Pros and cons to becoming a vet?
 

I've pretty much always wanted to be a vet then a few years ago my mom talked me out of it.. Well for the last year and a half I have been thinking about becoming one again.. Can anyone give me any pros and cons? Thanks!

The pro is...you'll be fulfilling a dream.....

The con is (not doing it) ....regrets...;)

Well, I think you need to go for what you want. :) If your passion is becoming a veterinarian, then go for it. Just keep in mind what you are committing to. After you graduate from high school, you need to get your 4 yr degree and take all the prerequisites for vet school. It's a lot of science and math. Then, after your 4 yr degree, you have to be accepted into a vet school, and that's another 4 yrs. After that, I think you have to do an internship/residency kind of like with med school, but for animals :) and that can last several years depending on what you decide to specialize in (ie. surgery, internal medicine, etc). Surgery, of course will be a longer residency...I'm not sure what they call it veterinarians, but for doctors, it's called residency. Good luck!! Are you in high school?

Pro's- 1.) You will help alot of sick and injured animals.
2.) you will fulfill a wonderful dream.

Con's - 1.) You will se alot of sick and injured animals you cannot help.
2.) You will not be fulfilling your dream.

Yeahh.. I'm a sophmore in high school.. I'm a year a head in science what science class should I take next year and senior year? I think there are things like anatomy and phsyics and I've done bio and chem.. Theres also AP bio.. What type of math classes do I need to take?

I'm in my first year of vet school at Texas A&M University right now. I've wanted to be a vet since I was 8 years old. If it's what you truly want to do go for it!

How old are you? You're going to want to graduate with high school with good grade and get into a major university with a pre-vet/animal science type of major. My major was Biomedical Science at A&M. You have to make good grades, have a lot of vet experience (I worked for a vet for over 4 years throughout high school), have a lot of animal experience (I also worked at a dog boutique for a couple years in college and have always had pets of my own). You need to show that you have leadership skills by being involved in organizations during college and holding leadership positions. Volunteer work is good to have although I didn't have much at all. You also need letters of recommendation and a good score on the GRE.

You actually don't have to graduate from college to get accepted into vet school. I graduated the semester I applied to vet school but there are a lot of people in my class that applied a year before they would have graduated and got in. They had already taken their required classes so they were able to get in earlier.

Once you apply, they narrow it down to who they want to interview. At A&M we had a panel of interviewers that asked us questions. I think it lasted about 30 minutes. Then in a few months I got my letter of acceptance.

I think about 1000 people apply to A&M every year and our class size is 132 so only about 10-15% of applicants get accepted.

I'm sure every program is different but this is what my first semester has been like so far. I am taking the equivelant of 18hours right now. I'm taking Anatomy w/lab, physiology w/lab, Histology w/lab, Immunology, clinical correlates, and Professional Development. I'm basically in class 8-5 most days. We have lecture in the mornings and labs in the afternoons. I do get out at noon on Fridays. We've had two rounds of tests so far and the third round is coming up starting in a week. It's a lot of studying and a lot of attending class. Some things get tedious but I'm learning some really interesting things as well. I do wish there were different programs for those who want to go large animal and those that want to go small animals because I have absolutely NO interest in learning about cows and all but we're doing it all right now.

I would really love to specialize eventually. To specialize in an area you graduate from vet school in 4 years. You then do a large or small animal internship for a year. And then you have a 2-3 year residency in the area you want to specialize in. Then you become board certified (hopefully anyway).

I guess I can't tell you the pros and cons of being a vet right now because I'm not actually a vet right now but if you have any questions about applying vet school or what vet school is like I'll try to answer them for you.

I say go for you dreams! I wanted to go into the medical field, mainly chiropractic, and my parents talked me out of it. Every school I wanted to go to wasn't good enough. I got fed up and just didn't go at all. I got married at 18, had a baby last January, and I am a mobile pet groomer. It is the opposite of what I would of pictured. I wouldn't trade my hubby or my son for ANYTHING, but I wish that I wouldn't of let them pick my future for me. It's too late for me to go and have the career I wanted. :( I could of provided so much more for my family. I will always wish I did what I wanted.

There you go!! MyFairLacy has excellent advice :)

Being in high school, right now just concentrate on making a high GPA and getting accepted into a large university. I would take Anatomy in high school if possible to help get you ready for anatomy classes in college. AP Bio is good to take also, as well as any type of advanced chemistry because you'll be taking a lot of chemistry in college. If calculus is offered at your school, try to take that before you graduate. Taking it in high school helped me so much when I took it as a freshman in college.

Also, I'd try to get a part-time job working for or volunteering for a vet. Try to get as much vet experience as possible because you'll need that once you apply for vet school. You can also get vet experience during college but it helps to start now if possible.

In a couple years when you start college, then you'll definitely want to make sure you're taking all the right classes to prepare you for vet school and meet the requirements to apply.

Good Luck