Katie's student experience

Why did you choose to study at Nottingham?

"I went to see other unis and none of them had the same kind of friendliness. I just loved the way that the course is structured, that it really is hands-on from day one, and we're integrated as part of the Nottingham team. Everyone felt like our colleagues rather than teachers."

What's it like being based on Sutton Bonington campus?

"I love Sutton Bonington, it's great. It's a beautiful campus. It’s small but it's got everything we need. It’s really nice because people say hello to you and you'll always see someone that you know. 

There are also loads of societies - sports, music, art, all the faith societies - we've got everything on campus. You can also join the societies on University Park if you if you want to. But it's nice to have the societies here because you get to meet other students. Most of my friends I've met through societies and doing sport."

Do students go to Loughborough or Nottingham in their free time?

"It's very easy to get into both Nottingham and Loughborough. For shopping we go to Loughborough, they've got all the main supermarkets there, but for nights out we would go into Nottingham.

The hopper bus (which is every half hour) goes to the tram stop and then the tram is every 10-15 minutes straight into Nottingham city centre. There's also the 24-hour bus, the Skylink, because we're right by the airport, so that comes to Kegworth as well.

With shopping people always ask, ‘Oh, do you need a car?’ but there's either always a friend with a car or, especially if you're living on campus, Tesco do deliveries. I know people have gone through the whole course without a car and they've never had a problem. If you do have a car, there's parking for all students on campus."

Tell us about the Sutton Bonington Farmers’ Market…

"There's a societies committee that run the farmers market, which is every first Wednesday of the month. Loads of local businesses come and have stalls. There are food stalls, craft stalls, the student-run charities are there as well, so Vets in the Community are there. I think even the local library come. 

They often run special handmade craft markets, especially around Christmas time. It's so lovely and there's often freebies being handed out."

Are you part of Big Vet Little Vet?

"Vet Soc (the Vet Society) run Big Vet Little Vet, which is where you're paired up with a student in the year below you and encouraged to get to know them.

Me and my Big Vet and my Little Vet go out for dinner and just get to know each other. They're always on hand just to message like, ‘I'm not sure about how this placement works?,’ or ‘How do these exams go?’, that kind of thing. We've passed on our notes all the way down the years and it's just really great."

What’s your experience of being part of Vets in the Community?

"It’s open to all years, all vet students. We go out into the centre of Nottingham, and they have a trailer where they treat the animals of homeless and vulnerably housed people. It’s really good to practise consulting skills and things like that. I've done that a few times."

What have you enjoyed the most about your course?

"The fact that I've got to meet so many people and get involved in areas that I'd never even thought of before. Areas of veterinary I'd never even considered, now I'm thinking ‘Oh, that's a career!’.

I'd never even thought about going into education as a clinician. Quite a lot of our lecturers are doing clinics three days a week and then teaching two days a week or teaching within clinics. I think that’s a nice balance. Also, I’d never considered charity medicine before, so working with the PDSA, RSPCA, things like that."

Any staff shout-outs?

"I have to mention Gary England and his band. Gary's the Dean and his band play at vet ball, at grad ball, and he has a cocktail party for the first years and things like that, so definitely a shout-out for Gary and the band!

In terms of the clinical side, there’s Amy Wieser. She’s hilarious and is always so happy to see us and when it's exam time she brings her dog around to see us!"

What animals have you worked with on the course?

"From year one practicals are with the teaching dogs, who are the lecturers’ dogs. Then there's the horses on campuses. There’s space for student-owned horses and they're all used for teaching, in line with what the horse is comfortable with.

We also have cows, which come from the dairy innovation centre, and then there are sheep. There's all the exotics as well, so snakes, bearded dragons, geckos, tortoises. And then there's the rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, rats. There really is everything on campus!"

Which facilities have you found most useful?

"In final year, there's a new mock practice building which is set up like a hospital. It's got surgeries, a dispensary, consulting rooms, a prep area. They set up scenarios and you’ve got to work things out. There's kennels and the cattery and all the drugs. There are fake drugs in the dispensary area, and you've got to go and sort it out and calculate everything. It’s a really good way of teaching because you are actually doing the job.

We do over the phone consults for the PDSA from that building too. It’s real consults that we're doing, so I'm writing all the notes. It’s really good fun."

What are your plans for after graduation?

"I'm going to apply for the PDSA. They’re a charity that work with those who struggle to pay vet bills and they provide either free vet care or really discounted care. I want to go into that because it's very fast-paced, and very unexpected what comes in. I'm going to be applying for that soon. I've got my CV ready!"