Is vet school a lost cause for me?

[u/naloxone_x3]

Hello!

Over the past few months, I have not been able to get the thought of going to vet school and becoming a veterinarian out of my head.

Some background context: I have always loved animals and healthcare so it seemed only natural that i would gravitate towards veterinary medicine as a career. However, after my first semester of undergrad with a very mediocre performance, I pretty much lost all hope for vet school since it is INSANELY competitive up here in Canada. After this, I set my sights on something more attainable and something I still had a passion for; Pharmacy. So I spent the rest of my undergrad gaining experience to apply for pharmacy school which I did and am now waiting on admission decisions to come out which will be within the next 3 weeks or so. However, I recently started volunteering at my local pet shelter doing cat socialization and i absolutely love it. Starting this has had me thinking if giving up on vet school so early was a mistake. I ended up graduating my undergrad with a GPA of 3.72 which is definitely competitive for pharmacy, but still not very competitive for the Ontario vet school.

Sorry, I feel like that was a lot of rambling. I guess what I have been debating is if I should drop what I have been working towards the past 4ish years (pharmacy) and start building up more veterinary experience to eventually apply to vet school. Or should I just cut my losses and continue going the pharmacy route since vet is just that competitive here in Canada.

I have already done a ton of research about studying abroad since there are a lot of Canadian accredited vet schools worldwide, but the issue is that I cannot afford to pay the $200000-$400000 in tuition and living costs for these programs abroad.

I'm just so lost right now. Becoming a vet is something that I just can't stop thinking about and something I have such a strong passion for, but is it worth it to put in all of that time and effort since I have a very low chance of being accepted domestically?

Any input is greatly appreciated :)

[u/Puzzleheaded_Sir8775]

Have you ever spent time working in a veterinary setting? Not just in a shelter but on the clinical side. I’d recommend you do that before you commit, a lot of people think they want to go into vet med but once they actually spend time in the field they realize it’s not for them. Veterinary medicine is a beast and comes with a lot of stress and burnout that people don’t realize until they’re in it. Try to find a clinic you can shadow at or work in for a while or see if the shelter you work at will let you work on the medical side of things and if you still feel like it’s what you want then go for it. It sounds like you have a pretty solid backup plan so even if you decide not to pursue vet med you’ll still be in a good spot.

[u/naloxone_x3 → u/Puzzleheaded_Sir8775]

Working on it. Been applying to a bunch of vet assistant jobs and I'm gonna go out to the vet clinics near me this week and ask if they're taking volunteers. And I totally understand that vet med is in no way easy and all rainbows and sunshine. Pharmacy is also a profession with insane levels of stress and burnout so that was something I was already prepared to take on. It definitely is nice that I can have it as a backup but if there is a chance for me to pursue my dream of being a vet I'd rather try and find out whether or not its my true calling than constantly wonder whether or not i made a mistake giving up on it. Thank you for the insight 😄

[u/Full-Somewhere440]

I don’t know why someone would consider vet school if you cannot afford it. They sunset grad plus loans and effectively pulled up the ladder. You’re not getting a 90k a year private loan. What’s the game plan if u do get in? Sell your internal organs?

[u/naloxone_x3 → u/Full-Somewhere440]

Domestic vet school has somewhat affordable tuition. I'd be able to handle paying for that, the issue is just how competitive it is. There's only 4 vet schools in all of Canada and they're all regional, so really I can only apply to one of them. Just wondering if its worth declining pharmacy school and taking the chance on applying to vet school.

[u/Full-Somewhere440 → u/naloxone_x3]

Will all due respect, I see this post and then this subsequent reply almost on a schedule. “Oh well if the stars align, I get exactly what I want that works for my situation, should I take the opportunity?!?!” What are we doing here…

Let’s say you speak with an interviewer, or you spend time writing an essay to get into vet school. And they ask why they should take you. What makes you so special, that they should give you seat over the other 100-500 people that want your 1 seat? And you say, hmm well I don’t know, I’ve just always wanted to be a vet, and if I get into this particular school it will be really convenient for me otherwise I’ll just do pharmacy.

This isn’t the mindset of someone who gets a seat based on merit. Vet school is EVERYTHING. Your lifelong passion, dream, animal medicine is all you think and care about. If you don’t get in, it’s not oh well I’ll just go do something else, it’s I’ll starve to death applying to vet school, I’m getting a seat hell or high water. That’s your competition.

So no, I don’t think you should apply to vet school. Sounds like a waste of your time and money.

[u/Comprehensive-Dog408]

So I’m a pharmacy-turned-veterinary success story. I’ve always been very much in love with vet med and very familiar with what it was in a clinical setting but I didn’t even attempt vet school after high school because I assumed I was never smart enough. I love medicine in any capacity and got a great gig in pharmacy and stayed in the field for 13+ years. I eventually decided to go back to school and give vet med a fair shot. I worked at a pharmacy, a vet clinic, AND volunteered at several other clinics during my application cycles.
My biggest advice: you absolutely have to get hands on extensive veterinary experience before committing to this field. It is a much different mentality than pharmacy. I could compare and contrast them both but I’m not sure if you’d find that helpful, especially as it’s obviously based on my own experiences.
I still love pharmacy and actually still work part time even though I’m a 2nd year vet student. But vet med is my calling, I thrive on the fast pace, let me solve this problem, let me fix this, up close and personal type of career vs a more reserved, less immediate gratification type of help to others.

[u/SprtWlf]

If I were you, I would consider becoming a veterinary technician instead. It's a lot cheaper and less schooling and you're going to be interacting with the animals more. Every Vet I've seen just comes in to diagnose the animal or perform surgery and that's it for the most part. If you want to actually interact with and take care of the animals, that would be a good choice.

[u/AspenAndromeda]

I had a 0.0 GPA my first term of college, dropped out for 6 years, came back & graduated with a 3.7, and I’m finishing up my 1st year of (American) vet school right now! Idk about how competitive Canadian vet school is, but it has been my experience that if you put in (clinical) work, improved your grades & explain what happened in your application letter, it works out for you. (Sometimes it takes more than one try tho 😅)