Would switching jobs affect my vet school application?

[stepphieteppie]

Hi, new member to the forum. A little background about me: I have been working as a vet tech for about 2 years in a small private clinic with long term goals of being a vet (I applied last year and didn't get in, so pre reqs are all done, just have to retake the gre in the future). Wanted to know if switching to clerical work in human medicine for a few years could negatively affect my application to vet school in the future. Sad reality is that vet tech pay is not enough to support myself.

Would also love to know if you have ever contemplated a career change to human medicine (and what did you do about it?).

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[SkiOtter]

Have you looked into the debt to income ratio in vet Med? You don’t get paid a ton but have a ton of debt. I would strongly urge you to look into that.

 

[deleted955608]

Human medicine has it's own set of issues so if you are thinking about switching, make sure you get human medicine experience. Plus you have to take the MCAT which sucks. And ditto to what @SkiOtter said. You don't make very much money as a vet, but graduate with a lot of debt. Vet pay may not be enough to support yourself either depending on how you live and how much debt you graduate with.

Did you find out why you didn't get in last time? Did you not have enough animal experience? I could see switching fields hurting you if you don't have a lot of vet hours, but I don't know for sure. I'm no expert.

 

[Dinashadow]

Hi, new member to the forum. A little background about me: I have been working as a vet tech for about 2 years in a small private clinic with long term goals of being a vet (I applied last year and didn't get in, so pre reqs are all done, just have to retake the gre in the future). Wanted to know if switching to clerical work in human medicine for a few years could negatively affect my application to vet school in the future. Sad reality is that vet tech pay is not enough to support myself.

Would also love to know if you have ever contemplated a career change to human medicine (and what did you do about it?).

I did the opposite and switched from human med. to vet. med. I got paid a lot more in human med. I'm applying to vet school this cycle and I'm aware of how much debt and how little pay I will receive but I honestly won't be happy in any other job.

One of the veterinarians who wrote my LOR asked me if I wanted to go back into human medicine (he was trying to sway me away from going to veterinary school) because I would make a lot more money. If you can be happy working in human medicine then do that instead of going to vet school.

 

[stepphieteppie]

Human medicine has it's own set of issues so if you are thinking about switching, make sure you get human medicine experience. Plus you have to take the MCAT which sucks. And ditto to what @SkiOtter said. You don't make very much money as a vet, but graduate with a lot of debt. Vet pay may not be enough to support yourself either depending on how you live and how much debt you graduate with.

Did you find out why you didn't get in last time? Did you not have enough animal experience? I could see switching fields hurting you if you don't have a lot of vet hours, but I don't know for sure. I'm no expert.

I don't know for sure why I didn't get in, but I did get invited to the mmi interview. Just looking into other jobs for the next couple of years to support myself and my family.

 

[deleted955608]

I don't know for sure why I didn't get in, but I did get invited to the mmi interview. Just looking into other jobs for the next couple of years to support myself and my family.

Well if you are interested in human med at all, the human job may be better for you. More pay and experience in human med. It is really up to you and your family. Just don't think it will be easier financially being a vet. You'll have all that debt plus low pay.

 

[stepphieteppie]

I did the opposite and switched from human med. to vet. med. I got paid a lot more in human med. I'm applying to vet school this cycle and I'm aware of how much debt and how little pay I will receive but I honestly won't be happy in any other job.

One of the veterinarians who wrote my LOR asked me if I wanted to go back into human medicine (he was trying to sway me away from going to veterinary school) because I would make a lot more money. If you can be happy working in human medicine then do that instead of going to vet school.

I did struggle with choosing human vs vet med for a while. Ultimately decided vet med because its all I have ever known. (I don't have any experience in human medicine at all.) Started volunteering and shadowing and eventually started teching and fell in love with the vet med field even though I was dead tired after a 10 hour shift.

 

[stepphieteppie]

Do you think schools will care if it's just a short term job? I'm worried I might not retain all the vet tech skills and could look bad somehow...

 

[SkiOtter]

Ps not everyone goes into vet school with tech skills. Lots of people have never worked as a tech.

 

[battie]

Do you think schools will care if it's just a short term job? I'm worried I might not retain all the vet tech skills and could look bad somehow...

I was a resident director for my undergrad the year prior to my admission to vet school. I applied to that job because it was significantly better monetarily than living with my parents. I actually talked about it frequently during my interview.

 

[stepphieteppie]

I was a resident director for my undergrad the year prior to my admission to vet school. I applied to that job because it was significantly better monetarily than living with my parents. I actually talked about it frequently during my interview.

Thank you! That eased some of my worries

 

[Mattcj]

Hi, new member to the forum. A little background about me: I have been working as a vet tech for about 2 years in a small private clinic with long term goals of being a vet (I applied last year and didn't get in, so pre reqs are all done, just have to retake the gre in the future). Wanted to know if switching to clerical work in human medicine for a few years could negatively affect my application to vet school in the future. Sad reality is that vet tech pay is not enough to support myself.

Would also love to know if you have ever contemplated a career change to human medicine (and what did you do about it?).

It will not hurt your chances of getting into vet school--it is actually favorable for you to have diversified experiences. Schools like MSU, Midwestern, and VMRCVM all look for well-rounded applicants.

I seriously considered changing over to human medicine, but I think human medicine is gross. The pay is absurd compared to veterinarians, but it isn't something I would enjoy. The specialists at VMRCVM get paid maybe $150k/year, which isn't very much if you think about it (teaching full time, research, and practicing). Some human primary care physicians get paid $200k/year (in CA, but regardless). The debt you will have in veterinary school is atrocious, and even if you became a specialist, the reality of you making over $120,000 a year is slim (unless you go to a metropolitan area). Unfortunately the debt repayment choices are also kind of crappy and the misconception about the most popular option (REPAY option of whatever it is) isn't all that great. You make monthly payments for 20 years and the rest gets "wiped away." Most of my classmates had no idea that when it gets "wiped away," the federal government sees that as income tax and you will get taxed in a lump sum after 20 years, so if you have $100,000 debt wiped away, you are expected to pay $40,000 as that lump sum.

Food for thought

 

[LyraGardenia]

I don't think changing jobs would hurt you necessarily, but if you're solely working in human med and not continuing to gain vet experience at the point you apply to vet schools again, I could see it raising questions as to whether you're truly committed to vet med. If you dabble in human med for a bit and decide it's not for you, I would just be prepared to explain why you chose vet med over human med if it were to come up in an interview. If you decide to keep working the clerical job just due to the better pay, I would at least continue shadowing a vet on the weekends or your days off in order to continue gaining veterinary experience hours. Don't worry about losing vet tech skills, vet school will teach you all of the hands-on skills you need, the most important thing to gain from your vet experience is exposure to what being a vet is like.