Hi Dr. Ferox, I am a student in my undergrad planning on applying to vet school soon. Recently on tumblr I have been seeing a lot of vets say they wish they never became vets and making very discouraging posts about how no one should pursue this career cause they will just be broke and angry/upset. Any encouraging words for students pursuing this career to stay motivated to follow their dream?
This is probably not what you want to hear.
If you become a vet you will spend a lot of your time being angry, frustrated and upset. You will also spend a lot of time lamenting that you are not paid like a human doctor, despite having the same level of skills, whilst simultaneously being told by the animal owning public how much money you ‘must’ be making.
It certainly gets you down. By the time we’ve been in practice for 5 years, about a third of new vets will no longer be working in clinical practice. Lots of us leave.
Also, we are between 4 and 6 times more likely to take our own lives than the general public.
They’re not telling you these things, and I’m not telling you these things, in order to discourage you from becoming a vet. We tell you these things to forewarn you. If you are prepared and aware of the challenges you face, you will be better equipped to deal with them.
Veterinary medicine is a high stress, highly demanding career with a large emotional and moral burden and very unsociable hours. It’s not actually good for your brain, and it’s not right for everyone. I would prefer would-be vets walk into the profession knowing they might have to walk themselves out again.
And I would much rather somebody decide to give up on being a vet than give up on life.
“Becoming a Vet” should not be your end goal. That only takes a couple of years, not a lifetime, and then what are you going to do? You should look at other options, you should have other plans, escape routes if everything doesn’t work out.
As a profession we have a huge issue with mental health. We talk about these things because they’re important to us, and they’re real. As much as you don’t want to hear it to be ‘discouraged’, you shouldn’t ignore them. Consider them an opportunity to learn from someone else’s mistakes, including my own.
I have said before that if animals are the only thing that brings you joy in life, don’t become a vet. I would still stand by that sentiment. If animals really are the only thing that brings you any happiness, stay out of vet medicine and don’t dissect and overanalyze your only source of joy.
Now, I know it’s not something you wanted to here, but it’s something you needed to hear anyway. I’m not here to tell you it’s all puppies and kittens and rainbows. I’m here to tell you what you need to hear.
If veterinary medicine is what you’re heart is set on, then you will set out to do it regardless of what I or any other vet on the internet tell you. As it should be. The career certainly does have its rewards, but it also has many, many pitfalls.
We learn to cope, to varying extents, in different ways. I can only hope that you will learn to recognize those pitfalls before you fall into them.
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