Anubis84 said:
Hi, I'm Jared and I'm a pre-med student, but have been thinking a lot about going into ved med. I have a few questions for vets and vet students out there.
1. Do you find that other health care professionals respect you as a professional and respect your education, or do they treat you as a lesser professional since you treat animals?
2. Most vets love animals and love their jobs, but many don't make much money. For those of you who don't earn that much, is it still worth it in the long run? What is the typical salary for vets in the midwest/northeast?
3. Are vets like MDs and dentists and insist on being called "doctor" by everyone, even while not working, like in social situations?
All right,
I wrestle with some of these issues everyday since I work at the state health department of california and my fiancee is in med school (after turning down vet school).
1. MD's have more bling...
Being at the state health department is pretty interesting because I work with DVMs and MDs. DVMs are definitely lower on the health professional-totem pole than MDs. At the CA State Health Department, MD make way more money and have more clout and job flexibility while DVMs get less money and are pretty limited in what they can do, even DVMs with PhD in epidemiology aren't getting the same respect as MDs without formal epi education (i.e. DVM/PhD aren't asked to assist in epi studies [outbreak investigations] while MD are often running the show)...
I even set up a meeting with the state health officer (an MD) and DVMs at the state to talk about vets issues such as remuneration and job opportunities similar to MD; His response "don't complain"...To this day I still don't talk to him because of this...
Talking the previous dean of UC Davis vet school (DVM/PhD), he told me that you have to be part of the "Union" to be respected in public health/research work, MD's automatically get their "union" card when they graduate from med school, DVMs really have to earn it a "union" card...
I spoke to the head of the viral and rickettsial disease lab who is a DVM/MD/MPH and she overwhelming recommends getting an MD.
I pretty much blew her off because I am interested in emerging infections of which the majority are zoonotic and thought Vets were better trained to handle zoonoses.
I think its more important to focus on your interests and not what other people think about what you do.
2. Sure, money is better in human medicine...but I think most people in vet med aren't really in it for the money, most are pretty smart and could have gotten MDs or MBAs or succeeded elsewhere...but if money is your motive, why sacrifice time and effort in medicine...business may be a little easier and quicker...
3. I know MDs who don't like being called "doc"...I personally could care less what I'm called...as long as it's not "stupid"...
Glad you're thinking about these things but first try to keep focused on what you really want to do with your life...
