Am I crazy?

[Kannen1979]

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I'm about to graduate medical school, 200K in debt, and have realized I like cats a lot more than people. I've actually been contemplating applying to vet school for awhile. Should I go for it?

 

[QTkitty]

It's your life. You should probably get some experience working with animals and make sure you have all of the vet school pre-reqs and if you decide that vet med is still what you're passionate about then GO FOR IT! Most of us here are going into vet med because it's what we love, not because we'll make a lot of money doing it. You will make more money using your MD than you would with a DVM. I expect to be $200,000+ in debt by the time I graduate and pay it off ummm... over my life time haha 😳. If it were me I think I would take some time to gain some experience (and maybe use that MD for a while to make sure that it's really NOT what you want) and decide if that's really the right direction. Good luck with your decision and congrats on graduating from med school!!

 

[Emio]

I'm about to graduate medical school, 200K in debt, and have realized I like cats a lot more than people. I've actually been contemplating applying to vet school for awhile. Should I go for it?

yes, you're crazy. so are the rest of us. welcome 🙂

the only thing i'd like to add is to make sure you realize that you'll be dealing with people more than you'll be dealing with cats/animals. the people are the ones that can talk and pay bills, so they'll be the ones you're working with.

congrats on gradutation!

 

[twosoakers]

no more crazy than i--writing my dissertation in literature and starting vet school in august. woohooohaha oo.

 

[ri23]

I would put some serious consideration into that decision, not that you needed me to tell you that 😉 . If you are already 200,000 in debt and you had to take out loans for all of your vet school expenses you may be 400,000 in debt by the time you finish. Add that on to vets not making as much as doctors, and its pretty scary. Obviously if you think vet med is your passion than go for it, but I would definitely explore that quite a bit.

On another note, adcomms are more skeptical of someone that changes their mind that late in the game and it will definitely be brought up at any interviews. So you'll definitely need to prepare a thorough explanation detailing the reason for your late change in interest.

 

[philomycus]

Why not work as an MD for a couple of years to get the loans down, while you are building your animal exerience resume?? Just a thought.

 

[ri23]

I was thinking of that too, but if they are just finishing med school that would require a residency, correct? They would have to invest another couple of years to practice medicine and then have to go back and start vet school.

 

[Hollycozza]

how about working with infants? they're kind of like animals in terms of can't tell you what's wrong, don't give you back chat etc.

$400,000 of debt seems scaaaaaaaary!!!!!

 

[Hollycozza]

my friend took her dog to a young emergency vet a few years back, and he was working as a vet by night and studying med by day.

Then again, this is in Australia where as a rule we have much (much much) less debt......


(also less earning potential)

 

[cyrille104]

So...it's your life, and you COULD do it. Some points to consider though:

1) A general rule about veterinary medicine: don't go into it just because you like animals more than people. Veterinary medicine is just as much about human clients as it is about the animals, especially these days.
2) $400,000 is a lot of money, and you're going to have a really tough time paying that off as a vet. If you were going DVM --> MD then I'd say that's more realistic, but MD --> DVM...yeah...
3) There are plenty of volunteer things you could do with cats that don't involve a DVM

 

[horsybaby]

A dr. I know (not personally though)got through med school, internship and residency. Worked as internal medicine Dr. for awhile. Then I start seeing his name on all these veterinary boards, programs for spay and neuter and such. I agree the enormous debt would be a huge deterrant(Sp?) But there are ways to enjoy the vet. profession with your MD degree- if you really want to...

 

[kate_g]

I was thinking of that too, but if they are just finishing med school that would require a residency, correct?

You only need an internship year in order to be licensed as a physician, I think in all states. So if you can stand one more year of training (one reputed to be far worse than anything you've gone through so far), Kannen, then you could pick up shifts in urgent care clinics and suchlike on evenings/weekends. BUT, it's not necessarily easy or fast to just get licensed in a new state when you find out where you can go to vet school. And, with fill-in/relief work you *might* be responsible for your own malpractice insurance, which *might* cost more than you'd actually bring in, given the limited time you could work while in school. That probably varies a lot state-to-state, so it gives you kind of a chicken-and-egg situation in terms of trying to estimate whether you can, financially, attend vet school before you have any acceptances...

 

[kate_g]

Worked as internal medicine Dr. for awhile. Then I start seeing his name on all these veterinary boards, programs for spay and neuter and such. ... But there are ways to enjoy the vet. profession with your MD degree- if you really want to...

Are you saying that this guy had an MD and no veterinary training, but was offering to spay/neuter people's animals? I can't imagine that's the least bit legal, and he'd probably get his (medical) license taken away if caught. Or was he just organizing or funding spay/neuter programs in which vets did the surgeries?

 

[twosoakers]

i worked at purdue's writing lab last year, and a student brought in her veterinary essay, which had some great experience, except it listed that her vet in Georgia was allowing her to perform spays/neuters on her own on humane society animals.

she didn't like it when i told her she'd probably better take that out, for her sake and the vet's.....

 

[cowboyup]

Just remember that there are may ways you can be around animals with out a DVM degree. I think you would be hard pressed to repay the loans, a second thought and i dont know the validity of this. A friend who is a PA is looking into going to one of the carribean schools to get his MD, this school will wave some tuition and several classes in return for him practicing on the island. might want to look into this for vet med. good luck

 

[horsybaby]

"Are you saying that this guy had an MD and no veterinary training, but was offering to spay/neuter people's animals? I can't imagine that's the least bit legal, and he'd probably get his (medical) license taken away if caught. Or was he just organizing or funding spay/neuter programs in which vets did the surgeries?"

No he was not performing the surgeries just involved in the organizing, leadership parts of the project...

 

[JumptheMoon]

i worked at purdue's writing lab last year, and a student brought in her veterinary essay, which had some great experience, except it listed that her vet in Georgia was allowing her to perform spays/neuters on her own on humane society animals.

she didn't like it when i told her she'd probably better take that out, for her sake and the vet's.....

Did she apply to Tufts??? I've been told that a girl got caught in a lie during an interview once - her personal statement said that she'd done unassisted spays and neuters, but when the interviewer asked her about it she contradicted herself...

 

[twosoakers]

no, she was applying to Georgia. I wonder if she ever took it out....She was pretty skeptical...😕