What will you do with your DVM degree?

Veterinary Science Graduate Programs from U. of I.
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SchatziLife

SchatziLife

Illinois c/o 2020
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Hey everyone! I'm curious to know what you all plan on doing with your DVM degree once you attain it? Private practice? Public Health? Research? Governmental positions? What are you all interested in?
 
I have absolutely no idea. If I had to choose something right now I would say surgery, but that's because I love it and really enjoy working meticulously with my hands and have always loved adrenaline. But, with everything else I've done in my life, once I dive into a field I eventually gravitate towards something. I realize the potential avenues for me in vet med may be somewhat limited due to my disability, but I'm going to keep an open mind.

The service dog organization Corky came from is absolutely amazing; I love them to bits. I think it would be really amazing to work as a vet at one of their headquarters. Giving back, so to speak.

Who knows 😛
 
Public Health/Government/Regulatory Medicine- somewhere in there.

I've been casually aware of this career cluster since at least my junior year of high school and actively pursuing internship/work opportunities and education in these areas since 2007 when I was a sophomore in undergrad. I'm pretty sure this is the area I want to work in but I'm also really excited to learn the clinical skills in school even if I may not be working in a clinical setting in the future. I already have the MPH and if I get accepted to vet school this year I'm going to investigate the possibility of doing a dual MS in Entomology (hoping to possibly tailor the degree toward med/vet entomology). Arthropod-borne diseases interest me greatly. Zoonotic diseases in general interest me. Global vet med interests me.
 
I've heard all sorts of tales of vets changing their mindset once entering school, so I'll definitely be keeping an open mind during vet school... but for the past few years in undergrad, I've held a very strong interest in Shelter Medicine. I've volunteered/worked for animal shelters since I was in high school and always saw the huge need for well-managed veterinary care. I also began working for an emergency & specialty center this year as a nightshift tech, and I've found that I really love the unpredictable nature of emergency medicine. I think I might end up pursuing experience in both and possibly working emergency medicine, but doing contract work for a local shelter? Our hospital is also a small animal & exotics facility, so I'd like to be well-versed in both as a veterinarian.

We'll see what the future holds. 🙂
 
I'm one of those vets who totally changed my mind once I was in school. I entered school with no real plan, but leaning towards environment/wildlife work......but in second year, I began to see the allure of the puzzle of clinical medicine. I went into clinical small animal medicine right after graduation and am still happy there 15 years later 🙂
 
The dream is zoo, hopefully with some wildlife rehab thrown in there (because lots of zoos have those programs). But that's a very long and competitive road. I wouldn't mind ending up in GP as long as I could see exotics and maybe still do the wildlife thing. But I am very open to changing my mind - I don't have any experience outside of small animal and zoo/exotics yet so there is a huge chance I'll find something I like even more.
 
I've done a lot of work with zoo/exotic/wildlife medicine and am fascinated by it. I don't know if I'll end up in a zoo, but the politics of zoo med scare me a bit. I'm very interested in conservation so maybe I'll find a niche there. Of course I love SA, and have interests in opening my own practice. It would probably be SA and exotics, or even get the clearances to be a wildlife rehab facility. And then there's shelter medicine which has always caught my heart.

Haha I'm just all over the place!
 
Hazelmoo's dream job (as of now) - working in a small animal/exotics hospital in a town with a wildlife rehabilitation center that I can work closely with! Also able to preform spays and neuters for the humane society/animal shelter. I would also live in a suburb or somewhere near a zoo... I love zoo med but don't think I would want to be a full time zoo vet. Maybe I'll teach some college classes later in life... Who knows! I have lots of time to figure it out 🙂
 
I love how unique everyone is! And hopefully we will all call each other colleagues soon!!
 
My career goals are disease monitoring in wildlife. I really like infectious/zoonotic diseases, like since middle school. I figured I might as well combine my two loves into a full on career.
 
Well, most people tend to frame them and hang them on a wall.... Maybe I will find a frame with flames or an electric frame... I feel like there are a lot of possibilities for what I can do with that sheet of paper. Paint it? Frame it? Turn it into a puzzle? Just tape it to the wall? Maybe I could turn it into a kite and fly it...
 
