Income during vet school

Veterinary Science Graduate Certificate from UofI
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gpmom

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If you don't mind me asking, what do you do for income while in vet school? I have seen example schedules and classes take up the majority of your day plus study time. How do you live without a job?

That's one of my main worries of vet school. I have to work my butt off for every penny I have.
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That's a problem with vet school right there my friend. Money.

It's difficult but not impossible to work during school, people do it. Though you probably won't make enough to put much of a dent in school and living costs.

Loans and being in debt are the standard really. It's a very hot topic right now, because vet school costs so much and grads aren't making that much. Average debt of vet students when they finish is around 100k, though some have less or none and some have much more.

Something you need to come to terms with if you want to go to veterinary school.
 
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I have about a year and a half to two years to save before I apply to school so I'm trying to save as much as I can. But things come up unexpectedly. I figured a lot of it will come from loans, which is scary. I'm the type of person that needs to focus solely on school. I'm starting my biology degree and working full time. I'm curious to see how this will work out.
 
I work about 10 hours a week to pay for my food/gas. I take out loans for tuition and fees, and I have awesome parents who let me live in one of their rental houses for free (but I have two roommates that cover over 2/3 of what they would have rented the place for). I definitely don't have much wiggle room at the end of the month. I have a small savings account for emergencies that I don't touch at all...I earned most of that through summer jobs.
 
JaynaAli said:
I work about 10 hours a week to pay for my food/gas. I take out loans for tuition and fees, and I have awesome parents who let me live in one of their rental houses for free (but I have two roommates that cover over 2/3 of what they would have rented the place for). I definitely don't have much wiggle room at the end of the month. I have a small savings account for emergencies that I don't touch at all...I earned most of that through summer jobs.
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This is what I plan on doing. Loans for tuition and fees. My mom is fantastic and will be paying my living expenses. And I plan on trying to find a job for 10 hours a week or less to make some grocery money.

Basically, you have to be prepared to be in a large amount of debt and be struggling to make ends meet for several years. Loans can cover a pretty large percentage of your expenses if you plan to go that route. It is possible to work more hours during the school year, but most people wouldn't recommend it, especially if you feel you are someone who needs to focus on school.
 
I'm playing the lottery in the hopes of winning a small fortune before school starts in August. :) If that doesn't pan out I will be living off loans. I hope to be able to work about 10 hours a week to cover food/gas. The cost of vet school is definitely something I still panic about. My parents are not in a financial position to help me out so I'm on my own for everything. I have already starting asking various people if they will be needing someone to work over winter break, so I'm hoping while I'm off of school I can bank some money.
 
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JaynaAli said:
I work about 10 hours a week to pay for my food/gas.
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For those of you who are working while in vet school, where do you work? Do you have an on campus job, off campus job? Is it related to vet med or not at all? What do you like/dislike about it?

I'd love to find a job that would allow me to work ~10 hours a week during vet school, is flexible about my work schedule, and doesn't require a whole lot of thinking or is possibly cool with me bringing study materials to work. I'm just not sure if there's a job out there that fits that description.
 
macita183 said:
I'm playing the lottery in the hopes of winning a small fortune before school starts in August. :)
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:laugh: love it.

If that doesn't pan out I will be living off loans. I hope to be able to work about 10 hours a week to cover food/gas. The cost of vet school is definitely something I still panic about. My parents are not in a financial position to help me out so I'm on my own for everything. I have already starting asking various people if they will be needing someone to work over winter break, so I'm hoping while I'm off of school I can bank some money.
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I'm in the same place as macita, all on my own (other than encouragement and donations of kitchen supplies, furniture, and other household necessities). I've got farm sitting clients who have been using me for 5-10 years who already have told me if I want to come back home (2hr drive, so doable) to visit any weekends to call ahead of time and they will go out of town. I don't plan to be able to do that often, but my ponies are home, so a few times a semester and winter break would be nice. I've been telling everyone they have until August to get their trips in, so I also hope to save up some money before I go. Otherwise its loans and concentrating on school! After I settle in I may try to work a night a week in the clinic or something if that's possible.
 
