Hello! I was wondering if any zoological/wildlife veterinary students or veterinarians would be willing to share about their career path (where they went to school and why they chose that institution, what opportunities they have taken part in both through and outside of their school, and what advice they would give to someone extremely interested in the field). Thank you SO much!
Zoological/Wildlife Veterinary Advice
- Thread starter maddvet
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I went to U of I, mostly because I got accepted there. Got off the waitlist at UF, but decided being closer to home/future husband was more important than the 'dream school.' I didn't get into my in state, and tuitions between the two were comparable. U of I does have a lot of zoo/wildlife/exotics opportunities. During school, I volunteered at our wildlife clinic and was our Oxbow student rep. During school breaks, I worked at a small animal/exotics GP back home and did MarVet one summer. Went to the AAZV conferences whenever I could, secured a few early externships at those conferences (as in, before my actual clinics year) so was able to get more experience than most of my peers.
I used all of my elective and all but one of my vacation blocks (not something I would necessarily recommend) for additional zoo internships, and intentionally chose one that had my #1 zoo internship choice, which was outside of the match. Did a rotating internship right out of school, stayed on for ER for a couple of years and aggressively paid down my loans. Got the one zoo internship I wanted, got hired at a nearby zoo out of the internship, and now am at my hometown zoo.
If you're serious about the field, you have to be pretty aggressive in seeking out opportunities. I had no publications and a low GPA coming out of vet school - I knew I did not stand a chance in the match for internships/residencies (I didn't want to do a zoo residency to be honest, but the option would have been nice). I knew my chances were low ahead of time and strategized around that. My zoo internship remembered me well from my externship, so choosing a less glamorous zoo intentionally was the smart choice (everyone wants to go to Disney, San Diego, Brookfield, etc., those vets remember very few faces that come through over the years). I also told myself that if I didn't get anything after 2-3 tries, I would be staying in ER for the foreseeable future. Also, turns out that my ER experience was the tipping point for both my internship offer and the offer from my current job. It has served me very well in this field.
Ideally you will have a better GPA than I did, get a publication squeaked out before you apply for zoo-specific stuff, and have your externships well thought out and scheduled years ahead of time so you have first pick of the schedule. Aim for your zoo externships to be in the middle to end of your clinical year, when you are better at being a 4th year. Fresh 4th year students very rarely impress as much as those that have had had several rotations already, especially pathology. Keep in touch with the zoo vet(s) you think you'd want to write you a letter of rec for the match (not necessarily for a rotating, but definitely for a zoo internship). Remember that this is a small world - you never know who will be evaluating you in the future...it could even be your own classmate, so work hard and be a decent person. Don't be the person that only shows up when the clinician is around (and gets a good letter of rec out of it) but disappears when no one 'important' is watching.
I used all of my elective and all but one of my vacation blocks (not something I would necessarily recommend) for additional zoo internships, and intentionally chose one that had my #1 zoo internship choice, which was outside of the match. Did a rotating internship right out of school, stayed on for ER for a couple of years and aggressively paid down my loans. Got the one zoo internship I wanted, got hired at a nearby zoo out of the internship, and now am at my hometown zoo.
If you're serious about the field, you have to be pretty aggressive in seeking out opportunities. I had no publications and a low GPA coming out of vet school - I knew I did not stand a chance in the match for internships/residencies (I didn't want to do a zoo residency to be honest, but the option would have been nice). I knew my chances were low ahead of time and strategized around that. My zoo internship remembered me well from my externship, so choosing a less glamorous zoo intentionally was the smart choice (everyone wants to go to Disney, San Diego, Brookfield, etc., those vets remember very few faces that come through over the years). I also told myself that if I didn't get anything after 2-3 tries, I would be staying in ER for the foreseeable future. Also, turns out that my ER experience was the tipping point for both my internship offer and the offer from my current job. It has served me very well in this field.
Ideally you will have a better GPA than I did, get a publication squeaked out before you apply for zoo-specific stuff, and have your externships well thought out and scheduled years ahead of time so you have first pick of the schedule. Aim for your zoo externships to be in the middle to end of your clinical year, when you are better at being a 4th year. Fresh 4th year students very rarely impress as much as those that have had had several rotations already, especially pathology. Keep in touch with the zoo vet(s) you think you'd want to write you a letter of rec for the match (not necessarily for a rotating, but definitely for a zoo internship). Remember that this is a small world - you never know who will be evaluating you in the future...it could even be your own classmate, so work hard and be a decent person. Don't be the person that only shows up when the clinician is around (and gets a good letter of rec out of it) but disappears when no one 'important' is watching.
