Our daughter has decided she wants to be a vet

[AbuHossam]

The Question
She finished her freshman year and still wants to pursue this but vet school is at least $100k with in-state tuition. She’s seen Borrowed Future and knows debt’s not for her but how can we help her accomplish this seeming unattainable goal? Is there a similar degree/ field with some of the same attributes but not the insane price tag? She’s applied for scholarships but she’s not the top of her class or the most outgoing/involved student and hasn’t received any yet. It’s pretty hard to get scholarships. We have the money for her to get a bachelor’s degree but that’s all. I don’t want to kill her dream but I don’t know what to do. Any ideas?


ANSWER 1
Definitely getting a job at a vet clinic to help her know their day to day and what they do. I was initially wanted to do vet school (ever since elementary school) but after working at a vet clinic and seeing how it would actually be, I didn't want to just do exams 90% of the time and the same 2 surgeries the other 10% of the time so decided on something else with more variation but still in the science field.

Vet school is very hard to get into. When I was looking at it, less than 10% of applicants got in to the vet school at my university. And if you didn't get in but wanted to apply again, you had to take another year of classes through that same university because you had to be a current student in order to apply again.

Vet classes are definitely way more intensive than regular college and literally a solid 40 hrs, M-F 8-5. That's not including any study time at home or study time in the labs. Vet students told me it was similar to working 80 hrs a week between classes and studying.

So working during vet school is out of the question, especially when you can get kicked out if you don't get certain grades and their grading system is different (90-100 isn't an A, 93-100 is an A...I believe 75 was the lowest to be considered a C, at least for K-State). I know people here will say she should work during vet school if she decides to go that route but she could very likely get kicked out since her grades would suffer working a job on top of working 80 hrs for vet school itself.

ANSWER 2
My grandfather and uncle were both veterinarians. My uncle just retired in February. They both made an absolute fortune, but they worked HARD for it. My grandfather went to both undergrad and grad school on scholarship then worked in a rural area as both a large animal and companion animal vet. When he retired my uncle bought the practice from him, and was the best veterinary orthopedic surgeon in New England (if not the entire northeast and beyond). BUT, these two men worked more hours than I’ve ever seen anyone work. They amassed an incredible amount of money, but worked 14-16 hour days 6-7 days a week for much of their careers.

Veterinary medicine is about people at least as much as it’s about animals. Just make sure she’s prepared for that. She’ll be talking to owners, explaining everything to them, and be met with so much resistance for the price of her services. Veterinarians as a group struggle greatly with mental health along with their support staff. It can be wonderful and rewarding, but so many go into the field because they prefer animals over people and don’t realize how much they’ll be dealing with people.

If she decides being a veterinarian isn’t for her, there are other ways she can help animals! I work for a pet health diagnostics company. We develop the tests veterinarians use to diagnose a wide variety of illnesses in animals. We have a lot of people work for us between their undergrad and vet school, but we also have a lot of scientists with degrees in chemistry, biochemistry, biomedical engineering, and others. We’re highly involved in the veterinary field without dealing with a lot of the struggles they deal with. Just presenting another option! I do highly recommend she work at a vet clinic throughout her undergrad so she can see if it’s something she really wants to do. It’s a lot harder than anyone thinks when they first say that’s what they want to do!

ANSWER 3
She should work, and then work some more. If it takes 5,6,7 years, then so be it. By working and earning it herself she'll be sure that this is what she wants, she'll work harder to earn the degree, and she'll have a tremendous sense of accomplishment when finished. I speak from experience.



ANSWER 4
Have her talk to the military and see if they pay for her school. If that doesn’t work, have have multiple roommates or live at home to save on boarding. Have her work throughout professional school and take one year off before entering school and save as much as possible working full time then go and work during school because it’s going to cost at least 300,000.