<p>A recent post got me thinking about the paths that lead people to their chosen fields of study, and I especially wonder how one decides to become a vet knowing how competitive, expensive, and challenging vet school will be.
For my d, I believe serious consideration began in hs when she found she loved AP bio. She had a fantastic teacher who made every lesson interesting. I remember D announcing one day during her junior year that she had decided to be a vet based on her love of science and animals. She had volunteered at our local Humane society for awhile, and once she interned at a vet hospital she knew this was a career she would love and would be worth the years preparation. My husband asked her why not med school and she said she didn't believe she would have the patience to deal with people, lol.</p>
<p>So, why do you want to be a vet?</p>
<p>Oh, and looking back I recall D loved the James Herriot books - maybe an early influence? She is currently in the 2nd semester of her freshman year of college and is a bio major.</p>
<p>My D used to watch Emergency Vet when she was 5! After seeing Eight Belles break her legs in the 2008 Kentucky Derby, she was convinced she wanted to be a vet.</p>
<p>I love animals and science, and sitting through a few bio lectures (but I didn’t get the class) just reaffirmed how much I enjoy it. I really can’t wait to take the class even though everyone says it’s challenging, and I think that depends on how much you like the class. </p>
<p>Going to cal poly, since it’s an ag school, I have to work a lot with livestock which I’m not very interested in. Despite that I’m still getting the change to work with animals and that’s the best part. I can’t see myself doing anything else with my life, and even if I don’t make it into vet school and beyond I would still work in a clinic or something so I could be helping animals in some way.</p>
<p>(PS; I loved watching emergency vets! It was my favorite show when I was little, and I wish they still had it on the air :[ )</p>
<p>Your D is in the sounds like me! I love Biology and that’s my major. Learning about different species is intriguing and being hands on is an awesome experience. I have learned so much about all sorts of animals. Whether it is domesticated/exotic animals both are AMAZING. I mean all I ever watch is animal planet and I constantly read the encyclopedia (an animal one). I want to go into veterinary pathology, since I find disease so interesting. I am not a people person, so vet med is the route for me. I can’t picture myself doing anything else. All the science courses that prevets are required to take are rigorous, yet I like them a lot.</p>
<p>“My husband asked her why not med school and she said she didn’t believe she would have the patience to deal with people, lol.”</p>
<p>She may be in for a rude awakening, then! Being a vet is every bit as much about working with owners as it is working with pets. Vets end up wearing a lot of hats: doctor, teacher, psychologist, financial advisor, and many others. Now, if she’s saying she doesn’t have the patience to deal with people’s medical issues, then I can understand. I would be mortified to have to talk to someone about their urinary incontinence or other embarrassing problems, or to, say, perform a rectal exam on a person–but animals don’t get embarrassed, so it’s no big deal!</p>
<p>You always hear people say they want to be a vet because they “love animals.” Sure, that’s a pre-requisite. But I would say I’m in it because I also want to help people. For many people, pets are members of their family. Just as they would appreciate a good doctor taking care of their grandmother, they appreciate the same for their pets. I also love when I can teach people something about their pet, or make them understand what is wrong with it and what we can do to fix it. Vets also help society due to their involvement in public health, food safety, preventing pet overpopulation, abuse, and neglect. And of course there is also the fascination of learning all the intricacies of animal anatomy and physiology–this is not interesting to everyone, but it certainly is to me. It’s challenging, too, because you have to learn dogs, cats, horses, pigs, ruminants, etc., what diseases they get, what drugs work for them, what things are toxic for them…these are all different for each of the species. There’s just so much more to being a vet than loving animals!</p>
<p>Actually, what D meant was that she has no patience with people who smoke, eat the wrong foods, don’t exercise, then want a magic pill to keep them healthy. As she put it, animals are never at fault for their medical issues.</p>
<p>I agree completely that anyone planning on a vet career needs to have people skills in spades. D shadows a t a local vet, and over spring break she had to converse with a woman who kept directing her pets medical care based on what the 'cat psychic" she consulted had told her.<br>
You make a very good point about a veterinarian’s role as educator. To me that is one of their most important tasks in caring for any animal - making sure the people know how to be a responsible pet owner.</p>
<p>Congrats on making it to your last year in Vet school! Your goal is in sight - please continue posting here as you can to share the wisdom of your experiences!</p>
<p>Lol, yes, there is no end to the crazy things you will hear from pet owners (if it’s not the “pet psychic,” it’s the backyard breeder or some random website–and they follow that advice over ours)! Instead of dealing with people who smoke, eat poorly, don’t exercise, etc., you deal with people who refuse to stop feeding table scraps, don’t walk their dogs, don’t give them the medications they need, or don’t bring their pet in until it is nearly dead…it’s kind of the same thing, only almost worse, because they are causing someone ELSE to suffer. You just feel bad for the animal because, as you said, they have no control over their health care (and also can’t tell you what’s wrong with them). We just try our best to get through to those owners. Some are truly uneducated and don’t know what they’re doing is wrong, some can’t afford the best care, and others are just plain lazy. I hope I can deal with those situations once I’m out of school (we see it as students in clinics here, but the doctors are the ones that carry out most of the serious conversations with owners).</p>
<p>Thank you for the encouragement. I still can’t believe graduation is only 6 weeks away!</p>