I’m a non-traditional applicant who changed careers in my early 20s. I considered vet school as a high school student, but I wasn’t naturally gifted in math/science, and was much better at writing/languages/history. I graduated 9 years ago with a degree in international relations, hoping to do non-profit international aid work or public policy. Spent a year in politics, and not only did I hate it, I wasn’t overly good at the grassroots organizer thing. After I left my first job, I took up part-time jobs as a barn hand and a dog trainer, since I’d done a ton of work with horses and dogs as a teenager and college student. Both of those led me further into the animal industry, and I realized I wanted the animal life long term as a career. I decided being a veterinarian was a good balance of time spent helping animals and people with a good amount of intellectual stimulation, along with a (maybe) reasonable eventual earning potential.
Going back to school has been really hard, jumping into a job as a vet assistant and now a CVT was hard, moving back in with my parents has been humbling, justifying waiting this long to “start” my life has been incredibly hard. I’ll be, at minimum, 36 by the time I graduate - not the oldest by any means, but on the older side for someone in my stage of life (no partner, no kids, no house, no savings, no established career). So that might be a drawback to taking a huge amount of time off before school.
However, I would absolutely NOT have been ready to go to vet school straight out of undergrad. I didn’t have the discipline or maturity to understand the investment that going to professional school would be. I’m not a perfect student by any means, but I have developed SO much more discipline and dedication having to study while working the last 4 years. I’ve also come way out of my shell in dealing with the public, and I’ve been able to learn a ton about the technical and realistic aspects of this industry.
Only you can decide how much time you want to take before school, but I’m a big proponent of getting a LITTLE life experience beforehand. I think a gap year or two is almost always a solid choice - it allows you to relax a little your senior year & before applying, it allows you to earn a little money or work on paying down loans/debt, and it allows you to spend some real time in the industry. It also allows you to build some independent life and professional skills - don’t downplay the importance of being able to feed yourself healthy, affordable meals or be able to have really meaningful conversations with clients! While I wish I would have figured out my career trajectory during college, I wouldn’t trade the lessons I learned over the past 9 years for anything.