I work during the summer and then student loans + scholarships + grants/bursaries.
 
gumtree said:
For those of you who are working while in vet school, where do you work? Do you have an on campus job, off campus job? Is it related to vet med or not at all? What do you like/dislike about it?

I'd love to find a job that would allow me to work ~10 hours a week during vet school, is flexible about my work schedule, and doesn't require a whole lot of thinking or is possibly cool with me bringing study materials to work. I'm just not sure if there's a job out there that fits that description.
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I don't work, but I think I'm going to try to next year. Most of the people I know who do work, work on campus because they are flexible and understand your schedule. I have classmates that work at the library, research labs, as techs in various departments or help take care of the animals in the research colonies. Some pay cash, and others will actually go directly to paying off your loans. My roommate was going to do a job for Orthopedics and instead of getting biweekly checks, the school would start paying off her loans for vet school. While it wouldn't be much, I'm sure it would at least help keep the interest at bay.
 
gumtree said:
For those of you who are working while in vet school, where do you work? Do you have an on campus job, off campus job? Is it related to vet med or not at all? What do you like/dislike about it?

I'd love to find a job that would allow me to work ~10 hours a week during vet school, is flexible about my work schedule, and doesn't require a whole lot of thinking or is possibly cool with me bringing study materials to work. I'm just not sure if there's a job out there that fits that description.
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There are. Generally speaking, your best bet is to find a job within the school (one of the lab jobs, a front-desk hospital job, a student tech job, etc.). People tend to be understanding of your schedule and they 'get it' when you say "I have a nasty exam, can I leave early?"

Your next best bet might be to find a vet assistant or vet tech job (depending on your qualifications) that's a weekend thing. A number of people tech on Saturdays and whatnot.

After that ... it's just hunting down a job like any other job. But I think those are the best two generic options.

For the first two years I worked in the blood donor program. That's not 10 hours/week, but it's super flexible since we schedule the draws ourselves. On my off weeks there's 0 hours; on my on-duty weeks there might be 6-10. This summer I start working in ecc/icu; I expect that job to continue next fall with a shift or two per week. And I'll continue in the blood donor gig until fourth-year rotations start next spring (we hire 3 freshmen per year into the program with the expectation they'll stay with it their first 3 years of school). I applied for that job because I came into school with relatively little clinical background compared to my classmates - I wanted to ramp up, and since every draw requires a jugular stick for pre-draw blood work, a (usually saphenous) catheter for returning LRS, and another jugular stick to draw the actual 500ml of blood ... it's a good way to build up your needle-handling skills. And, I liked the complete flexibility of scheduling draws when I wanted. :)
 
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gumtree said:
For those of you who are working while in vet school, where do you work? Do you have an on campus job, off campus job? Is it related to vet med or not at all? What do you like/dislike about it?

I'd love to find a job that would allow me to work ~10 hours a week during vet school, is flexible about my work schedule, and doesn't require a whole lot of thinking or is possibly cool with me bringing study materials to work. I'm just not sure if there's a job out there that fits that description.
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I work on-call nights and weekends for our clin path lab. We rotate days between 4 of us, one from each class. I like it. They let us students make our own schedule as long as every night is covered by someone. Downside is that sometimes you're stuck working the night before an exam. But the contact with clinicians (even sometimes just interns/residents) is worth a lot in my opinion. During summers I still work on call at night, but work at a local vet clinic during the day as a tech.
 
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I was asked by the school to tutor, which pays miserably few hours but is a nice little bonus at the end of the semester and works into my own studying nicely. I also got hired as an overnight ICU tech in the large animal hospital this spring, so I've started that - it's only one or two nights a month, about 8 hours each time. Miserable wages, but excellent experience and flexible enough to work around when we have exams and things. I also make a little extra when I can giving riding lessons and riding a training horse or two.

Basically I make enough to buy some groceries and supplement the help I get from my family. Other people tech at their home clinics on weekends, or are on-call in the diagnostic lab or Idexx for necropsies, bloodwork, whatever. We also have a student ambassador program - they get paid to give tours and work Open House and other events, and it's apparently a pretty good gig. I also have a classmate that's kept her waitressing job one or two nights a week - no idea how she manages that. I depend on making money in the summer and on help from my family to pay for my living expenses. Honestly I don't think there's any way to make enough to put a dent in your loans.
 
