What to do to become a licensed Veterinarian?

[kapfarm]

I am definently getting more inclined to go to school. You are right about full time schooling/supporting a family but I am sure it has and can be done. There must be different options available.

 

[kimmyh]

I am a Vet Tech, and I have worked with a number of vets those that were schooled in the states, and one who went to an off shore school, then tested in in the states. I found the off shore vet easier to work with, but a little less skilled/arrogant when it came to procedures (it could have just been him, who knows). And I have seen new vets go belly up trying to start a practice. In most cases I would caution you in taking on a large animal/food based practice. No one pays you when you get hurt, and a lot of food processors don't have the equipment needed for your safety. Large animal clients are often shopping for the best deal on vets, which means, those hours you spent on the telephone/at the farm educating them is wasted unpaid time. Starting a vet practice is expensive, you need a LOT of equipment, drugs, and a small staff. Once you open the doors, don't expect to even break even for 5 years. Small animal vets make more per hour than large animal vets, and have more staff headaches. So if your going to go down this path you will need to decide which type of stress you are more apt to handle well, staff or physical pain, and decide if you are willing to miss holidays and evenings with your family. A vet building a practice is at the beck and call of their clients the first 5 years if they really want to build a strong client base.

If I was in your shoes, I would head to my community college, take all of their intake tests and see where I stood. Then have a meeting with a school counselor and get some direction on how they can help you get ready to pursue a vet career. At that point you should be able to line out the courses you can take at the CC and the expense, and make a decision. Personally, if you are looking for a career change where you can help others, I would look into nursing. There are hundreds of avenues you can take with a nursing degree, from actual patient contact, to sales/management. If you go the sales/management direction you can have real hours, weekends and holidays off.

 

[Eliza]

To get a flavor of this venture, I would read autobiographies written by vets on becoming a vet. The reality is, having worked at a vet schooland saw first hand, is that the competition is stiff, the tuition will leave you in debt in excess of $100k, it takes 8 years, you have to be an ace in physics, chemistry, biochemistry, and that's just for the bachelor's degree! the hours are grueling, the return on investment is minimal. I also worked at a pharmaceutical company in the vet med section (we invented drugs for animals), and all the vets who worked on the protocols (outlining for the clinical trials how the medications were to be administered and the results analyzed) ALL told me that they left private practice for the pharmaceutical industry for the bigger bucks (so that they could pay off the loans), and the regular hours, and the holidays off. The reason that the competition and curriculum is so tough, is that the advances in medicine (both human and animal) are fairly advanced (think nuclear medicine and cancer techniques for animals...).

Offshore vet schools (think Guatamala and Puerto Rico are two) I have known some vets who came from these institutions who had to do further schooling to meet board certification or licensure requirements.

This is a full-time long term investment, there are no shortcuts such as part-time schooling that I know of. I would definately read some of the autobiographies to get a feel for the ordeal - just check out the animal section of the library (the dewey decimal system number is 636.6, if I remember correctly but ask the librarian.)

 

[cmjust0]

You make it sound extremely challenging,yet exciting. So far, I have to know just as much as the family doctor, maybe more since I will be performing every kind of operation huh?

All the vets at the clinic we use graduated from Auburn University, which is arguably the best veterinary school in the nation. And, yeah, they have to know WAAAAAAAAY more than the family doctor.

Think about it.. They do general internal medicine, every kind of surgery, they're dentists, optometrists, obstetricians, anesthesiologists, otolaryngologists, oncologists, allergists....seriously, the list goes on and on and on and on and on. It would be tough for an MD to fill all those rolls -- but tougher still for a DVM!

Reason being, an MD only has to know the anatomy and vitals and common diseases and problems and treatments for one animal -- the human animal. The DVM, on the other hand, has to learn all those things for dogs, then cats, then cattle...horses, sheep, goats, pigs, birds, reptiles, blah blah blah blah blah....

According to my vets, there's a common phrase heard at Auburn when the going gets tough: "There's always med school."

One of my vets even told me that his GPA at Auburn dropped a few 10th's off a 4.0 one semester and he kinda got a little worried.. I kinda laughed thinking he was joking, but he was dead serious and told me that if you drop very much at all off straight-A's, they're liable to kick you out. The waiting list is apparently a mile long, so they don't have time for people who aren't going to give it 100%.

 

[kapfarm]

Wel, we'll see what the counselor has to say. I am going to the community college today. Also, I am stopping at a vet clinic to See what he has to say if he has time! I can do it if I knuckle down, Knowing this will be supporting my family. If it doesn't work, "there's always med school" sorry, wrong attitude. thanks everyone, wish me luck.

 

[ksalvagno]

I think that it is great that you are really researching this and going to talk to a counselor. Whatever you decide to do, good luck.

 

[ducks4you]

Don't give up!! My Vet (who has been in practice for a decade now,) is a retired Chicago policewoman. She went to the U of Illinois Vet School (one of the top Veteranian schools in the nation) and practices on small and large animals. Large animal practice is the more difficult curriculum. You'll probably have to have NOTHING else in your life if you pursue this, until you graduate. C-U is a little snobby, but there are a lot of well-educated people here, in the center of Illinois.

 

[kapfarm]

I went to our local college and applied. I go to take placement tests before the 16th of Dec.

I am as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof! I am brushing up on my math, as it has been a while since HS. I visited with the veterinarian that I know and he was very encouraging to visit with. He gave me pro's and con's of this career path(same as you all said.) I start school in Jan. and will go for two years,I hope. If I don't place well on math, I will be adding time to my schooling. I am very excited. This vet I talked to said its not so much "smarts" but the drive to learn. He said get "A's" in all classes...study... study...study. I just recieved financial aid from the federal gov. so that relieves some stress. So far, things seem to be falling into place. I CANT WAIT FOR CLASSES TO BEGIN!!!!!

 

[cmjust0]

Good luck, and keep us posted. Make sure you make it to class the day they teach you all about goats.




(seriously...one vet in this area who got really good with goats [by guinea-pigging in Kentucky before BAILING and heading back to Texas with all his freshly honed skills] said his total classroom schooling on goats equalled about *one day*..)

 

[kapfarm]

I'll be there! They are in the proccess of making livestock medicine and companion animal medicine seperate, so livestock vets wouldn't have to go to school as long but it would give me less oppurtunities. I will stretch "goat day" out as long as I can! This is going to be very interesting. I am chompin' at the bit!!!! School is still two years away, hopefully community college goes by fast. I will be 34 when I graduate. Its hard to imagine being this guy.....