I am currently a freshman studyin mechanical engineering at a stem school. Due to complications with my summer courses and the compatiability with the school/finances, I am transferring to UCF in this upcoming fall 2018. I have been doing some soul searching after the second round of tests in my core classes and getting 60-70 at best (that consisted of weeks of studying but also I have test anxiety). My love for animals goes far beyond just wanting to help. When I was little I wanted to be a vet because I felt I had a bind with them (all other vet students must say the same) but ultumity i decided i may want to major in pre-vet because there was only so many volunteer hours i could put in at humance societies and so much money i could raise/donate to places who take care of all kinds of animals. Now that I have realized that engineering is difficult and my dad in fact is an engineer and told me it is apart of the struggle to understand the material. I just don’t knoe how michni truly care about any of it when it comes to post graduation. Where if I was a vet I could practically see myself enjoying at least half of the time I spend doing the job. I am trying to see how competitive the field is and how likely I would be able to get into a grad program. I have an army rotc scholarship but am currently thinking about not having it because I don’t know I ok can see myself in military anymore. I find that I will be more excited to work in the vet field, but am worried about the life circumstances that come with it. Money, work, applying to grad school in the first place. Help!
Full disclosure - I am an engineer. When I was in high school, I debated between being a vet or engineer. What made me think twice about becoming a vet is that I knew that there would be situations where an owner would bring in their pet and could decide the cost to save the pet was too high. That owner could decide to not treat the pet and maybe even put the pet down. I knew that cases like these would break my heart. Choosing a career is very personal and yes - engineering was hard. Luckily, you only need to pass and hopefully be above the curve. If your parent is in the field, he could also help with contacts (we have helped connect people to jobs - both my husband and I are engineers.) For me, I don’t regret not going into veterinary medicine.
My older daughter thought she might want to be a vet so she shadowed a vet in high school and she read between the lines. They essentiallly told her not to - lots of work and not much pay and you will end up with grad school loans. I would hate to discourage anyone from following their dreams so I am just sharing my experiences. If you can, shadow a couple of different vets and see what you think.
Vet field is very competitive. There are something like 30 vet schools in the US. You need to check with the vets schools you are interested in terms of their requirements. Core requirements are similar but each has some nuances. There are also vet experience hours required. Not sure how many of the vet schools state absolute stated minimums but ones I have seen indicate something to the effect that “competitive applications will reflect at least 1,000 hours” with the actual number varying somewhat.
I agree that you should shadow vets to give you a better sense of whether you will like it.
UCF also has a pre-vet society: https://ucfprevetsociety.org/
And pre-vet advising: https://sciences.ucf.edu/biology/undergraduate-program/zoology-pre-veterinary-track/
University of Florida has a vet school. Admission requirements: http://education.vetmed.ufl.edu/admissions/course-requirements/
Those will be good sources of info as well.
Pay of vets is not great (particularly if you look at the schooling required). $75-100,000 is often listed as average. Vet schools will be paid for with savings or loans. No scholarships. So undergrad costs should be considered. Not uncommon for vets to graduate with $150k-200k+ in debt. I have heard several vets say to people looking at becoming an equine vet that you need to determine if you want to take care of horses or own horses because you likely won’t be able to do both.
My son is pre-vet and I’m an engineer. He shadowed a few vets and worked for one for a school year. He saw the good and the bad. Most say if you can see yourself doing ANYTHING else then do that. If all you can see yourself doing is being a vet go for it. He is luck and should end up with very little debt which helps with the decision. He wants to be an equine vet. Vet schools have low acceptance rates, about 10% per school. Some even lower! You have to have stellar undergraduate grades and lots of animal experience. My son entered college with about 500 vet hours and 500 or more animal experience hours. Undergrad you have to keep your debt down because as the above person stated average debt is high from vet school. The career has one of the highest suicide rates of all professions. Engineering is hard. You can get a decent job with a lower GPA right our of college. Think about that too. You honestly need a 3.5 or higher to have a good shot at vet school and most have a 3.7 or higher.