Vet med or PA?

[Lyndsaygirl123]

Hi everyone! I really need some career.college advice.

I am a senior in high school and will be graduating this year. My plan is to start out in my local community college as a bio major and switch to a uni my sophomore or junior yr. But I have one problem: I don't know if I want to pursue a career as vet or a physician assistant. I have spent most of my life wanting to be a vet, however, with the debt and long schooling (4 years), I have been considering a PA school. I have wanted to be a pediatrician in the past, so I think being a pediatric PA,would be a job I really enjoy. However, I still want to pursue vet med as well. My initial plant was to get my BS in biology and apply to vet school, if I don't get in my backup plan was PA (I know that both are very competitive to get into). The problem is that I know that many PA schools require prior health care experience, and the only experience I have had so far is with animals: shadowing vets, volunteering at clinics, shelters, etc. How will I gain the necessary experience for PA school if I pursue vet med also? Do I need to pick just pursue one or the other? I have done a lot of research on both professions.

All advice and help is appreciated!

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[deleted6669]

go to vet school. you like animals and that has been your focus. the money is secondary.

 

[Lyndsaygirl123]

Wel

go to vet school. you like animals and that has been your focus. the money is secondary.

it's not just about the money though. I honestly think I would be just a happy being a PA. I mean, the debt it something I worry about but it's not the only thing. I also am not too keen on going to school for 4 years after my BS.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Hi Lyndsay

Ok, I'm going to to lay it out straight for you. First of all, you haven't even started college yet - people's interests change a lot over time. I didn't make the decision to go to vet school until I was a junior in college.

But, more importantly, if you find yourself not being 100% decided about vet school by the time you are ready to apply....don't do it. Really, don't. Don't amass 140k or more in debt for a career that has an average starting salary of about 50k unless you are completely sure and dedicated to the field. It's a very long, hard road with not a lot of monetary reward unless you are very lucky. Heck, I know people who wanted to be vets since they were kids and are even now grappling with acceptance of the finances involved. Expanding class sizes are making what is already a near-saturated markey for veterinarians even worse; unless major changes are made, the industry is going to continue to flounder.

If you would be just as happy as a PA - be a PA.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

In response to gaining experience, I don't think you'd be putting your eggs all in one basket if you took a break from veterinary work to human work in order to get a better view of the other side of the coin. Lots of applicants to vet school have non-animal medical experience, including research.

 

[Lyndsaygirl123]

In response to gaining experience, I don't think you'd be putting your eggs all in one basket if you took a break from veterinary work to human work in order to get a better view of the other side of the coin. Lots of applicants to vet school have non-animal medical experience, including research.

Really appreciate all the advice! There is a teaching hospital near me that offers a lot of volunteer positions, so I plan on volunteering with them next year to get some experience and see what human healthcare is like. If I don't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, I guess I'll just stick to the vet school goal.

 

[that redhead]

I don't think you need to make the decision right now. I would start your undergraduate courses, get some human health experience and see how you feel in a year or two. Unless you feel really dedicated to vet med/there's nothing else you'd rather do (sounds like this isn't the case, at least currently), I would choose a different career.

 

[Lyndsaygirl123]

I don't think you need to make the decision right now. I would start your undergraduate courses, get some human health experience and see how you feel in a year or two. Unless you feel really dedicated to vet med/there's nothing else you'd rather do (sounds like this isn't the case, at least currently), I would choose a different career.

Thank you! You're right, I don't need to make a decision right now. I just like to have a plan. Vet med used to be the only thing I wanted to do, but once I realized just how much debt I would be getting into I started to question it. That's how I found out about a career as a PA, and started considering it. But I guess I do have plenty of time to make a a decision.

 

[BioBeaver]

I think you have plenty of time to start work on that Biology BS and during your freshman year at least shadow vets and PAs to see which you would like best. There are obvious differences between the two (humans vs animals), but also the role they play.

As a vet you'd be the primary "doctor" for the animal, making the decisions. PAs operate under an MD's license and therefore have to get treatments approved by their doctor. Either way you have plenty of time and good luck!

 

[Lyndsaygirl123]

I think you have plenty of time to start work on that Biology BS and during your freshman year at least shadow vets and PAs to see which you would like best. There are obvious differences between the two (humans vs animals), but also the role they play.

As a vet you'd be the primary "doctor" for the animal, making the decisions. PAs operate under an MD's license and therefore have to get treatments approved by their doctor. Either way you have plenty of time and good luck!

Thank you! I have a good family friend who is a vet, and I have shadowed her for about seven years, so I definitely have a good grip on the vet med field and what a veterinarian does. I will continue to shadow her during college. I have yet to shadow a PA though. Any ideas on how I would go about doing that?

 

[BioBeaver]

Easiest way is to just get the emails of PAs that work in a local hospital and email them all asking to shadow. But if you've focused on VM so long, why are you now switching to PA? Just for money reasons?

 

[Lyndsaygirl123]

Easiest way is to just get the emails of PAs that work in a local hospital and email them all asking to shadow. But if you've focused on VM so long, why are you now switching to PA? Just for money reasons?

Partly for money reasons, and partly for the amount of schooling. I don't particularly want to spend 8 years in school. But I guess I'm also scared about not getting into vet school, and was thinking of PA as a backup plan. Though I have considered vet-tech school as a backup as well. I just feel like my bio degree would end up being kind of useless if I became a tech, and thought the next best thing would be to switch to the human medical field. That's where becoming a PA came in.

I'm probably getting way ahead of myself.

 

[BioBeaver]

I'm probably getting way ahead of myself.

Yeahhhhhhhh.... 😉

 

[that redhead]

Thank you! I have a good family friend who is a vet, and I have shadowed her for about seven years, so I definitely have a good grip on the vet med field and what a veterinarian does. I will continue to shadow her during college. I have yet to shadow a PA though. Any ideas on how I would go about doing that?

If you do end up continuing down the vet med path, I'd suggest branching out in your experience. I'm sure your time with your family friend has been great for learning, but there is so much more a veterinarian can do (food animal, equine, exotics, zoo/aquarium, research, public health, etc). It would also benefit your application to show that you've seen a couple sides to the field and have a bit of diversity of experience 🙂

 

[Lyndsaygirl123]

Yeahhhhhhhh.... 😉

Haha I guess I'll just focus on undergrad for now 😛 Thanks!

 

[Lyndsaygirl123]

If you do end up continuing down the vet med path, I'd suggest branching out in your experience. I'm sure your time with your family friend has been great for learning, but there is so much more a veterinarian can do (food animal, equine, exotics, zoo/aquarium, research, public health, etc). It would also benefit your application to show that you've seen a couple sides to the field and have a bit of diversity of experience 🙂

Thank you! 🙂 Yeah, I do plan on expanding into different types of vet practices. For now I've only had small animal and equine. I really want to get some exotics experience!