Finn, Animal Management Level 3

I knew I wanted to work with animals so I looked up different courses that were in the area and the Animal Management course at Merrist Wood appealed to me most.

I came to an open event and I was quite impressed with it all, especially the animal management centre and knew I would enjoy studying here.

I’ve made a few industry connections through the tutors during my time at college.

I’ve been put in touch with lots of zoo contacts, and the job I’ve got now, I got through the work experience with college, working at the reptile shop.

This course has broadened the animals that I’d like to work with. Before I was very much into working with exotic animals but I’ve really enjoyed working on the farm as well, having that career pathway opened up to me was really helpful.

We had three sections, the farm, exotics and small mammals. My main interest was exotics before coming to college and I thought that was where my career was headed. But working on the farm has opened my mind to potentially doing some farm work or working with different animals in the zoo sector.

Compared to school, we’ve got a lot more freedom.

You’re not always in 9-5, sometimes you’ll only go in for half days. You’re not restricted to one site in your breaks, it’s not set break and lunch times, it’s more mixed up and feels more like going into a workplace than being at school.

Each year, we’d do 150 hours of work experience. You source it and then it gets approved by the college. On the back of that, I was asked to stay on at a paid position. That is what I’ll be doing after college. I’ll probably work full time there for a while until I can hopefully get a job in the zoo industry.

I’ll also be staying for the Zoo Management degree at Merrist Wood College next year with prospects to go into the zoo industry.

This style of course is really beneficial for going into the industry.

The course is very specific and geared towards going into animal-related jobs and it gives you a good idea of what to expect going into that field of work. It will definitely help you make a more informed decision on where you want to take your career in the future.

Interested? Find out more about our Animal Management pathway