Competitive pre-Vet selection process gains another test

Despite the already competitive nature of Massey's Vet degree, a new test has been added into that first semester where students prove themselves.  

A student newsletter sent on February 11th said, “Massey University is adding a test to the selection process for the Bachelor of Veterinary Science for 2025. This will be a supervised in-person test, taken on the Manawatū campus.” 

Sohail Londhe, a 3rd year VetSci student, told Massive he was surprised to find out about the changes.  

“I think pre-vet is already very stressful, so hopefully this test doesn’t add too much of a burden to students.”  

“I’m interested to see if it yields better results for the programme.” 

The degree has recently had increasing entrants, with 130 students in 2022, and then 175 in 2023. Being the only vet school in the country, entries are competitive.  

Massive attended a pre-Vet orientation session on Wednesday at the Palmerston North campus, which filled the Marsden Theatre to the brim.  

The session was led by Eloise Jillings, the associate dean of the vet programme. She said the test will be included as part of the pre-selection process needed of the degree.  

As Vet is a science-heavy degree, the test was emphasised to strengthen the knowledge of new students as preparation for the professional, more rigorous stage of their degree, which begins in semester two.  

Jillings told students the date of the test will not be announced till week six, causing a feeling of uncertainty within the theatre. 

The length of the test has yet to be disclosed as well. Jillings stated students will be notified through stream. 

The new test comes on the heels of 2024’s online supervised exam (OSE) disaster that saw students unable to sit tests due to different tech errors.  

The OSE’s have been completely taken out of the vet degree as a result and are not expected to return. 

Former Vet student, Micah Geringer said, “OSE’s were awful and left a stain on the university’s reputation. If this year’s pre-vets have to choose between OSE’s or this science test, they should be thrilled to take the science test.” 

“Pre-Vet is stressful regardless of what kinds of additional tests hurled at you”.  

A Massey spokesperson told Massive, “Massey understands that fairness is front of mind for all students during the selection process and this additional test will complement the other assessments that students undertake within sciences.” 

The spokesperson said this change had been made in response to the changing educational environment in Aotearoa.