Just some thoughts. Vet school?

[amanda509]

So i've been in business school for 18 months now, and its a 21 month program. I am having THE hardest time finding an externship! And if i don't find one, my school randomly places me in the first situation they come up with, which is normally not a good one. $20,000 later, i decided i absolutely hate business, unless i start my own.

Now, i've always wanted to go to vet school, but after seeing the tuition prices and the time that needs put into it, i decided to take a traditional route. Now that the traditional route has added more problems than education and passion, I'm not sure what to do.

Even going to a technical school for business, i had a couple times i almost dropped out because we haven's had stable instructors, I haven't learned what i went there to learn, and now the school has a terrible reputation due to the events that have taken place while i was there. I also couldn't make ends meet money wise because i couldn't get hired because of the school hours, an example would be, i have $200 in my bank account until February unless i get this job I've been interviewing for 3 weeks now. Which means i cannot buy Christmas presents for anyone this year (I'll be making handmade goods for friends and family). It's rough, I'm not sure how much more i can take.

My dream would be to go to vet school. I talked to my boyfriend about it and he is against it due to the debt and time, and i understand his concerns, specially since we're trying to get on our feet out on our own. And i also understand that it is going to be much worse than business school. But it's still something i want to do. I already have a couple very expensive vet books that i read through all the time, I spend almost every night reading up on as much as possible, It's something I'm passionate about. But I'm not sure what to do or think on this. Any advice?

Also, any way to do this and still have time for a full time job in order to make ends meet?

 

[Olimpia]

Vet school probably means a 4 year bachelor's degree in something too, preferably something in science, so you're potentially looking at 7-8 years of school before you graduate as a vet. Depending on where you go, you have to consider the added cost of your BS.

Not to deter you, but just pointing out what's involved. Additionally, vet school is harder to get into than med school, due to the smaller number of colleges. Many medical doctors I know would have preferred to be vets but couldn't make it into the program!

As far as time for working, I couldn't tell you. But I can tell you just from my own anatomy courses, that when you have to memorize the names and locations of everything in the entire nervous system of 5 species for a practical exam, you're not going anywhere that week lol. I would walk the dogs and have my digital text book open on my tablet!

I would shoot Ferret a message. I know vets right now are complaining that their salaries have gone way down and that paying off that debt is getting harder and harder.

 

[amanda509]

Vet school probably means a 4 year bachelor's degree in something too, preferably something in science, so you're potentially looking at 7-8 years of school before you graduate as a vet. Depending on where you go, you have to consider the added cost of your BS.

Yea, i was already expecting 6-8 years from the research that I've done.

Not to deter you, but just pointing out what's involved. Additionally, vet school is harder to get into than med school, due to the smaller number of colleges. Many medical doctors I know would have preferred to be vets but couldn't make it into the program!

I knew it was harder to get into, but didn't have any idea about the medical doctors :/ I like animals, not really too fond of people lol. If it really is my course of action, I won't consider anything less...

As far as time for working, I couldn't tell you. But I can tell you just from my own anatomy courses, that when you have to memorize the names and locations of everything in the entire nervous system of 5 species for a practical exam, you're not going anywhere that week lol. I would walk the dogs and have my digital text book open on my tablet!

I've already been studying bone structure and muscle anatomy on my own time. I'm hoping to get my pet nutrition specialist certification with this job I've been trying to get for forever now. But it would deff be hard finding time trying to do the nervous system for 5 species and still work. I'm stressed enough not being able to make ends meet now as it is :/

I would shoot Ferret a message. I know vets right now are complaining that their salaries have gone way down and that paying off that debt is getting harder and harder.

I'm sure she'll wander onto this thread. I know she has answered some of my older threads from last year about this sort of thing. But its a reoccurring thought and I'm not sure what to do about it..

Thanks!

Edit: Also, I'm not worried about the debt. The way i see it, I'm going to be in debt my entire life anyways, so it doesn't really matter...

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I wandered.

Olimpia has given you great advice. 7-8 years of school and all the debt that comes with it. And she's right about how competitive it is.

