Off Shore Vet School Financial Advice

[Mez]

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Hello everyone (pre-vet and veterinarians), I am a Canadian resident and am looking into applications at off shore vet schools since I was denied entrance into the Canadian schools I applied. I am wondering if there are any other students like me who went off shore, racked up debt, how they got $ for it and how they are dealing with the debt now? I will go in a heart beat if accepted off shore but I wanted to see if anyone is having an extremely rough time with the debt? Or if anyone has pointers how come out with none to little debt. The schools costs an avg of $44K/year, it is a 4 yr program, and living (food and housing) costs about $11K/year, so I am looking at a minimum of $220K debt after I am done at an off shore school. I am good with $ so paying off debt is not a worry to me, I just want to know if it will mean a HUGE life change or just careful spending? Also, anyone recommend a specific off shore school they liked or heard was better?

All advise and experience welcomed 🙂 Thank-you SDN'ers!

 

[Escalla]

I don't have anything useful to add. Just saying hi!

 

[Mez]

Haha, well hello there Escella! A "hi" is always useful, never useless 🙂

 

[Escalla]

There are a few people on here that can provide some helpful advice I think. Hopefully they weigh in. 🙂

 

[frozen_canadian]

I went to a Canadian vet school and got out a few yrs ago with about $25,000 debt. I would NOT go into 10x this amount of debt for vet school. Never ever. It would cripple you financially for years and years. Unless you have a financial backer to subsidise the cost, I would not recommend going to vet school outside Canada. And yes, I would still recommend this even if you have to change career plans. Good luck!

 

[Mez]

Thank-you frozen canadian for your input 🙂 and btw, i really like your name haha!

 

[jmo1012]

i think i'd have to agree with f_c, at least not without a few tries for canadian schools. my roommate is canadian - her father is paying for vet school.

 

[Mez]

I have tried since 2005 to be accepted into Canadian schools :-( My mentors are even baffled as to how I have not been accepted yet. I have ample experience, 3.7 GPA, great references that are well known in the veterinary profession, and I have been on the wait list in previous years...so I just want to start my career now. I am 29 and have wanted to be a vet since I was 7.

 

[jmo1012]

I have tried since 2005 to be accepted into Canadian schools :-( My mentors are even baffled as to how I have not been accepted yet. I have ample experience, 3.7 GPA, great references that are well known in the veterinary profession, and I have been on the wait list in previous years...so I just want to start my career now. I am 29 and have wanted to be a vet since I was 7.

ahh gotcha - my roommate has a similar story except they wouldnt interview her with a 3.7 something because her gpa didn't make the cut (this girl has a 4.0 as a 3rd year).

 

[Mez]

And your roommate when to international school jmo?

Oh nm jmo...your roomie is Canadian so she is international..got it. Just read that wrong.

 

[frozen_canadian]

Always happy to help 🙂 And just to give you some perspective, run the numbers:
220,000 is about $15,000/yr in INTEREST given the current rates. If you graduate and start on $60,000, your take home is about $45,000/yr. so you have $30,000/yr to live off, without paying any of your principal student loan off. This is not conducive to having any quality of life in any major metro area of Canada in my opinion. Especially after 8 (or 10 etc) years of post secondary education. 😳

 

[Mez]

Absolutely, you make a very valid point f_c...I decided if I can't borrow $ from family interest free then it isn't worth it. So I may have to do some begging to my bro! lol. He is a successful construction company owner but I always made my ends meet and didn't like asking for hand outs. If I could somehow work to earn 60K/yr for school, I totally would! But that means I would need another 20-30K/yr just to live from...if only there were 90K jobs out there for students with a BSc haha.

 

[New Foundland]

Canadians should only go to international options if they are confident they have a very small chance of acceptance to any canadian schools and they have rich parents or some other source of funding.

Move to a different province to gain residency there and apply to a different school that you think you have a better chance of getting in to, OR keep applying to your regional canadian school(s) until you get in.

Suck it up and keep trying within Canada. Don't shoot yourself in the foot for an easy way out when you could be just one year away from entry into a reasonably priced DVM degree.
🙂

 

[Mez]

Thnx NF, kind of gives me a kick in the butt to suck it up. I have been trying since 2005 though and cannot apply to 3/5 of our Canadian schools due to my courses being too old (I would have to take another 2 years to upgrade courses I have already taken and am wondering if that is worth it bc the schools did say that is still no guarantee to get in, it just gives me another try at the school) so I can apply to the other 2 but I need to be a resident and take the MCAT for one. So I need to move regardless which I am going to do but in case my 9th attempt (yes I have applied 9 times, not something I tell many people as it makes me feel like a failure at a career I have wanted for 22 years) to get into vet school does not even work with residency...when do I throw in the towel and hitch off shore? I know a handful of friends who went off shore after their first attempt failed...but in agreement they do have rich parents. I have 2 friends who also were told by Canadian schools to never apply again and that they won't be vets (in a nice formal letter) so they hitched out of Canada too and are amazing vets today. I am just so confused sometimes bc no decision I make will guarantee me a seat anywhere. Maybe I should put all my options in a circle, spin the bottle and go with it, haha.