Future career advice needed

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I wanted to get some advice on my future career since I’m not exactly sure what to do yet. So currently, I am a second year student and I have an interest in large animal medicine as well as wildlife medicine. Outside of vet school, I don’t have that much experience with either. I’m from a large city so I didn’t have any opportunity for large animal experience and every time I tried to volunteer or work at a wildlife place it never worked out so I’m not sure which path would be best for me. In addition, I’m not the best student in vet school. With the way my school works, I can’t see my GPA or class ranking but I calculated it to be around 2.9 GPA. I go back and forth between being interested in doing a residency or doing more with my career after I graduate. I’m not very interested in surgery so I would likely want to go for something repro related, BCVS, or conservation/wildlife rehab related. Do you guys think I have a chance? I can’t seem to bring my grades up any more and I’m already burnt out. Lastly, to work with wildlife, do I need any special training post vet school?

 

[katiemcat]

I know very little about the large animal world but one of the LA surgery residents at our school told us that a lot of LA repro residencies don’t fill even though there is demand for repro vets, especially equine. I would definitely make sure you have a genuine interest / connection to the speciality though by doing some shadowing / externships before committing to the path, especially if you’re already feeling burnt out.

My uncle sees native wildlife (raccoons, bears, opossums, etc) and is not boarded. Being boarded in zoo med though is generally considered very competitive.

Sorry I can’t be more help.

 

[C Smith]

If you have an employer, that you would like to work I would suggest obtaining certifications they would like to have an edge with getting hired.

 

[MixedAnimals77]

I wanted to get some advice on my future career since I’m not exactly sure what to do yet. So currently, I am a second year student and I have an interest in large animal medicine as well as wildlife medicine. Outside of vet school, I don’t have that much experience with either. I’m from a large city so I didn’t have any opportunity for large animal experience and every time I tried to volunteer or work at a wildlife place it never worked out so I’m not sure which path would be best for me. In addition, I’m not the best student in vet school. With the way my school works, I can’t see my GPA or class ranking but I calculated it to be around 2.9 GPA. I go back and forth between being interested in doing a residency or doing more with my career after I graduate. I’m not very interested in surgery so I would likely want to go for something repro related, BCVS, or conservation/wildlife rehab related. Do you guys think I have a chance? I can’t seem to bring my grades up any more and I’m already burnt out. Lastly, to work with wildlife, do I need any special training post vet school?

Re LA: Depends on what you are considering-eq sx,eq med, LG med, repro. Outside of the equine specialities alot of people go work LA first and then end up doing residency. I don't know of many people that go straight to LA or repro residency after school, not that you cant just in general alot of people just go practice. Really unless you're interested in research, industry or academia there's not much reason to get a residency in repro at this time for LA. Tons of ppl doing it without certification, just find the right practice.
@pp9 @WildZoo re wildlife stuff

 

[battie]

All of the repro people i know are either small animal and did the traditional specialty route, or are exclusively in academic medicine.

If you're interested in equine repro, it's intense. One of my friends during vet school did the repro rotation at Illinois and it was 8 students over the two weeks with 30+ horses. At a minimum. The clinician is a huge nerd and does a ton, so the rotation was very intense

 

[pp9]

I wanted to get some advice on my future career since I’m not exactly sure what to do yet. So currently, I am a second year student and I have an interest in large animal medicine as well as wildlife medicine. Outside of vet school, I don’t have that much experience with either. I’m from a large city so I didn’t have any opportunity for large animal experience and every time I tried to volunteer or work at a wildlife place it never worked out so I’m not sure which path would be best for me. In addition, I’m not the best student in vet school. With the way my school works, I can’t see my GPA or class ranking but I calculated it to be around 2.9 GPA. I go back and forth between being interested in doing a residency or doing more with my career after I graduate. I’m not very interested in surgery so I would likely want to go for something repro related, BCVS, or conservation/wildlife rehab related. Do you guys think I have a chance? I can’t seem to bring my grades up any more and I’m already burnt out. Lastly, to work with wildlife, do I need any special training post vet school?

I would get experience in either/both before deciding you want to go down either path. Both are niche and not for everyone.

You don’t need any additional training for wildlife rehab after school. Jobs are scarce and generally poorly paying though. you can also volunteer at a local rehab place/offer cheap or free services to local rehabbers as a vet in almost any capacity, as long as your workplace allows it. There are several wildlife med externships you should consider setting up in order to get clinical experience.

Also maybe I’m dumb but idk what BCVS is lol.

If you're interested in equine repro, it's intense. One of my friends during vet school did the repro rotation at Illinois and it was 8 students over the two weeks with 30+ horses. At a minimum. The clinician is a huge nerd and does a ton, so the rotation was very intense

I did the equine repro rotation and I did love it, but yeah super intense. One of two rotations where I ended up needing a classmate to pop in and walk my dog because our hours were so long. So yeah, also try to get some experience in this. I do believe you would need some additional post-grad training for this too. Any therio person I know has at least a masters if not a phd, and did a residency. And many are also not even vets.

