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Thoughts, mostly for myself, but feel free to read 'em if you feel like it.
Difficulty
I have now heard from multiple sources that getting into a veterinary medicine program is harder than getting into (human-) med school. I don't know whether it "needs to be" harder in order to screen for the difficulty of the schooling itself, but there are certainly fewer schools available and fewer seats available. Yikes. I honestly am not sure I'm up for that level of challenge. Hell, I thought a lot of myself when I was coming out of high school and I was intimidated by it back then!
O'course, multiple sources could still be wrong. And it's possible that my utterly appalling undergraduate grades would mean a lot less now than they would have meant in 1989. I will work like crazy to kick some serious butt on the entrance exams (GRE, MCAT, whatever, I'll do what needs doing) and I will work like crazy to get good grades in the preparatory undergraduate courses I know I need.
I suspect once I'm in I'll be okay. I may not graduate top in my class; I'm not twenty, I'm not perfectly healthy, I've already pulled all the all-nighters I want to pull in this lifetime, I may have a significant commute to and from school, and I don't have somebody else footing the bill. But I won't be last in my class either. If I get in, I believe I can become a good AND competent veterinarian. I'm also ethical enough that if I can't become competent I'll stop. But that first step is a doozy.
Squeamishness
Long-time readers, remember that bit about passing out when giving blood? That bit about feeling woozy when my doctor described the laparoscopic surgery I was going to get? That bit about having to go lie down when watching my cat get subcutaneous fluids? Um. As an employee evaluation might put it, "this area needs work."
On the other hand, many people have assured me that this is the kind of thing that can be overcome. My gynecologist, who is also a surgeon, assures me he used to get woozy. My aunt Helen, a registered nurse, passed out cold at the first surgery she attended. (Hit her head hard if I remember the story right. Nobody was watching the students; they were quite rightly watching the surgeon and his patient.) These people went on to have long and fine careers in medicine. It can be done.
On the other other hand I don't exactly look forward to it.
Commitment
When people ask me about my desire to do this, the best answer I can give them is that it's obvious this is what I should have done the first time around.
Perhaps that means I owe it to myself to try. BUT.
Rob and I, as a couple, come first.
I can't guarantee I'll get into any of my top few choices of schools. ANY school I attend will mean selling the house, moving, Rob drastically changing or even dumping his flight instructor career and improvising some way he can make money in aviation or out of it, and years of me pulling eighty-hour weeks and stressing out a lot. He's said he'll be supportive of whichever decision I make, but I must also in good conscience take a look at what that will cost him. If it costs us each other, directly or indirectly, that's too high a price. If managed badly, I know that that could indeed be the price. Caution required.
I also won't be able to keep going with the high-tech career for very much longer if I head down this path. A year, sure; I'll be studying, taking a class or two, volunteering. More than two years... very unlikely. I'll be in classes AND studying for the entrance exams AND working at a clinic (if I can) AND trying to figure out in which state I'll need to establish residency, and maybe even going there while Rob sells the house. So my current career will get ditched early in the process, long before I know I'll succeed on the new path. It could get picked up again, although re-buying the house (if already sold) would be a bit of a toughie.
It all kind of feels like a leap off a cliff.
On the other hand, damn if it isn't exciting. Rob, I'm sorry, I really am.
*sigh*
So far I'm giving it somewhere around a 35% chance I'll make the leap. That's probably higher than it's been before.
Difficulty
I have now heard from multiple sources that getting into a veterinary medicine program is harder than getting into (human-) med school. I don't know whether it "needs to be" harder in order to screen for the difficulty of the schooling itself, but there are certainly fewer schools available and fewer seats available. Yikes. I honestly am not sure I'm up for that level of challenge. Hell, I thought a lot of myself when I was coming out of high school and I was intimidated by it back then!
O'course, multiple sources could still be wrong. And it's possible that my utterly appalling undergraduate grades would mean a lot less now than they would have meant in 1989. I will work like crazy to kick some serious butt on the entrance exams (GRE, MCAT, whatever, I'll do what needs doing) and I will work like crazy to get good grades in the preparatory undergraduate courses I know I need.
I suspect once I'm in I'll be okay. I may not graduate top in my class; I'm not twenty, I'm not perfectly healthy, I've already pulled all the all-nighters I want to pull in this lifetime, I may have a significant commute to and from school, and I don't have somebody else footing the bill. But I won't be last in my class either. If I get in, I believe I can become a good AND competent veterinarian. I'm also ethical enough that if I can't become competent I'll stop. But that first step is a doozy.
Squeamishness
Long-time readers, remember that bit about passing out when giving blood? That bit about feeling woozy when my doctor described the laparoscopic surgery I was going to get? That bit about having to go lie down when watching my cat get subcutaneous fluids? Um. As an employee evaluation might put it, "this area needs work."