I work in the summer/on break.

Tried to during the year but just couldn't afford the time.
Much fewer people had regular paying jobs 2nd year than first at Penn.
I guess it all comes down to what you are willing to sacrifice.... money, grades, sanity, recreation etc.

edit: there is always the occasional student rep for a company kind of thing for a very little extra though.
 
StartingoverVet said:
I work in the summer/on break.

Tried to during the year but just couldn't afford the time.
Much fewer people had regular paying jobs 2nd year than first at Penn.
I guess it all comes down to what you are willing to sacrifice.... money, grades, sanity, recreation etc.

edit: there is always the occasional student rep for a company kind of thing for a very little extra though.
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the relatively little extra for me was almost enough to cover food for a month
 
Whyevernot55 said:
I was asked by the school to tutor, which pays miserably few hours but is a nice little bonus at the end of the semester and works into my own studying nicely. I also got hired as an overnight ICU tech in the large animal hospital this spring, so I've started that - it's only one or two nights a month, about 8 hours each time. Miserable wages, but excellent experience and flexible enough to work around when we have exams and things. I also make a little extra when I can giving riding lessons and riding a training horse or two.

Basically I make enough to buy some groceries and supplement the help I get from my family. Other people tech at their home clinics on weekends, or are on-call in the diagnostic lab or Idexx for necropsies, bloodwork, whatever. We also have a student ambassador program - they get paid to give tours and work Open House and other events, and it's apparently a pretty good gig. I also have a classmate that's kept her waitressing job one or two nights a week - no idea how she manages that. I depend on making money in the summer and on help from my family to pay for my living expenses. Honestly I don't think there's any way to make enough to put a dent in your loans.
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One of my classmates works 25-35 hours a week at a gas station. She even does overnights sometimes. People have the gall to bitch about her being late to class... they don't even know. You think they work? Crapheads.

I don't have an excuse for being late. :smuggrin: I got myself a sugar daddy instead.
 
dyachei said:
BF? not sure what that is. No. I was the class "first responder" so I helped profs set up power points. And I was a food rep for a major company.
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I meant Banfield lol I guess that is an acronym that we just use up here lol
 
I work odd jobs that have flexible hours such as in labs (I did during undergrad) or dog sitting. I also am a free-lance artist and draw/paint pieces for people by request.

I have not started vet school yet so I can't speak for having a job during vet school but I do know people who do work can't work very many hours because of their school schedule unfortunately.
 
I work a couple of days a month at a local animal hospital as a tech. They're great about fitting me into the schedule if I have time and let me know if they have shifts that need to be covered. It's not a ton of money each month, but it's a couple of tanks of gas/good bit of food/few nights at the bar that I can cover
 
Rwwilliams said:
I work in the top Banfield for my region but I've never heard of the student ambassador position. How does one get into that?
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It's on the Banfield website in the job section. Also you can talk to your medical director about it. There is a office at CTS that deals with it that you can email for more info but I don't remember what the email is. My MD said they tend to hire 2nd years so that you actually know about the school, and have finished 1st year.
 
Kpowell14 said:
It's on the Banfield website in the job section. Also you can talk to your medical director about it. There is a office at CTS that deals with it that you can email for more info but I don't remember what the email is. My MD said they tend to hire 2nd years so that you actually know about the school, and have finished 1st year.
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Interesting. The only one I found online was for OK State, so I'll definitely talk to my MD today. Thanks!
 
Rwwilliams said:
Interesting. The only one I found online was for OK State, so I'll definitely talk to my MD today. Thanks!
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That probably means the slots are filled. I know Mizzou only has 2 spots and they are both currently filled.
 
I guess I'll just have to start now and get a job until I get to vet school so I can have some money saved up by then for living on.
 
gpmom said:
If you don't mind me asking, what do you do for income while in vet school? I have seen example schedules and classes take up the majority of your day plus study time. How do you live without a job?

