How did you know that vet med was for you?

[MysteryCat]

With all of these negative posts and posts putting a negative (even if accurate) spin on veterinary medicine, I thought it'd be nice to reflect on why we are doing what we're doing. So, how did you know that you wanted to pursue a DVM? Maybe more importantly, how did you know that you could handle it? How do you reassure yourselves throughout the rough times/learning experiences? (bonus for examples)These seem like important things for us to be able to discuss, since we're "all in this together" and all! Thanks, guys. Keep your chins up!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[SocialStigma]

I knew it was for me because there's nothing else I could see myself doing for the rest of my life that would make me as happy as being a vet (MD was my backup, but animals > humans). Basically a combination of: loving animals + loving science/medicine + loving the flexibility/autonomy I would have as a vet vs. a MD.

And I knew I could handle it because I'm way too stubborn to quit, and I have to keep trying just to know I gave something my all. I have my 9th and last exam at 9am today, I'm exhausted from lack of sleep and studying constantly for the past 3 weeks, and I told myself that I don't care anymore as long as I pass. Yet I still woke up after 4 h of sleep to study. As for keeping myself going during the rough times..basically I'm counting down the days until 3rd year (aka classes) are over.

 

[MysteryCat]

I knew it was for me because there's nothing else I could see myself doing for the rest of my life that would make me as happy as being a vet (MD was my backup, but animals > humans). Basically a combination of: loving animals + loving science/medicine + loving the flexibility/autonomy I would have as a vet vs. a MD.

And I knew I could handle it because I'm way too stubborn to quit, and I have to keep trying just to know I gave something my all. I have my 9th and last exam at 9am today, I'm exhausted from lack of sleep and studying constantly for the past 3 weeks, and I told myself that I don't care anymore as long as I pass. Yet I still woke up after 4 h of sleep to study. As for keeping myself going during the rough times..basically I'm counting down the days until 3rd year (aka classes) are over.

I think that I can relate to the stubbornness! Also, MD is my "back-up" as well, but I know I'll never use it. My frame of mind right now, is vet school or die trying.

Good luck on your exam!

 

[EngrSC]

I'd like to know how pre-vet and vet students avoid burnout. I feel like I'm going a million miles a second 95% of the time and though I don't have the faintest hint of burnout now, there's always a nagging voice in my head saying it will come. Eek!

 

[MysteryCat]

I'd like to know how pre-vet and vet students avoid burnout. I feel like I'm going a million miles a second 95% of the time and though I don't have the faintest hint of burnout now, there's always a nagging voice in my head saying it will come. Eek!

Well, I'm pre-vet, and I know that I have a lot of school left and a lot of experience gaining left, so I would love suggestions too! Right now, I volunteer at one clinic, work at another, go to school full time, and have a toddler. So I know about going full throttle all of the time! What seems to have helped so far is that I make a point of doing the outdoorsy type things that I love. I run/hike every day. I make sure of it, even if its only for 20 minutes, and it's just a jog off campus. I also make sure that I always have one day (or most of a day) OFF every week. Last quarter I did not, and I seriously started to feel like I wanted to quit everything and join a commune. :eyeroll: So, this quarter has been made better by the above mentioned things.

 

[485501]

I'd like to know how pre-vet and vet students avoid burnout. I feel like I'm going a million miles a second 95% of the time and though I don't have the faintest hint of burnout now, there's always a nagging voice in my head saying it will come. Eek!

In college I did a few things regularly: I was part of the student circus, which gave me not only activities and something to care about, but a community of people separate from my pre-vet life. I also took my time over meals at the dining hall; lunch and dinner were my most social times, as I sat with lots of friends.

I also found a few strange ways to relax if I was unusually stressed: Re-reading Golden Age mystery novels and YA fantasy novels, reciting Poe's poetry out loud in a melodramatic voice, and baking cake and eating it for breakfast the next day were some of my favorites.

