Am I Too old for Vet School?

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ashilb

ashilb

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Hey guys so im a undergrad student working on my pre-reqs so i can transfer to San Francisco State University by next fall. I wont get my bachelors till my 27 and then apply for vet school.
Do you guys think going to Vet school at the age of 27 years is too old?
 
Not at all! I'm a first year and we have a couple of over-30s in our class in addition to a bunch of people in their late 20s. We also have someone who is probably in his 50s who is making veterinary medicine his second career. Go for it!
 
If you do a simple search here on SDN. you will find that this is a topic that has been covered ad nauseum....

No. You are not too old. Do you want to be 35 and a vet? Or do you want to be 35 and doing what you are now. Our oldest classmate is 44 years old.

The only thing I've heard mention with folks who are in the older bracket worry more about having enough time to pay off their loans and still live a little. (we're talking in 40s and 50s).

By the way - "dye it purple" is 29 and in her first year as a vet student and sitting next to me....she's not too old, either. 😉
 
I hope not! I just applied, and if I get in I'll be 27 also when I start. I know two others who applied to the same school, one who is the same age as us and one who is in her 30s.

Also, since you apply in the fall the year before you would begin, you can apply before you finish your bachelor's if you wanted to. Most schools let you apply with 2-3 pre-reqs still in progress.
 
If I get in this cycle I will be 30 when I start in the Fall - 34 when I graduate - A friend just started this year and she's 33 so graduating at 37....

So no - you're not too old
 
Nah. 2 of my classmates are 40+, and we're in 1st year of vet school.
 
It has nothing to do with your age. It has to do with your life situation and your willingness to do the work. Vet schools cannot and do not discriminate against applicants on the basis of age (as well as other factors), and people of all ages are welcome and entitled to apply. At 27 you are barely above the mean age at some vet schools. Go ahead and do what you want!
 
I REALLY hope not lol... I'm in my first application process and I turn 28 at the end of the month 😉 My biggest fear isnt my age, my biggest fear is leaving my stable, well paid job to follow my dreams... :scared:
 
Definitely not! I'm 32 and will be 33 when I apply next year. Go for it!
 
FutureDVM2016 said:
I REALLY hope not lol... I'm in my first application process and I turn 28 at the end of the month 😉 My biggest fear isnt my age, my biggest fear is leaving my stable, well paid job to follow my dreams... :scared:
Click to expand...

Yeah. I was doing that too. I even like my well-paying job. I'm 31 and in the application cycle right now. Life is too short not to pursue your dream!
 
Definitely not too old! Check out my the website linked below -- you'll see very quickly that you are not TOO old for vet school! I receive lots of questions from people who are hesitant to pursue their vet dreams due to age, and you are no where near the oldest I've heard from!

These posts in particular apply:
http://sharonostermann.blog.com/2010/07/27/am-i-too-old-for-vet-school/
http://sharonostermann.blog.com/2011/10/17/qa-im-50-am-i-too-old-to-change-careers/
http://sharonostermann.blog.com/2010/09/07/whats-stopping-you/
 
So glad to have found this thread. This is something I wonder when I look in the mirror every day. 😕

I am 28 years old. I work full time, and have to do my pre req classes 1/2 time because I CANNOT afford to go to school full time. It's going to take me 4 to 6 years to just get my pre-req classes done. 👎

However, I think that if being a vet is your dream, then do it. I will be 33 or 34 probably when I make my first application to the school. I'm not scared tho! It's what I want to do. :meanie:
 
Good for you! Go for it! And remember to enjoy the learning and life you live along the way. A goal is great, but be happy on the journey, too! Best of luck!
 
I'll be 29 before I even sit in my first vet school class. My only concern is that my SO and I will be putting off getting married and having kids until I finish and we've had time to "live" a little...and that by then I'll be too old/tired for the whole pregnancy shenanigans. Lol.
 
What is it with this thread getting resurrected every frickin' time I have a histology exam coming up? (Next one is the final.)

Y'all are trying to put me in my grave. Just admit it. You want to see if you can push the old guy's other foot right into the grave with him.
 
You are NOT too old! The rest of them are too young! Good luck on the finals...go get 'em!
 
jalyndani said:
I'll be 29 before I even sit in my first vet school class. My only concern is that my SO and I will be putting off getting married and having kids until I finish and we've had time to "live" a little...and that by then I'll be too old/tired for the whole pregnancy shenanigans. Lol.
Click to expand...

Regarding the married part: You *can* do it while in vet school. One of my classmates just got married a few weekends back .... right before a big anatomy test on Monday. And she somehow survived. She's probably extraordinary - but so is everyone in vet school.

Regarding the kids part: Trickier. I have heard of women having kids in school, but ... it's beyond me how they manage that. My sister took the "have my last kid before med school" approach and that's worked out well for her. Come to think of it, I did the same thing (my last was born this last spring). Regarding the 'live a little' part - one of my biggest 'regrets' in life (not really a regret... I don't live that way... but in the "if I had it to do all over again" category") is waiting to have kids. I would have had them young so that by the time they're 18 I'm still relatively young and in the middle of life. As it is, I'll have a kid at home until I'm 60, which means I actually have to do things like eat right and exercise. And you KNOW what a pain that is. But my point is this: Kids are amazingly difficult to manage, but they are manageable. And they don't need you to be rich - or even comfortable financially - to thrive. If it's important to you, be smart about not bringing them into a bad situation, but also don't adopt the "wait until the timing is perfect" attitude, because it never really is.
 
