Field Work for a month vs looking for a job

[KiaKia]

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Hello!
Some background: I've never worked in a veterinary clinic, and have been trying to find a part-time job in a clinic for the past year. I have been volunteering in an ER clinic on weekends since Feb 2010, and have other animal care experience in wildlife rescues and research labs (fish).

I live with my parents in FL, and have enough money personally to survive, and can count on my parents to pay for major necessities.

I recently lost my non-vetmed part time job, and one of my friends/ex-boss does bottlenose dolphin fieldwork in the Keys. I worked for her fulltime as a volunteer 2 summers ago, and she is going to spend a month in the field starting in late September, and offered me a spot. I'd be piloting the boat, and helping to record data in the field when following groups.

Since I've been having no luck finding veterinary- or even animal care related work, should I go to the field for a month? Is this worth missing 4 weeks of job-application time? This would be work under a PhD, but since it's not hands-on I'm worried it would not be helpful, though my PS is all about how much I want to use vet med to inform bio/ecolo/neuro research.

Also, I plan to have submitted my application by the time I would be going to the Keys.

Ideas?

 

[lei325]

I would do it. It sounds like a great experience and you'd be able to observe animal-related work. Not sure which schools you applied to, but I remember some of my supplementals were submitted after the VMCAS date and that was where I filled in additional experiences that I did after I submitted my app. Plus, you can bring it up in interviews if/when they ask the "And what have you been doing in the meantime?" kind of questions. It also sounds like you're not worried about financial issues, so I would jump in to the job application process after you're done with the dolphin experience. You might never get a chance to do something like this in the future, so take advantage!

 

[CurrySpice]

Go do it! You will have tons of fun, and your enthusiasm will shine through in your work. It will look great on your resume, and you can focus in on the vet work when you get back (maybe if you save up money, you can shadow full-time until you get another job)

 

[PearlDVM]

I totally think it would be worth it. If you get an interview, then you have something really new and exciting to add to your application when you meet with them. And, in case you need to reapply (like i did 🙄), then you'll have a head start on improving your application. Plus - it just sounds really cool! The money would be the only thing that would hold me back - and it doesn't sound like that's a huge issue for you right now. so go for it! 👍 This probably isn't an opportunity that comes around much.

 

[KiaKia]

So, I said no to the field work. Working on applications/taking online class/working/looking for a job seemed like enough things to do.

If anyone is interested, I got the position the first time on the TAMU wildlife jobs page: http://www.wfsc.tamu.edu/jobboard/