I must say though that I worked REALLY hard in college and I did feel stressed a lot of the time - I definitely crashed for a while the summer after graduation.

 

[JoAnna423]

I put SO MUCH thought into this and it took me years to decide...

I have been obsessed with taking care of animals since I was 8 or 9, pretty typical of most vets. I originally dreamed of being more into conservation/wildlife biology or vet med...but I always had huge dreams. I then found out I was pregnant my senior year of high school, and basically felt like my life/dreams were over. I decided to enroll in animal sciences at my BOTTOM choice college (decided to stay in my hometown since I was having a kid) and basically just focused on school/work/my son for 2 years. No thought about vet school, just getting through undergrad. I realized that ending my sophmore year, I had a 4.0 (it dropped some junior/senior year ) I thought "I could still do this, I can still be somebody"...I LOVE school, I LOVE grades, I LOVE problem solving so I went back to considering vet med but was still iffy.... so I got a job at a small animal practice, then did an internship in exotic husbandry (realized I LOVED working with exotics), then another internship with research in humans and starting REALLY looking into vet school but was still torn. Vet school with a 5 year old? So I did an internship at Disney's Animal Kingdom, attended a conference on the iron storage disease of black rhinos and KNEW I wanted to do vet med in exotics. No doubt about it. I was even more sure getting a job as a lab animal tech and seeing that "if I dont go to vet school, Ill never be in charge. Ill never be the Dr. on the case...no matter how much I learn...Im still not a Dr." I could not see myself being happy in research, I get an actual rush from surgery and clinical cases. The more risk I took the more confident I became that I can overcome anything...I moved to FL after undergrad for my internship with my kid with $400.00 in the bank and the prayer that it would work out. People thought I was insane. (But arent all pre-vet people? )

I LOVE how there is no end to the amount you can learn...you can specalize, you can change your fields, live/work internationally, all the while impacting animals. It is truly earning a living while living your dreams. There is NOTHING else I would be this happy doing...and my kid gets to say his mom is a Dr....(hopefully at a zoo, which is even more awesome!)

I LOVE THIS THREAD...the other threads are too depressing!!!!

 

[wildcatj]

I think part of it for me was that I haven't always wanted to be a vet. I definitely toyed with the idea as a child, but even my first two years of undergrad I was sure I DIDN'T want to be a vet. If nothing else I can at least be a little more confident that this isn't just me pursuing a childhood dream and having blinders on for other options. (Definitely not saying this is the case for the large number who have wanted to do this forever, just saying I don't have that doubt.)
On top of that I've been lucky and already had some really great experiences that have involved sneak peaks into the most difficult parts of vet med. Working in a wildlife rehab clinic has definitely thrown me into having difficult discussions with people regarding euthanasia, keeping wildlife as pets, etc. And among those people are the psycho ones that cry and scream and threaten to kill you. Wildlife brings in a really special sector of the public... We also euthanize a lot of animals (nature of the beast when it comes to rehab) so knowing that I am capable of handling that is reassuring.
I constantly think about other careers and if I could be happy doing them, and I really think this is the career for me. There are some other jobs that I think I would be good at, but I think I would be bored. I know I need the challenge of medicine. If I didn't think people were so horrendously gross I would go into human med.

 

[shortnsweet]

Because humans are gross?

Sent from my SCH-I405 using SDN Mobile

 

[MysteryCat]

Because humans are gross?

Sent from my SCH-I405 using SDN Mobile

:laughs:

 

[tropictuco]

Because humans are gross?

Sent from my SCH-I405 using SDN Mobile

That was me as a kid. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" "Oh I don't know...anything but a doctor."

Dunno why for me I've never liked working with humans. I interact with them just fine though.

