Are you interested in specializing?

[heylodeb]

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Yesssssss.... worries me incessantly. Mainly because first and foremost, I want to be a stay at home mum, and then work part time when my kids are in school. So idealy, I would want to do residancy and have some experience before having kids. But I don't want to do residency straight away. And I want a lot of kids. I am very young - only twenty - but I have another 4 years of vet school to go (cuz im doing research honours) + a few years in practice + 3 years residency and suddenly it doesnt seem like long til im 40...

see...I'm the complete opposite. I worry incessantly about getting pregnant and then having to work part time. I'm selfish - no babies to ruin my career! I have this deep dark feeling in my soul that if anyone accidentally gets pregnant during/after vet school - it'll be me. cuz luck goes like that! lol...kay sorry for going OT....

 

[sumstorm]

Weird part is that I don't even want kids and have no plans to ever procreate but I laid into him so hard that day I'm surprised I wasn't fired on the spot. Sorry, that was slightly off topic but I'm still amazed he actually said those things to me (and I'm sure many other female vet school hopefuls!).

I appreciate that you didn't jump on the bandwagon that supports that concept since you aren't interested in having kids. I grew up in rural ag; NO ONE takes time off for pregnancies or newborns. Many women literally just give birth and are working again the next day, often with a child bundled nearby or in a sling. Unless I have a really bad pregnancy, I doubt I would take much time off. I realize I can't be 100% sure of that, but it just wasn't part of the culture I was raised with (and I don't care if others do take time off.) The other fallacy with that is the concept that a man should NEVER have child rearing responsibilities; he should never have to stay home with a child with the flu or be the parent in the hospital dealing with pneumonia or cancer. The reality is that for us, we already know my husband will be the primary care giver. It also ignores the fact that men are eliminated from working in the field through accidents and injuries as well; several of our professors are professors because they can NOT work in the field due to injuries such as spinal compression or fracture related nerve damage.

I do realize that at present, women still take, on average, 5x the childcare duties of men, but that has to be a choice in that family.

For the woman wanting 6 kids, best wishes. I would enjoy a large family, but I do believe that overpopulation exists. we foster, and if we ever want more than 2, we will adopt. by my calculations, if everything happened just on time, you would be out of the field for 17 years if you are choosing to be a stay at home mom until the last child starts school. I would suggest considering reversing the order of things if that is the case, because 17 years is a long time, in any profession, to remove yourself from the field and return with reasonable competency. It would be unfortunate to essentially need to relearn everything...and a decade out does mean losses in terms of knowledge and skill.

 

[badcats]

There are so many cool things that one can do with a DVM that I often find it hard to settle on one. However I really enjoy working with horses and would love to have a lameness/sports med practice that has some rehabbing facilities. On the other hand, anatomic path sounds super interesting and although I have no experience in it (where does one find it?) it is definitely something that from the job description seems like what I could see myself doing. Not much in common in those too except liking to figure out why things happened/are happening.

On the OT topic: I do really want kids at some point, and am not quite sure how that will work with my career. Ideally, each would just be a maximum of a six week break from practicing so no major loss of skill (I hope!). Luckily, the long term bf is going to be a fireman, so the time off that he gets with that will be really helpful. Like sumstorm said, it is up to the individuals to figure out what kind of effect a baby is on his/her work life

 

[Nechochwen]

(though I am also interested in forensic entomology), so maybe will study veterinary entomology!!! Of course, I also am interested in zoo medicine, pathology, human health, equine sports medicine, avian medicine, and parasitology!!

Can't say that I've ever been swayed away from zoo medicine, but I definitely know what you mean about wanting to studying it all. I've been looking at some of the elective classes offered in the upcoming semesters, and I think "they're not giving me enough elective slots".

I'm a glutton for wanting to know, but that will probably be cured by being to asked to know so much in vet school!

As for the kids being zoo experience, I agree and maybe more. You can't just physically restrain either one and darting kids is frowned upon.

I only had to deal with other people's kids in the summers (sometimes at a zoo actually), so I haven't been dissuaded.

 

[zeebra44]

see...I'm the complete opposite. I worry incessantly about getting pregnant and then having to work part time. I'm selfish - no babies to ruin my career! I have this deep dark feeling in my soul that if anyone accidentally gets pregnant during/after vet school - it'll be me. cuz luck goes like that! lol...kay sorry for going OT....

👍

 

[sumstorm]

see...I'm the complete opposite. I worry incessantly about getting pregnant and then having to work part time. I'm selfish - no babies to ruin my career! I have this deep dark feeling in my soul that if anyone accidentally gets pregnant during/after vet school - it'll be me. cuz luck goes like that! lol...kay sorry for going OT....

I took the easy route on that; married a man who works really hard right now to put me through school who WANTS to stay home and take care for the kids. Actually, he want's to handle the accounts for a private practice that we would own jointly, and stay home/flex his time at the clinic.

Of course, if I do zoo med, that isn't as viable. That is part of the reason I like the generalist system and am strongly opposed to strict specialization entering vet school; I believe it puts folks who work in more restrictive fields at a tremendous disadvantage when life gets in the way of a career.

 

[Vetgirl231]

Hi! I'm new to the forum! Yes, I plan on specializing in oncology! With what species remains a question? I've had great oppurtunities of working with horses, dogs, cats and sea turtles. I would like to do research in oncology, and maybe my clincial work with small animals!🙂