kids before vet school?

[XRB]

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Hi! I am actually a prevet here. I am seeking advice on a rather personal matter.
I am a 27-year-old female, married, and my husband is in his late 30s.
We always want to start our family and we almost did it. However, I discovered my interest in pursuing vet med in my mid-20s.
So everything put aside. I was focusing on preparing myself to increase candidacy.
I applied to the 2019 cycle and was waitlisted at 2 schools.
I came to the realization that I might not get in any schools relatively soon.
If I continue to try again and over again, I would put my life on hold forever and I don't want that.

Now I am thinking about changing my life plan to help with the family business and having kids first before trying for vet schools again.

I fear that being busy with other things will keep me out of the loop of vet med and would eventually lead to me not achieving my goal.

I would love to hear all the advice. If you were in the same situation as I am now, I would love to hear your success stories. Thank you all in advance!

 

[JustPaws]

I had a 6 m old starting school first year. It has been difficult but also good for a forced work life balance. I am 35 so could not push it back any further. We will likely have another during school. I would recommend you have them first if able, I think it is easier the older they are.

 

[Squeaksmom]

I went back to school and started my pre-vet journey when my son was 7. Now it's looking more and more likely that he's going to graduate from high school and I'm going to convocate from vet school on the same day. In different cities. There have been a lot of sacrifices, and there are definitely moments I've missed since we've been long-distance for most of the past 6 years, but I think him being older has made things a lot easier in many ways. Being a parent and having a career isn't a death sentence for vet school. Everybody takes a different route, it's getting to the destination that matters.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Plenty of people with kids go through vet school. In your situation, I personally would start having kids and do your thing. If vet school doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. You move on. But if you keep putting your life on hold and don’t get into vet school, you’ll probably regret not having started a family sooner. And what are you waiting for if you *are* going to vet school? Until you graduate? When hubs is well into his 40s? Once you start vet school, there’s really not a “good time” for at least another 5-7 years. Though many people make it work having babies at any point in their journey, having a baby during vet school is tough, just after graduation may arguably be even thougher unless you are independently wealthy (first couple of years of practice is stressful, and this is assuming you aren’t interested in internships/residency). I would probably much rather have a baby past newborn stage starting school. That way, even if you decide to have a second one during school, both will be toddlers and up by the time you start working. Hope you have a lot of family/hubby help to make it happen!

 

[Laradd]

It is about how you balance. having a kid first won't be a problem if you are eager to have a fixed plan on how you'll roll your amazing life! Best of luck!

 

[lkellyanns]

I am an incoming first-year student with a 3-month old. My husband and I planned it this way for a variety of reasons and although I am nervous about starting school with a young child, I think it was the best decision for us as a family going forward. As someone who found so much personal fulfillment in her career choice and thought nothing else could compare to that, my son has shown me that while my career is important, he brings me more joy than anything else could. The one struggle I am anticipating is paying for childcare on top of vet school, so that might be something to keep in mind. Also as a side note, I was very pregnant during interview time and I found several schools to be extremely accommodating about my inability to travel which is refreshing! Let me know if you have any questions or if I can help in any way.

 

[Vet_Squared80]

I'm 40, 3rd year vet school with three teenagers. I went back to get my pre-reqs when my youngest started kindergarten. Starting next year, I will have graduations for three years straight: My oldest, me, my middle child, a one year break and then my youngest. Added benefit of having older kids while in school is they can care for themselves if I don't have time to cook and I get a lot less pushback on doing homework because we are all doing it together.
I took the scenic route because it was important for me to be a stay at home mom before my kids hit school age. I always knew I'd eventually have a career, but I imagined it being something so different. My husband is the one who encouraged me to pursue my dream of vet school even when I had a million reasons why I shouldn't.
It's not the wrong path to have kids first just like its not the wrong path to go to school first. The only right choice is what you want to do and you'll find a way to make the other work around it if its important.