I had a nontraditional journey to vet school as well. I graduated undergrad just KNOWING I was going to go to grad school and study animal behavior/conservation for my PhD. I just couldn't pick a specific animal or problem to study. So I took a year off to do various wildlife internships and narrow my focus. One year turned into two and then three, and I still couldn't decide. I worked with squirrels, rattlesnakes, birds, and camera traps, and they were all just so cool. I wanted to learn everything about all of the animals. I think grad school is a great option for a lot of people but the downside to it for me was that I'd have to lock myself into something for at least 5 years.

So last summer at my last job I decided on vet med. I got home at the end of summer, quickly enrolled in school to finish my prerequisites, and started gathering vet hours like mad. I almost didn't apply last year because I didn't think I had the hours but the admissions counselor advised me otherwise. I'm glad I did! It's been a whirlwind adventure and I'm glad to be where I am now.

 

[AceRH731]

Because humans are gross?

Sent from my SCH-I405 using SDN Mobile

That's my same response do you know how many cooties you can get from people?

 

[RinTinTin]

Because humans are gross?

/thread

 

[RinTinTin]

*accidentally double posted. oops! :\

 

[cloverbug]

I'm one of those that has known for a very long time, like since I was about 10 years old. I've always loved science and even as a child I would have conversations with my dad about all the stuff I learned in school and he'd give me books so I could learn more. I even used to make my dad wait before cleaning the fish we caught so he could tell me what every organ was and I eventually knew all of them and would recite them as he prepared our dinner. My love of animals is all because of my mother and her soft heart. She would always take in stray animals and care for them until we found a home for them while my dad was deployed. I think the point that screamed "you have to be a vet!" is when my parents found a kitten that was hit by a car on a Sunday in rural NC. We could only find one vet even remotely close that was open and they wanted more money than my parents felt comfortable spending on an animal we didn't own and ended up euthanizing her. It was that day that I decided that I wanted to help animals any way I could, and eventually landed on vet.
I know I can handle this because I went a little crazy with my undergrad work. I graduated in 3 years, taking classes every summer, and working as much as I could. The least amount of credit hours was 14 and the highest was 21. I never slept, barely had a social life let alone free time just to relax, and I don't regret it at all. It showed me how much I can take without wanting to die, but then again I've always been incredibly stubborn. I personally want to go into exotics because though I love cats and dogs, they just don't have the same kind of challenges that exotics do. I work at a vet clinic right now and it's never easy euthanizing animals and I'm a softie and have to try not to cry every time, especially hard when I've gotten to know the animal. I can handle it, but doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.
I've also been thinking a lot about other careers I could do if this one just isn't happening. I want to be a vet so, so much but I'm putting starting a family on hold for it and I just can't do that forever. I know I think I'd be happy as a vet tech or working in wildlife rehabilitation (despite all the euthanasias that come with it) or maybe even research in epidemiology because I've always been obsessed with the Black Plague (weird I know). These are last resorts though and I can do pretty much all of this as a doctor. I don't know why I felt I had to explain so much, but oh well.

 

[Suomi]

When I was younger, I always said I want to be a vet...but I never understand WHY. In high school, I gave up on the idea. Science scared me (or so I thought) and I wasn't sure I could make it, despite having excellent high school grades. I became a cadet with the police department, competed in a state law enforcement competition twice, and decided criminal justice/psychology was a better route for me. I took one CJ class and realized that I absolutely did not want to do that. Too much irrelevant theory/papers and not enough that was usable in the field. I still love CJ, always will, but it didn't feel right. I switched to pre-med/health major after taking a couple health classes and loving them. I figured I could combine CJ with medicine and do forensic pathology. People, however, never gave me any satisfaction to work with health-wise. I wanted to work with deceased individuals and their tissues, not whiny 40-year olds complaining about their IV hurting, while a 10 year-old near them handles it like a pro with no complaints. I STILL have 20+ CJ/FP books on my shelves because I still am fascinated. However, animals provide a level of comfort and motivation that I couldn't get elsewhere. So, now I'm headed to vet school and I know it's where I should be. It's been an odd path here, but I guess I needed to find out that nothing else would provide the satisfaction I get working with animals.

