Non-Traditional Pre-Vets

[TinLizzy]

Less than a week ago, I had never even considered becoming a veterinarian. Soon after conceiving this idea, I quickly became obsessed with the idea.

I'm under the impression that many pre-vets have been interested in this profession through most of their college education, if not earlier. I was wondering if any of you are post-grads like myself, and if so I'd love to hear a little bit about yourself and your story.

Here's mine:
Through college, I had a very vague understanding of what I wanted to do with my life, but because I was good at science, I perused not just one, but two degrees in biology. I am now the somewhat proud owner of both a bachelor's and master's degree in ecology and evolutionary biology. I've tried on a number of hats with these degrees, from teacher to forest ranger, but what has most captivated me was my time volunteering for various zoological organizations in recent times.

I am still unsure of my future, but among the options, I've been juggling with include zookeeper, animal rehab, and most recently, either zoo or wildlife vet.

There is still a lot I don't know about these and other careers, but I hope to spend the next few years exploring these fields before potentially making the commitment of applying to vet school.

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[TinLizzy]

Also, I'd love to hear from the more traditional pre-vets regarding what your passions are as far as what you'd like to do as a vet , and what explorations have lead you to discovering them.

 

[DVMDream]

Less than a week ago, I had never even considered becoming a veterinarian. Soon after conceiving this idea, I quickly became obsessed with the idea.

I'm under the impression that many pre-vets have been interested in this profession through most of their college education, if not earlier. I was wondering if any of you are post-grads like myself, and if so I'd love to hear a little bit about yourself and your story.

Here's mine:
Through college, I had a very vague understanding of what I wanted to do with my life, but because I was good at science, I perused not just one, but two degrees in biology. I am now the somewhat proud owner of both a bachelor's and master's degree in ecology and evolutionary biology. I've tried on a number of hats with these degrees, from teacher to forest ranger, but what has most captivated me was my time volunteering for various zoological organizations in recent times.

I am still unsure of my future, but among the options, I've been juggling with include zookeeper, animal rehab, and most recently, either zoo or wildlife vet.

There is still a lot I don't know about these and other careers, but I hope to spend the next few years exploring these fields before potentially making the commitment of applying to vet school.

The job market for zoo and wildlife vets is rather dismal currently. It is one of most difficult areas of vet med to get into and you will have to make a lot of contacts in order to get your foot in the door, if you even can get your foot in the door. There are many career opportunities in vet med other than just zoo/wildlife which I am sure you are aware of some, like small animal medicine. Others include: food animal, equine, public health, research, etc. I think it would be a very good idea for you to look around and see if you can shadow a vet. If you are interested in wildlife medicine, see if you can find contacts to shadow a wildlife/zoo vet, but I am not sure how easy/difficult it will be to find one that will allow you to shadow them. Also, check out and explore other areas of vet med, if it is something you find that you want to pursue, you will need to gain experience for your application. Be sure it is absolutely something you want, vet med is in a tough position and the current debt:income ration is high, with debt being near $200K and income being around $65K. Be sure you are ok with that. Many people on this forum will tell you that if your only reason for doing vet med is to work with animals that you should find something else. There are many careers that allow you to work with animals without having the amount of debt that going to vet school has. Also, I don't know your reasons for why you are interested in vet med, but if it is because of a love/interest of animals, while vet med does allow a lot of interaction with animals, you will have just as much or more interaction with people.

Anyways, best thing for you to do now going forward is to find a vet to shadow and see if this is something you could see yourself doing. Also highly consider the likelihood that you will not end up in zoo/wildlife med and that there is some other aspect of vet med that does interest you or that you could see yourself doing.

 

[DVMDream]

Also, I'd love to hear from the more traditional pre-vets regarding what your passions are as far as what you'd like to do as a vet , and what explorations have lead you to discovering them.

Currently, I would like to work with small animals (cats and dogs). Throughout high school and college and even for a couple years after college I worked as a vet tech in various small animal hospitals. I have always wanted to be a vet. I love the science and learning and medicine. Currently, I am debating between sticking with general private practice and going straight into working after vet school or maybe attempting an internship/residency in surgery. I have done/assisted with a few surgeries and I just loved it. I have also considered: dermatology (that died fast ), cardiology, and emergency medicine as possible specialties. I am hoping next year will show me where I really want to go and what I want to end up doing. While I would love to specialize, I would also miss the client relationships that you do form while in private practice. So, I am still debating and deciding which route I will end up taking.

