Re-Contemplating become a vet...

[Ayemee]

Hey all,

I have always wanted to be a veterinarian and I am a junior currently earning my bachelors in Animal and Poultry Science. I have had two vet school interviews but was waitlisted twice. I feel like the universe is trying to tell me something.

About 9/10 vets I’ve talked to had said if they could go back, they wouldn’t have become a vet for a few different reasons. The debt, pay isn’t great and there’s little to no life outside of work.

I love animals but am a high stress person and not sure if I’m meant to be a vet anymore. I want to work with animals, but I don’t want to sacrifice my life for it. I have thought about earning my PHD in zoology or marine science instead.

I don’t know what to do! I would like some honest opinions from vets themselves.

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Hey all,

I have always wanted to be a veterinarian and I am a junior currently earning my bachelors in Animal and Poultry Science. I have had two vet school interviews but was waitlisted twice. I feel like the universe is trying to tell me something.

About 9/10 vets I’ve talked to had said if they could go back, they wouldn’t have become a vet for a few different reasons. The debt, pay isn’t great and there’s little to no life outside of work.

I love animals but am a high stress person and not sure if I’m meant to be a vet anymore. I want to work with animals, but I don’t want to sacrifice my life for it. I have thought about earning my PHD in zoology or marine science instead.

I don’t know what to do! I would like some honest opinions from vets themselves.

Thanks!

I can’t help with whether or not you should become a vet... but given what you say about yourself, I would highly discourage the PhD in zoology/marine science route. Prospects are way worse, and you will have to sacrifice your life for it likely waaaay more than becoming a vet. I have multiple family members including my husband who went the PhD route, and it’s a rough road... and this is for more mainstream science fields. My sister was going the zoology/marine biology route and was on her way through a PhD working hands on with cetaceans (her dream!) but left and became a public accountant after a quarter life crisis when she realized there wasn’t much for her to do with the PhD even if she were to complete it. My job security and earning potential are better than most PhDs in the fields you’re interested in. Sure, in the short term, a funded PhD program will be cheaper to complete than a DVM and you likely won’t be in debt. But whether you’ll be eligible for a real job after toiling away for meager stipends for 5-7 years to get your degree is a whole ‘nother story.

There are few funded jobs that will sustain PhDs with job security in those fields. Pay is generally poor (def worse than veterinarians in private small animal practice). And very few make it to becoming a PI or a tenured professor after sacrificing their lives. Sure, those who make it to professorship May be doing ok to great, but it’s a pyramid scheme. Many leave the field because they couldn’t hack it or they couldn’t continue to sacrifice their lives waiting and waiting to be chosen for the few coveted positions. These should not be fields you go into as a back up... really something to go into because you’re super passionate about it and are ready to sacrifice for it.

 

[JosephKnechtDVM]

I think a good option to consider would be pursuing further study in poultry science, maybe not immediately, but after working in the industry itself for awhile to see if you would like to be part of such a huge and growing industry world-wide. Veterinary medicine may doing ok now but long term issues of suicide and veterinarian longevity in the field ( a problem in Australia and the UK) . Specialized study in a field valued by industry is likely a better bet than trying to crack the academic world.

 

[Ayemee]

Thank you for both of your input.

Minnerbelle, I was thinking of maybe teaching at a university if I couldn’t work out in the field, but you’re right, that may be limited too.

Thank you Joseph.

Would either of you mind sharing your experience as a vet and whether you feel it’s worth the time and money?

 

[Minnerbelle]

Thank you for both of your input.

Minnerbelle, I was thinking of maybe teaching at a university if I couldn’t work out in the field, but you’re right, that may be limited too.

Thank you Joseph.

Would either of you mind sharing your experience as a vet and whether you feel it’s worth the time and money?

Those teaching jobs at the university as a tenured professor are incredibly difficult to get. Think about the number of grad students and post docs that exist in each university and the number of actual tenured professors. How many of those starry eyed grad students become one of those professors? And in these particular disciplines, the professors at universities are who get funded as a PI though it’s not all mutually exclusive. Depending on what you do, transitioning to industry/pharma/consulting may not even be an option based on what you actually study during grad school. You can get an adjunct teaching position which pays you poorly and doesn’t treat you as a human being, but that’s also a miserable existence.

For me, I don’t regret becoming a vet. But I’m one of those people whose identity as a person and as a veterinarian is essentially one and the same. I live and breathe it. I’m not a highly stressy person, so surgical/medical patient issues don’t stress me out even in dire emergencies, and clients don’t stress me out. dingus clients piss me off sometimes in the moment, but it’s more amusing than it is stressful. I have fairly good work/life balance with my job, but I end up being a vet (volunteer) during my times off every week anyway. Financially I’m pretty well off, but I didn’t start out with a ton of student loans. I would probably feel differently if I felt trapped. My biggest issue is that most veterinary employers suck in one way or another, and I have yet to find an employer that I find agreeable. Vets generally make a horrible business person/ HR. Sometimes, despite actually loving my staff and what I do, I fantasize about leaving the profession so that I can work where I am actually happy with my employer. I also don’t like the prospect of owning my own practice, which would be the other choice.

Was it worth the $400k+ it cost for me to become a vet between undergrad and vet school? I dunno. I overall enjoy what I do, and I make a decent living, so I can’t complain. I also dunno what else I would have done. But was it worth that much money? Couldn’t tell you, esp since my parents footed a lot of it. I’d probably feel differently if I had been responsible for all of it.

