Interested in entering the field, but..

[Cynx]

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I'm hoping and praying that this is the right place to ask these kinds of questions. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out where to ask what but frankly, I'm at a complete loss as to where to start.

Long story short: the Veterinary field is one of two fields I am considering entering. I have an equal interest in both, but am in the process of weighing the pros and cons first, and basically trying to figure out if one may be better for me than the other.

I realize that some of my questions are not only a bit silly, but lengthy at that. So I apologize in advance.

Some questions/concerns I have are:

1) Do you need a great memory to become a Vet? Mine is pretty poor, to be honest. And while I am good at memorizing most things, I can be forgetful at times. I'm not at school at the moment, though, so I have no doubt it will improve by the time I do enter. But whether or not my memory will ever be anything beyond "average" is debatable.

2) Do I have to attend a prestigious school, or is an "average" one still acceptable? And can I get through school with financial aid alone?

3) Am I correct in assuming that one can start out as a Veterinary Assistant and/or Vet Tech first? As in, getting a 2-year degree and then working as a Vet Tech while I finish my schooling?

4) I'm interested in specializing in both nutrition and small/exotic pet health. Can you actually specialize in more than one thing, though..? (if nutrition even counts as a specialization?)

5) I'm good with animals and have no problems dealing with everything from cats to reptiles, but.. I am a very small guy. (5'3", 95 pounds, very scrawny at the moment) Obviously, I'm working on improving my condition, but will this be a big problem for me, since I'd inevitably be working with large and/or rowdy animals at some point?

6) I realize this question depends heavily on a million different circumstances and therefore the answer varies, but if you had to make a sweeping generalization, would you say there is a reasonable demand for Vets? I've been told there is even an above-average demand for them in rural areas. Basically, I just want to know how hard of a time I'd have finding a job, especially if I end up being only an "average" candidate.


Thank you to anyone who has bothered reading this far. lol. And an extra special thanks to those who also take the time to answer this. I truly appreciate it!

 

[shortnsweet]

1) Do you need a great memory to become a Vet? Mine is pretty poor, to be honest. And while I am good at memorizing most things, I can be forgetful at times. I'm not at school at the moment, though, so I have no doubt it will improve by the time I do enter. But whether or not my memory will ever be anything beyond "average" is debatable.
You can always look things up. Having a good memory and being able to connect concepts and make a diagnosis is fairly important. I wouldn't say I have an above average memory though.

2) Do I have to attend a prestigious school, or is an "average" one still acceptable? And can I get through school with financial aid alone?
It doesn't matter where you go to school or what you major is in as long as you get the grades and fulfill your pre reqs.

3) Am I correct in assuming that one can start out as a Veterinary Assistant and/or Vet Tech first? As in, getting a 2-year degree and then working as a Vet Tech while I finish my schooling?
You can...i'm not sure why you would want to go to both and increase your amount of debt and the time it takes you to graduate.

4) I'm interested in specializing in both nutrition and small/exotic pet health. Can you actually specialize in more than one thing, though..? (if nutrition even counts as a specialization?)

Of course you can specialize in more than one thing. Nutrition counts...there are residencies available.

5) I'm good with animals and have no problems dealing with everything from cats to reptiles, but.. I am a very small guy. (5'3", 95 pounds, very scrawny at the moment) Obviously, I'm working on improving my condition, but will this be a big problem for me, since I'd inevitably be working with large and/or rowdy animals at some point?

i'm 5ft tall and am an equine vet. You're fine. You aren't going to muscle animals around, but if you're smart, you can finesse them. Drugs and proper restraint is key.

6) I realize this question depends heavily on a million different circumstances and therefore the answer varies, but if you had to make a sweeping generalization, would you say there is a reasonable demand for Vets? I've been told there is even an above-average demand for them in rural areas. Basically, I just want to know how hard of a time I'd have finding a job, especially if I end up being only an "average" candidate.

No. The demand is not high in most areas. There are a variety of other threads on here that discuss this in great detail. It's the main reason many of us graduates are upset they are opening more vet schools because the supply outweighs the demand.

 

[twelvetigers]

Some questions/concerns I have are:

1) Do you need a great memory to become a Vet? Mine is pretty poor, to be honest. And while I am good at memorizing most things, I can be forgetful at times. I'm not at school at the moment, though, so I have no doubt it will improve by the time I do enter. But whether or not my memory will ever be anything beyond "average" is debatable.

