Attributes of prospective veterinary students: current students' and academics' perspectives.

Veterinary schools and national accrediting bodies around the world have created various lists of attributes considered desirable in veterinary graduates, consulting stakeholders including teachers, recent graduates, experience practitioners and final year students.
When developing a new interview process at the R(D)SVS academic teaching staff and external examiners, and subsequently veterinary students (all years) were surveyed asking their opinion on the attributes they consider important for a prospective veterinary student to possess to complete veterinary training successfully and become a competent, fulfilled member of the veterinary profession. Respondents rated 24 attributes that may be considered when selecting undergraduate veterinary students on a scale from 1 (not important ) to 10 (essential) and to select up to eight of the attributes they consider the most important to evaluate at interview.
For three attributes analysis identified significant differences between the proportion of students and staff who rated an attribute highly (9 or 10). A larger proportion of students than staff rated Awareness of stress in the profession, and Leadership and teamwork highly. A larger proportion of staff than students considered numeracy to be highly important. The eight attributes most frequently chosen as important to evaluate at interview were broadly the same for staff and students but not all were amongst those most frequently rated as highly important attributes. Differences were noted depending on the year of study which may indicate a change in perception of veterinary training and the veterinary profession as the result of experiences and teaching at vet school.