RVC Your application is in – what happens next?

Waiting to hear back about your application can be a nerve-wracking experience. Although our Admissions Team works as quickly as possible, we pride ourselves on carefully considering each application, which inevitably takes time.

We hope to send the outcome of the first stage to all VMCAS applicants by November 3rd and mid-December for our UCAS applicants. However, we understand that during the interim you may have questions, wonder how we process applications or want to consider what you can do to help the process along. Therefore, we have created this short guide to give you this information.

Application responses

Each year, we receive over 1,800 applications for our veterinary medicine courses, each of which our team must assess diligently. Therefore, we urge you not to be concerned if it takes a while to receive a response. We know how much studying veterinary medicine means to our applicants, so we want to ensure we commit enough time to assess your application thoroughly.

You can find out more about how we assess applications here.

Further information requests

We may email you throughout October to request further information to decide about your application or assign your fee status. Please do not be concerned if we request additional information; we assess all applicants using the same criteria and simply need clarification in some instances. In the email, you will be told what information to provide and given a deadline. Please reply promptly and by the stated deadline; otherwise we cannot proceed with your application.

Interview invitations

All of our Veterinary Medicine courses require an interview before we can make a final decision on your application. All of our interviews will take place in person this year. If we want to interview you, we will give you more information about what to expect, what to bring, and where to go in your invitation email. You can see more about how to begin preparing for an interview below.

US

We will begin to issue invitations to interview for US applicants who applied through VMCAS or UCAS on 25^th October and expect this to be finished by 3rd November. Our US interview dates are as follows:

Charlotte, NC: November 13th to November 16th

Fort Worth, TX: November 18th and November 19th

Los Angeles, CA: November 22nd to November 24th

We will issue invitations to interview to UCAS applicants on a rolling basis from mid-November. We expect this process to be completed by mid-December.

UK

Interviews will take place at the RVC's Camden campus on the following dates:

4th December (priority for applicants to our Accelerated Veterinary Medicine course)

5th December (priority for applicants to our Accelerated Veterinary Medicine course)

11th December (priority for international applicants studying in the UK)

16th to 20th December

You'll be informed of the exact date you are invited to in the invite email.

Asia

Hong Kong - 8th January 2025

Singapore - 11th and 12th January 2025.

If there are dates in the above list that you cannot attend please let us know as soon as possible at myapplication@rvc.ac.uk.

Unsuccessful applications

Our Veterinary Medicine courses are highly competitive, so unfortunately, many applicants will not make it to the interview stage. If your application has been unsuccessful, we will inform you of this outcome and provide a reason why, but we cannot give detailed feedback. We accept two applications per course, so if your first application is unsuccessful, we encourage you to reflect on the feedback and reapply the following year.

Things for you to do

While you await the outcome of your application, you can begin preparing your documents, which will ensure a seamless process should your application be successful.

Documents

If you are invited to interview you will need to upload documents to our applicant portal, so it is a good idea to ensure you have these or have ordered replacements if you do not have the originals. The documents we require are:

Passport – All applicants are required to submit a copy of their passport. If you are an international applicant with a UK or Irish passport, please upload this one.
GCSE (or equivalent) certificates – If you apply through UCAS, we will need to see your GCSE or equivalent certificates. We do not accept the statement of results. If you do not have your original certificates, please request copies in good time.
Clinical and Non-Clinical work experience references – We require references for 70 hours of clinical work experience (paid or voluntary) and a total of 70 hours in non-clinical working environments with live animals. If you do not yet have the full 70 hours of either experience, please provide references for the hours you have worked so far. References must be signed on headed paper, including the dates you worked and the number of hours worked. You can see an example reference here. Please ensure you have contacted your referees to obtain references in a timely manner.

Mitigating circumstances

If you have mitigating circumstances that need to be taken into account during the assessment of your RVC application, you need to complete a Mitigating Circumstances form in our applicant portal and supply supporting information. Please see www.rvc.ac.uk/mitigatingcircumstancesfor more information.

Please note - if you have previously emailed the Admissions Office about your mitigating circumstances, you will still need to complete the form and upload your supporting evidence.

Our Student Ambassadors' experience and advice

We know waiting to hear an outcome for something you've worked so hard on can feel stressful, so we have compiled our top tips to help you during this time:

Try to put it out of mind for the first few weeks; you know we won't be able to respond so quickly, so direct your attention to your studies or hobbies.
Remember, you can apply again, and if so, you'll be familiar with the process and hopefully more confident.
Be kind to yourself; feeling nervous in these situations is normal.
Speak with others applying to VetMed about how you're feeling, as they can relate to your situation. Be mindful about how often you do this, though, as you should try not to ruminate.

Questions

If you have questions while we're assessing your application, please email myapplication@rvc.ac.uk, and the team will be happy to help.

Changed your mind?

If you change your mind about applying to the RVC, you can withdraw an application for one or more choices in UCAS Track (if applicable) or by emailing myapplication@rvc.ac.uk.