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Morale swinging down again
My outlook on the whole career change thing changes as I get new information, do new things, and encounter new obstacles. If a lot of positive things have happened recently I am cheerful. Right now it's the opposite.
First was the paper from some symposium or other on the financial aspects of a career in veterinary medicine. People are walking out of vet school with an average debt of $122K, and by 2010 that's expected to be a shade over $200K. Back in 1980, a newly minted DVM had a debt load of 91.6% of his starting yearly salary; in 2007, it's 184%, and it's only getting worse. In short, tuition's going up a lot faster than salary. Veterinary degrees are fast becoming something only the rich can afford.
Then there was the meeting with the San Jose State University transfer representative this morning. I cannot transfer from De Anza to San Jose State. I have a bachelor's degree. They are not taking any applications for undergraduate ("post-bachelor" or second degree) work from people who already have a bachelor's. I am allowed to try to take those courses through a program called Open University, but in that program I cannot preregister for classes; I must add them after the semester begins. It will be very difficult to get into any classes that way.
And finally, I got mail from the Honors Program coordinator saying that since I didn't take an "honors course" THIS quarter, that is to say, I didn't sign up for one before I was even in the program, I don't get early registration for spring quarter. That's pretty shitty, and I sent some (hopefully politely-worded) mail saying so, but there may be nothing that can be done to salvage that situation at this point. [edit: Or maybe there can. I think the coordinator got me mixed in with another category/group who were already in, or something. This one might get fixed.]
*sigh*. At least I'm getting good grades. Spanish test = 100%. Anybody need a Spanish/English translator? I could try to become one of those. I'm sure there's no one in this area who can already meet that need.
First was the paper from some symposium or other on the financial aspects of a career in veterinary medicine. People are walking out of vet school with an average debt of $122K, and by 2010 that's expected to be a shade over $200K. Back in 1980, a newly minted DVM had a debt load of 91.6% of his starting yearly salary; in 2007, it's 184%, and it's only getting worse. In short, tuition's going up a lot faster than salary. Veterinary degrees are fast becoming something only the rich can afford.
Then there was the meeting with the San Jose State University transfer representative this morning. I cannot transfer from De Anza to San Jose State. I have a bachelor's degree. They are not taking any applications for undergraduate ("post-bachelor" or second degree) work from people who already have a bachelor's. I am allowed to try to take those courses through a program called Open University, but in that program I cannot preregister for classes; I must add them after the semester begins. It will be very difficult to get into any classes that way.
And finally, I got mail from the Honors Program coordinator saying that since I didn't take an "honors course" THIS quarter, that is to say, I didn't sign up for one before I was even in the program, I don't get early registration for spring quarter. That's pretty shitty, and I sent some (hopefully politely-worded) mail saying so, but there may be nothing that can be done to salvage that situation at this point. [edit: Or maybe there can. I think the coordinator got me mixed in with another category/group who were already in, or something. This one might get fixed.]
*sigh*. At least I'm getting good grades. Spanish test = 100%. Anybody need a Spanish/English translator? I could try to become one of those. I'm sure there's no one in this area who can already meet that need.
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I do think there are hidden factors in those numbers. The field has become overwhelmingly female, and many young veterinarians work part time in order to start a family. I don't know whether the salary numbers have been adjusted to compensate for reduced hours. (I suspect they have -- that's too glaring an error to make -- but you never know.) Also, more and more first-year veterinarians are entering internships, which pay squat, extending the time the interest is compounded if not increasing the debt itself.
Still. It's the most financially stupid thing I've ever done.
Also sobering to realize I count as "the rich" for this one. Close, anyway. In the paper, the authors were making the point that this career path may soon work well only for students whose parents will put them through school. In my case, my first career is my "parents". I'll just be twenty years older than the average kid who has Mommy and Daddy's money to spend.
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My guess is that this is not really any kind of crisis, except from the point of view of the individuals who didn't sketch out a quick post-graduation budget before signing the student loan papers. Lots of people would do almost anything to work with animals. So, ta-daa, there they are: working with animals for (net) not much money. There will always be people who want to be vets.
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I also know lots of people who ended up with huge student loan balances just from getting their Bachelors...as long as you are going to school you can defer repayment indefinitely.
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I hear you about the bachelors', too. My sister wound up in that fix. She went on to law school because hey, something's got to pay for that undergrad degree.
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I've been wondering if you were going to run into this problem. (i.e. the costs going up faster than you could get through the program and still have a decent life afterwards.) Especially since it seems that all these walls to getting your BA education are being tossed up all over the place.
It sucks...I'm sorry.
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Maybe "doing what you love" isn't the only consideration. After all is said and done, we work in order to put food on the table, and if we can't put food on the table, then no matter how much we love our supposed chosen profession, we'd better go out and get one a them job thangs.
Backup Plan B: Go to work for the companies that make veterinary clinic appointment/inventory/etc software. :-)
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What about becoming a Vet Tech? I know it probably doesn't pay worth anything...but at least you can still work part time at something you love and get paid something for it.
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How are the feet?You've been posting a lot about the diet...but I'm not remembering much about the feet.
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This makes me so sad though because I think you are following your passion and I want you to get what you want.
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Medical school of any type is just plain expensive.
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Law school ain't cheap either. It even has, in its own way, an internship period -- low man on the totem pole in a law firm. They walk out making twice what I'll walk out making, but still, I suspect there are more than a few first-year lawyers out there eating Ramen noodles.
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There's a LOT of lawyers who are just broke those first few years...its one of the reasons why I decided I really didn't want to be a lawyer. I was already 20 grand in the hole for my BA, a JD would add another 50...or more. I decided to become a librarian instead. Much cheaper program.
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I know a lot of lawyers who looked around after a few years, said "This sucks!", and went on to work as something other than lawyers. My sister is one. A couple of LJ-friends are, too.
Am also beginning to see just how good a deal the ROTC program was. I'd have been way in the hole for my BS if the Army hadn't picked up the tab.
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The rate of people staying in that profession isn't as large as you'd think.
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Damn, this is hard to read ...
... but we DO need to be realistic!
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I think UC is also having this problem...too many qualified students, not enough money to educate them. It sucks.
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They are edging out those who have already "had" our education, so that those who haven't had it yet have a chance to get one. Makes sense, but it still sucks...
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But hey. At least my life won't be boring.
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This whole Middle Class explosion since WWII has annoyed them no end.
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When I was working for the university, it seemed so many of the PhD students came from well to do familes or a huge soruce of income somehow...the department I worked with was Communicative Disorders, however. The money afterward was important, but not as important as obtaining that doctorate (because the salaries they started at weren't that huge). I know med school students tend to rack up those numbers, too. For DVM, I hope the salaries go up proportonate to the debt. Or there's some sort of alternate facts at play that skew those numbers.
I think you have a lot of advantages professionally though, your dedication to it, flexibility, Eg: no kids to balance out an off hours or unusual schedule. I also read locally (we have a vet school here) that large animal specialites are in demand these days.
More power to you, CJ!
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A lot of the money seems to be going into construction -- been back to MIT recently and seen all the new buildings and the deluxe student fitness center? The same seems to be true at other campuses as well - I represented my employer at a career fair at Dartmouth a couple years ago and the place was a giant construction site.
See The Motley Fool (http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/saving/2008/10/01/fool-blog-is-tuition-the-next-bubble-to-pop.aspx), among others.
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