SA Vet Student

Love my Minnie Moo! 🥰😍 Do you know that all of my animals are rescues? Taking Adopt Don’t Shop to a whole new level in my house 😂😂😂

Unfortunately I don’t know a lot about vet tech. It’s not a very common thing for people to become vet techs here in SA. Most people go the veterinary route or vet nursing route. We also have Animal Health Technicians here. Is that a thing overseas?

PS Vets are also just humans though and make mistakes - trust me I’ve made plenty this year!

The veterinary degree in South Africa takes 6 years to complete.

I’ve always found it strange that Life Sciences is not a requirement as so much of the veterinary course is to do with biology! Oh well I guess we’ll never know 🙈🙈🙈

Well done for choosing to job shadow and get to know more about the profession. You will be so grateful for the experience you’ll get!

PS I hated the Maths in first year which is probably why I’ve tried to erase it from my memory and can’t think what we did.

Nope unfortunately you won’t be able to do veterinary without having done Maths and Physics at school. Remember that all vets have to study the same 6 year course regardless of what animals they want to work with. It’s only after you have qualified that you can then decide to specialise in one species such as horses or wildlife etc.

The veterinary campus is called Onderstepoort and is located in the northern suburbs of Pretoria. It is in Old Soutpan Road so have a look on Google Maps to see exactly where it is.

Hatfield is Hatfield 🙈 I can’t give anymore information than that... The campus is in Lynwood Road so have a look on Google Maps to find out exactly where it is.

I’m so excited for you! This was honestly the best year and a half of my studies and enjoyed it so much! 😄 I don’t have a lot of advice... Try be organised with that you keep on you at all times like a pen, highlighter, stethoscope, lead, small calculator, note pad etc. Try read up where you can before hand especially for surgeries because you’ll learn a lot more if you have a basic idea of what’s going on. Make friends with the nurse students! The nurses helped me so much when I was in clinics and were always keen to lend me a hand when they could see I was super busy! But I was equally helpful to them in return to pay back the favours 🤪😉 Most importantly enjoy it and don’t take things too seriously! Good luck and have the best time ♥️🐾

The veterinary course in South Africa takes 6 years to complete.

I don’t know the answer to this off hand. Please look at the university’s website under the fees section to find out more.

Unfortunately you won’t be able to apply for the veterinary course unless you have done Mathematics and Physical Sciences at school. You may have to redo your matric which some people have done after school to try and get into veterinary. Not sure if you do a BSc at university level if you can apply using those subjects. You’ll have to enquire with the university directly to get more information.

If you do not fill out this section of the application you will not be considered for veterinary in 2020!! 

The salary for a veterinarian varies greatly depending on what industry you choose to work in. At the moment, community service veterinarians are paid as full state vets directly after graduating. This is an extremely good salary which I don’t feel comfortable disclosing on this forum. Thereafter the salary will depend on what job you get as a vet and in which part of South Africa you choose to work.

Please have a look at the university’s website to get all of the fee information.