At this point I still have no idea what I want to do. Most likely get a job somewhere, hopefully. 😛 The only thing that is certain is the growing list of specialties I would never want to do. :laugh:
 
DVMDream said:
Well, most people tend to frame them and hang them on a wall.... Maybe I will find a frame with flames or an electric frame... I feel like there are a lot of possibilities for what I can do with that sheet of paper. Paint it? Frame it? Turn it into a puzzle? Just tape it to the wall? Maybe I could turn it into a kite and fly it...
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I want to like this at least 5 times
 
DVMDream said:
Well, most people tend to frame them and hang them on a wall.... Maybe I will find a frame with flames or an electric frame... I feel like there are a lot of possibilities for what I can do with that sheet of paper. Paint it? Frame it? Turn it into a puzzle? Just tape it to the wall? Maybe I could turn it into a kite and fly it...
Click to expand...
LOL! I framed mine alongside my class jacket's patch.
 
I have zoo dreams. If those don't pan out, I see myself heading towards nutrition, maybe equine. Zoos are increasing their focus on nutrition lately anyways, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to consult as a veterinary nutritionist.

I also like wildlife rehab/conservation medicine, so I could see myself going anywhere in that as well. Lots of choices!
 
I have been very interested in comparative oncology, and I would love to be one of the veterinarians that run clinical trials in dogs to test out novel drugs. Tentatively, I would want to specialize in oncology and then see where that goes. I've also considered the idea of getting a PhD.
But of course, I began with dreams of becoming a small animal veterinarian, so I think I will be happy with that if it turns out that way.
 
I'm hoping to go into conservation/wildlife research.. I really want to work with marine mammals. I'd like to study their physiological responses to anthropogenic changes in their environment, such as global climate change and a warming ocean/ocean acidification etc. I also really like epidemiology and toxicology, so research in those areas would be really cool as well! My undergrad has a great marine mammal research group that's associated with the college, but our vet currently works at a small animal practice 2 hours away, so consulting with her about a stranded seal/porpoise is not easy. Maybe after vet school I'll go back and work with the marine mammal group and help set up facilities to test blood and tissues from necropsies, and work with the stranding team. Who knowsss
 
wheelin2vetmed said:
Actually, as of this morning I've changed my goals. I'd like to develop and care for sharks with frickin' laser beams.

I believe @katashark and I are embarking on this journey together.
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Just as long as you're putting the frickin' laser beams on their frickin' heads
 
SchatziLife said:
Hey everyone! I'm curious to know what you all plan on doing with your DVM degree once you attain it?
Click to expand...

Probably create a shrine to it or something.

😛

I am also pretty jazzed about the whole One Health movement and would really like to get at it from the angle of wildlife health research. Like others have mentioned, getting into zoo/wildlife vet med is definitely a heck of a long road... but it's such a neat field. 😀 We'll see how things shake out.

Honestly, though, one of the big things I'm excited about as far as vet school is concerned is learning more about this very question - I know DVMs can do a lot of different things, but I'm looking forward to learning more about what those "things" can look like.
 
Three months away from my clinical year and I'm still really not sure. If you made me commit to something right now, I would say I want to get board certified in med Oncology. If you had asked the same question a year ago I would have said SA Internal Med. Eventually I'll have to actually decide, I suppose.
 
Cephal0pod said:
Probably create a shrine to it or something.

😛

I am also pretty jazzed about the whole One Health movement and would really like to get at it from the angle of wildlife health research. Like others have mentioned, getting into zoo/wildlife vet med is definitely a heck of a long road... but it's such a neat field. 😀 We'll see how things shake out.

Honestly, though, one of the big things I'm excited about as far as vet school is concerned is learning more about this very question - I know DVMs can do a lot of different things, but I'm looking forward to learning more about what those "things" can look like.
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Yeah a zoo or wildlife job would be cool, but just seems like such a stretch. Interesting, but not enough of a desire to spend half a decade or more doing internships and a residency or whatever before being able to get a real paying job.

Planning on finishing my PhD after vet school; it would be cool to go back to Australia and I think they'd be happy to have me back at AAHL, but I don't see the girl wanting to come with me and I'm not too keen on being on the other side of the world as her for 2-3 years. 3 months was enough. Figuring I'll stay where I am. If there's any good prospects in academia, cool. Otherwise I could see myself in a government position (CDC, NBAF, whatever) or in some sort of industry. I just want to get paid to travel and play with horrible pathogens.
 
Frozenshades said:
Otherwise I could see myself in a government position (CDC, NBAF, whatever) or in some sort of industry. I just want to get paid to travel and play with horrible pathogens.
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How readily available are positions like that? I'd imagine jumping into the CDC or NIH would be difficult, but I'm not sure how true this assumption is.

Since you're at K-State, do you anticipate a lot of positions available for DVM(/MPH) students with PIs or future employers at NBAF? Also, this might be a weird question, but how affiliated with the military do you need to be to be considered for government positions?
 