I worked throughout vet school. And by work, I mean it was a few hours a few nights a week for enough to pay a few bills and it was jobs within the vet school like computer tech and camp counselor during the summers. There is definitely not enough time to work enough to support yourself. My husband was working full time to make rent and the other bills. And loans made the rest: tuition, more bills, books, supplies, vacation (to see family, nothing big), etc. The first year you're at school 8-5 almost every day, if not longer studying. Not much time for jobs. The middle two years you have a little more time but it's in the gaps between classes or just the afternoons off on some days - not enough for a decent job. During the summers between you are off and can work, but you can really only make a few grand in those months max. And fourth year I had to quit my job because it's year round being in the clinic usually longer than 8-6. There were several rotations where I was there 6:30am-9pm. You will not be able to work through vet school. There's just no getting around that. And it sounds like that is going to be a major obstacle for you. I had classmates who worked for a while to save up money or become more financially stable before pursuing vet school because they just couldn't do it any other way. Nothing wrong with that.

Debt is a huge concern too. It didn't really used to be that way but it is very much a huge factor now. My average classmate had $130,000 in debt graduating! Which puts your average loan payment around $1000/month when you're out. And I know some that had over $200,000 easy. I was very fortunate that my husband was working enough to mostly support us and I worked my butt off and earned scholarships that helped significantly so I got off easy with loans. My loan is still more than a year's salary, so not insignificant. And while everyone thinks that vets just bankroll everything and drive Mercedes and have big huge homes the average starting salary for vets in 2012 was $45-65,000. That's pretty average for any industry despite the additional very rigorous specialized training. People tend to forget vets have the same overhead that every other business does. And unlike human doctors (whose average salary is $178,000 as a family physician that can't even do surgery like I can) that salary really doesn't increase that much with time. It's going to take a long time to pay off that kind of debt on that kind of salary. Especially when the market is becoming more and more saturated very quickly. Vet school is profitable for universities so they're opening up a lot of them relatively speaking, and the market can only support so much when veterinary care is considered a luxury item. My area is extremely saturated and thus salaries are lower than they would be normally, but I love the area. And it appears that this is a trend that is going to continue to spread.

Vets do it because they love it, definitely not because it will make them rich. It's easy to say now that debt isn't a big deal, but it is. It makes it harder to buy a house or a car or provide for future kids, etc.

Now, that being said. If this is something that you love then take the steps you can to reduce your debt burden as much as possible but pursue it. Another option without the training time and debt is to be a veterinary technician. You can still be in the field and get to interact with the owners and you spend even more time with the animals because the techs are the ones who take care of them in the hospital. You get to do a lot that way and the good technicians are nearly doctors themselves with their knowledge base from experience. So that may be something worth looking into.

 

[ChameleonRave]

I know that it is costing me what, $20,000 per year for my Pre-Vet courses. It's just a four year course then I have to transfer out of state to finish and go to grad school. I'm not thinking about it as the money issue at this point. I'm doing online courses for the year to help out with saving more money before going back to the campus. Best of luck!

 

[Olimpia]

I considered moving back to Spain to do vet school, since in Europe you don't need a BS, you just go straight into your veterinary program. So you're out in about 4-5 years total. But with the amount of work you have to do to have that degree accepted here in the US (where I would prefer to stay) I was very discouraged. However, with a Spanish veterinary diploma I could have moved and worked absolutely anywhere else, like England or Italy, but in the end I didn't want to close off options.

So I opted to follow a science career that would lead me into research and lab work, so I'm specializing in microbiology. I enjoy investigation more than dealing with pet parents.

A vet tech seems like a good alternative, honestly. A lot less work and money but you still live the same work life you want to - when I go to the vet with my chameleons it's the vet techs that spend the most time with me in the room and do a lot of the work. It's defintiely something to think about.

 

[Decadancin]

As for the option of being placed in a job you don't like, or isn't the best fit, you've only got a few months left. Finish that and see where it leads. I have recently switched careers (as is evident by my limited time here ) and was not happy with what I was doing anymore. (Certain things have changed and I wasn't as willing to change with them.) I was not so sure of the future of my position either. So, I have started my own small business. Its putting plenty of stress on me and my wife, plenty of cost associated with starting it, some things that come up at the worst time, and the lack of the paycheck that was coming in...I can be a bit moody if things don't go perfectly, it will be a good year before I'm established and things look "normal" again... but I'm excited to do it! I couldn't have done all the prep work without the income from the previous job. I don't want to say this is for everyone, but its exciting!!!

Oh, and by the way, I'll be in the same boat for Christmas this year. In the big picture, that's not the important thing. The holiday is about family and friends, and they should care about you, not some gifts.