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Hello everyone, this is my first post and it's a long one. I am currently 19 years old and am having some serious doubts about my career path and I would really just love some input.
I have wanted to be a small animal (dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets, ect...) vet all of my life, so I thought I already had life figured out when all of my friends were deciding what they wanted to do. I knew it was expensive but I did not let that stop me. Now that I am a couple of years away from applying to vet school, the cost of tuition is really starting to hit me and now I am having some serious doubts if veterinary is right for me because I would not want anything to do with farm animals because that has never been my interest and from what I have been told, a majority of vet school is lectures about horses and that puts me off a little for the profession. The salary of a veterinarian is so all over the board that I just am not sure if the years and money of education would be worth it. I have shadowed a vet for about 3 years now and the work interests me, but even she warns me about getting into veterinary because it just isn't what is once was. She is an honest vet that gives people discounts and makes everything super affordable, but this means a loss for her and she told me that at her own clinic she is profiting around $30,000. She also told me that she knows a vet that charges people through the roof and does not really care whether the owner can afford the treatment or not and he makes over $120,000. I know that I would be more like her because I am the type of person that would much rather have the animal well even at a loss to me. This is ridiculous because I do not want to spend big bucks on my education when my ultimate salary is not going to reflect it.
I have been looking into pharmacy because it requires a similar amount of education but a greater salary. I understand that the pharmacy job market is so extremely saturated that I just do not know if that would be a wise choice because I love to study but if I am going to have a difficult time to get a job outside of college then I really would rather pursue something else. I am worried that the pharmaceutical business is getting more and more automated that in the long-term it may not be the best career path. I called every single pharmacy in my area and only one of them allowed me to shadow them for about 2 hours. It was a local very tiny pharmacy so I did not see much because of legal reasons and it seemed rather boring. I was thinking that maybe if I get HIPPA certified and take the PTCB just by studying and not getting an actual degree for it, then maybe some pharmacies would allow me to shadow a pharmacist (I do not care if I get paid, I just really need to see what this field is like) so that I could make a decision.
I want to make it clear that I do not want to be a doctor of human medicine because I do not want to rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans (I do not come from money) even if it is very rewarding and a great salary.
I have been looking into PA because they are basically doctors and get to have the patient interaction and it to is a rewarding profession. I like the fact that you are working under the supervision of a doctor so you would not have to make decisions completely on your own, which I have a problem with second guessing myself.
Currently I am pursuing a bachelor of science with a major in biomedical science. I chose this because no matter which career path I choose, it is a degree that works for many health professions.
Now this is a bit of an oddball, but someone told me about actuaries. I love math and love to problem solve, and not going to lie, but the salary is really appealing. Although some sources say they make more than $100,000 and others say that they average is $60,000 so I do not want to base my decision off of salary. I was thinking that while pursuing my biomedical science degree I could study for the actuarial exams and maybe take them because I know that some places you do not have to have a specific degree in math, econ, ect.... Again, perhaps this would allow me to shadow an actuary because I do not have any connections that would allow me to just ask.
Some people have suggested computer science to me, this does interest me but not to the extent of healthcare. I am learning python right now in CodeAcademy and it is interesting but very frustrating. Both my dad and brother are into computer science and watching how stressed they are kind of worries me. Actuaries now are needing more and more computer coding skills with C++ and SQL, so again I am not sure if that is right for me.
Basically what I am trying to say is, ideally I want a job in the healthcare field with preferably a decent salary (at least around $80,000) so that I do not have to worry about myself and my family financially, as my parents had to. I want to be able to provide for my future family so that my kids can really study what they want without having to worry about money constraints, and if that means that I have to just suck it up and work a job that I moderately like because of less time time and money spent on an education and it also offers a great salary, then so be it. I have good grades and am an extremely motivated person so I want a career that can somehow impact another person's (or animal's) life. I have great study skills and anatomy was one of my favorite subjects I have taken so far along with Calc 2. I hope that taking the various science and health classes in the biomedical science major will point me in the direction of which career path to choose based on what interests me.
Please let me know your input about this, such as what made you decide you wanted to be any of these professions and if you had to do it over, would you choose something else?