Also full blown therio stuff does often have a surgery component to it. Maybe not a lot, but it’s there. Not sure what your vision is for “something repro related.”

 

[JaynaAli]

I’ll toss out that for small animal repro stuff, which being boarded is great, there’s definitely a niche that could be filled by a non-specialist with an interest in repro. I have show and sport dogs, and people involved with those types of events are often desperate for a breeder friendly veterinarian to do things like pregnancy timing, OFAs, collections, TCI, etc. I know people that drive hours for quality repro care. And that doesn’t even consider the doodle and bully crowds if you’re interested in catering to those groups too. But small animal repro comes with expectations for surgery in the form of c-sections +/- surgical inseminations so repro is not exactly a field that avoids surgery.

Large animal repro is quite varied. One of my classmates has an exclusive small ruminant repro practice. I don’t think he has any formal credentials but that’s all he does is travel to farms doing repro work on goats and sheep so he has lots and lots of experience and literally teaches courses on it. But those are largely done surgically…they’re anesthetized and then it’s a laparoscopic AI. A lot of beef and dairy cattle repro is handled by nonveterinarians, for better or for worse. There’s possibilities within a DVM sphere there, for sure, but definitely different from equine and other species. You can definitely do things like equine repro without being boarded, but if you’re wanting to make it your sole focus further training/certifications would be desired, especially if you’re going to do specialty procedures like ICSI.

Honestly it sounds like a rural mixed clinic might be a good fit for you. If you could find a place with a few doctors where you can pick up large animal experience over time and with mentorship, and if you’re rural you may see some exotics too. Perhaps not a lot, but some. But my rural mixed friends actually do more varied surgeries than small animal vets in cities because they’re often the only option. I’m sure it’s possible to find a rural job with minimal surgery but it’s more of a unicorn. It’s definitely easier to avoid surgery in small animal exclusive practice, imo.

But overall I agree that you just need to keep an open mind and make a point to try things out on breaks and on rotations to see what you like most.

 

[pp9]

I’ll toss out that for small animal repro stuff, which being boarded is great, there’s definitely a niche that could be filled by a non-specialist with an interest in repro. I have show and sport dogs, and people involved with those types of events are often desperate for a breeder friendly veterinarian to do things like pregnancy timing, OFAs, collections, TCI, etc. I know people that drive hours for quality repro care. And that doesn’t even consider the doodle and bully crowds if you’re interested in catering to those groups too. But small animal repro comes with expectations for surgery in the form of c-sections +/- surgical inseminations so repro is not exactly a field that avoids surgery.

My vet school bestie is doing exactly this. She did do a rotating but nothing beyond that (I think she wanted to do a therio residency but she never quite got around to applying). I am not sure how in-depth she goes, but she does a lot. She's at a GP, not any type of specialty or repro-specific clinic. And she's always sending me pictures of the c-sections she's doing. She's in surgery a lot. And she's on call for it as well, although she shares call with the other vets at her practice.

Also just a final thought after thinking on this - if you have no clinical experience in repro or wildlife, what makes you interested in either? Like I said above, definitely get some externships scheduled, better if you can get them done in the summer before third year so you can get an idea sooner (this may or may not even be possible, though). Being on the other side of things now, I'd encourage you to really consider what kind of lifestyle you want, not just what seems interesting. Are you okay with on call, are you okay with a lot of death/sadness/unrewarding cases (wildlife, honestly), do you want absolutely no surgery/is it of critical importance to not have to do surgery, etc.

 

[max_wildlife]

Lastly, to work with wildlife, do I need any special training post vet school?

not necessarily. i'm a recent grad, and a vet at a highish caseload wildlife hospital a couple times per week. i did not do an internship or residency, but do have really excellent mentorship at said hospital. depending on your region, many wildlife centers need vets, whether per diem or volunteering, so it's possible to create opportunities for yourself if you're willing to learn on the fly and reach out to folks. that said, it's much harder to find a full-time paid position. full disclosure that i changed careers and have additional certs in wildlife from prior to vet school, but it certainly wasn't expected or required at my center.

if you are more interested in free-ranging wildlife work, that's a bit different. you'll likely want to reach out to your department of natural resources/department of environmental conservation to see what sort of options are available and if they have any additional requirements. each state is different. it's also worth seeing if you could shadow one of their vets to establish a connection; fieldwork is wonderful, but grueling and it's definitely worth seeing if you like it before you commit to it. for either aspect - clinical or field - i recommend going to regional wildlife conferences to network etc.

if you have any questions about specifics or a day in the life, feel free to reach out. i definitely recommend getting some summer externship/shadowing experience if you can to see what it's like; i had a long shift yesterday, mostly out in the mud and snow, and while i love what i do, i physically feel the same way i do after playing in a hockey game 😅