You will have to memorize an awful lot of stuff, yes. That said, I never really felt like I had a good memory - kind of a scatterbrain - but I was able to do okay. You mostly end up learning how to study well (for you) and the memory part will follow. Basically, I wouldn't really worry about it.

2) Do I have to attend a prestigious school, or is an "average" one still acceptable?

And can I get through school with financial aid alone?

Do you mean for undergrad, or for vet school?

Either way, the answer is no.But I can qualify that a bit more. For undergrad, you'll want to make sure that you take all the required courses. Some schools want some of these courses to be taken at a 4 year university. The rest can be taken at a community college if you want. As long as the school is reputable and offers the courses, you are okay (aside from the 4 year requirement mentioned above).

For vet school, there really is no such thing as 'prestige.' Sure, CSU/Cornell/Davis/whatever may brag about their ranking, but those rankings are pretty stupid if you look at how they are determined. Some vet schools don't even participate, so they get stuck at the bottom of the list by default. Basically, there are about 30 (losing count with the new schools) vet schools in the US and two AVMA accredited schools in the Caribbean. They all meet the requirements, they all give a good education. You won't have an employment advantage aside from, say, sharing an alma mater with your interviewer or boss when you are looking for employment as a DVM.

3) Am I correct in assuming that one can start out as a Veterinary Assistant and/or Vet Tech first?

As in, getting a 2-year degree and then working as a Vet Tech while I finish my schooling?

So, if someone wants to be a physician, do they usually go ahead and become a registered nurse first?

No, don't go to tech school unless you want to be a tech. Now, there's nothing wrong with being a tech - techs are awesome. But it's not a step to becoming a vet. The courses don't usually transfer anyway. Just take the required courses for vet school if you wanna be a vet.

4) I'm interested in specializing in both nutrition and small/exotic pet health. Can you actually specialize in more than one thing, though..?

(if nutrition even counts as a specialization?)

You can, and it does. I could go into more detail here, but really - you will decide what you want to do during vet school. What you think you want to do going in may change. It did for me. If it doesn't, well, great. I still wouldn't worry about it just yet.

5)

I'm good with animals and have no problems dealing with everything from cats to reptiles, but.. I am a very small guy. (5'3", 95 pounds, very scrawny at the moment) Obviously, I'm working on improving my condition, but will this be a big problem for me, since I'd inevitably be working with large and/or rowdy animals at some point?

I have seen plenty of girl vet students that are about the same size. You'll be fine, even as a small dude. Just get ready for all the short jokes. 🙂

6)

I realize this question depends heavily on a million different circumstances and therefore the answer varies, but if you had to make a sweeping generalization, would you say there is a reasonable demand for Vets? I've been told there is even an above-average demand for them in rural areas. Basically, I just want to know how hard of a time I'd have finding a job, especially if I end up being only an "average" candidate.

Ehhhhh. Not really. I'd say the market is pretty saturated these days. It's not to the point where graduates are straight up unable to find jobs, but probably 1-2 of any given class have a lot of trouble finding employment for some given reason. As for the rural vet thing - YES, there is a shortage of vets in some rural areas, BUT... there isn't really enough money to support vets in those areas either. They are 'under served' for a reason. So sure, some new grad can come swooping in and save the day, but they will have a hell of a time paying off their loans that way. Even with the funded programs out there, which are few and far between.

Here's the big picture advice:

• Shadow a vet. Shadow two vets. Go get some real world experience with vets. Make sure this is what you want, 100%. You'll need to know some vets when you apply, anyway.
• Read up about the debt-to-income situation for vets. Take what you read very seriously. It's becoming a big issue.
• Look at the required courses that you have to take in undergrad. Get a grasp on that, and start planning there first.
• Spend some time on here, reading threads. You can figure an awful lot out that way.

(I can't get the weird breaks in the original message to go away no matter how many times I delete the extra tags - I have no idea what's going on there.)

 

[CalliopeDVM]

Some questions/concerns I have are:

1) Do you need a great memory to become a Vet? Mine is pretty poor, to be honest. And while I am good at memorizing most things, I can be forgetful at times. I'm not at school at the moment, though, so I have no doubt it will improve by the time I do enter. But whether or not my memory will ever be anything beyond "average" is debatable. Not really -- you just need to remember enough to remember you need to look it up. Of course, having some things memorized will help things move faster, but vets usually have some things memorized not because they have a great memory, but because they use that piece of information a lot. The way you have your phone number or ATM code memorized. You need more of a memory in vet school than you do as a vet.

