What to do if you don’t think vet school is for you anymore

[theSAvet]

I’ve been a vet student and I’m still feeling burned out and strained from that experience. I withdrew from the program in August and pretty much went straight into a different program.

I can’t say that I’m extremely happy. I’m not really enjoying the courses.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve really been questioning if this is really what I still want to be doing. It may have to do with all the grief I’ve been going through with these programs and the VMCAS applications, but I just feel done with the BS that comes with academia and the bureaucracy. It really feels like it’s unnecessarily difficult and way more complicated and troublesome than it needs to be. Both applying to schools, the process, and dealing with difficult professors.

Any way, I was curious as to what people who have left the vet school path have chosen to do with their lives. I’m not a RVT and my Bachelors is in something I don’t want to go back to. I also don’t think that I’d want to do anything animal related either because of the bad taste these programs have left in my mouth for anything vet med related.

Any advice would be great

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[battie]

My back up plan was working in residence life at my undergrad. I was on my third cycle and working for my undergrad when I made that decision because I was only going to apply 3 times. My major was bio and there was nothing that I wanted to use it for. I was eventually going to have to get a master's in higher Ed to move up in the world.

With that said, vet school is nothing like being a vet in any way. I work 36-48 hours a week (depending on if it's my week with 4 shifts) and I do minimal "studying" outside of work. I just had my annual review and got great feedback.

I do agree with the beurocracy level being excessive. But that's going to be in any industry. My dad works in fracking, some of the most red neck work out there, and there's still an insane amount of beurocracy.

 

[dancingvet_loading]

Any advice would be great

LMU student here who also did the masters program. If you want any advice or to just vent, you can dm me! It’s rough out here in school and in the area that you may not be accustomed to, but if you can only see yourself in this field, then push through! But if you truly don’t see yourself here anymore, then go with your heart. The masters is tough! I completely understand.

 

[nicole120]

As a current applicant of the program, do you care to elaborate?

 

[that redhead]

In my class we lost a few people. One in particular decided to become a writer for a science-y publication and as far as I know is happy with it.

The thing is, you need SOME direction, right? It’s completely fine to decide this isn’t your path for whatever reason, but you also need to take the time to inventory your interests, strengths and goals in life (personal and professional). If you’re feeling burnt out, you could explore a sabbatical year option but I have no idea if putting your degree on hold for a year is even feasible for your particular program. But worth discussing with your school as they often want to retain people.

 

[EB73674]

Any advice would be great

I think it's time to take a break after this semester - take a leave of absence & don't return to the program in the spring. It's not worthwhile pouring more money into a degree you hate and/or won't use. Take stock of your hobbies and interests, and take some time explore careers you might like in the future. What about a career in biology? Or biomedical sciences? Or even teaching science or something? There are a ton of career paths that don't have near the same stress & burnout as vet school. But, as battie said above, you aren't in vet school to be in vet school. You're in vet school to be a vet. If you don't want that anymore, or you don't like the other parts of the industry aside from these two very specific school experiences, then it's entirely reasonable to stop & try something different. It's reasonable to do that even if you do think you'd like being a vet, but need to prioritize your mental health over a stressful program to get there. I do agree that the admissions process is pretty intensive, but I think it's honestly a good thing to make sure people really, TRULY want this before embarking on a massively expensive program.

 

[supershorty]

Some posts have been edited to remove identifying information.