Farm Veterinary Summer School
Dates: TBC for 2026
Location: Sparsholt College, Westley Lane, Sparsholt, Winchester, SO21 2NF, United Kingdom
Age Group: 16+ years old
Capacity: 20
Eligibility: UK Prospective Students
Programme Fee (2025): TBC for 2026
Register your interest for 2026 →
What To Expect
The course will be a combination of educational visits by coach to livestock enterprises (surrounding farms, a livestock market, potentially an abattoir), some hands on experience at Sparsholt College (milking cows at 4:30am one morning (!), animal handling, pig pregnancy scanning, parasite diagnostics and attending a post mortem) and seminars and group discussions on topical issues. The maximum number of students is 20, so there is plenty of opportunity for discussion, interaction, exchanging ideas, making friends and questioning teaching staff and the host farmers. The course is run by three farm vets from the Royal Veterinary College and supported by two student ambassadors who are currently studying to become vets.
We are planning sessions on the following topics, but this may be subject to change, and no guarantees can be given:
Visits (most by coach between 9:00am and 5:00pm, some at Sparsholt College):
- Intensive Dairy visit
- Robotic dairy unit
- Extensive, grazing dairy visit
- Beef suckler herd with weighing competition
- Pig visit with pregnancy scanning of sows
- Sheep visit with handling practice
- Alpaca, goats and chicken, management and handling
- Visit of a Livestock Market
- Visit of an abattoir
- Observing a post mortem examination of a calf, sheep or pig
- Performing a worm egg count for parasites
- One morning milking (4:30am at the Sparsholt College Dairy)
- Seminars and discussions (after dinner from 7:00pm - 9:00pm)
- Changes and challenges in the life of a farm vet
- Career in pharmaceutical industry
- The veterinary course at the RVC and the application process
- Social Evening on Monday (Quiz Night!)
Accommodation
Is in single en-suite bedrooms and full board catering will be at Sparsholt College.
The Staff
Apart from the educational benefits and an in-depth knowledge of farming and farm veterinary issues the course
- help to provide some insight into production animal veterinary medicine and being a veterinary student
- count towards hours of work experience in preparation for a veterinary application
- counts as a residential week for the Duke of Edinburgh Award (Confirm with your DoE leader that this meets the residential criteria before applying)
Students who complete the programme will be issued a certificate at the end of the course, and after the course we can provide a reference for any application(s).
Costs and Scholarships
Programme Fee (2026): £TBC. This is an all-inclusive residential experience; the programme fee includes accommodation and catering for the duration of the programme. It does NOT include travel to and from the Summer School. However, if you are in receipt of Free School Meals check out our FSM Bursary to expense your travel to us
Scholarships: The RVC will award two individual scholarships covering the Programme Fee
- Two merit based full fee-waiver scholarship are available to a UK student who falls within our Widening Participation criteria. This will be awarded to the strongest applicants, after applications have closed (to allow us to consider all applicants). NB: There is no separate application for this scholarship.
Application and Entry Requirements
Applications have now closed for 2025.
You will be assessed in reference to your achieved/predicted grades, in accordance with the below:
Academic
- In the application form you will be asked which RVC course you are most likely to consider applying to (post Summer School) from the following: Veterinary Gateway, Veterinary Medicine (5 Year) or Graduate Accelerated Veterinary Medicine (4 Year). We will use the entry requirements from one of these pathways to assess your suitability for the Summer School. Note; you need to be on track to achieving these grades.
Please note, this is a competitive programme with around 25 places available to the strongest applicants. As well as being assessed on your academic suitability, we will also use the personal statement part of the application to help us decide who to offer places to.
Other
- Minimum age: 16 years (there is no maximum age).
Testimonials
"The RVC FVSS was one of the most eye opening and inspiring experiences I have had working with farm animals. Seeing behind the scenes on farms and doing practical work with the animals (e.g. milking and handling) really demonstrated to me how veterinary medicine works in a farm environment and how enjoyable it is. The RVC vet students and all staff were lovely and incredibly helpful, giving all of us advice and guidance during our time there."
"An amazing experience that will fully emerge you in all things agriculture. All of the farmers and staff were more than willing to answer every question allowing us to expand our knowledge. There were also lots of hands on experience with various species, developing vital animal handling abilities."
"RVC’s Farm Vet Summer School was an extraordinary experience and I am so glad I decided to go on it. We were given so many new opportunities to see and do so many interesting things and the experience you gain is beyond amazing. Getting hands on with the vets and current students, who were there with us, was an experience I will never forget as this made me know how much I want to do this profession."
"As someone with very little previous experience or knowledge of the farming industry/farm veterinary practice -The Farm-Vet Summer School was an excellent opportunity! It helped provide me with a more well rounded view of how vets works in different areas, the challenges faced and different skills required. It helped reinforce my ambition to apply for Veterinary Medicine at the RVC. I would recommend the school to anyone!"
Contact Us
If you are a teacher, adviser or learner who is interested in finding out more about the RVC Sutton Trust Summer School, please contact us at schools@rvc.ac.uk.