2016 Application cycle questions

[hashtagkfc]

Hi,

I've been a pre-med, since I've been in college, but have seriously considered veterinary medicine as I'm basically generally interested in medical philosophy and surgery of all sorts and have always been fascinated by animals and their quirks and functions.

What I want to know is if it's too late to change track (from pre-med) and apply to vet school by this year's application cycle deadline. I'm a 3rd year physics major. I cannot take microbiology or genetics by the end of this spring (2016) because sign-ups are over, but could take them over summer. I haven't completed these courses, because they're not require for med school, but are encouraged. I have no experience with animals, however, I have completed 2 years of research in a cancer research lab and have worked in clinical environments and have shown leadership in some scientific areas. I've been given the opportunity to shadow a veterinary practitioner. Would this help me a lot?

Regardless of how competitive I'll be, I just want to know if it's physically possible for me to apply with the completed pre-reqs. I also haven't taken the GRE or MCAT.

Sorry if I sound like an idiot. : (

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[thinkpawsitive]

Hey! The pinned " What are my chances" thread would be a great place to post this. The pre-requisites just need to be completed by the spring before matriculation which would be Spring 2017 for this next cycle and veterinary experience is a requirement for applying, with many schools having minimums. I'm sure if you relocate your post to the thread I mentioned, many people could give you advice!

 

[JJ1019]

This is my understanding of the differences as I just applied vet this year (limited understanding due to career change) but have a sibling in med school.

Med school applications requires significantly less shadowing/hands on experience. I think my brother did a little research and shadowed a little. He didn't work in a clinic or anything like that, certainly not for hundreds of hours. Competitive applicants for vet have 1000+ hours of experience under a vet. I have suspicions for why this requirement is, but it's not important.

It doesn't matter what your major is as long as you have a decent GPA, the required hours, and the required classes. Most schools limit what you can have left to go class wise when you apply. I've read threads on this too.

You'll need a solid GRE score to be competitive.
Research will be looked upon highly by some schools and not as much so by others. Depends on what type of vet you want to be.

Liking animals isn't enough. If you are really curious start getting the hours under the vet.

Med >>> vet in terms of salary. It's very important you fully understand this aspect. There are threads all over the site on this.

 

[rockatiel]

Med >>> vet in terms of salary. It's very important you fully understand this aspect. There are threads all over the site on this.

Ohhhh this. There are plenty of people on here who have been vets for a pretty long time that will tell you, if you only like animals, choose med. this profession REALLY needs to be your passion if you want to do it. Thus you need the experience hours. Debt vs. income needs to be a factor. If you like all aspects of medicine, decide what lifestyle you'd prefer living and go from there. It's going to sound weird coming from people who are already vets, but they're not trying to discourage you.

 

[hashtagkfc]

I don't care about salary. I've realized since being in college that while money is important, time is more important to me, and that my standard of living is really low even though I come from a household income of over 6 figures. Also, and I'm not stereotyping, but I don't get along with a lot of premeds due to personality issues partially on my own part and theirs, and most of my friends are in engineering and physics. That being said I have some few premed friends who are really nice. I'm not disinterested in human medicine. In fact, I might change my mind about veterinary medicine. I probably will take the opportunity to shadow.

No matter what I want to be a surgeon. I've shadowed 2 surgeons for human medicine and love it. That being said they both work like crazy, and I want to have time to focus on business, specifically real estate. I feel if I went into medical surgery I would not have time to focus on this interest of mine. I grew up wanting to be a vet until 9th grade when people started to interest me, however, now after meeting all kinds of people and mentality changes that come with college I don't care who or what I'm working on as long as pay is decent, I'm treated well and respected, and most importantly I have time to enjoy life.

Aside from that, how may I relocate this thread?

Thanks for the replies so far!

 

[rockatiel]

I don't care about salary. I've realized since being in college that while money is important, time is more important to me, and that my standard of living is really low even though I come from a household income of over 6 figures. Also, and I'm not stereotyping, but I don't get along with a lot of premeds due to personality issues partially on my own part and theirs, and most of my friends are in engineering and physics. That being said I have some few premed friends who are really nice. I'm not disinterested in human medicine. In fact, I might change my mind about veterinary medicine. I probably will take the opportunity to shadow.

Aside from that, how may I relocate this thread?

Thanks for the replies so far!