As for how to stay sane, I haven't started vet school yet so I can only speak as a pre-vet. I spent 2 days a week out a barn doing horse care, leading, tacking, etc. However, I would spend an extra hour afterwards grooming a horse I'm pretty attached to (and whom everyone hates and who everyone's afraid to ride). The times where I could zone out and focus on a single animal and that relationship you have with them were the most de-stressed moments of my weeks. It gave my days clarity, focus and motivation. Find what gives you a chance to completely FORGET that you're a struggling pre-vet student with this lofty goal that require serious effort. Just relish in your favorite activity, zone out the rest, even if only for an hour. Once you find what works, that will be how you stay sane. Don't let being a pre-vet be the ONLY thing you consider yourself to be. You are much more and always will be!

 

[Mouse2106]

Because humans are gross?

^ This exactly Bodily fluids from an animal? no problem. Bodily fluids from a human? *shudder*

Hmm...for me it was realizing that for the first time ever since I started working, I was coming home from my veterinary clinic internship with a smile on my face instead of being grumpy. I've been working since I was 16 (27 now) and doing everything from party hosting at a children's place to working at a daycare (the runny noses and diapers freaked me out on a daily basis) to retail to web designing....and I was ALWAYS grumpy and miserable after work due to me not enjoying what I did.

Animals are my passion and I wanted to see if veterinary medicine was something I'd be interested in, which is where the internship comes in. A year and a half later, and I'm still in love

 

[Coquette22]

I always feel weird when this question comes up, because I wasn't one of those kids who always wanted to be a vet. It wasn't really ever on my radar growing up. Sure we had pets, and I loved them to bits, but I never had much contact with our vet because my mom handled most of that stuff (we were also lucky in that all our pets never needed much in the way of vet care beyond the basics until I was university). I wanted to be an actor, a singer, a writer, a paleontolgist... Sometimes all of the above at the same time. But medicine was never a thing,

I hated science through most of high school, which I now attribute to a very bad science teacher who taught us mitosis and meiosis for what seemed like the 8th time, and talked about fruit flies a lot. I went off to university enrolled in journalism. After first year, I realized I was never going to get a job with that. I left school (woo boy, Mom wasn't too pleased with that but she trusted me) and took a year off. I spent most of that year working in my riding stable, working with Coquette and rehabbing another mare named Topaz. I applied to Olds College to do Equine Science to be a riding coach. And promptly got rejected because even though I "rode beautifully" apparently I "lacked work experience".

Mom gets sick that year, and on the way to the hospital, I see a sign for a one year vet assistant program. Hey, I'll do that! In the course of that year, I realized I actually LOVED science and medicine, but wasn't too keen on the assistant part. My vet asked me point blank, "I don't get it. Why do you want to be an assistant? Why don't you just go be a vet?" Thought about it, realized I didn't have an answer, and enrolled back in university, did my pre-reqs, fast forward and here I am. Totally fell into all of this and couldn't be happier!

(I did consider human medicine once I realized how much I loved medicine, but the application process for AVC and med school were pretty different, I didn't have time to do enough to be a competitive applicant for both.)

 

[callie24]

I am only starting vet school this fall, but I can pin point to the day when I knewn this job was for me. My husband called and wanted me to put back together this shreaded leg on a 20 lb calf born to one of our feedlot heifers he didn't want to call the vet becasue he was sure it wouldn't live. I remember the drive down there I was thinking, if i can do this then I have picked the right career path. Well not only did I fix it up, but she lived to become a feedlot heifer herself. It was that day that I felt at home and I have worked at this dream career since!

I never really felt burned out in undergrad and i had 3 part-time jobs, a toddler, and the house to up keep so I am hoping with no job, a tweener and still the house to up keep I will maintain the no burnout feeling!