 

[Felixor90]

I too want to become either a zoo or wildlife rehab vet. It sucked to find out that on top of how hard it is to become a vet, becoming a zoo vet is even harder due to just a handful of positions being available. Although this is still my main goal, I have a very very close favorite plan.

I started working as a vet tech for the only exotics clinic in my area, and let me tell you that it comes very close to being a wildlife/zoo vet, but with some extra perks. Since we were the only exotics hospital in the area, we were the go-to location for all zoo's/wildlife rehab when their vets were either overloaded or away on vacation. We saw all sorts of wildlife like panthers, cougars, owls, eagles, and hawks, as well as many cases from nearby zoos, including monkeys, large show birds, tigers, giraffes, and reptiles. On top of that, we also got your average domestic avian/exotic cases that are common to most exotic clinics. This allowed the vet to lead a relatively comfortable life that involved working 9-5 unless there were emergency cases that he needed to attend to. It was a great mix of comfortable small practice with exciting wildlife/zoo medicine.

That's my plan B. If I can't seem to make it into the zoo/wildlife area, I'd like to open an exotics hospital near zoos/rehab clinics so that I may serve as the "backup" for their vets while still having my own clients. It's still an ambitious goal because I know it takes a lot of experience for the zoos to trust you with their cases, but I'm willing to work hard for it.

The best thing you can do right now is to shadow some vets so that you experience the abundance of opportunities that you have with a DVM degree. When I first started working as a vet tech, I was dead set on small animals and it turned out that I have a great passion for exotics/zoo medicine. You never know if you might fall in love with another side of vet med.

 

[hygebeorht]

When I started applying to vet school, I was 26 and had a BA and an MA. There are plenty of non-trads in my class - you won't be in bad company. Like you, I was a bit lost and then one day I realized "vet med, that's it." I quit my job and went back to school. You won't be alone!

But yes, the very first thing you should do is start getting volunteer hours with veterinarians. That's the part of the process that will teach you the most, and it will take the most time.

 

[Panderson]

Also, I'd love to hear from the more traditional pre-vets regarding what your passions are as far as what you'd like to do as a vet , and what explorations have lead you to discovering them.

I think vet med most definitely has to do with much more than just loving animals. I do love animals, don't get me wrong, but I absolutely love being a caretaker. I wasn't sure what I wanted at first, but every day that I can make a difference, it becomes clear to me. There's no greater fulfillment to me, and I can't see myself doing anything else! I do also enjoy the learning the science behind aspects of a clinic and all of the interesting medicines and procedures. (Think before you say you will never use chemistry again!) I work part time in a small animal/occasional large animal practice. This is my first veterinay job and I love it. However, I do have a passion for exotics and would like to have or work in a clinic that serves dogs, cats, and exotic pets. No day would ever be the same. I also am interested in shelter medicine and have an equal passion for rescues as I do exotics. My end goal is one of these two.

 

[eshark83]

I am a nontrad also. Nice to hear from others in the same boat. I actually decided to extend my undergraduate degree by adding a second major (biology) in order to dodge the bullet of being a non-degree seeking student. It’s super difficult to get through admissions at my university after graduating, and you have last priority for all classes.

Being a vet has always been a goal of mine but it hasn’t been attainable until recently. My wife and I originally met five years ago because we both worked at the same clinic. I was a veterinary assistant at an emergency clinic while going to college. When we got married we realized she had infertility problems and I ended up switching majors in order to take a job opportunity offered to me at a pretty big company in their IT department. It was one of the only companies in the state that had an insurance plan that covered infertility treatments. They paid for me to work on my bachelor’s degree in computer information technology but once we got the infertility issues sorted out and I could breathe again I realized I could do nothing else but go forward and become a vet. The dti is a scary aspect of it, but when you love medicine, learning, and the vet med in general dti seems to matter less at the end of the day.

So far I have worked in shelter medicine and emergency medicine. I currently work in IT to pay the bills but volunteer with our Collie and GSD rescue and shadow an equine veterinarian while I finish my prereqs. I’m hoping for an emergency medicine position working with small animal once I'm out. I'm sure my interests will fluctuate once I start vet school though

 

[EngrSC]

There are many of us nontrads around SDN

 

[FeartheDogMonky]

I'm also a non-traditional student, hoping to have everything in place to apply next year. As many above me have stated, it really is about exploring your options and getting in there to see if it truly is what you want. My background is ridiculously diverse in everything except medicine, so I understand starting from ground zero and working your way to become an attractive applicant. Once you get in the door with a couple veterinarians and start earning some experience, that will slowly open the door for other opportunities. That said, I've also had to start as a volunteer cleaning poop and whatever kind of mess out of stalls, cages, etc before being brought into the clinic. Show dedication, be persistent but understand patience will be part of the game as well. You will run into insurance issues with many places (main issue I've come across) and unless you're willing to carry your own liability insurance, which is expensive, they will be reluctant to let you shadow. Perhaps it's different with places near you though.

