Kirsty Holt is a new breed of vet

Kirsty Holt and Cliff the dog who is being looked after in the kennels at Hopwood Hall College

Kirsty Holt, from Rochdale, has successfully fulfilled her dream of becoming a vet, without doing the traditional route of A-levels.

Kirsty, 27 is one of a tiny group of individuals who have ever managed this feat.

She studied for a BTEC in Animal Management at Hopwood Hall College nine years ago and was initially told that she didn’t have the qualifications and skills get into veterinary school.

Tenacious Kirsty, however, took up the challenge to improve her scientific knowledge and also to gain more work experience. She enrolled on an Open University course and applied for university again the following year.

After a rigorous day-long interview process, Kirsty became one of the first BTEC students in the country to gain a place to study Veterinary Medicine.

She has now completed her degree at the University of Liverpool, is fully qualified and has got a job as a small animal vet near Leeds. She takes her oath on 3 October and will then be Dr Kirsty Holt.

Kirsty is appreciative of the support she got from Hopwood Hall College and credits the College with “getting me over my fear of birds. I also developed my interest in exotic animals and I’m really grateful for that.

“It just doesn’t feel real that I am actually a vet now, it’s really quite overwhelming, but I love it.”

Her message to other young people with high career aspirations is: “Do not to give up. You think that you have to be extremely academic and clever to be a vet, but that isn’t true, it really is a vocational, practical subject and so it makes complete sense that you study through a vocational route.

“I hope that more people get the same fantastic opportunity as I did.”