On the other hand, many people have assured me that this is the kind of thing that can be overcome. My gynecologist, who is also a surgeon, assures me he used to get woozy. My aunt Helen, a registered nurse, passed out cold at the first surgery she attended. (Hit her head hard if I remember the story right. Nobody was watching the students; they were quite rightly watching the surgeon and his patient.) These people went on to have long and fine careers in medicine. It can be done.
On the other other hand I don't exactly look forward to it.
Commitment
When people ask me about my desire to do this, the best answer I can give them is that it's obvious this is what I should have done the first time around.
Perhaps that means I owe it to myself to try. BUT.
Rob and I, as a couple, come first.
I can't guarantee I'll get into any of my top few choices of schools. ANY school I attend will mean selling the house, moving, Rob drastically changing or even dumping his flight instructor career and improvising some way he can make money in aviation or out of it, and years of me pulling eighty-hour weeks and stressing out a lot. He's said he'll be supportive of whichever decision I make, but I must also in good conscience take a look at what that will cost him. If it costs us each other, directly or indirectly, that's too high a price. If managed badly, I know that that could indeed be the price. Caution required.
I also won't be able to keep going with the high-tech career for very much longer if I head down this path. A year, sure; I'll be studying, taking a class or two, volunteering. More than two years... very unlikely. I'll be in classes AND studying for the entrance exams AND working at a clinic (if I can) AND trying to figure out in which state I'll need to establish residency, and maybe even going there while Rob sells the house. So my current career will get ditched early in the process, long before I know I'll succeed on the new path. It could get picked up again, although re-buying the house (if already sold) would be a bit of a toughie.
It all kind of feels like a leap off a cliff.
On the other hand, damn if it isn't exciting. Rob, I'm sorry, I really am.
*sigh*
So far I'm giving it somewhere around a 35% chance I'll make the leap. That's probably higher than it's been before.
no subject
I have heard the coursework is a bit more involved than med school, only because your studying bovine, feline, canine, etc., etc.
I think it's hard to get in. My old apartment manager applied and got in. During the "waiting to hear" stage, he was very tense about what he said was the lack of spots (back in 1999 at UW-Madison)...he even made some comment about how he perceived it to be tougher for him because he does not fit any gender or racial equity thing...I think he was just complaining/nervous though.
What I did see in the paper a few weeks back, is that large animal vets are in demand. I am not sure if that's the way you want to go with a vet career? Maybe a sub speciality? I didn't read the full article or really know much beyond the need part (eg: does that specialty have more openings in vet school? unsure).
At any rate, I think your life experience, military experience, work experience, etc. etc. bodes well for your application! My friend just decided to get another Master's & dropped his work hours to 20/week. I'm not sure if any phase of vet school allows for that, (he's just doing a one year programming masters, and already has a comp sci masters so he's not doing anything nearly as grueling) but maybe a paid internship or something could supplement?
If I ever pursued a master's, I'd definitely want to be in a position to afford it, so I hear you there.
Good luck with whatever you decide!
no subject
There's definitely a lot more breadth in the course work. On the other hand, there's less depth. We don't prolong life or fight the nearly-unbeatable in animals like we do in humans; we don't study kitty Alzheimer's or what a horse's lungs look like if he's smoked all his life; that sort of thing. On the other other hand, finding a vein in a rat has got to be a really finicky thing to learn...
Eh. Worst I can do is not get in.
no subject
Natalie has been telling me for the past two years that she wants to be "a doctor who takes care of animals...you know, if they break a leg, have a stomach ache, anything really." I am vicariously fearful of the coursework if this sticks for her. However, as someone with life and work experience, you know what you're getting into.
DH used to work with rats. He did lung studies on them. Rats really get treated like crap, he'd have 10 or so "die on the operating table" while doing a lung study. That's not to say if I saw a rat I wouldn't shoot it dead myself.
no subject
Your DH's experience reminds me that there's a big need for veterinarians in a lot of areas other than the dog-and-cat clinic. For example, many labs need vets for the animals they study. Disturbing though it may be for some, large-animal vets are needed at various points in the food supply stream. And there's always the farming, horse-breeding, etc lines of work.
Me, I'd rather the majority of my patients die of old age, and my soft spot happens to be for cats and dogs, so I'll be in the clinic. That's probably where there's the least demand and the biggest supply, all told, but it's what draws me strongly.
no subject
Then, I say...you go wit your bad self!
Yeah, I bet if Natalie is still into this pursuit after four years of college, she'll be pretty ready for it. That's true.
DH actually has a background in pharmacy and was doing that stuff...there was a DVM on the project though. It was the kind of research/work that would enrage some members of PETA, KWIM...the work that benefits humans...they also used sheep in their studies, stories of which troubled me a little. But, the rats...I say, have at it for the good of humankind!
no subject
Weird. :-)