As my username implies, I really love epidemiology. It's one of the paths I'm still considering, though it may be something I get to later in life. I love clinical medicine and really don't want to lose my skills right out of the gate. I've talked with our epidemiologist here and she said that she thinks it's wise to practice a few years and then move on to something else if I find that private practice doesn't suit me. I'm going to try to be prepared to see exotics, as I think that's the only way I'd enjoy being a private practitioner. If I'm unhappy, I have the MPH and have considered trying out for EIS. TAHC likes to hire those with clinical experience, so that may be a place I end up too or maybe APHIS. I'm just trying to keep an open mind while still not casting my net too wide as to not be overwhelmed. My #1 priority is to have a job, any job, lined up by the time I graduate. I would be very thankful for that.
 
I would love to be able to open my own clinic but also do work for an animal shelter.
 
yugen said:
How readily available are positions like that? I'd imagine jumping into the CDC or NIH would be difficult, but I'm not sure how true this assumption is.

Since you're at K-State, do you anticipate a lot of positions available for DVM(/MPH) students with PIs or future employers at NBAF? Also, this might be a weird question, but how affiliated with the military do you need to be to be considered for government positions?
Click to expand...

Honestly I'm not sure about either of those answers. For the first yeah, I'd imagine there's not loads of opportunities (but they exist), but there's probably not loads of people with any particular skill set that they're looking for. I'm more worried about finishing my DVM and getting my research going before really cracking down for the job search.

I really don't know much about MPH programs, but I would expect opportunities for people with that qualification. Public health seems to be a pretty diverse field. I could be wrong, but personally I interpret an MPH as being a mix of hard and soft sciences, so while I can see the sensibility of that in some scenarios (particularly larger scale work comes to mind; you know, epidemiology focusing on the bigger picture, bioinformatics, other things I don't understand), I'd probably expect more PhDs on the nitty gritty lab work side of things, which is where my interest lies.

Unless you're gunning for a position with the military (which still claims to hire civilians and contractors for certain work), I don't see any reason to be concerned about that.
 
Right now, I'm interested in small animal practice, however I'm extremely interested in a surgical specialization. The trick will be maintaining a 3.5 or higher in vet school.....
 
Frozenshades said:
Planning on finishing my PhD after vet school; it would be cool to go back to Australia and I think they'd be happy to have me back at AAHL, but I don't see the girl wanting to come with me and I'm not too keen on being on the other side of the world as her for 2-3 years.
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Why in the world not!? Australia is the bees knees!

Hopefully I will snag a wonderful lab animal residency around this time next year, complete that, become ACLAM boarded, land a wonderful job, pay off my loans (maybe with PSLF), and play with mice and monkeys all day 😀
 
yugen said:
How readily available are positions like that? I'd imagine jumping into the CDC or NIH would be difficult, but I'm not sure how true this assumption is.
Click to expand...

Frozenshades said:
Honestly I'm not sure about either of those answers. For the first yeah, I'd imagine there's not loads of opportunities (but they exist), but there's probably not loads of people with any particular skill set that they're looking for.
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About opportunities in the NIH, I'm not sure about how it is in other areas, but I'm a postbac fellow in the National Cancer Institute and can speak a little bit to what I've seen.
You would think that veterinarians, DVM or DVM/PhDs, have a very unique skill set that would appeal to PIs, but that doesn't necessarily work out that way. I work with a vet, and she doesn't have a PhD, so it seems much more difficult for her to earn respect at a place that is mostly MD/PhD, older, white males with degrees from x number of ivy leagues. To find a position, it's already competitive, but I feel like the connections and networking are what actually will get you in. You're much more likely to find a position by contacting a veterinarian that's already working there.
 
Frozenshades said:
I really don't know much about MPH programs, but I would expect opportunities for people with that qualification. Public health seems to be a pretty diverse field. I could be wrong, but personally I interpret an MPH as being a mix of hard and soft sciences, so while I can see the sensibility of that in some scenarios (particularly larger scale work comes to mind; you know, epidemiology focusing on the bigger picture, bioinformatics, other things I don't understand), I'd probably expect more PhDs on the nitty gritty lab work side of things, which is where my interest lies.
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You're correct. The MPH is basically a professional degree that prepares people to leave school immediately and start working. It includes curriculum topics like health behavior and promotion and health policy which are not the hard sciences. Some schools also have the MSPH which is the research oriented degree and sometimes that is followed by the DrPH (which is a not so common degree). Most people in MPH programs do a specialization in one of the core curriculum areas and those specializations usually align well with specific public health jobs - epidemiology/epidemiologist, health behavior and promotion/ health educator, biostatistics/epidemiologist, registrar, or statistician, environmental health/ sanitarian, etc.

yugen said:
Also, this might be a weird question, but how affiliated with the military do you need to be to be considered for government positions?
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The government, especially the federal, is very friendly to educated people with military service... and their spouses. It's a very desirable quality. Realistically, though, there are only so many military professionals with DVM's going around so most government employed veterinarians are civilians. When the government hires people it largely looks at experience, education, and military service. Going above the minimum standard in education or experience is extremely favorable. Military service is like the "powerball" in the application process, nice but not necessary to win.
 