You're so right about the timing to have kids never being perfect. My husband always laughs when he hears people say they are waiting to have kids until they're "ready"...."no one is ever really ready!" says he. Anyway, we didn't wait until we were ready. We were done by the time we were 25 (two kids). We were those young parents who go to be middle-aged with no kids around anymore (empty nest). Then you say to yourself, "What am I going to do with my life for the next 30+ years?" Answer: Become a veterinarian!
 
I understand the "never truly ready" part....I guess the philosophy that's been pounded into my head by my parents since I was a pre-teen was that I shouldn't get married and have kids until I'm completely done with school. My SO feels the same way. Between the two of us, we will have two Bachelors, two Masters, a teaching certification, a PhD, and a DVM before it's all said and done. To say the least, marriage & families hasn't exactly been at the forefront of our minds, but he'll finally graduate with his PhD next year. But by then, I'll be back in school until I'm 35. I know people do have kids while in vet school- a former co-worker, who's in his 2nd year, and his wife just had twin boys last month. I just don't think my family- or my SO- would be supportive if I was in the same situation. They are adamant about finishing school before having kids.
 
jalyndani said:
They are adamant about finishing school before having kids.
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Well. I always hate to give TOO much encouragement in the other direction from what someone's thinking, because I don't like to 'push' people ... but I will say this: Don't let other people dictate your decision. Consider their advice, but in the end, it's your life.

35 isn't too old for kids, though. So it's not like waiting until after vet school would rule it out completely.

Either way, you don't get much choice other than to conclude that you have goals/desires that are potentially conflicting and you just have to do the best you can with the cards you're dealt and no solution will be perfect! 🙂
 
ashilb said:
Hey guys so im a undergrad student working on my pre-reqs so i can transfer to San Francisco State University by next fall. I wont get my bachelors till my 27 and then apply for vet school.
Do you guys think going to Vet school at the age of 27 years is too old?
Click to expand...

Is this a joke? 🙄
 
ChasingYouOlds said:
So glad to have found this thread. This is something I wonder when I look in the mirror every day. 😕

I am 28 years old. I work full time, and have to do my pre req classes 1/2 time because I CANNOT afford to go to school full time. It's going to take me 4 to 6 years to just get my pre-req classes done. 👎

However, I think that if being a vet is your dream, then do it. I will be 33 or 34 probably when I make my first application to the school. I'm not scared tho! It's what I want to do. :meanie:
Click to expand...

This is me exactly. Or, I guess, was me 5 years ago. I took an average of 8 hours/semester and they were mostly night classes. I started when I was 28 and I kept my job the entire time. I applied after I had finished my classes. I'm now in my first year of vet school. Proof that it can be done.

I know it feels like it will take FOREVER to get there, but time passes. Just do well in your classes and take it one day at a time. (I kept a checklist of my pre-reqs and checked them off as I completed them. It was fun to see the list getting shorter and shorter. Whatever you need to do to make the time pass, I guess 🙂 )
 
Bisbee said:
You're so right about the timing to have kids never being perfect. My husband always laughs when he hears people say they are waiting to have kids until they're "ready"...."no one is ever really ready!" says he. Anyway, we didn't wait until we were ready. We were done by the time we were 25 (two kids). We were those young parents who go to be middle-aged with no kids around anymore (empty nest). Then you say to yourself, "What am I going to do with my life for the next 30+ years?" Answer: Become a veterinarian!
Click to expand...

👍
 
Bisbee said:
You're so right about the timing to have kids never being perfect. My husband always laughs when he hears people say they are waiting to have kids until they're "ready"...."no one is ever really ready!" says he.
Click to expand...

I've pretty much decided that there is no good time. I'm 30 now and in my first year. I'm going to graduate and have my career. So, I figure it doesn't really matter when I get pregnant. It will always be bad timing. My husband is in his 3rd year and will start getting job offers/post doc offers in the fall. At that point we're going to stop trying not to get pregnant (ie, if it happens great). We have a lot of family support in the area though and whenever I get pregnant. We will figure it out and make it work whenever it happens. It just makes me personally nervous to wait until I'm 34 to start trying. Yes that still a good age for it. But fertility does start declining about age 35 and we want more than one kid. Also it took my sister 5 years I think to get pregnant and I would hate for something like that to happen and not have my first kid until I'm 40.
 
For me personally, I had a lot of energy when I was in my 20's to play with the kids, hang upside down on the monkey bars with them and jump rope...I wouldn't have been able to do those things in my late 30's and 40's. However, in my 20's I didn't have much money to buy all the fancy nursery decor expensive toys and designer kids clothes. I don't think they noticed though (I'll have to ask them sometime). Like I say, you're never "ready"...no perfect time, so you might as well just jump in whenever. It's all fun (and tiring).
 
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