Do you want to be a veterinarian?

Are you or your child interested in becoming a veterinarian? Working in the veterinary field is a wonderful occupation, but there is certainly a lot to consider and prepare for if being a veterinarian is the route you choose.

First, you must have the right personality to enjoy being a veterinarian. Veterinarians must love people just as much as they love animals. The ideal veterinarian will have good communication skills, be an analytical thinker, be good at math, be practical and nimble minded, be able to work with a team and be comfortable with a moderate amount of uncertainty in each day. Oh, and you need to accept that you will be covered in fur every day. If the job still appeals to you, then you must get excellent grades in high school and especially in college. Even an above average GPA might not cut it. Your grades must be primarily A’s in all of the science courses including math, physics and chemistry, and you must score well on your standardized tests. You must have experience working with a veterinarian in order the be considered as a candidate for vet school. This means that you must either work at a veterinary clinic or do many hours of volunteer work in animal related fields and a lot of shadowing of veterinarians. Not only is the experience important, but you will need the recommendations from veterinarians in order to apply for veterinary school.

If you are accepted into veterinary school, most students will need to take out loans to pay for veterinary school. The burden of student debt after veterinary school is becoming a bigger and bigger conversation. Many veterinary students are leaving veterinary school with several hundred’s of thousands of dollars worth of debt. It is important to think about school debt in the big picture of your life because many new graduates will be paying off their school loans until they retire.

These are very sobering things that someone that wants to be a veterinarian must think about. But, if you are still passionate about the veterinary field as a career, and understand and are willing to accept the challenges that go along with the journey, then I would recommend this job to anyone. Being a veterinarian has given me so much joy in my life and I can honestly say that I love going to work each and everyday.

Dr. Teresa Hershey, Westgate Pet Clinic.