Student on track to become one of UK’s first vocationally trained vets

Kirsty Holt, on track to become one of UK’s first vocationally trained vets

A Hopwood Hall College student is one of just a handful of vocational students to secure a place at university to study Veterinary Science.

Kirsty Holt, aged 21 from Littleborough was a student at the College from 2007 – 2009 studying BTEC National Animal Management. She was an extremely gifted student both socially and academically, achieving the highest grade possible of Distinction Distinction Distinction.

Kirsty had the lofty ambition of becoming a veterinary surgeon.

This is not a simple route for a vocational student to take and at the time of her initial application no vocational student had ever been offered a place to study Veterinary Science or Medicine at university.

The traditional A-Level route was still the easiest path to follow as the universities were more familiar with the course content and structure; BTEC students had to complete an additional A-Level along with their full BTEC course which meant they were completing one more A-Level’s worth of work than the A-Level students; they also had to undertake a minimum of 240 hours of work experience as part of their course.

Kirsty’s first application for Veterinary Medicine was unsuccessful as her predicted A-Level Biology grade was not high enough, though she was offered places to study Zoology at Leeds and Aberystwyth. Tenacious Kirsty decided to decline these offers and enrolled on an Open University course to improve her level of Chemistry and Biology and completed a wider variety of work experience, which were identified as areas of weakness in feedback from the vet schools.

Her tutor at Hopwood Hall College Sarah Whitehurst assisted her with her second UCAS application for Veterinary Science and she applied through the College. Again she was unsuccessful as they deemed her exam technique and depth of understanding of chemistry was not sufficient to progress straight onto the full honours for Veterinary Medicine.

However the University of Liverpool was very impressed with her application and invited her to apply for their Year 0 programme for Veterinary Science which is a new course they were running. The course is designed for students who have been unable to meet the entry requirements for the full honours degree for particular reasons and is not designed as a fall back for those who did not meet the entry grades. There are only 5 places available on the course and only 10 students in the whole country were invited for interview.

Kirsty had to go through the rigorous day long interview process again; she was successful in her application and will be one of the first students in the country to gain a place to study Veterinary Medicine.

Tutor Sarah Whitehurst is extremely proud, “I feel Kirsty’s achievement warrants recognition as she reflects what Hopwood Hall is good at…we identify student potential, give people second chances and support the ambitions of all learners no matter how challenging they seem. Kirsty is a unique student and will be one of the first vocational students in the country to take up a place at vet school. The University of Liverpool also commented on what a good example she set for Hopwood Hall. I can not emphasise enough what a fabulous and unique achievement this is for both Kirsty and the Animal Care department at Hopwood Hall.”