2) Do I have to attend a prestigious school, or is an "average" one still acceptable? And can I get through school with financial aid alone? If you're in the US, you will probably have no choice but to get through school on loans (if you're a resident of another country, it's much more affordable). You don't need a prestigious school to get your prerequisites, or even a prestigious vet school.

3) Am I correct in assuming that one can start out as a Veterinary Assistant and/or Vet Tech first? As in, getting a 2-year degree and then working as a Vet Tech while I finish my schooling? You can, but I would not recommend that - it's a lot more money for school, and really won't help your application or your load while in vet school. I recommend people only go to Vet Tech school if they actually want to be a veterinary technician, which is a very different job than being a vet. It's not like a "starter-version" of vet school, or of being a vet. Think about it this way -- no one would recommend you complete a nursing program so you can work as a nurse while you go to med school.

4) I'm interested in specializing in both nutrition and small/exotic pet health. Can you actually specialize in more than one thing, though..? (if nutrition even counts as a specialization?) Nutrition is a specialty, but getting Board Certified in two specialties is a lot of work (and cost), so most people don't go that route. You could, but I'd recommend you leave any thoughts about specialization aside until you've completed at least your 2nd (if not 3rd) year of vet school.....a lot of people's opinions and preferences change over time.

5) I'm good with animals and have no problems dealing with everything from cats to reptiles, but.. I am a very small guy. (5'3", 95 pounds, very scrawny at the moment) Obviously, I'm working on improving my condition, but will this be a big problem for me, since I'd inevitably be working with large and/or rowdy animals at some point? No, not a problem in vet school, not a problem working with large animals (or rowdy animals) at all. You learn to use your brain rather than your body to work with animals. Unless you are from a farming or ranching family, you might have trouble getting respect from farmers or ranchers (happened to a friend of mine about your size), but since that's not your goal, it's not a problem.

6) I realize this question depends heavily on a million different circumstances and therefore the answer varies, but if you had to make a sweeping generalization, would you say there is a reasonable demand for Vets? I've been told there is even an above-average demand for them in rural areas. Basically, I just want to know how hard of a time I'd have finding a job, especially if I end up being only an "average" candidate. From what I've heard from vets in the US, the demand there isn't great (I'm assuming you're in the US, since you didn't specify). The biggest limiting factor isn't about whether or not you're an "average" student, but whether or not you're willing to move and work in more small town or rural locales. There is some difficulty finding vets who want to move to those locations because they've got family ties (or spouses with jobs) that make it difficult for them to relocate easily. Or move to those locations because they're rather isolated from other clinics, emergency services, etc.


Thank you to anyone who has bothered reading this far. lol. And an extra special thanks to those who also take the time to answer this. I truly appreciate it!

See my answers in red, above

 

[Starry-chan]

You're the same height as Levi!! And he's a total badass. I think you're alright 😛

 

[VetMedVetMed]

1) Do you need a great memory to become a Vet? Mine is pretty poor, to be honest. And while I am good at memorizing most things, I can be forgetful at times. I'm not at school at the moment, though, so I have no doubt it will improve by the time I do enter. But whether or not my memory will ever be anything beyond "average" is debatable.

No you don't necessarily need an extraordinary memory to be a Veterinarian, but it will FOR SURE help once you take your prerequisites like Biology, Physiology, Genetics. These classes and pretty much every class will require some memorization, so yes having a good memory will certainly help your memory. There are things you can do to improve your thinking sharpness memory as well.


2) Do I have to attend a prestigious school, or is an "average" one still acceptable? And can I get through school with financial aid alone?

Nope! I would say UC Davis might be the only one that would actually care about that though if any of the Vet schools do care about this. I say this because they're the only Vet school that requires a bachelor's.


3) Am I correct in assuming that one can start out as a Veterinary Assistant and/or Vet Tech first? As in, getting a 2-year degree and then working as a Vet Tech while I finish my schooling?


You can become a Vet Tech (non-certified) just by working and getting experience. That's what I did and most of my friends who've been accepted did. One of my friends who was unsure about becoming a Vet, is first becoming an RVT and working for a few years doing that to really figure out if they want to be an RVT or become a Vet. Most people however don't do this. I have a few friends that have done this though and decided that they do want to be a Vet, and was accepted to Vet school! I also have a couple friends who did the opposite (was Pre-Vet then decided it was too much schooling and chose to do the RVT route).


