Need help: to go or not to go

[jamberry]

Hi, I am looking for any and all advice. I was recently taken off the waitlist, about a month after decisions were to be made. So for a month I was becoming okay with the idea that I did not get in. I took a job working in Aquatic Toxicology as a lab scientist and started planning my next moves. In my head I was going to move towards my other passion aside from vet med and begin working within the field of environmental science (maybe go the MS/PhD route instead of DVM. My acceptance has brought with it so many new emotions and I am very torn.

Does anyone have any tips or questions to ask myself to help figure out what steps I truly want to take with my career? Thank you in advance.

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[Minnerbelle]

I hate to say it, but this isn’t a profession you want to go into if you have to be convinced to go into it. If you’re torn, take that as a sign not to go. Come back to it if down the road you realize it’s something you really want to do.

You may have regrets with whichever you choose. But the regret you’ll have once you’re saddled with debt and trying to claw your way out of practice is probably way worse than the dreamy regret of wishing you had become a vet or an astronaut or actor or whatever else career there is to romanticize about.

 

[that redhead]

Hi, I am looking for any and all advice. I was recently taken off the waitlist, about a month after decisions were to be made. So for a month I was becoming okay with the idea that I did not get in. I took a job working in Aquatic Toxicology as a lab scientist and started planning my next moves. In my head I was going to move towards my other passion aside from vet med and begin working within the field of environmental science (maybe go the MS/PhD route instead of DVM. My acceptance has brought with it so many new emotions and I am very torn.

Does anyone have any tips or questions to ask myself to help figure out what steps I truly want to take with my career? Thank you in advance.

I agree with Minnerbelle, but I’ll try to help you out here:

Why did you apply to vet school/why do you want to be a vet?

What are your interests?

What type of lifestyle do you envision for yourself in 5/10/20 years?

 

[max_wildlife]

Hi, I am looking for any and all advice. I was recently taken off the waitlist, about a month after decisions were to be made. So for a month I was becoming okay with the idea that I did not get in. I took a job working in Aquatic Toxicology as a lab scientist and started planning my next moves. In my head I was going to move towards my other passion aside from vet med and begin working within the field of environmental science (maybe go the MS/PhD route instead of DVM. My acceptance has brought with it so many new emotions and I am very torn.

Does anyone have any tips or questions to ask myself to help figure out what steps I truly want to take with my career? Thank you in advance.

hi! i'm curious about your environmental science route. i've been working in the field since 2014, but i'm in field ecology so i'm not sure if our research interests and thus paths would align. feel free to ask any questions, though.

i love environmental science. so, so much. ecology is easily the love of my professional life. but despite a research-based master's and generally positive exit interviews and all that, i didn't receive an offer for permanent work until 2021, and not in my field of choice either. highly competitive, poorly paid. many of my friends and former colleagues had to give up due to life reasons, and work in retail, coffee etc; all in our 30s now. ecology is still the love of my life, but the path has a lot of inherent problems of its own.

that said, by description alone your aquatic toxicology lab sounds more stable than any position i've held. is it permanent or temp? entry level or do you get to do research? do you like this branch of environmental science? what are your thoughts/plans for the MS/PhD?

 

[that redhead]

The bottom-line question is: can you do what you want to do without paying a lot of money and time for a degree that you won’t need? There is of course the option to do DVM+PhD (which is even more time-intensive until you hopefully reach your goals) but again, do you really need the DVM?