Interested in working with animals looking for advice

[diamondc]

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Hi! I'm a high school student and I really enjoy being around animals. I'm interested in learning more about careers where I could work with animals in the future. For anyone who works with animals or is studying veterinary medicine, what do you enjoy most about it and what advice would you give someone my age who is interested in this type of career?

 

[kitzsuna]

Hi! I'm a high school student and I really enjoy being around animals. I'm interested in learning more about careers where I could work with animals in the future. For anyone who works with animals or is studying veterinary medicine, what do you enjoy most about it and what advice would you give someone my age who is interested in this type of career?

Try anything once - something you may think you’ll dislike you could end up loving. I didn’t think I’d enjoy picking up animal poop, but enjoyed being a zookeeper. I was ambivalent about birds, but now I want to specialize in avian medicine.

Learn early how to set boundaries and say no. Dont let people take advantage of you because of your enthusiasm. Working with animals is very rewarding but also very mentally taxing, and unfortunately there are some people that try to take advantage of people that love animals.

I would also encourage you to keep other hobbies outside of animals as well!

Good luck!

 

[pp9]

At this stage of your life, I think the biggest thing to understand is that there is a difference between liking animals and liking working with them. Most people on this planet like animals, relatively few can thrive in an animal-based career. It's one of the few fields I can think of that brings high highs alongside exceptionally low lows. A decent chunk of people who start in an animal job leave it within 5-7 years if I had to guess. It's work that is often physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting. Animal work also does not pay well.

What's hard about your age is that you don't really know who you are just yet, and you won't know if an animal-based career is right for you. I've wanted to be a vet since I was a kid, but I didn't get a good sense that it was actually a good career choice for me until undergrad. If you have any options, start shadowing or working with animals, vets, etc. Start thinking about how much school you want to go through.

Also agree with keeping an open mind. The neat thing about animals is that there are a lot of ways to get involved. If you don't end up in a full-time animal career, there are always shelters, wildlife centers, etc looking for volunteers.

 

[genny]

Hi! I'm a high school student and I really enjoy being around animals. I'm interested in learning more about careers where I could work with animals in the future. For anyone who works with animals or is studying veterinary medicine, what do you enjoy most about it and what advice would you give someone my age who is interested in this type of career?

In high school, do your best in school to develop good study habits. Good grades are important in college if you want to be a veterinarian.

“Working with animals” is pretty broad. Are you interested in working with pets? Livestock? Wildlife? Volunteering with an animal shelter or zoo might be a good place to start. There are also careers working with animals that don’t involve pursuing a veterinary education - like animal research (PhD if driving the research, some college if caring for lab animals), dog training, pet grooming, wildlife rehab, farming. I have a friend who photographs horses for a living. There are tons of ways to work with animals. What animals interest you most?

 

[_rae_]

Hi! I'm a high school student and I really enjoy being around animals. I'm interested in learning more about careers where I could work with animals in the future. For anyone who works with animals or is studying veterinary medicine, what do you enjoy most about it and what advice would you give someone my age who is interested in this type of career?

You’ve gotten some great feedback already. My biggest piece of advice is do not pigeon-hole yourself in college. I wanted to be a vet when I was a kid but for a wide variety of reasons, I didn’t seriously consider or pursue it until I was about halfway through college. I went to a music school and decided to follow through with getting my music degree while taking classes for vet school. Now I’m a third year vet student who also has a BA in Music, which is actually really neat if I do say so myself.

Don’t feel pressured to pick a pre-vet or pre-med major, or even a science major if you don’t want to. Pick something you’re truly interested in; it will make you stand out during applications, help you maintain your drive in school, and give you something to fall back on if you decide vet school isn’t for you or is something that is unattainable. Just make sure you make a plan for getting your pre-requisites done and knock one or two out each semester.

 

[kitzsuna]

You’ve gotten some great feedback already. My biggest piece of advice is do not pigeon-hole yourself in college. I wanted to be a vet when I was a kid but for a wide variety of reasons, I didn’t seriously consider or pursue it until I was about halfway through college. I went to a music school and decided to follow through with getting my music degree while taking classes for vet school. Now I’m a third year vet student who also has a BA in Music, which is actually really neat if I do say so myself.

Don’t feel pressured to pick a pre-vet or pre-med major, or even a science major if you don’t want to. Pick something you’re truly interested in; it will make you stand out during applications, help you maintain your drive in school, and give you something to fall back on if you decide vet school isn’t for you or is something that is unattainable. Just make sure you make a plan for getting your pre-requisites done and knock one or two out each semester.

Wait how did I not know you were a fellow music major?!

 

[_rae_]

Wait how did I not know you were a fellow music major?!

Omg I thought you did. I played trumpet and piano.

 

[kitzsuna]

Omg I thought you did. I played trumpet and piano.

I probably forgot because pea brain

That’s so cool! I was a bassoon major!

 

[battie]

what do you enjoy most about it

The people and the animals. When I have a good team, I love the backside of the work. When clients have a genuine interest in taking care of their creatures, I bond very well with them.

advice would you give someone my age who is interested in this type of career?

1) Focus on just being you. You're early in life and our society forces people to pick the rest of their lives so young. Don't do it. Go on adventures. Try new things. The world has so many opportunities.

2) learn how to take care of yourself. Taking cooking, personal finance, car maintenance, etc. classes. I wish I had been more into personal finance 10 years ago, let alone your age.

3) If you choose to go to college, go to the cheapest school you can. My undergrad without scholarships was 40k for a bachelor's. I graduated without debt because of the cheap price and the scholarships I got. With the changes in federal student loans, you ***need*** to go to the cheapest school.

4) If you do choose to college and you do choose an animal career, please realize people will always be a part of the equation. So you don't choose an animal profession because you don't like people; you choose it cause you like animals.