I'll talk you out of it! (Squeamish warning)

Klyde O'Scope said:
.

I don't question the fact that suicide among veterinarians is disproportionately high, and there's no question that suicide is a growing problem in our culture.

I just don't find that, "Vets have the 2nd highest suicide rate of any profession just after police officers."
and the article cited doesn't say that either.

I found only one list that put vets even in the top 4, and that list did not correspond with the others I looked at, nor with the most recent figures I could find from CDC.
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I knew what you believed...I was just posting what I found on line about it....as I always do.
 
Klyde O'Scope said:
.

I don't question the fact that suicide among veterinarians is disproportionately high, and there's no question that suicide is a growing problem in our culture.

I just don't find that, "Vets have the 2nd highest suicide rate of any profession just after police officers."
and the article cited doesn't say that either.

I found only one list that put vets even in the top 4, and that list did not correspond with the others I looked at, nor with the most recent figures I could find from CDC.
Click to expand...

:unsure: I couldn't find any supporting articles. But I know from the probably close to 1000 lectures and the large pool of vets that Ive gotten to know over the last year, this number is brought up a lot. They tell us on day one that according to statistics 10 of the 126 of us will commit suicide. Then they start talking about groups like Not One More Vet and outlets. They try very hard to weed us out it feels. Hopefully that claim didn't offend you, such a small detail in an otherwise still serious issue.
 
MissSkittles said:
I wanted so much to have a career working with animals in whatever capacity my brains and finances would allow. Then I worked very briefly at a vet’s office and volunteered at a dog pound. It was way too heartbreaking and infuriating for me and I only had the briefest of glimpses.
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Im 28 now and just starting, I'm quite a bit older than everyone else because of this exact scenario. I worked at a non profit animal shelter that did surgeries with the local vets that were willing to donate their skills. Problem was the animal shelter abused all their animals in the form of not giving them the medical care they needed. Turned into a huge drama fit for T.V. between the vets reporting the shelter for animal cruelty and anyone mentioning the abuse who worked at the shelter getting fired. Eventually all the vets in the area refused to treat animals from the shelter due to them always being on deaths door. It was such a horrible situation it turned me off of to vet school for years. Now that I've been convinced to do it, I realize I can capartmentalize. Luckily I haven't had much time in a clinic since classes started in August and from the looks of it I wont for some time. (I feel like there is something wrong about wanting a break from a job that Im planning on doing the rest of my life ?)
 
KobaOregonherper said:
Im 28 now and just starting, I'm quite a bit older than everyone else because of this exact scenario. I worked at a non profit animal shelter that did surgeries with the local vets that were willing to donate their skills. Problem was the animal shelter abused all their animals in the form of not giving them the medical care they needed. Turned into a huge drama fit for T.V. between the vets reporting the shelter for animal cruelty and anyone mentioning the abuse who worked at the shelter getting fired. Eventually all the vets in the area refused to treat animals from the shelter due to them always being on deaths door. It was such a horrible situation it turned me off of to vet school for years. Now that I've been convinced to do it, I realize I can capartmentalize. Luckily I haven't had much time in a clinic since classes started in August and from the looks of it I wont for some time. (I feel like there is something wrong about wanting a break from a job that Im planning on doing the rest of my life ?)
Click to expand...

It is a very honorable job that we need people to do.
 
KobaOregonherper said:
Im 28 now and just starting, I'm quite a bit older than everyone else because of this exact scenario. I worked at a non profit animal shelter that did surgeries with the local vets that were willing to donate their skills. Problem was the animal shelter abused all their animals in the form of not giving them the medical care they needed. Turned into a huge drama fit for T.V. between the vets reporting the shelter for animal cruelty and anyone mentioning the abuse who worked at the shelter getting fired. Eventually all the vets in the area refused to treat animals from the shelter due to them always being on deaths door. It was such a horrible situation it turned me off of to vet school for years. Now that I've been convinced to do it, I realize I can capartmentalize. Luckily I haven't had much time in a clinic since classes started in August and from the looks of it I wont for some time. (I feel like there is something wrong about wanting a break from a job that Im planning on doing the rest of my life ?)
Click to expand...
Taking breaks is how you stay healthy and sane.
 
