This. The lab animal job market is becoming increasingly competitive. With the SA market shrinking, many of the folks initially interested in SA are moving to other specialties, LAM included. My adviser here at NCSU paints a fairly bleak view of the job market in this specialty, particularly in specific focus areas (corporate pharma, for example, as many of these jobs are being outsourced overseas).
20 years ago, LAM was the place to be. There were many available positions, and a shortage of students interested in going this direction. Currently, that's not the case. There are indeed jobs available in the field (corporate, academic, government). For those interested, you can check out ACLAM's job board to see what's currently advertised for boarded folks:
http://www.aclam.org/jobs
Most jobs these days require ACLAM certification (for the LAM folks out there, I'm not saying that you absolutely cannot get a job without it, but it's becoming increasingly difficult). ACLAM can be accomplished in one of two ways, via a traditional residency, or via the 7 year experience route. By far, residency is the more common road. Why? To qualify to sit the ACLAM boards, you need 7 years of equivalent experience in LAM environments. It would be a rare event for a facility to hire you with limited LAM experience (the old, need experience to get experience conundrum). Folks have done it- not saying it can't be done, but it's rare.
As for Tufts, yes, Cummings has the joint MS in LAM. It's very expensive, and unnecessary (at least in my opinion). All of the vet schools out there can hook you up with some solid LAM experience during your elective periods and senior year. You don't need an expensive MS program on top of an already expensive vet school tuition bill. Similarly, there are several quality summer options that exist for students interested in LAM. ASLAP funds many of these, although there are others funded by corporate and government entities. See:
http://www.aslap.org/careers
LAM is one of the few fields a student can enter a residency directly out of veterinary school. Path is another. Clinical folks need to do at least one, if not two, rotating/specialty internships before they're considered eligible for residency application.
LAM is role of many hats...predominantly regulatory compliance, clinical medicine, and facility/personnel administration. You need to publish at least one first authored primary research article (hypothesis driven) in order to gain eligibility to sit the LAM boards. Therefore, in all ACLAM approved residencies, you will be exposed to basic research. Basic research is a whole different ball of wax than clinical research. Be sure you understand the difference before deciding that you want to be a 'veterinary researcher.' I was involved in biomedical research for well over 10 years prior to attending veterinary school. I worked in in vivo settings for all of those years. Never once did I work on a project specifically earmarked 'for veterinary medicine.' Much of (not all) the research conducted by your clinical profs (not the PhDs) in vet school is clinical research...not basic science. You can do both as a lab animal vet, but they're very different.
If you're really into research, and that's what you want to do with your life, I highly recommend you looking into a PhD. If you're serious about research as a career (especially at large, competitive institutions), the DVM is not going to train you to become an empirical scientist. PhD training is what teaches you these skills- from experimental design, stats, academic politics, etc. The DVM is a clinical degree, not a research degree. There are plenty of DVMs that conduct research (both clinical and basic science) with a DVM alone, but I would hazard a guess that these folks have been in the research business for a long time, and have collaborators at the PhD level. Try working in MULTIPLE labs before you decide that you 'want to do research' for a career. Be sure to ask about current funding climates, and how this impacts job satisfaction, particularly at junior (not tenured) levels.
LAM is a diverse and fulfilling field. I specifically returned to vet school to pursue this career. Residencies are competitive, as is the job market. Although this is my first choice placement, I do have two other career paths 'waiting in the wings' if LAM didn't happen to work out. Life is funny that way- sometimes it just doesn't go the way you want. If LAM is your thing, go for it...but keep an open mind, and have a few alternatives. Best of success!
@WhatsTheFrequency; you know these things. My response was geared for the OP, just tacked onto your comment as you completely hit the mark.
