DEGREEINDEX

Career route

Do you need a degree to be a vet?

Yes — it's required

An RCVS-accredited veterinary degree is required. Veterinary nursing is the non-degree route into the same practice.

The official route in

The National Careers Service publishes the entry routes for this job — apprenticeship, college, university and direct application — with the GCSE and A-level requirements for each. It is the authoritative source, and worth reading before committing to anything.

If you do take the degree route

The closest subject is Veterinary Science. On current fees and median graduate earnings, here is what it costs and how long it takes to pay for itself against not going at all.

Worth it after

9 yrs post-grad

Borrowed

£88,950

You will repay

£103,947

Starting salary

£32,500

The short answer is our reading of the entry routes, written conservatively — where a non-degree path exists at all, we say so. The National Careers Service profile is the authoritative source and should be your check before deciding. Vet earnings shown here are for Veterinary Science graduates, not for this job specifically.