Medicine and health
Veterinary Medicine
As hard to get into as medicine, as long to train, and paid substantially less. Chosen almost entirely for the right reasons, which is unusual among competitive degrees.
- How long
- Five to six years undergraduate outside North America; four years after a first degree in the US and Canada.
- Called
- BVMS · BVSc · DVM (US, graduate entry) · بكالوريوس الطب البيطري
What you actually study
As opposed to what the name suggests.
- Anatomy and physiology across multiple species, which is medicine's syllabus multiplied rather than reduced.
- Pharmacology, pathology and microbiology, including the diseases that pass from animals to people.
- Surgery from early on, and far more of it than a medical student performs — new graduates operate independently in a way new doctors do not.
- Herd health, production and food safety, which is a substantial part of the degree even for students who want small-animal practice.
- Practice economics and client communication, because treatment is decided by what an owner will agree to pay for.
The hardest part
Two things nobody warns you about. The volume of material is greater than medicine's because it is repeated across species. And the emotional structure of the job — euthanasia as routine, treatment limited by cost — starts during the degree rather than after it. The profession is unusually open about its mental health record, and that openness is the honest reason to think carefully rather than a reason to avoid it.
What you need to get in
By school system. Requirements are set by individual universities and change — confirm on the course page for the year you apply.
Saudi curriculum track
requiredمسار الصحة والحياة — Health and Life Sciences
The health and life sciences track, then a veterinary college. Admission is on the same composite as other health colleges and the threshold is generally lower than medicine's, which is a market artefact rather than a statement about difficulty.
A-Level
requiredChemistry · Biology
helpsPhysics · Mathematics
Identical to medicine in structure. What differs is that grades alone will not get you in — documented animal work experience is effectively a second requirement.
IB Diploma
requiredChemistry HL · Biology HL
helpsMathematics SL or above
HL in both sciences at 6 or above is the standard offer shape.
Advanced Placement
helpsAP Biology · AP Chemistry · AP Physics 1 · AP Statistics
US veterinary schools are graduate entry, so these feed the pre-veterinary bachelor's and its prerequisite sequence.
IGCSE
Separate sciences, with chemistry and biology the ones that matter. Combined Science is a common reason a student later finds A-Level chemistry unavailable to them.
Tests and other gates
- Documented animal work experienceTwo years before applying, continuously
Not a test, and a harder requirement than any test on this page. Most veterinary schools want weeks of experience across more than one setting — practice, farm, kennels, stables — and will not consider an application without it. It cannot be acquired in the month before the deadline.
- Qudurat and TahsiliGrade 11 and 12
The Saudi admission composite, as for every health college.
- InterviewAfter shortlisting
Frequently multiple mini-interviews, and heavily weighted.
What closes this door
- Without chemistry and biology at A-Level or HL, veterinary medicine is closed everywhere that states a requirement.
- Without documented animal work experience, most veterinary schools will not read the application at all — and that experience takes a year or more to accumulate.
- Combined Science at IGCSE frequently blocks A-Level chemistry and therefore this degree.
Where it leads
Careers written up on this site, and the reason each one follows from this degree.
- Veterinarian
The direct destination — clinical practice in small animal, equine, farm or mixed settings.
- Epidemiologist
Zoonotic disease and population health, where veterinary training is genuinely valued and under-supplied.
- Regulatory Inspector
Food safety, import certification and animal health regulation — a large public-sector employer.
- Pharmaceutical Scientist
Veterinary and human drug development, particularly in safety and toxicology.
- Policy Analyst
Food security and animal health policy, both explicit priorities in the Kingdom.
And, without a page here yet
- Specialist certification: surgery, internal medicine, imaging, ophthalmology
- Equine and camel medicine — a substantial and scarce specialism in Saudi Arabia
- Government veterinary services and border inspection
- Laboratory animal medicine and research
- Conservation and wildlife health
What it is not
- That it is for people who prefer animals to people. The job is full of people, and the difficult conversations are with them.
- That the pay reflects the training. It does not, anywhere, and in the US the debt-to-income ratio is a documented structural problem.
- That wildlife and exotics are a realistic plan. They exist, they are tiny, and they are rarely well paid.
In Saudi Arabia
Three distinct markets here, and students usually know about one. Government and regulatory veterinary work under the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture is the largest and most stable. Private small-animal practice is growing quickly in the big cities from a low base. And the equine sector — racing and endurance — together with camel medicine is a genuinely specialised, well-paid niche with very few qualified practitioners. The profession has relied heavily on expatriate veterinarians, so a qualified Saudi graduate faces much less competition than in most fields.
Consider instead
Same interest, different trade-off — the most useful section on this page and the easiest to skip.
- MedicineThe same academic difficulty and structure, one species, roughly double the pay.
- Biology and Biomedical ScienceThe science without the clinic, the surgery or the euthanasia.
- NursingHands-on clinical work in a third of the time, if the length is the obstacle.
- Environmental ScienceAnimals and ecosystems at population scale, through research rather than treatment.
The parts that go out of date
Entry requirements are the fastest-moving information on this site. These are the statements most likely to have changed.
- Work experience requirements are set per school and are stated in weeks and settings; confirm each one directly.
- Recognition of foreign veterinary degrees for Saudi registration should be checked with the regulator before enrolling.
Where this came from
Admission patterns stated by veterinary schools in the UK and internationally, and the graduate-entry DVM structure in North America. Work experience requirements are stated by the schools themselves and are unusually decisive.
Last checked 2026-09-06. The requirements above describe the pattern across universities, not any one of them — the course page for the year you apply is the only thing that is ever authoritative.