Desperate to work with animals, but am at university on a completely irrelevant course. HELP!

Question

This might be a bit long-winded, but I need a rant so I'm apologising now!

I've known since I could BREATHE pretty much that I want to work with animals. Growing up I was determined I was going to be a Vet, and my family were all for that (because it's a well paid respectable job). As I got further in school I lost interest in my studies a bit and didn't get the required qualifications to do veterinary science.

I still wanted to work with animals and decided when I finished school I wanted to train as a Veterinary Nurse. However this caused an uproar with my family. No way would they let me, it's badly paid, no way in h**l was I allowed to do anything like that- "YOU ARE GOING TO UNIVERSITY AND THAT'S THE END OF IT." So I ended up forced into university studying Psychology (totally irrelevant subject!). I've just finished my first year, and am very much enjoying student life. But I know I still want to work with animals. I'm going to finish my degree I think just to keep my parents happy, but once that's done I want to pursue a career with animals.

Does anyone have any idea how I can start getting one foot on the ladder? Since I was little I've always had many pets, and for the last few years have fostered small animals for a local rescue, which I love (but is obviously harder at uni).

I want to get into volunteering while I am finishing my Psychology degree, but does anyone have any ideas as to what sort of careers I could look into that could combine my passion with something that might keep my parents happy? I'm determined to do something that I want to do no matter how long it takes.

Any advice welcome. Thanks a million :)

Answer 1

Hi

There is a degree in Veterinary Nursing now.  Lots of universities in the country run the degree, including the Royal Veterinary College in London, and Bristol Langford!

Wage wise, it's true you're never going to be minted as a Registered Veterinary Nurse, (average wage is around £16-£17K for a qualified nurse - possibly more in London, less for a student), BUT job satisfaction is huge!  You get to see and do so much eg. Anaesthesia, Blood Sampling, Surgical Assisting, Radiography, Critical Care Nursing, etc etc.  And its so satisfying seeing a really ill animal walk out the door , alive and happy after you have helped to nurse it back to health. And you tend to have a lot more hands-on contact with the animals than a Vet does!

Of course, like any job it does have its not-so-nice aspects - euthanasia's, long hours, lots of cleaning - but on the whole it's a good job!  There's even chance that you could end up as Head Nurse, Practice Manager or even Partner one day.

I say if it's what you really want, then go for it!  There's no point training for a job if your heart is not in it and it ends up making you really unhappy.   When I told my family 10yrs ago that I wanted to be a VN, they weren't very happy either, but I carried on regardless and now they couldn't be happier for me.

Have a look at the BVNA (British Veterinary Nursing Association) and RCVS (Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons) websites for more info.  Also www.vetnurse.co.uk is a good site to check out too.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

I would warn you against spending two more years in a degree which has no relevance to any career you are interested in. While in a different field, I have been in the same position, trying to take a degree in something my parents approved of which wasn't what I actually wanted to do as a career, and wasting time on a degree you won't use when you could have switched early is something you are likely to regret in years to come. If you want to be studying something else, change ASAP! If you're 20 years old and paying your own way through university, you're not even obligated to tell your parents about it until you're ready to do so.

Are you certain there are no vetinary science courses which will accept your grades? Even if not, you're still young and near the beginning of your academic career. It's still quite possible for you to get the qualifications you need to become a vet. If you need certain GCSE or A-level grades (and you think you can get them), you can take local or distance learning GCSE/A level courses and resit them. You can even do this part-time if you need to fit it around other studies. You could then do a degree in vetinary science, and both you, and your parents, would be happy. If you don't want to retake your exams, there are degrees in vetinary nursing which you could switch to instead (but you should keep in mind the possible long-term benefits of doing so!). Or you could always continue with psychology and become an animal psychologist!

You should absolutely follow your heart and do what you want to do - forget your parents, this is your life and they should be proud of you whatever path you choose. But if you want to change your career path, do it as soon as you can, so you don't get stuck where you are for another year or two.

Good luck!

Answer 3

It is tough to go against your parents in this, unless YOU are paying your own way.  If you change majors, they may stop paying for your education, and if you can't work your own way through (which is really tough, I did it, but barely, and with help from my brother), you are out of luck.  If you convince them that you can take the proper pre-vet school animal science courses and get into a good vet school, you could succeed, perhaps.  The first year in college is mostly basic courses and you have plenty of time to change your major, (I did two or three times--started out for juvenile court work, wound up high school teacher in Special Ed, almost the same thing, actually.....).  Grades before college don't make as much difference as grades IN college.  Good luck.  Be happy, it is your life, not your parents lives.  They are living theirs, you have to live yours.

Answer 4

get in touch with your local rspca and they will give you advice on what courses you can go on or some of them you might get to do the training and work at the sametime it all depends on your age and how they want to work it i also think if you go on the rspca website they will have info on it aswell