So you can't locate or delete threads, a mod has to do it. But our mods are pretty busy here. So to save them work all you have to do is go back out to the pre-vet forums and you'll see a sticky thread section and "What are my chances?". That's a very helpful and active thread and they will best be able to help you. Good luck with what you decide to do!

 

[DVMDream]

I don't care about salary. I've realized since being in college that while money is important, time is more important to me, and that my standard of living is really low even though I come from a household income of over 6 figures.

Everyone cares about money to some degree. The difference between vet med and human med is that the salary you can end up with in vet med could end with you struggling to pay bills. Forget the "extras" like owning a car that isn't 10 years old or owning a home, or having a family, etc. Vet med can put you into a position where you are forever stuck in an apartment barely making ends meet while eating top ramen. Now, having said this, that doesn't mean that it will. It is just that the debt is similar to medical school debt and the income is at least 1/3 less than that of an MD. Even if you have a "low" standard of living, a vet med salary can still make it difficult.

I'm not sure where you are thinking vets have more time than MD's.... because we work just as much. There are some exceptions with certain specialties but the same can be said for certain specialties in human medicine as well.

Also, and I'm not stereotyping, but I don't get along with a lot of premeds due to personality issues partially on my own part and theirs, and most of my friends are in engineering and physics. That being said I have some few premed friends who are really nice. I'm not disinterested in human medicine. In fact, I might change my mind about veterinary medicine. I probably will take the opportunity to shadow.

Yeah, premeds are a special group, but those same personalities exist in every profession. We have them in vet med too, but maybe to a slightly smaller degree. And the more the years go, the more I see prevets coming around here with similar personalities to those of the premeds. You won't "probably" take the opportunity to shadow, you are required to get veterinary experience in order to get into veterinary school. I strongly suggest you get exposure to veterinary medicine because it may not be all that you think it is. And it maybe everything you think it is and more. You need to know what you are getting into prior to deciding to apply for veterinary school. Also, many schools like to see experience in more than one aspect of veterinary medicine. So, if you are deciding to apply for veterinary school, you may want to try to find opportunities to shadow equine or food animal vets as well as small animal vets. Veterinary medicine is a very broad career and there are many opportunities, the vet schools like to see that you realize this.

No matter what I want to be a surgeon. I've shadowed 2 surgeons for human medicine and love it. That being said they both work like crazy, and I want to have time to focus on business, specifically real estate. I feel if I went into medical surgery I would not have time to focus on this interest of mine. I grew up wanting to be a vet until 9th grade when people started to interest me, however, now after meeting all kinds of people and mentality changes that come with college I don't care who or what I'm working on as long as pay is decent, I'm treated well and respected, and most importantly I have time to enjoy life.

If you want time to focus on real estate, then medicine in general isn't going to give you that much extra time. The boarded veterinary surgeons that I have worked with easily work 60-80 or more hours per week. A surgeons life regardless of human or animal surgeon is insanely busy with work. Most veterinarians even in GP practice work well over your typical 40 hour work week and into 50+ hours a week and many veterinarians are on call. Of course, there are exceptions just as there are in human medicine too, but be advised that medicine, either human or animal, isn't known for its "nice" hours and "time off".

 

[yugen]

If you want time to focus on real estate, then medicine in general isn't going to give you that much extra time. The boarded veterinary surgeons that I have worked with easily work 60-80 or more hours per week. A surgeons life regardless of human or animal surgeon is insanely busy with work. Most veterinarians even in GP practice work well over your typical 40 hour work week and into 50+ hours a week and many veterinarians are on call. Of course, there are exceptions just as there are in human medicine too, but be advised that medicine, either human or animal, isn't known for its "nice" hours and "time off".

Definitely this. And from what I hear, surgery internships/residencies are very competitive, too.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

Hey! The pinned " What are my chances" thread would be a great place to post this. The pre-requisites just need to be completed by the spring before matriculation which would be Spring 2017 for this next cycle and veterinary experience is a requirement for applying, with many schools having minimums. I'm sure if you relocate your post to the thread I mentioned, many people could give you advice!

To add on to this, many schools have the stipulation that you may only have so many remaining prereqs in the Spring prior to your matriculation. I think it's usually two.

I don't care about salary. I've realized since being in college that while money is important, time is more important to me, and that my standard of living is really low even though I come from a household income of over 6 figures. Also, and I'm not stereotyping, but I don't get along with a lot of premeds due to personality issues partially on my own part and theirs, and most of my friends are in engineering and physics. That being said I have some few premed friends who are really nice. I'm not disinterested in human medicine. In fact, I might change my mind about veterinary medicine. I probably will take the opportunity to shadow.