KobaOregonherper said:
:unsure: I couldn't find any supporting articles. But I know from the probably close to 1000 lectures and the large pool of vets that Ive gotten to know over the last year, this number is brought up a lot. They tell us on day one that according to statistics 10 of the 126 of us will commit suicide. Then they start talking about groups like Not One More Vet and outlets. They try very hard to weed us out it feels. Hopefully that claim didn't offend you, such a small detail in an otherwise still serious issue.
Click to expand...
I'm not offended, and didn't intend any myself. I was trained to pay attention to facts & misinformation.
Personally, I've known more vets who've died of other causes (cancer, heart, RA...) way before their time, and that's a little jarring too.

"Peace and Long Life"
 
Such an awful statistic to see, also I imagine the high cost of education, low pay, and day to day stress wreak havoc on individuals. I’ve worked in healthcare for roughly two decades, and have what many poles show is a top 5 most stressful job in the US. I’ve seen colleagues make that horrible decision, it hurts every time I think about them. As long as each individual is cognizant of their own mental health, these things can be avoided. Stay strong, and yes, compartmentalism is a tool, but don’t over use it.
 
What the? Just found this on my Facebook feed. I’ve posted 2 comments in this thread...Feeling like Big Brother is real.
F5217AF3-E661-4780-B369-A1ACD1D1388C.jpeg
 
Rippler9107 said:
It’s true though. I’m in Tech school and our Veterinarians and Technicians have sat down with us about 5 times this semester to talk about mental health. Female veterinarians and male technicians are at greater risk.Compassion fatigue is difficult
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Yeah were told this too. One of my professors corrected this a bit though.
Were told that vets who are women are 3.5x more likely and men are 2.5x more likely. That statistic is a bit innacurate because women now make up 65-70% of veterinarians. The likelyhood is, in reality, almost the exact same. He told us this so the men wouldnt think they were somehow safe from the mental stress that came from this job.
 
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KobaOregonherper said:
What you think becoming a vet looks like,View attachment 283913what it actually looks like (bottoms me)View attachment 283914
View attachment 283915(not me, student I'm in servitude with. Neuter and Spay oppertunity we did out of Alpine Animal Hospital...it's 2 am.)

Truth be told its been great, hard to adjust and a ton of work but definitely worth it. Was it worth not getting my PhD? No idea. If anyone wants advice feel free to ask, it's not all this gross. There's a lot they don't tell you before you start school to become a vet, things I wish I'd known. If anyones thinking about trying to get into vet school, please, feel free to send me questions. I have some things I'll send you and some videos to watch that might change your mind.
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What activities or programs would you recommend getting on your resume before you apply? I am in HS and am wondering what I can do to boost my chances to get into a pre vet program
 
ebarrychameleon said:
What activities or programs would you recommend getting on your resume before you apply? I am in HS and am wondering what I can do to boost my chances to get into a pre vet program
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A pre vet program? There isnt much you can do outside of being a tech. Most vets, by most I mean like 90% of the ones I know and everyone Ive ever gone to school with knows, will not let you shadow unless youre a college student. Once youre a freshman then you can add shadowing to the list. Most schools will tell you that vet schools want 500 hours of experience in the field...which is a lie. If you arent well above 1000 maybe nearing 2000 hours your application can very easily and probably will not be competitive. (This is all for the U.S. Outside the U.S it is much less competitive to get into vet schools, they're also payed half as much as they are in the U.S.)

Example:

I was the President of the Pre-Vet society where I got my under grad for 4 years. I worked at a clinic for all 4 of those years and shadowed another 20 hours a week while doing 15-16 credits a semester. I then went on to grad school where I spent 3 years learning about and taking care of reptiles. Also keep in mind I retained a 4.0 through out all of this and I got around a 330 on my GRE. I still only got a call back. I wasn't even top pick. (I dont think they were thrilled by my decision to leave my doctoral program)

So recommendations?
1. 1000+ hours
2. Diversity of experiences
3. 305+ GRE
4. 3.8+ GPA
5. 15 credits taken a semester
6. For the love of God show you have interests outside of being a veterinarian. Schools want to see that you're interesting. They hate the "ive wanted to be a vet my whole life" and the "I like animals more than people" cliches. (The last one is actually bad because being a vet still requires you to have very good people skills).

Again I'm not sure about pre vet programs. Most major schools have prevet programs but you're more applying for the school not the program. Once you're in the school and choose your under grad you can join the program and pay what ever their prevet fees are. This isnt the same everywhere so don't quote me on schools. But I'd focus on getting into a school that offers a good Animal Science degree and then making sure you can handle the 15 credit work load while maintaining a mostly A average.
 
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