Med or Vet: having doubts. What to do?

[CW 2010]

I honestly don't know what to do now. All my application was geared toward medicine and now I am having doubts and I am scared to make a mistake.

Some of you remember, probably, that I have a foreign B.S. degree, I have completed about 70 cr hrs (including prereqs) in the U.S. with a 3.92 GPA. I work as patient care tech in a cardiac unit at a local hospital. And, of course, I have always liked science and medicine and that's why I am doing all this. But I also absolutely love, love, love animals. My B.S. is actually in Zoology. I won't bore you with numerous situations and things that prove my love to animal kingdom. And for years I thought I could never become a veterinarian because I am afraid of doing procedures on animals, I can't stand hurting them. If it makes sense, it was always much easier for me to stick a needle into a human being then into a dog. And now, when this pre-something journey is almost done, I am having a panic attack that I am choosing a wrong profession.

Here is the other side of the story. The Vet School's admission GPA is 3.5 and the admission exam is GRE, which is considerably easier than the MCAT. And I am unsure, if this panic attack comes from my insecurities and insurmountable fear of the MCAT, or it actually arises from the genuine desire to practice veterinary medicine instead of a human one.

Any advice? What should I do? How should I decide?

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[deleted551990]

This really seems like a situation where no one here can answer that for you. I hate to give that response, but it seems like your decision is all going to be which one you would rather devote your life to.

I guess the only advice I could offer is not to be afraid of the MCAT. Rathe-- be afraid, but don't let that be a deciding factor. The MCAT sucks, but it's like three months compared to the rest of your life.

 

[Goro]

Follow your heart and chat with a trained therapist about your anxiety. If you're a vet you're going have to euthanasize animals.

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Do some volunteer work at a hospital to see if you actually like being around sick and injured people.

Medicine shouldn't be a fall-back just because you can do vet medicine. Medicine is a calling.

I honestly don't know what to do now. All my application was geared toward medicine and now I am having doubts and I am scared to make a mistake.

Some of you remember, probably, that I have a foreign B.S. degree, I have completed about 70 cr hrs (including prereqs) in the U.S. with a 3.92 GPA. I work as patient care tech in a cardiac unit at a local hospital. And, of course, I have always liked science and medicine and that's why I am doing all this. But I also absolutely love, love, love animals. My B.S. is actually in Zoology. I won't bore you with numerous situations and things that prove my love to animal kingdom. And for years I thought I could never become a veterinarian because I am afraid of doing procedures on animals, I can't stand hurting them. If it makes sense, it was always much easier for me to stick a needle into a human being then into a dog. And now, when this pre-something journey is almost done, I am having a panic attack that I am choosing a wrong profession.

Here is the other side of the story. The Vet School's admission GPA is 3.5 and the admission exam is GRE, which is considerably easier than the MCAT. And I am unsure, if this panic attack comes from my insecurities and insurmountable fear of the MCAT, or it actually arises from the genuine desire to practice veterinary medicine instead of a human one.

Any advice? What should I do? How should I decide?

 

[CW 2010]

Do some volunteer work at a hospital to see if you actually like being around sick and injured people

Thanks for the reply, but as I stated in my post, I work in a cardiac unit, so I am around sick people 40+ hrs per week.

 

[Goro]

Ooops! Sorry, I should have read your post better. But I still get the sense that it's vet medicine you love, and that people med is a fallback, which it should be. You have to follow your heart.

You know what to do.

Thanks for the reply, but as I stated in my post, I work in a cardiac unit, so I am around sick people 40+ hrs per week.

 

[lovesfall]

Have you worked in a vet clinic at all? If not, you should take some time off and do that. I was also once torn between vet and med and it helped make the decision more clear.

 

[ravenskya]

I work as a Vet Tech and my roommate is a human nurse - we are both attempting to get into the Doctor end of our fields. The difference as we see it is: You will get little to no respect as a Veterinarian in comparison to being a human doctor - the pay is significantly less, and people will expect you to take care of all of their animals for free because you are supposed to love animals. Your patients can't tell you what is wrong with them and people will often accuse you of not being a "real doctor." According to my roommate in human medicine although you make more money - the insurance is higher, you have to deal with insurance companies, and government entities like medicare. Even though your patients can talk to you - that isn't always a good thing. You will have to deal with people looking for scripts which doesn't happen in the animal world. And the legal issues are far more stressful.

If you just like medicine in general I would spent at least 6 months working with each type to see what it's really like. If you love animals - than I would go the route of vet med and deal with the lower salary and respect issues. As the others said - only you really know what will make you happy.

 

[CW 2010]

Thank you for all the replies!
I have to decided to go into human med... That is was I wanted to do since I was a little girl. I still love animals and nature, but that's going to stay as a hobby; human medicine will be my career.
If I don't get into med school, I will take a PA route.