into as it could prohibit you from traveling during the summers there. I also have no idea whether they'd offer you the flexibility to go out and gain experiences with external organizations in the same way VMCVM potentially would depending on how you want to track.

Also wanted to add that you realistically won't really have time to travel and explore during the school year no matter where you go. It's just as easy to hop on a plane from DC as it is from London during break times, you'll just have an extra 4 hour drive to get to a large airport.

 

[LabLuv004]

My understanding of the UK veterinary school system is that you spend at least some of the summers doing husbandry stuff locally? I'm not really sure, but it's something to look into as it could prohibit you from traveling during the summers there. I also have no idea whether they'd offer you the flexibility to go out and gain experiences with external organizations in the same way VMCVM potentially would depending on how you want to track.

This is very true... the summer between first and second year is pretty much a lot of husbandry stuff in the middle of nowhere England (which you have to fund travel and possibly housing). That not only eats into your time but also your savings. Then for EMS (clinical external rotations) you can do a certain amount out of country, but it gets really expensive since you also have to pay for stuff to do the ones in England as well.

Most of my travel is restricted to the odd long weekend trip once or twice a year, so while the travel is cool, I would really consider how much you will be spending just to go to RVC versus VMCVM. For the savings in tuition you could go on an awesome vacation every year and do the external rotations Britzen mentioned.