Would you pursue a second career in vet med as non-trad if money is not a consideration?

[Tenerife]

If there are any veterinary students and/or currently practicing veterinarians that feel comfortable answering this question, could you please respond?

I recently retired from my first career as a nurse anesthetist. I expected to apply to medical school, but I no longer wish to remain in human health care - in any role.

I could not afford vet school when I was accepted many years ago, so I chose another path. I am now financially independent and could attend my in-state DVM program without accruing any debt.

Issues: I would be in my mid 40s at matriculation (nearing 50 at graduation). I would be potentially taking a slot from a student with decades more to give to the profession. I own my own farm and would have to commute to the vet school until I could return to my rural area. My husband thinks I have lost my mind.

Any opinions?

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[CalliopeDVM]

Vet med is a "second career" for me - I didn't graduate until I was almost 40. The biggest issue I see in what you've written is the commute; the hours of vet school can be long, and the commute might get to be difficult. I had some classmates who commuted almost 2 hours each way, but they were able to share the driving and study while on the road by quizzing each other. Even then, they stayed locally near the school for most of 4th year.

 

[lailanni]

I would be potentially taking a slot from a student with decades more to give to the profession. I own my own farm and would have to commute to the vet school until I could return to my rural area.

Don't let age bother you. I had classmates in their 40's, no big deal. And don't think that everyone younger is going to be putting decades into the profession. There are younger colleagues who have burnt out and quit, or some that have just stopped practice to have kids and raise them.

Some issues - you won't have a whole lot of extra time to work on your farm. Also the commute could be an issue, especially during fourth year like mentioned.

One more thing that could slow you down getting into school - veterinary experience hours for your application. Usually it takes a while to build those up. And if you live somewhere super rural it may take a little more finagling to get the depth/breadth of hours that typically goes into an app.

Those things are more logistics than age related though. So if it's something you're really interested in pursuing, go for it!

 

[Tenerife]

Vet med is a "second career" for me - I didn't graduate until I was almost 40. The biggest issue I see in what you've written is the commute; the hours of vet school can be long, and the commute might get to be difficult. I had some classmates who commuted almost 2 hours each way, but they were able to share the driving and study while on the road by quizzing each other. Even then, they stayed locally near the school for most of 4th year.

Thank you.

Right. I should have mentioned that I would relocate to the school while attending. My husband works out of a home office, so location is not an issue. We'd just use the farm as a getaway.

 

[Tenerife]

Don't let age bother you. I had classmates in their 40's, no big deal. And don't think that everyone younger is going to be putting decades into the profession. There are younger colleagues who have burnt out and quit, or some that have just stopped practice to have kids and raise them.

Some issues - you won't have a whole lot of extra time to work on your farm. Also the commute could be an issue, especially during fourth year like mentioned.

One more thing that could slow you down getting into school - veterinary experience hours for your application. Usually it takes a while to build those up. And if you live somewhere super rural it may take a little more finagling to get the depth/breadth of hours that typically goes into an app.

Those things are more logistics than age related though. So if it's something you're really interested in pursuing, go for it!

Thank you.

True re: younger DVMs. I know a couple who are moms now and one who only works on her own animals.

We'd definitely have to scale back on the farm. That's probably the single biggest issue. My husband loves life on this farm. I would relocate during school to be close to the program.

Lots of vet med connections, so experience hours will not be difficult. I am not sure I can say the same for upper division Genetics.

 

[StartingoverVet]

Issues: I would be in my mid 40s at matriculation (nearing 50 at graduation). I would be potentially taking a slot from a student with decades more to give to the profession. I own my own farm and would have to commute to the vet school until I could return to my rural area. My husband thinks I have lost my mind.

Any opinions?

1) Near 40s is not an issue. We had a few in my class at Penn.
2) Taking a slot from someone else. Um, is this really a consideration? No, it shouldn't be. Don't even consider it. Just make sure your years are quality.
3) Commuting. We also had some long commuters. Personally not sure how they did it, but they did.

Stuff that you didn't consider:
1) Vet school is pretty physically/mentally/emotionally demanding and us "elders" have it a little bit tougher than the youngsters. Stamina is not what it used to be 20 years ago for me.
2) Vet school is a whole lotta memorization, and that also was a lot easier 20 years ago. Learning is easy, memorizing a bunch of stuff without context, like your first few years at vet school is not fun.
3) How much are you willing for you and your husbands life to be dominated by vet school. Sure we all try to avoid that happening, but it invariably does. It really is a transformative event, although not ALWAYS in a bad way.

Just some food for thought.

 

[rdc]

If there are any veterinary students and/or currently practicing veterinarians that feel comfortable answering this question, could you please respond?

I recently retired from my first career as a nurse anesthetist. I expected to apply to medical school, but I no longer wish to remain in human health care - in any role.

I could not afford vet school when I was accepted many years ago, so I chose another path. I am now financially independent and could attend my in-state DVM program without accruing any debt.

Issues: I would be in my mid 40s at matriculation (nearing 50 at graduation). I would be potentially taking a slot from a student with decades more to give to the profession. I own my own farm and would have to commute to the vet school until I could return to my rural area. My husband thinks I have lost my mind.

Any opinions?

Out of curiosity, why did you quit your job as a nurse?

I am curious because I wonder if some of the things that drove you from your profession, are things we deal with in ours.


As for your question... No. I absolutely wouldn't.

 

[Squeaksmom]

I am pursuing vet med as a non-trad, and money IS a consideration. So yes, I definitely would. Bear in mind with my answer that I'm in Canada, and the job market and graduate debt situation look very different here. In some ways it is a good thing that I don't qualify for student loans at the moment, though it makes it harder day to day. I will be in my 40s at graduation, and hope to do a residency afterwards. It will definitely be hard for you to farm in vet school, as others have said. You can't take a week off for harvest (or for anything else, for that matter). Different programs may be different in this respect, but I wouldn't recommend commuting too far, either. Last year I made the ~3.5 hour drive home once a week, and I think I would have done better academically if I'd been able to use that time more productively. I don't know where you are, but think about the roads in the winter too (if you get one). You may have to allow a lot of extra time. Make sure that you have a broad knowledge of the veterinary industry as it is today, because a lot may have changed. You will likely want to get some fresh experience hours. Some schools also have an expiration date on prerequisites (I know mine does)... are you prepared to re-do them if that is the case?

Just some things to think about, though I'm not sure I added anything of substance beyond what has already been said. Good luck with your decision.

 

[Tenerife]

Out of curiosity, why did you quit your job as a nurse?

I am a nurse anesthetist that qualified in the early 2000s. Early in my career, I believed the propaganda that our professional organization published regarding safety and quality as compared to anesthesiologists. Now that I am experienced, I have come to believe that anesthesia is the practice of medicine.

I am curious because I wonder if some of the things that drove you from your profession, are things we deal with in ours.

Probably so. I have spent the last several weeks job shadowing veterinarians in private practice and government - many similar frustrations.


As for your question... No. I absolutely wouldn't.

At this point, me neither.

 

[chickenlittle]

At least you figured that out early, before wasting any more time or money on vet med. Kudos!

 

[Megrim]

Just wanted to add my voice to the chorus that I had several non-trad classmates and they got through fine. I wasn't close enough with any of them to know about personal problems, but I know multiple of them had children, and managed to graduate while balancing obligations. One used to be a civil engineer! And like others have said, I wouldn't worry about the decades thing, as younger classmates burnt out and dropped out as much as (probably more than) older classmates.