Frozenshades said:
I don't know! I'd probably try to work harder to convince her if a serious offer came haha. I did love the time I was there. Except for the cost of living...
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The salary typically makes up for it, at least I think so. In Perth when I was there (2008?! dang I need to go back) the minimum wage was like $15/hour.
 
kcoughli said:
The salary typically makes up for it, at least I think so. In Perth when I was there (2008?! dang I need to go back) the minimum wage was like $15/hour.
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Yeah, minimum wage is loads better back home but there is a significant cost of living change as well as you need to compare AUD to USD to get a real feel of how different it is. I grew up in Darwin so cost of living was lower but places like Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, etc, are more expensive to live in.
 
Applying to SA rotating internships next year with my ultimate goal of SA surgical residency and getting boarded in SA surgery. Always wanted to do surgery and it's only been reinforced every time I get to work with the surgeons, or get to scrub in, or deal with any surgical case. I love bones so much and I get so incredibly giddy when an ortho case walks in the door and I totally get a little jealous when another student gets to work up a lameness.
 
Gwenevre said:
Just as long as you're putting the frickin' laser beams on their frickin' heads
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frau.jpg
 
Back when I was in high school, I decided "hey, I don't want to be a typical small animal veterinarian, I wanna work with zoo and marine animals, or in wildlife rehab!" my time spent volunteering with exotics and wildlife in undergrad only strengthened those feelings, though I also learned the hard truths about getting into that field 😛

So with that in mind, I'm kind of aiming for zoo/exotic/wildlife while also leaning toward large animal since I know how much of a longshot the former would be. Other than that, though, I really have nothing specific...I'm keeping an open mind and am a blank slate as far as my knowledge of particular specializations, so who knows if I'll end up really enjoying something? Parasit is pretty cool...All I know for sure is I'd still much rather go into LA/food or many other things before SA clinical, eh...maybe it'd be okay if it were mixed practice with emphasis on LA, or on something niche like avian/exotics, don't know how feasible that would be though.

ketoone said:
Other than that, I do have a slight interest in production and food safety medicine, too, especially in poultry (I love me some chickens and turkeys!).
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Yeeessss! :chicken::eggface:
 
Things I've considered (in the last two months):
  • Theriogenology (board-certify, teach at vet school, try to start up my own endo research lab)
  • Internal medicine (board-cerify- equine, teach at vet school, try to start up my own endo research lab)
  • USDA- especially aquaculture, I think I may be graduating at just the right time with really unique qualifications to potentially catch the wave that is aquaculture perfectly, plus I'm really good at/love government work and the benefits are tough to beat
  • Private practice with the goal of owning a small animal or emergency clinic within 5-10 years out
  • Try to get into jobs working for aquariums/museums (get to do some research, some conservation work, interact with/teach the public)
  • Stay at home mom
 
Foxhunter said:
Things I've considered (in the last two months):
  • Theriogenology (board-certify, teach at vet school, try to start up my own endo research lab)
  • Internal medicine (board-cerify- equine, teach at vet school, try to start up my own endo research lab)
  • USDA- especially aquaculture, I think I may be graduating at just the right time with really unique qualifications to potentially catch the wave that is aquaculture perfectly, plus I'm really good at/love government work and the benefits are tough to beat
  • Private practice with the goal of owning a small animal or emergency clinic within 5-10 years out
  • Try to get into jobs working for aquariums/museums (get to do some research, some conservation work, interact with/teach the public)
  • Stay at home mom
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Yay aquaculture!
 
katashark said:
Yay aquaculture!
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Yea... I don't honestly think there are a ton of jobs for vets (kinda one of those only pay a vet for the things we can't legally do ourselves things), but maybe in oversight/government. My PhD project uses tilapia as a model, so that gives me a unique perspective and next year assuming I complete my prelims in time, I'll be submitting a USDA fellowship application.
 
hazelmoo said:
I saw an exotics vet almost perform a goldfish surgery on TV and I thought of you 🙂
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One of our professors does that every once in awhile. Definitely fun to watch.

I do terminal surgeries on tilapia.... Though some of our old experiments involved removing the hypothalamus and recovering the fish... how crazy is that.
 
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