 

[JosephKnechtDVM]

It was definitely not worth it in terms of the effort and struggle to find good employment where you are appreciated at least by your employer and have the opportunity to become financially secure and successful which used to be through practice ownership or being a specialist/expert in industry which often requires post DVM studies/residencies of which there really are not enough. The profession is decades behind in its educational outlook because 4 years is just not enough anymore to cover the scope of the entire field other than at a very superficial level, but the schools now are trying to follow the residency pathway of physicians while still claiming 4 year general DVM is sufficent to prepare anyone really for practice. I graduated in 1992 and internships were mostly for those considering specialization but now over a third of students pursue them so I see the profession becoming one of those as veterinary serfs with just the DVM and elite with all the training and certifications just like physicians must have. I always liked pathology and research but the opportunities available are just not enough compared to human medicine. I enjoyed emergency practice because it was challenging and exciting (same for my wife who was an ER vet too) but I see in some places ER vets no longer getting to do things we did like abdominal surgeries because everyone now seems to need specialization and credentialing to be "qualified". My wife and I looked for practices as we had enough of working for others and we could not find one because of cost or being able to get licensed in other states due to boards changing rules to keep out qualified vets. We had enough and left practice behind. My wife went to a community college to get an associate degree in medical laboratory technology and works in hospital diagnostic lab and I work for the Food Safety Inspection Service which does not care about a license and has very little to do with being a veterinarian who diagnoses and does surgery etc. It is mainly enforcing sanitation regulations and good food science practices with occasional gross pathology determininations of carcass suitability for consumption. These jobs do not require a 4 year DVM degree and other vets in the agency will tell you the same. Past the plant level, the agency has a lot of other jobs that are not required to be filled by anyone with a DVM or rose through ranks.

If I was going to spend 4 years in professional school again, it would be in human medicine because it really is easier to get into the "good life" of a stable and respected career with more opportunity. Dental school too seems to work out well because they figured out how to do things right for most to have successful careers. Physician assistants and Nurse Practitioners also seem to have good salary relative to training costs and a good quality of jobs. In truth a bachelor degree in engineering or computer science etc seems to be worth as much or more than the DVM degree today because of the needs of a variety of industries for all types of engineers or computer specialist and willingness to pay for talent and ability.

So many of the problems in veterinary medicine today could have been solved earlier if academics and "leaders" were just not so arrogant about how the profession is essentially superior in so many fields. Trying to do more and more in more diverse fields has lead to mediocrity rather than excellence in my opinion and I do not see any "leaders" willing to look at problems rationally and economically rather than through rose colored glasses that ignore the rising financial and human costs in the profession relative to the possible rewards. I speculate in places like Australia and the UK with less debt veterinarians get out early because they can.

 

[CalliopeDVM]

I really enjoy being a vet, but there's no way I would have done it if it cost what US students have to pay (I'm Canadian and my education was significantly subsidized by the government). I don't recommend anyone take on that kind of debt load for this profession, as much as I enjoy it. The debt-to-income ratio is ridiculously unbalanced.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

If I could not be guaranteed that I would get into the specialization that I did a second time around, I would not do it again. No way I would accept the debt and the stress for anything other than my niche field.

 

[Howlingblaster]

I too am wondering about this, basically I want to attend undergrad at a college with a veterinary dept 2 hours away while recuperating from a disability, but my mom wants me to stay local and study marine science. The problem is, marine science requires scuba diving gear and aquatics certifications to be in the top of your field, which is expensive. I know deep down that even though the marine science school is ten minutes away, I'd be far happier two hours away because I'd enjoy the course material more and the family has $ squirreled away and if need be I could just sell the house here and move into an apartment over there. To save $, I'd be living in a student dorm, no pets, with a used car and no boyfriend. I plan to attend vet school in the US once I'm well enough. I just never had my heart set on the local college, I wanted to branch out after hs graduation and get away because my ex boyfriend really ruined my life and I am now 29 and going back to community college after working and volunteering. Last time I did college was in 2015, but fatigue and severe neural pain got the best of me and I will be seeing an opthamalic neurologist. I wanted to post as a separate question but how do you feel about my sitch and do you think I'm too old at 29 to be a sophomore? Nobody counts on being sick but I want this more than anything and I want to cry when I think about all the hours I invested in Kumon/Elite Academy (Flushing,NY)/Score/Kaplan/Calculus tutoring and piano and then for my disability to basically just waste it down the drain. I'm Spanish/German, but I was raised strictly Asian and I took this as a hard hit, because nothing is scarier than losing the faculties of the mind. I've been in pain and I'll be at community college here for one year recieving treatment, then I want to go two hours away to finish an associates and to matriculate into the undergrad program. Tylenol and Gabapentin don't work either!

 

[Squeaksmom]

Umm... I'm 42 and going into 3rd year vet school with two disabilities, one visible and one not. Only you know what you can handle, but it doesn't have to be too late.

 

[chickenlittle]

How much time have you spent actually working in your desired area of vet med? For instance, if you're planning to do small animal GP, how much experience do you have in a small animal vet clinic? You say that you love animals, but veterinary medicine is at least 80% a customer service job. Is that what you want to do with your life?

I haven't enjoyed clinical veterinary practice but I've been able to carve out a decent career for myself in the last few years with freelance veterinary writing. In hindsight, though, I would have gone directly into medical writing or engineering or something more practical (and mentally stimulating!) and saved the animal stuff for fun/passion/enjoyment.