Again sorry how long this post is and than you so much for your input 🙂
I have wanted to be a small animal (dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets, ect...) vet all of my life, so I thought I already had life figured out when all of my friends were deciding what they wanted to do. I knew it was expensive but I did not let that stop me. Now that I am a couple of years away from applying to vet school, the cost of tuition is really starting to hit me and now I am having some serious doubts if veterinary is right for me because I would not want anything to do with farm animals because that has never been my interest and from what I have been told, a majority of vet school is lectures about horses and that puts me off a little for the profession. The salary of a veterinarian is so all over the board that I just am not sure if the years and money of education would be worth it. I have shadowed a vet for about 3 years now and the work interests me, but even she warns me about getting into veterinary because it just isn't what is once was. She is an honest vet that gives people discounts and makes everything super affordable, but this means a loss for her and she told me that at her own clinic she is profiting around $30,000. She also told me that she knows a vet that charges people through the roof and does not really care whether the owner can afford the treatment or not and he makes over $120,000. I know that I would be more like her because I am the type of person that would much rather have the animal well even at a loss to me. This is ridiculous because I do not want to spend big bucks on my education when my ultimate salary is not going to reflect it.
I have been looking into pharmacy because it requires a similar amount of education but a greater salary. I understand that the pharmacy job market is so extremely saturated that I just do not know if that would be a wise choice because I love to study but if I am going to have a difficult time to get a job outside of college then I really would rather pursue something else. I am worried that the pharmaceutical business is getting more and more automated that in the long-term it may not be the best career path. I called every single pharmacy in my area and only one of them allowed me to shadow them for about 2 hours. It was a local very tiny pharmacy so I did not see much because of legal reasons and it seemed rather boring. I was thinking that maybe if I get HIPPA certified and take the PTCB just by studying and not getting an actual degree for it, then maybe some pharmacies would allow me to shadow a pharmacist (I do not care if I get paid, I just really need to see what this field is like) so that I could make a decision.
I want to make it clear that I do not want to be a doctor of human medicine because I do not want to rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans (I do not come from money) even if it is very rewarding and a great salary.
I have been looking into PA because they are basically doctors and get to have the patient interaction and it to is a rewarding profession. I like the fact that you are working under the supervision of a doctor so you would not have to make decisions completely on your own, which I have a problem with second guessing myself.
Currently I am pursuing a bachelor of science with a major in biomedical science. I chose this because no matter which career path I choose, it is a degree that works for many health professions.
Now this is a bit of an oddball, but someone told me about actuaries. I love math and love to problem solve, and not going to lie, but the salary is really appealing. Although some sources say they make more than $100,000 and others say that they average is $60,000 so I do not want to base my decision off of salary. I was thinking that while pursuing my biomedical science degree I could study for the actuarial exams and maybe take them because I know that some places you do not have to have a specific degree in math, econ, ect.... Again, perhaps this would allow me to shadow an actuary because I do not have any connections that would allow me to just ask.
Some people have suggested computer science to me, this does interest me but not to the extent of healthcare. I am learning python right now in CodeAcademy and it is interesting but very frustrating. Both my dad and brother are into computer science and watching how stressed they are kind of worries me. Actuaries now are needing more and more computer coding skills with C++ and SQL, so again I am not sure if that is right for me.
Basically what I am trying to say is, ideally I want a job in the healthcare field with preferably a decent salary (at least around $80,000) so that I do not have to worry about myself and my family financially, as my parents had to. I want to be able to provide for my future family so that my kids can really study what they want without having to worry about money constraints, and if that means that I have to just suck it up and work a job that I moderately like because of less time time and money spent on an education and it also offers a great salary, then so be it. I have good grades and am an extremely motivated person so I want a career that can somehow impact another person's (or animal's) life. I have great study skills and anatomy was one of my favorite subjects I have taken so far along with Calc 2. I hope that taking the various science and health classes in the biomedical science major will point me in the direction of which career path to choose based on what interests me.
Please let me know your input about this, such as what made you decide you wanted to be any of these professions and if you had to do it over, would you choose something else?
Again sorry how long this post is and than you so much for your input 🙂