becoming a vet with maths lit - possible?

maumau

maumau

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A friend's son did maths lit but passed with enough marks to do a degree. His options seem very limited to me. Is there any way at all he can study veterinary science?

Our Internet is down and I've been holding on for 40 minutes to university of pretoria.

Tks

P.s. posting from my phone
 
Probably not. Maths lit won't get you into any degree of worth...
 
Doesn't look like it, from Up's website..

Vet Requirements.jpg

Looks like you need at least a C pass with normal maths.
 
Definitely need proper maths to do any sort of BSc degree, maths lit is not going to cut it. Perhaps he could look at a BA degree in something?
 
RustyPrincess said:
Definitely need proper maths to do any sort of BSc degree, maths lit is not going to cut it. Perhaps he could look at a BA degree in something?
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this is what concerns me.

poor kid wanted to persevere with maths but was convinced by his teacher and his mother to drop to it in favour of maths lit. they said a good mark in maths lit is better than a bad mark in maths. all he wants is a degree to his name.

he's passed the CTI IT aptitude test so we'll see what happens there. i'm trying to push him to do the VZP aptitude test too before he makes up his mind.

it's difficult not to interfere :-)
 
Holy crap, this is some poor advice. Maths Lit isn't like Maths standard grade. That's when that advice my have been relevant. Maths Lit is an entirely different subject. He will definitely not be able to go into veterinary science straight away but if he is prepared to take an extra year, he may be able to take a maths course which will allow him to enter vet science. That said, what are the factors which led to him dropping maths? He will need to be honest with himself as to whether he is capable of the intellectual demands of a science degree. It shouldn't just be because 'he loves animals'. That won't get you very far.
 
Ghost29 said:
Holy crap, this is some poor advice. Maths Lit isn't like Maths standard grade. That's when that advice my have been relevant. Maths Lit is an entirely different subject. He will definitely not be able to go into veterinary science straight away but if he is prepared to take an extra year, he may be able to take a maths course which will allow him to enter vet science. That said, what are the factors which led to him dropping maths? He will need to be honest with himself as to whether he is capable of the intellectual demands of a science degree. It shouldn't just be because 'he loves animals'. That won't get you very far.
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+1, my understanding is that Veterinary Science is very demanding even for a science degree, it's not something you should be doing on a whim.
 
maumau said:
A friend's son did maths lit but passed with enough marks to do a degree. His options seem very limited to me. Is there any way at all he can study veterinary science?

Our Internet is down and I've been holding on for 40 minutes to university of pretoria.

Tks

P.s. posting from my phone
Click to expand...

Vetting is going to be your problem...

Mate of mine could not get 2nd year inclusion due to him being white. He had to change direction completely and is now doing his Zuma year as a Pharmacist...
 
RustyPrincess said:
Alternatively, an entire list of courses where Maths Lit will be accepted - http://www.careerplanet.co.za/faq/what-can-i-do-with-maths-literacy
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thank you Rusty. in my opinion (that's a personal opinion and i realise it's judgemental) i would probably call those "accomplishments" diplomas, except for LLB. he'd learn more going into those businesses young without wasting time studying.

if that's all he can achieve he'd do better as a plumber - he'd probably make more money too.

i mean, really!! which would you choose?

Tourism (BCom)
Business Information Technology (NDip) (UJ)
Information Management (BA) (UJ)
Law (LLB) (UFS)
Management (BCom) Extended degree (UJ)

a load of old codswallop :(

what makes a teacher convince a child to give up maths?
 
UNISA gives math lit a fighting chance where as other universities just says no completely.

But to those with 80% and above and quite frankly if you cannot get a distinction for math lit then you should be studying a BA because anything else will destroy you.
 
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I would strongly recommend him going the programming route if he likes computers at all. Alternatively, the business route. The benefit of programming and business is that they can be applied to any field. Say he loves animals, he could work a wide array of fields related to animals. Data related fields like biodiversity, ecology and conservation are starved of programmers. Then there are the more commercial aspects which a business degree would be applicable to.
 
Ghost29 said:
Holy crap, this is some poor advice. Maths Lit isn't like Maths standard grade. That's when that advice my have been relevant. Maths Lit is an entirely different subject. He will definitely not be able to go into veterinary science straight away but if he is prepared to take an extra year, he may be able to take a maths course which will allow him to enter vet science. That said, what are the factors which led to him dropping maths? He will need to be honest with himself as to whether he is capable of the intellectual demands of a science degree. It shouldn't just be because 'he loves animals'. That won't get you very far.
Click to expand...

Ghost29 you have lifted my spirits somewhat, thank you.

When the teacher pushed for him to give up maths i got the number of a maths teacher who comes highly recommended (from this forum in fact). If the child's keen enough on veterinary science and a year of private lessons by a capable teacher will facilitate it, there's a good chance he'll do it.

His maths teacher convinced him and his mom a good mark in maths lit is better than a bad/mediocre mark in maths. i feel sick when i think about it.
 
ChocolateBadger said:
UNISA gives math lit a fighting chance where as other universities just says no completely.

But to those with 80% and above and quite frankly if you cannot get a distinction for math lit then you should be studying a BA because anything else will destroy you.
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for sure, agreed.
 
maumau said:
His maths teacher convinced him and his mom a good mark in maths lit is better than a bad/mediocre mark in maths. i feel sick when i think about it.
Click to expand...
That teacher should be shot. An average maths SG mark is worth more, and an average maths HG mark even more...
 
maumau said:
Ghost29 you have lifted my spirits somewhat, thank you.

When the teacher pushed for him to give up maths i got the number of a maths teacher who comes highly recommended (from this forum in fact). If the child's keen enough on veterinary science and a year of private lessons by a capable teacher will facilitate it, there's a good chance he'll do it.

His maths teacher convinced him and his mom a good mark in maths lit is better than a bad/mediocre mark in maths. i feel sick when i think about it.
Click to expand...

His Maths teacher convinced them that a good mark in maths lit is better for the teacher than a bad /mediocre mark in maths. Self serving sod should be fired.
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
That teacher should be shot. An average maths SG mark is worth more, and an average maths HG mark even more...
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Dude, SG and HG doesn't exist anymore. That's part of the problem. That's why you get mommies bitching about their daughter with 6 As not getting into their desired degree. The fact is, nearly everyone nowadays walking away from a semi-decent school has As left, right and centre.
 
Ghost29 said:
I would strongly recommend him going the programming route if he likes computers at all. Alternatively, the business route. The benefit of programming and business is that they can be applied to any field. Say he loves animals, he could work a wide array of fields related to animals. Data related fields like biodiversity, ecology and conservation are starved of programmers. Then there are the more commercial aspects which a business degree would be applicable to.
Click to expand...

thank you Ghost29

strange you should say that because computers are his first love. apart from passing the CTI test he's visited University of Pretoria and was given a list of IT related fields to choose from. Apparently the consultant was very helpful and he has to choose between hardware, software, programming (which language), a mix of both HW and SW. Truth be told i believe he's so confused about the computer options he needs a while to read through the literature.
 
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