Is it a waste of time to work at a vet clinic as a premed?

[FreshCakes]

I'll try to keep this as short as possible. I'm a junior in undergrad and i have been pre-vet for the last 2 years. This year i was shadowing at a veterinary clinic and recently got offered a job to assist. I've recently decided that I probably no longer want to go to vet school due to the amount of debt and the poor salary after graduating and I'm also just not as good with animals as I thought. I've always been interested in medicine and have recently thought about going to medical school instead as I could make a much better living in human medicine and still study learn about subjects that I love learning about (biology, anatomy, physiology, chemistry etc.). My main question is: would working at a vet clinic be seen as a waste of time or irrelevant to medical schools? I know that medical schools want you to have clinical experience, so would this be relevant at all or should I try to get a job/volunteer at a hospital? I don't need the job, so I'm open to looking for something in the human medical field. Thanks for any advice

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[freedoctor17]

I'll try to keep this as short as possible. I'm a junior in undergrad and i have been pre-vet for the last 2 years. This year i was shadowing at a veterinary clinic and recently got offered a job to assist. I've recently decided that I probably no longer want to go to vet school due to the amount of debt and the poor salary after graduating and I'm also just not as good with animals as I thought. I've always been interested in medicine and have recently thought about going to medical school instead as I could make a much better living in human medicine and still study learn about subjects that I love learning about (biology, anatomy, physiology, chemistry etc.). My main question is: would working at a vet clinic be seen as a waste of time or irrelevant to medical schools? I know that medical schools want you to have clinical experience, so would this be relevant at all or should I try to get a job/volunteer at a hospital? I don't need the job, so I'm open to looking for something in the human medical field. Thanks for any advice

Look for something in a hospital, i highly doubt anyone will consider this clinical experience since it's with animals. It's fine if you need the job but since you don't I'd say your time is better spent getting clinical volunteering and shadowing physicians.

 

[chemdoctor]

Look for something in a hospital, i highly doubt anyone will consider this clinical experience since it's with animals. It's fine if you need the job but since you don't I'd say your time is better spent getting clinical volunteering and shadowing physicians.

Agreed. Not saying the experience is bad, but you ideally have something where you’re talking to PATIENTS

 

[gold42]

I've recently decided that I probably no longer want to go to vet school due to the amount of debt and the poor salary after graduating

This is not really any different coming out of med school...

 

[stickgirl390]

Two words: DO IT!!! Don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise. I had 4,500 hours of vet med experience when I applied to med school, and it gave me so much to talk about at interviews. You get to do procedures HANDS ON that volunteering in a human clinic will never allow you. I went into interviews with hands on, personal experience in ultrasound, radiology, pharmacology, surgery, clinical medicine, labs, and working with the public. As long as you can make sure your app supports your desire to go to MEDICAL school, the vet experience will greatly benefit you. i.e. Make sure your app still has clinical experience with humans, physician shadowing, and volunteer work.

 

[chemdoctor]

Two words: DO IT!!! Don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise. I had 4,500 hours of vet med experience when I applied to med school, and it gave me so much to talk about at interviews. You get to do procedures HANDS ON that volunteering in a human clinic will never allow you. I went into interviews with hands on, personal experience in ultrasound, radiology, pharmacology, surgery, clinical medicine, labs, and working with the public. As long as you can make sure your app supports your desire to go to MEDICAL school, the vet experience will greatly benefit you. i.e. Make sure your app still has clinical experience with humans, physician shadowing, and volunteer work.

Wow never mind OP.

That’s really great for you btw. Never looked at it that way.

 

[Doctor-S]

I'll try to keep this as short as possible. I'm a junior in undergrad and i have been pre-vet for the last 2 years. This year i was shadowing at a veterinary clinic and recently got offered a job to assist. I've recently decided that I probably no longer want to go to vet school due to the amount of debt and the poor salary after graduating and I'm also just not as good with animals as I thought. I've always been interested in medicine and have recently thought about going to medical school instead as I could make a much better living in human medicine and still study learn about subjects that I love learning about (biology, anatomy, physiology, chemistry etc.). My main question is: would working at a vet clinic be seen as a waste of time or irrelevant to medical schools? I know that medical schools want you to have clinical experience, so would this be relevant at all or should I try to get a job/volunteer at a hospital? I don't need the job, so I'm open to looking for something in the human medical field. Thanks for any advice

@FreshCakes ...will your job at the veterinary clinic be a job for payment/salary? If yes, the veterinary job is "gainful employment." It's fine.

As a medical school applicant, you need to engage in clinical/non-clinical ECs related to "humans" so that your application supports your passion to become a physician and shows that you have a basic understanding about "what to expect" as an aspiring physician. Make sure to shadow some physicians (ideally, one primary care physician and 2 specialists), plus complete all pre-reqs, rock the MCAT, obtain LORs, etc. Personally, I would enjoy discussing what you learned from your veterinary medicine assistant job (e.g., surgical care, compassion fatigue) and welcome applicants who have different back stories.

I wish you the best of success!

 

[FreshCakes]

This is not really any different coming out of med school...

I didn't mean directly out of med school or vet school, obviously both will have lots of debt and a low salary after graduating (+ a few years afterwards). The potential salary for MDs is much greater than that of DVMs

Two words: DO IT!!! Don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise. I had 4,500 hours of vet med experience when I applied to med school, and it gave me so much to talk about at interviews. You get to do procedures HANDS ON that volunteering in a human clinic will never allow you. I went into interviews with hands on, personal experience in ultrasound, radiology, pharmacology, surgery, clinical medicine, labs, and working with the public. As long as you can make sure your app supports your desire to go to MEDICAL school, the vet experience will greatly benefit you. i.e. Make sure your app still has clinical experience with humans, physician shadowing, and volunteer work.

Thanks for your advice! As part of my job I get to do all of the things you mentioned, that's why I wasn't sure if it would help with applying to medical school.

@FreshCakes ...will your job at the veterinary clinic be a job for payment/salary? If yes, the veterinary job is "gainful employment." It's fine.

As a medical school applicant, you need to engage in clinical/non-clinical ECs related to "humans" so that your application supports your passion to become a physician and shows that you have a basic understanding about "what to expect" as an aspiring physician. Make sure to shadow some physicians (ideally, one primary care physician and 2 specialists), plus complete all pre-reqs, rock the MCAT, obtain LORs, etc. Personally, I would enjoy discussing what you learned from your veterinary medicine assistant job (e.g., surgical care, compassion fatigue) and welcome applicants who have different back stories.

I wish you the best of success!

Thank you, I really appreacite the feedback!