title: Influences on the decision to study veterinary medicine: variation with sex and background.
abstract: A questionnaire was developed to look at attitudes to veterinary medicine as a career choice among students at different stages of the veterinary course at the Royal Veterinary College. Traditional-entry first-year and final-year students, as well as entry-level 'Gateway' (widening participation) students, were invited to participate. Wanting to work with animals and exposure to a veterinary role model through taking a sick animal to visit a veterinary surgeon appeared to be major factors in choosing a veterinary career for all undergraduates, regardless of their socioeconomic background. Overall, women were more strongly influenced by owning animals (P=0.014), and men were more positively influenced by the challenging reputation of the course (P=0.028). When the students were asked to indicate their top three reasons for wanting to become a vet, men were 9.5 times as likely as women to select 'Want to train as a scientist', 5.3 times as likely to select 'Join a profession' and 13.2 times as likely to select 'Hardest course to get in to'; the top choice for both sexes was 'Want to work with animals'. Thirty-one per cent of the students felt their careers adviser had been a negative influence on their decision to become a vet.
authors.affiliation: Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hertfordshire AL9 7TA. jtomlin@rvc.ac.uk
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Tomlin
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Brodbelt
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: May
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002321:Career Choice; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004520:Education, Veterinary; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D013336:Students, Health Occupations / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom; D055815:Young Adult