Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello I'm Glitters and I'm autistic and also have ADHD.
Since I was little I've loved animals and have always been excited at the idea of working with animals as a veterinary surgeon. I'm lucky enough to live on the outskirts of a town in the country, there's a lot of space and a good sized building that's used for storage. If I become a vet I could use the building as my practice where I could treat the animals.....
But!
I'm low functioning and as people constantly tell me I'm stupid I don't know if I'm even capable of being a veterinary surgeon and that is really upsetting for me. It's my passion and my special interest! I don't want to do anything else. I constantly research animals, watch videos on animal health and welfare, read books, lookup equipment...
But it all feels like it's for nothing. I don't know if I'm smart enough to get through training. No one believes in me and I'm nearly 30 and I worry that there's not enough time left for me to do this.
I feel like I want to just go for it but my anxiety is so bad I feel like I'll just spend the rest of my life dreaming and wanting but never succeeding.
Do you think it's something I should pursue?
Does my lack of intelligence mean I'll not be good enough?
I don't know what to do.
I'd start at the veterinary nursing level. See where it leads you. You need an agricultural college to study it at ideally, a place where you can work with animals. Avoid general animal care courses. When i was at college, their was a general joke about people doing the generic animal care that essentially they were training to never have a job as the number of jobs at pets for homes or similar is very limited. Speciality jobs like veterinary nursing require brains and commitment. if you have those, then you will never be without work.
https://www.askham-bryan.ac.uk/departments/veterinary-nursing/ - they are a good college.
Once you achieve it, work as one for a year, then you will know for sure if have what it takes to undertake a degree in Veterinary Surgery. but even if you did, nothing says you have to go into surgery. A standard vet, almost like the equivalent to a GP is still a pretty good job. Or you could specialise in something else that might suit you better, like researching diseases or doing something for DEFRA.
I guess to become a surgeon you first have to become a doctor and then specialise as a surgeon.
As to your age, it shouldn't be an issue if you start the process now. You need to get an application in now to as many agricultural colleges as you can. You can most likely get a Learners Loan to cover tuition fees and dependsing on your current situation, probably a grant to cover your living costs if you stay on site (recommended).
Expect to spend on and off the next ten years to reach it. That assumes it runs much like the course a regular doctor takes. It also assumes you have no qualifications right now besides maybe GCSE's. You will need two A Levels in Science and one in something else that is ideally a science related subject like psychology. Grades wise A*AA for the top notch universities, AAB for the lesser universities. There are some A Level subjects that are not accepted by some universities. This site shows some of the common questions and answers.
www.becomeavet.co.uk/.../what-a-level-grades-do-you-need-to-be-a-vet