How can a specialization help your career?

[tmss011223344]

Hello,

Pardon my ignorance. I am new to the idea of becoming a veterinarian. I heard that veterinarians can teach at a vet school if they have a PhD or if they have a specialization under their belt. My question is if it is parallel to the specialization that human physicians do? How would it further a veterinarians career to specialize in animal behavior? Are there positions that require a specialization? Also, if you just go through veterinary school and do not complete graduate studies are you limited to a GP?

Thank you.

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[twelvetigers]

Hello,

Pardon my ignorance. I am new to the idea of becoming a veterinarian. I heard that veterinarians can teach at a vet school if they have a PhD or if they have a specialization under their belt. My question is if it is parallel to the specialization that human physicians do? How would it further a veterinarians career to specialize in animal behavior? Are there positions that require a specialization? Also, if you just go through veterinary school and do not complete graduate studies are you limited to a GP?

Thank you.

Veterinary school IS a graduate degree. If you so choose, you may pursue an internship (1 year) followed by a residency (3 years, usually). A few residencies don't require an internship but most do. Some specialties that can be pursued include cardiology, dermatology, dentistry, ophthalmology, SA or equine surgery, SA or equine internal medicine, lab animal medicine, clinical or anatomic pathology... you get the point. Behavior is less common. There are a few places that do offer an animal behavior residency program.

As far as staff positions go, I'm not sure how many boarded animal behaviorists end up being clinicians at universities. Behavior may have just been an example you picked, so that may not be relevant.

If you want to be a clinician at a university, say you do ophthalmology. You'll teach ophtho to years 2-3, do some labs here and there, and then you'll see cases in the hospital and have students that rotate through your service.

If you got a PhD instead, in say... immunology. Then you could teach immunology to 1-2 years and also do research at the school, run a lab, that sort of thing. You wouldn't be doing any clinical medicine.

If you go to vet school and decide that you don't want to pursue anything further, then you can go into general practice - SA, LA, exotics, mix. You could also work for a lab, work for the government, go for a MPH and do epidemiology stuff - whatever. So you have some other options.

How old are you? (Or, more like - what grade are you in? High school, I'm guessing?)

 

[Osudairy]

You can teach at the college level with a terminal degree (MD, DVM, PhD, etc). As tigers said, veterinary school is a graduate degree and there are many options for residency that you can choose fron. If your goal is to do more clinic-based stuff, you would want a DVM. If you want to do more lab work and research, then a PhD is what you want. I personally split the difference and did a Master's Degree before starting vet school for the research/teaching experience.

 

[tmss011223344]

Veterinary school IS a graduate degree.

I know that Veterinary school is a degree after your undergraduate but I am confused because certain colleges specifically the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine has a tab under academic programs that says graduate education next to a tab that said dvm programs. When I click on graduate education these show up:

• Biochemistry & Cell Biology

• Cancer Biology

• Epidemiology

• Infection & Immunity

• Medical Genetics & Genomics

• Neuroscience

• Reproductive Biology

• Stem Cell Biology

• Wildlife Conservation

What do you think these are? Is it a program instead of dvm or post-dvm? What are the pros/cons of pursuing a residency and not?

p.s. I am interested in research but not necessarily as a full-length career

 

[KCgophervet]

I know that Veterinary school is a degree after your undergraduate but I am confused because certain colleges specifically the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine has a tab under academic programs that says graduate education next to a tab that said dvm programs. When I click on graduate education these show up:

• Biochemistry & Cell Biology

• Cancer Biology

• Epidemiology

• Infection & Immunity

• Medical Genetics & Genomics

• Neuroscience

• Reproductive Biology

• Stem Cell Biology

• Wildlife Conservation

What do you think these are? Is it a program instead of dvm or post-dvm? What are the pros/cons of pursuing a residency and not?

p.s. I am interested in research but not necessarily as a full-length career

They look like other graduate programs within Cornell's College of Vet Med. The college is essentially a department, offering various degrees. DVM program is a specific professional level program, whereas these look more like Masters degrees in the various fields.

 

[twelvetigers]

I know that Veterinary school is a degree after your undergraduate but I am confused because certain colleges specifically the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine has a tab under academic programs that says graduate education next to a tab that said dvm programs. When I click on graduate education these show up:

• Biochemistry & Cell Biology

• Cancer Biology

• Epidemiology

• Infection & Immunity

• Medical Genetics & Genomics

• Neuroscience

• Reproductive Biology

• Stem Cell Biology

• Wildlife Conservation

What do you think these are? Is it a program instead of dvm or post-dvm? What are the pros/cons of pursuing a residency and not?

p.s. I am interested in research but not necessarily as a full-length career

A PhD and a DVM are both types of graduate degrees. Those are more the PhD route. You can, as you mentioned before, do a PhD before/after/during a DVM.

Pros of residency:

• More $$$ salary
• Better hours, maybe
• Focusing on what specifically interests you

Cons of residency:

• 3-4 years extra with loans continuing to gather interest
• Difficult, stressful
• Requires good grades and references to get matched (not a guarantee)

Lots of folks don't make up their minds about whether or not to pursue a residency and what field they may be interested in until during veterinary school. It's okay to think about right now, but realize that getting into vet school (and making sure that you do want to be a vet, and not work in another field or area that involves animals and/or medicine) is the first step here.

 

[epivetlove]

Those are likely Masters and Doctoral graduate programs (PhD).

Edit: Whoa, this posted super late. Stupid school wifi!

 

[CalliopeDVM]

Veterinary school IS a graduate degree.

In the US, perhaps, but not everywhere. It is not a graduate degree in Canada, even though one needs some specific undergrad credits to apply, nor is it a graduate degree in the UK or in Australia, where one can enter after high school.

 

[twelvetigers]

In the US, perhaps, but not everywhere. It is not a graduate degree in Canada, even though one needs some specific undergrad credits to apply, nor is it a graduate degree in the UK or in Australia, where one can enter after high school.

This is true.

I guess I'm assuming the OP is in the US.