As others have brought up, client interaction is a huge component to vetmed that some people don't take into consideration. I personally like dealing with people and educating them. Ignorance leads to accidents and accidents lead to pain, suffering and/or death. I'd love to work in a zoo, but the reality of that is pretty grim. I volunteer with a wildlife rehab center and one thing to make sure you're comfortable with is euthanasia and really nasty, funky cases of festering infections from old injuries. There are days where we see severely sick/injured patients one after another and obviously we are unable to save them all. Euthanasia in a small animal practice happens, depending on the size of clinic, a few times a week or none if you're lucky. That does not happen with wildlife when you're balancing all the components of funds, quality of life, if the animal can be rehabilitated and released, and quite a few other concerns. With all that though, I want to continue with exotics, wildlife and shelter med and hope to do work abroad in less established countries. We are fortunate here that (most) people have the funds and compassion to take care of their pets. Many other countries do not have the luxury of excess funds and therefore do not treat simple things. Cases of internal infections, parasites, URIs, parvo, etc etc go on without intervention. Additionally, you have overpopulation issues due to a lack of spay/neutering. Going back to my previous point, education for me is key to the public.

Things may change when vet school comes into the picture, but that is my 2 cents worth. Good luck!

 

[SV88]

Another non trad here trying to kick it into gear to apply next year for the first cycle (I'm assuming I'll be applying 2-3 times because I am not the strongest academic candidate). Floated the idea around for 6 years while working as a tech at 3 different practices trying to figure out what I wanted to do when in reality it was in front of me - Vet med is my place, I was just too undisciplined to pursue it any sooner. I have well into 5 figures of both animal exp hours and an additional 5 figures of vet hours, I'm working on diversifying my experience currently and my new job in my new state at the VTH will help that out a lot. I am far from the best academic applicant they'll see so I'm going to work on that while rounding off the rest of my application. Praying and studying for the GRE too.. Math is my downfall.

Currently relocating to a state with my top choice vet school to get residency and actively meeting with my top schools to voice my interest and see where I need to fill my classes in, Ohio has been particularly helpful. I felt better after meeting with my top 2 choices which are still my top 2 because I was honest w/the prevet admissions about my weak academic past and how I can strengthen myself as an applicant and they were extremely supportive. I suppose they have to be but it makes me feel better all the same. Banking on past adversity to bulk up my personal statement assuming I survive the academic screening. I will not be applying to any international schools. Because I am mid20s and work a lot to support myself I have been focusing on the science pre reqs - If it's 3 AM and I need to finish something, I will devote myself to the chemistry courses instead of English. Overall I feel like I will be applying before I'm totally ready (next year) but I would rather have a small cycle under my belt and pray for it then be better off next cycle.

Hats off to all of us non trads It can happen. A good friend's spouse recently got accepted after numerous cycles, she's late 30s and living the dream so I hope that I can be as lucky!

 

[SolvationEnergy]

This is a great post - i was actually just wondering to myself yesterday whether or not i would be considered a non-traditional student. I am currently a PhD student studying protein biophysics and was originally planning on going the traditional academic route. I've always volunteered at animal shelters, but a few years ago (around when i was visiting shelters and talking to the employees about trying to find myself a dog rather than just going in and cleaning cages) i realized how much of a difference these people make in these animals lives. One place that i got one of my dogs from is having trouble keeping its doors open, and spent something like 30K on surgery for one dog - that is insane dedication and it made me realize that i needed to do more. So, about 2 years into grad school i decided to go to vet school with hopes of one day being able to do pro-bono type work to help shelters with things such as low cost spay/neuter, and even hopefully low cost wellness clinics for people that can't afford full vet care but really want to take care of their pets. We will see how i can balance the regular career with the volunteer work - thats a whole different story - but for now that is the dream.

Right now i am just trying to get my vet hours up as much as possible - especially this summer since we are expecting our first child in october, and with a house 2 dogs and a baby it will be somewhat difficult to balance extra volunteering. There is nothing i can do about my grades at this point, and i will have to retake my GRE because they will expire before i can apply, but they were actually not that bad to begin with. the biggest concerns for me are my undergrad grades vet/animal hours. I think my plan for now is to take a year or two off between grad school and applications and just work and get as much animal experience as i can before i apply.