4) I'm interested in specializing in both nutrition and small/exotic pet health. Can you actually specialize in more than one thing, though..? (if nutrition even counts as a specialization?)

I would definitely not suggest specializing in more than one thing considering the cost and the time it will take you. Also specializing in something doesn't necessarily mean you'll make much more money or that it would be even really useful unless there's a demand for it. So keep your mind open you're in that school because that's when you're really decide what you want to do (not saying you don't have those ideas now but people's minds do change).


5) I'm good with animals and have no problems dealing with everything from cats to reptiles, but.. I am a very small guy. (5'3", 95 pounds, very scrawny at the moment) Obviously, I'm working on improving my condition, but will this be a big problem for me, since I'd inevitably be working with large and/or rowdy animals at some point?

Your height shouldn't be a problem. One of the vets I know works with on large animal, and he's about the same height as you.


6) I realize this question depends heavily on a million different circumstances and therefore the answer varies, but if you had to make a sweeping generalization, would you say there is a reasonable demand for Vets? I've been told there is even an above-average demand for them in rural areas. Basically, I just want to know how hard of a time I'd have finding a job, especially if I end up being only an "average" candidate.


This is where after vet school you'll find this out! Because if you haven't gone to do your pre-Rex or your bachelors yet and still have to go to vet school, that means you have about eight or nine years still until you finally get a job as a Veterinarian. By then things may have changed, as of now yes there is a demand for veterinarians but it's not like a crazy demand for them.

See my answers above in pink

 

[dyachei]

I'm hoping and praying that this is the right place to ask these kinds of questions. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out where to ask what but frankly, I'm at a complete loss as to where to start.

Long story short: the Veterinary field is one of two fields I am considering entering. I have an equal interest in both, but am in the process of weighing the pros and cons first, and basically trying to figure out if one may be better for me than the other.

I realize that some of my questions are not only a bit silly, but lengthy at that. So I apologize in advance.

Some questions/concerns I have are:

1) Do you need a great memory to become a Vet? Mine is pretty poor, to be honest. And while I am good at memorizing most things, I can be forgetful at times. I'm not at school at the moment, though, so I have no doubt it will improve by the time I do enter. But whether or not my memory will ever be anything beyond "average" is debatable.

2) Do I have to attend a prestigious school, or is an "average" one still acceptable? And can I get through school with financial aid alone?

3) Am I correct in assuming that one can start out as a Veterinary Assistant and/or Vet Tech first? As in, getting a 2-year degree and then working as a Vet Tech while I finish my schooling?

4) I'm interested in specializing in both nutrition and small/exotic pet health. Can you actually specialize in more than one thing, though..? (if nutrition even counts as a specialization?)

5) I'm good with animals and have no problems dealing with everything from cats to reptiles, but.. I am a very small guy. (5'3", 95 pounds, very scrawny at the moment) Obviously, I'm working on improving my condition, but will this be a big problem for me, since I'd inevitably be working with large and/or rowdy animals at some point?

6) I realize this question depends heavily on a million different circumstances and therefore the answer varies, but if you had to make a sweeping generalization, would you say there is a reasonable demand for Vets? I've been told there is even an above-average demand for them in rural areas. Basically, I just want to know how hard of a time I'd have finding a job, especially if I end up being only an "average" candidate.


Thank you to anyone who has bothered reading this far. lol. And an extra special thanks to those who also take the time to answer this. I truly appreciate it!

1. You need a decent memory. But that's what references are for.

2. No need for a prestigious school. Very few vet schools do assign more points for rigorous schools/classes but even that doesn't make a big difference. Go where it is cheap and you will get a decent education. Yes, you can do it with financial aid alone.

3. You can do vet tech first but you really shouldn't. it's not the same job at all. If you can shadow or find a job as an unlicensed tech/assistant, that is just as good. Plus you don't waste money on classes you can't put towards vet school.

4. If you want to truly specialize, I wouldn't recommend more than one thing. If you want to have areas of interest, have as many as you like. For instance, I see exotics/wildlife but am not board certified.

5. Your height won't make a difference 🙂

6. the demand is ok. If it were better, salaries would be, too. You will probably find a job, but it might be corporate med