Vet Specialist Salaries

[littlehooves]

Just wondering if anyone has any information on the differences in salaries vets can make. For example orthopedics vs. opthamology, GP vs. emergency/criticle care. I can't find to seem much- if anyone can direct me or has info off hand that would be really helpful!

I checked the previous threads (that little thread finder thing is really useful!!) But couldn't find any actual numbers or viable websites.

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[RazorDoc2010]

Although this doesn't completely answer your question, here's a little bit of it (courtesy of alonepear in the 'debt' thread). If I happen to find something later I'll be sure to post it.

DVM News, Sept 2007:

Highest-paid specialists, average yearly income, source: AVMA
1. Nutrition - $202,368
2. Surgery - $183,092
3. Clinical Pharmacology - $159,027
4. Pathology - $154,047
5. Lab Animal Med - $153,013
6. Radiology - $152,995
7. Ophthalmology - $146,602
8. Poultry - $142,322
9. Internal Med - $141,791
10. Veterinary Practice - $135,500

It also states the average vet school graduate in 2006 owed $93,000 in educational debt. 32% of graduates in 2006 pursued specialties, double the amount from 10 years ago.

And "only behaviorists and those with zoological medicine board certifications earn less than DVM-only graduates at around $90,000 a year."

 

[lailanni]

I'm kind of surprised that emergency/critical care isn't in the top 10?

Where could I find salary info for that?

 

[littlehooves]

darn it! I was looking for emerg. specifically too

Thanks alot for those numbers though. I'm trying to get as much info as I can to bring to a financial advisor/person at the bank so they can tell me how long I'll be poor for after I graduate. lol

Also, new vets basically make $20 000 - $50 000/ year right?

Another thing...when you're doing an internship to become a specialist...do you only do the internship say 3 or 4 days a week, and work a full time job on the side? Are internships always non-paid?

Thanks

 

[pressmom]

darn it! I was looking for emerg. specifically too

Thanks alot for those numbers though. I'm trying to get as much info as I can to bring to a financial advisor/person at the bank so they can tell me how long I'll be poor for after I graduate. lol

Also, new vets basically make $20 000 - $50 000/ year right?

Another thing...when you're doing an internship to become a specialist...do you only do the internship say 3 or 4 days a week, and work a full time job on the side? Are internships always non-paid?

Thanks

I'd say the only people making in the 20k-30k range are people doing internships. And internships are generally paid, the hours are long, and I remember birdvet saying that she could not hold a job outside of her internship per her contract. (Correct me if I'm wrong birdvet!) I don't know of any part-time internships off the top of my head, but they could exist. (Bill59, care to chime in on this one?)

Pay for new graduates, here in the states, is generally more than 50k, if you don't do an internship. I don't know the exact numbers, though. But that year of internship can often pay financial as well as professional dividends, if you can make it through the first year of not getting paid much!

 

[rachroo]

Pay for new graduates, here in the states, is generally more than 50k, if you don't do an internship. I don't know the exact numbers, though.

I'm guess that salary would be relative...including both the area your practicing in (say KY vs. CA),the job market as a whole, etc.

From reading these boards and things I've heard around out in the field I'd say a ballpark figure is from $60,000-$75,000 for a new grad. If anyone else has some input, feel free to correct me!

 

[pressmom]

I'm guess that salary would be relative...including both the area your practicing in (say KY vs. CA),the job market as a whole, etc.

From reading these boards and things I've heard around out in the field I'd say a ballpark figure is from $60,000-$75,000 for a new grad. If anyone else has some input, feel free to correct me!

That's about the ballpark I've heard.

 

[ri23]

Besides this article, does anyone know of any other breakdowns of average salaries? For example, in this survey internal med is all lumped into one and i imagine depending on whether you are doing neuro, onco, cardio or just large animal/small animal internal med the pay would be very different.

 

[littlehooves]

wow...this is a bit sad- I'm in Canada and the average paid salary for vets in Ontario is $70 000 (as of 2004)...and these are not new graduates....

 

[SillyFilly]

http://www.avma.org/reference/marketstats/default.asp

This is the best place to get facts and figures from the US market.

Interns at NCSU make around 24k, which you can find more about here - http://www.virmp.org/virmp/ - and they are FULL TIME. I think our large animal interns rotate so they get 2? weeks "off" where they are not in charge of cases, but are sort of expected to do something, like we have an intern who rode with the Therio team for more experience.

HTH!