That's one of my main worries of vet school. I have to work my butt off for every penny I have.
Click to expand...

Sell hydromorphone.
 
When it comes to money, Fake it till you make it!

Actually don't. They'll send you to jail for that. :p
 
Sell organs:

You can easily live with one kidney. Sell part of your liver (if you are lucky it might even regenerate and you can sell it again). Sell eggs/sperm. You can live with one lung. Kind of need all of your heart. And vet school will destroy your brain making it worth nothing, so you are stuck with that.
 
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I'm in my second year of vet school and I work probably around 15 hours a week. I work one job on campus and one job off campus (at the vet school's bookstore and at a local emergency vet clinic) and have two company rep positions. I find the 15 hours to be quite manageable for me. Fortunately all of my jobs are incredibly flexible and understanding that school is my priority.

I really recommend getting a company rep position if you can! A lot of them are a pretty low time commitment and pay a nice little chunk of change :).
 
Something I did in undergrad (and is hopefully available/feasible in vet school...) was sign up for experiment trials. Lots of stock market/prisoner's dilemma simulations (all >$25/hr), a couple of fMRI experiments (which paid FANTASTICALLY...made $150 off a 1.5 hr experiment once), etc. Now that I work near a clinical research center, I see tons of vaccine and drug trials calling for participants, which I imagine compensate pretty nicely for just sitting around and getting your blood drawn.
 
sorasea said:
Something I did in undergrad (and is hopefully available/feasible in vet school...) was sign up for experiment trials. Lots of stock market/prisoner's dilemma simulations (all >$25/hr), a couple of fMRI experiments (which paid FANTASTICALLY...made $150 off a 1.5 hr experiment once), etc. Now that I work near a clinical research center, I see tons of vaccine and drug trials calling for participants, which I imagine compensate pretty nicely for just sitting around and getting your blood drawn.
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Apparently donating plasma is a big thing for vet students too?
 
PepperMcTipper said:
I'm in my second year of vet school and I work probably around 15 hours a week. I work one job on campus and one job off campus (at the vet school's bookstore and at a local emergency vet clinic) and have two company rep positions. I find the 15 hours to be quite manageable for me. Fortunately all of my jobs are incredibly flexible and understanding that school is my priority.

I really recommend getting a company rep position if you can! A lot of them are a pretty low time commitment and pay a nice little chunk of change :).
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I applied for three company rep positions and got none of them. Sigh.
What I do at the moment is dog sitting. It's getting me about $50/week at the moment because I only take 1-2 families during the week. Business is just starting to get busy, and I'm taking two weeks off for exams. Oh well. You live and learn. I also mystery shop on the side but that's not a super consistent source of income. I run Swagbucks Encrave when I'm in class to get me about another $5 a day. It doesn't add up to lot, but for very little work, it's not bad -- and not bad is better than nothing!

that redhead said:
Apparently donating plasma is a big thing for vet students too?
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Tried it. There was a 3 hour wait in a sketchy part of town. Nope.
 
that redhead said:
Apparently donating plasma is a big thing for vet students too?
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Tried this. My veins are apparently "too deep" and "hard to feel" so I have to increase my water intake and try again.


I have applied for a few jobs and I can't get anything. So just working off loans right now, but seems every time I think I have it all figured out... something else needs to be paid for... like urgent care visit for cat bite. Or to get my car fixed (which I still need to take in). Really hoping I can find some way to make a small amount of money but not having any luck.
 
I just sucked it up and took extra Plus loans. Once I hit six digits of debt, taking out another few hundred so that I can occasionally feel like a person kinda felt like a no-brainer. That being said, I'm terrified of graduating and entering repayment. Recently, I ran into one of our residents at a shady mini-mart. I was buying frozen peas. She was buying Ramen.
 
I just live cheaper (rent/utilities ~$430) and don't usually worry too much about being super frugal in other areas... I have a side job I've kept from undergrad, but it's just a weekend or two a month and I do it because I value my sloth time, not because I make much money from it (I don't).
 
Student loans + scholarships/grants/bursaries + summer jobs
 
So noob question, what is a bursarie?
 
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