No matter what I want to be a surgeon. I've shadowed 2 surgeons for human medicine and love it. That being said they both work like crazy, and I want to have time to focus on business, specifically real estate. I feel if I went into medical surgery I would not have time to focus on this interest of mine. I grew up wanting to be a vet until 9th grade when people started to interest me, however, now after meeting all kinds of people and mentality changes that come with college I don't care who or what I'm working on as long as pay is decent, I'm treated well and respected, and most importantly I have time to enjoy life.

Aside from that, how may I relocate this thread?

Thanks for the replies so far!

I said the same thing for years up until I actually realized how far in the hole I'd be with debt.

It's not so much 'standard of living' that is an issue. Very few people that I know expect or really desire to have mansions, nice cars, etc (aka things that are required: A roof, a car, and so on). We're talking about you being unable to bring your kids to Disney World when they see the commercials on TV or their classmates are going over breaks. You might have to take extra weekend shifts and lose out on time with your kids/spouse/sleep just so you can make ends meet. Your car isn't safe to drive? Too bad, repairs aren't feasible right now. Basement flooded? Sorry, I don't know what to tell you. It goes on. You can make ends meet with a veterinarian's salary, but there are countless reasons as to why you wouldn't. You often miss out on the extras that make life fun or the basics like driving a safe vehicle. At least for me, that's one of my concerns going in.

 

[hashtagkfc]

Here is my philosophy. Knowing my own personality type, I have a lot of interests and can see whatever career I have in the future becoming "my work" and not "my life." While surgery is 100% what I want to do, I just want to find a job that is most practical from a job standpoint and not an ideological one, because I think a big mistake people make is 100% making a job decision based on ideology alone and then are bored with their job when older. I just don't want to make that mistake and it's why I want to be a part of medicine and business, and I feel vet med could give me that opportunity over human med. Is the payout consistently bad for vets if they actively try to go where the money is within the field? That's probably what I would do.

 

[DVMDream]

Is the payout consistently bad for vets if they actively try to go where the money is within the field? That's probably what I would do.

I mean, the pay varies based upon what type of medicine you do... food animal vets tend to make less than small animal vets. Bigger cities/states tend to pay more than smaller ones... so you will make more in California or New York, but the cost of living is significantly higher....

Practice ownership may or may not get you more money, depends on if your practice survives or not. But it will take a number of years as an associate first to build up some medical skill and knowledge prior to opening a practice. Then a number of years past opening before your practice is regularly bringing in above the "break even" point. You are looking at around 7-10 years before you are decently making money from practice ownership, including the years you spend prior to owning as an associate.

There are some specialties that make more, but you can make more as a practice owner. And specialty training takes 3-4 years outside of vet school in which the pay is only around $28-32K per year. So you are barely able to afford living, which means your loans will accrue more interest and you will be in more debt by the time you are actually making this "more" money that being a specialist brings. And some don't even make all that much. So you give up 3-4 years to maybe make slightly more than an associate who has also been out for 3-4 years but that associate has at least had 3-4 years of higher salary than you did while you were still training. Add in that internships and residencies are becoming more popular so these job markets are also becoming saturated. So you could spend 3-4 years training (beyond the 4 years of veterinary school) and becoming boarded and still not end up with a job in that area of veterinary medicine.

Human medicine doesn't have the saturation problem that veterinary medicine is currently facing.

 

[yugen]

I want to be a part of medicine and business, and I feel vet med could give me that opportunity over human med.

I'd suggest shadowing a veterinarian for a while. You wouldn't be able to apply until Fall 2016 for potential matriculation in Fall 2017, anyway. I think shadowing may answer a lot of your curiosities about how veterinary medicine would work with your desired future lifestyle and career goals.

 

[hashtagkfc]

Ok, I guess that's all the info I needed. I'll maybe talk to an adviser as well. Thanks.

 

[KCgophervet]

I have a lot of interests and can see whatever career I have in the future becoming "my work" and not "my life." While surgery is 100% what I want to do, I just want to find a job that is most practical from a job standpoint and not an ideological one, because I think a big mistake people make is 100% making a job decision based on ideology alone and then are bored with their job when older.

I feel like vet med in general is not the most "practical" of jobs. If you want a straight up "practical" job, then you should look into computer science or engineering. Decent hours for the most part and more than decent salary.