Medical or Veterinary School

[Tawantinsuyu]

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[DrCharlemagne]

You're a freshman, focus on your grades for now. Shadow some physicians and get a better sense of how medicine with people works over the next year or so. No one here is going to tell you the right path for you, but I'm pretty sure several will tell you you're jumping the gun.

 

[darklabel]

This is an unanswerable question.

But for what its worth, I hear the job market isn't quite as robust.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/business/high-debt-and-falling-demand-trap-new-veterinarians.html

As for loving animals vs. people, well none of us can answer that for you.

 

[Tawantinsuyu]

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[Oso]

So you've volunteered in the ER and shadowed veterinarians, could you see yourself in one career more than the other? Shadow a few physicians in other specialties and compare it to your vet shadowing. If you still like them both, which one aligns more with the lifestyle you'd prefer? Luckily your biology major will most likely cover prerequisites for both career paths. Don't worry about the MCAT/GRE yet, just focus on your classes and shadowing for now.

 

[justAstudent]

I would suggest to continuing volunteering and shadowing both physicians and veterinarians to see what you enjoy more and can see yourself doing with the rest of your life. I don't think anyone can tell you which one to choose really. Go with what you believe will make you happy in the long run.

 

[knv2u]

This is an unanswerable question.

But for what its worth, I hear the job market isn't quite as robust.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/business/high-debt-and-falling-demand-trap-new-veterinarians.html

As for loving animals vs. people, well none of us can answer that for you.

There are Caribbean vet schools?

 

[BlackBox]

You actually should be thinking about this early. Vet school requires a ton of shadowing hours- like hundreds to a few thousand, across various large/small animal. You need to start getting these early.

My GF is finishing vet school in May. The job market is quite bad. Most students do internships (30k/yr). She will have nearly 300K in debt and will be fighting for a job.

I like animals, but I love having a roof over my head.

 

[EvenStevens]

You actually should be thinking about this early. Vet school requires a ton of shadowing hours- like hundreds to a few thousand, across various large/small animal. You need to start getting these early.

My GF is finishing vet school in May. The job market is quite bad. Most students do internships (30k/yr). She will have nearly 300K in debt and will be fighting for a job.

I like animals, but I love having a roof over my head.

wow. that is depressing , give her a hug from me.

 

[runnergirl6]

I was also deciding between pre-vet and pre-med, and I didn't make a final decision until my junior year, so don't feel like you have to decide right away. Shadowing both vets and physicians helped me make my decision -- I realized that while I love animals, I didn't want them to be my patients. I like working with people, and I feel like medicine offers many more opportunities for specialization. The poor job market for vets also affected my decision, as well as the fact that to get into vet school you need a huge amount of hours working with animals (I love working with dogs, but I had no desire to shadow farm vets which is required by several vet schools if I recall correctly). Still, there were things I liked about being a vet, like the fact that a vet can serve as a primary care provider and surgeon for their patients at the same time. In the end, you need to make the decision based on what your priorities are and what you think will make you happiest.

 

[Tawantinsuyu]

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[that redhead]

There are Caribbean vet schools?

Yep - Ross and St. George's are the big two as they're now AVMA accredited but there are a couple others as well.

OP, remember that working as a typical small animal practitioner still requires a lot of people skills.

 

[baconshrimps]

So you've volunteered in the ER and shadowed veterinarians, could you see yourself in one career more than the other? Shadow a few physicians in other specialties and compare it to your vet shadowing. If you still like them both, which one aligns more with the lifestyle you'd prefer? Luckily your biology major will most likely cover prerequisites for both career paths. Don't worry about the MCAT/GRE yet, just focus on your classes and shadowing for now.

Bears need vets too.
Sometimes salmon does the trick though.

 

[Oso]

Bears need vets too.
Sometimes salmon does the trick though.

Bears don't need vets. Eating shrimp makes the pain go away

 

[baconshrimps]

Bears don't need vets. Eating shrimp makes the pain go away

We will colonize inside of you and eat you. From the inside out.
Long enough have the marginally higher mammals feasted on the aquatica of the U.S.

 

[darklabel]

We will colonize inside of you and eat you. From the inside out.
Long enough have the marginally higher mammals feasted on the aquatica of the U.S.

Is your profile picture a memorial to your fallen brethren?

 

[Oso]

Is your profile picture a memorial to your fallen brethren?

it's a picture of how I like to prepare my shrimp before consuming.

 

[pietachok]

If you're really feeling like your attraction to both fields is equal, consider the financial issues faced by a lot of vets.
Other things I considered:
-In spite of being an animal lover, I couldn't really stomach helping someone spend $10,000 to get a dog 1-2 years more of life when there are humans who are dying from inability to pay for cheap medications.
-If you love science and are going into one of these health fields b/c of intellectual curiosity, private vet practice can be a bit of a mismatch. When you find something really interesting, the owners often can't/don't want to spend the money to work it up, you can't run tests for "academic sake" like you do sometimes in a teaching hospital, and when they do want to pursue such measures, you often end up having to refer to a vet school for that crazy level of care.

 

[baconshrimps]

Is your profile picture a memorial to your fallen brethren?

It's my number 1 favorite food, wrapped around my number 3 favorite food. I'm actually Ron Swanson. You can see in my signature, a quote from my colleague, Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation Leslie Knope.

 

[Tawantinsuyu]

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