Student fights to secure vet dream

A young woman has issued a desperate plea for help to save her lifelong dream of becoming a vet.

Annabelle Chappell (pictured) has completed her first year at the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine, but is now just weeks from having to walk away as she cannot afford to pay her course fees.

Miss Chappell doesn’t qualify for government loans because, after not making the grades at A-level to move straight on to study veterinary science, she instead took an alternative route by earning a degree in equine science.

This allowed her to apply to study veterinary medicine at Glasgow vet school and after being initially rejected, she worked for 18 months on a dairy farm before reapplying and being granted a place.

Self-funded

However, having already completed one degree Miss Chappell has to pay the £29,250-a-year course and £7,500 accommodation fees herself – something she has only been able to do by working all hours, and relying on help from family and friends.

By “selling things” and using compensation money her mother Michelle received from a road collision, Miss Chappell just about managed to get through her first year in the hope she would then be able to find scholarship or sponsorship for the further four years.

But despite reaching out to veterinary associations and companies, Miss Chappell has been unable to raise the funds she needs – and despite her mother’s attempts to sell her house to fund the rest of her degree, she faces the very real prospect of having to turn her back on her dream career.

She said: “I have written to and spoken on the phone to hundreds of companies including, but not limited to, pharmaceutical companies, charities, veterinary practices, corporate veterinary practices, leading associations, AI companies, training companies, government bodies, agricultural companies and so on, but to no avail.”

‘Desperate bid’

Miss Chappell continued: “I have also applied for every scholarship I can find that I fit the eligibility criteria for (of which there are very few) and even ones I do not fit the criteria for, as a desperate bid for help.

“Everyone said it was easier from the second year up. However, in view of the pandemic, companies are simply not sponsoring students as they normally do in better times.”

Thanks to the intervention of the dean of the University, Ewan Cameron, Miss Chappell has been able to defer her second year to try to raise the funds. But time is now running out.

Miss Chappell added: “I am not able to put into words how much it would mean to me to be able to continue with my studies and reach my lifelong dream of becoming a vet.

“I have worked so incredibly hard to reach this goal, and having been knocked back and told by numerous people it would never happen, I have always fought back to prove them wrong and to prove to myself that I can do it.

“And I nearly did when I managed to secure my place at the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine, and successfully completed my first year, but now I am facing another setback through lack of support. I am however, absolutely determined to keep fighting to finish this.”

‘Determination and dedication’

The determination and resilience she has had to find to overcome the many hurdles in her path are qualities Miss Chappell believes would one day serve to make her an excellent vet.

She said: “I think any vet, whether in training or in practice, has already shown incredible resilience and personal strength to have made it so far. In my experience, to have been turned down or knocked back so many times, and to have gotten back up and kept fighting for what you want every day, shows true determination and dedication to your end goal.

“Not everyone has the same life experiences and opportunities, and to have come from a slightly different and not so ‘traditional’ route does not make you any less competent from the next person. If anything, it makes you appreciate everything that little bit more, and allows you to see different scenarios – whether they be in the classroom or in practice – from a slightly different and potentially more rounded perspective.

“Sadly I am rapidly running out of options as to where to go if I cannot secure funding for the rest of my course, and that thought devastates me. If I do not find the funds required I am going to have to have a very long and hard think about how to give up my dream, and start on something new… but how do you go about giving up your lifelong dream, though, when you have fought for so long to achieve it?”

Any companies or individuals who might be able to help can visit Miss Lawson’s GoFundMe page or email her.