 

[Electrophile]

Yeah, we had an economics summit sponsored by the VBMA chapter and the internship salaries are just ridiculous. They haven't changed literally at ALL in decades. If I recall, I don't even think they kept up with inflation! If I do a nutrition residency, I am NOT doing an internship. They're not required for that residency and why get paid almost nothing and work really long hours? I'd rather just work say 3-5 years in private practice and try to match up with a good mentor for a boss. Now if I wanted to do surgery or internal medicine, I don't think you have much choice, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going down that road.

 

[lailanni]

Yeah, we had an economics summit sponsored by the VBMA chapter and the internship salaries are just ridiculous. They haven't changed literally at ALL in decades. If I recall, I don't even think they kept up with inflation! If I do a nutrition residency, I am NOT doing an internship. They're not required for that residency and why get paid almost nothing and work really long hours? I'd rather just work say 3-5 years in private practice and try to match up with a good mentor for a boss. Now if I wanted to do surgery or internal medicine, I don't think you have much choice, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going down that road.

Is there some place where I could find which residencies require internships, and which ones do not? I have a while to go, but I'm curious...

 

[Electrophile]

Usually you have to go to the website of the "college" where you become a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary (fill in blank here...Internal Medicine, Behaviorists, Surgeons, Practitioners, etc) and it will tell you. For instance:

Requirements for Admission
The Constitution of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS) has established the following requirements for active membership status:

1. Have a satisfactory moral and ethical standing in the profession.
2. Be either a graduate of a veterinary college accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association, or meet all requirements for licensure of foreign veterinary graduates as defined by the American Veterinary Medical Association, or be legally qualified to practice veterinary medicine in some state, province, territory or possession of the United States, Canada or some other country.
3. Have devoted a minimum of four years after graduation from veterinary school to special training and experience in veterinary surgery in a training program consisting of a 52 week internship or equivalent and 156 weeks of supervised training, postgraduate education and clinical experience in the science and practice of veterinary surgery and its supporting disciplines, including scientific publication. Training must occur under the supervision of at least one Diplomate of the ACVS participating actively in the program. An alternative training program must meet the same criteria but may be done over a longer time period.
4. Have successfully passed the certifying examination of the College. The examination, composed of written, practical and oral questions, tests knowledge of all phases of surgery as well as competence in areas of specialization.

From http://www.acvs.org/Residents/GeneralProgramInformation/

So perhaps you *could* do a residency without an internship, but I don't think it's likely, since they're very competitive from what I hear.

 

[Bill59]

Another thing...when you're doing an internship to become a specialist...do you only do the internship say 3 or 4 days a week, and work a full time job on the side?

errrr no. I would guess the average veterinary intern works 80 hours a week. So not only is it not part time, it's not even full time ... it's more like 2 full time jobs.

Residents are similar, although it depends on the specialty.

You usually have to do an internship (1 yr) and a residency (3 yr) to become a board certified specialist.

Are internships always non-paid?

No, the are usually paid ... just poorly. So are residencies. Go to the veterinary internship and residency matching website and you can search for programs for details, including salary.

 

[Bill59]

I'm kind of surprised that emergency/critical care isn't in the top 10?

There's a couple of things to understand about this type of list. These tend to be based on pretty small numbers. Some specialties have less than 100 diplomates. And you're happy if 50% of them fill out a survey.

Also, where you work is usually more important than your particular specialty. Nutritionist's salaries are high because most of them are working in industry. Same for lab animal, pathology, and poultry.

Next comes private specialty practice. And then are academic jobs, which are the most poorly paid.

For example, overall surgeons make more than internists because they can generate higher fees. But an internist in private practice will usually make more than a surgeon at a university.

In general, behavior doesn't pay as well because it's hard to generate the fees doing behavior. You spend most of your time just talking to the client. And client's are more willing to pay for a 2-hour surgery than a 2-hour office call even though the professional expertise involved is the same.

Zoo vet doesn't pay well because of high supply, low demand. There are very few jobs and a lot of folks want to be zoo/wildlife vets.

The problem EM/CC specialists have is the typical emergency hospital doesn't require board certification. So if they are at a referral specialty practice, they are well paid, but otherwise they are competing with nonboarded persons for jobs.

 

[InfiniVet]

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Veterinarian/Salary


Scroll down to the "Median Salary by Employer Type - Job: Veterinarian (United States)"

That's about as narrowed down as I've seen from online research.
The only other info I've gotten on specialties salaries is anecdotal.

 

[hpoo]

hello
as i read your posts,i got that you know about residency and internship.
i wanna ask u to give me some information how i can apply for internship
i am graduated from foregn country and interest to do internship first and then residency program
appreciate