Is it really that hard to become a veterinarian???

Question

i love animals, and i have been thinking of going to school and become a veterinarian, but i have been doing some research and it takes about 8 years, 4 on regular college and another 4 on veterinarian college also it says its pricey to go to this school, has anybody know whats the real deal? its really that long to achieve all the credits???

Answer 1

That's the real deal. Being a veterinarian means you've handling medicine, operations, etc. and that takes a long time to learn. You're basically following the path of a doctor but for animals rather than humans.

Answer 2

Yup, that's what it takes.  As the saying goes: 'if its easy, its not worth anything!'

Getting into vet school is very hard.  However, if that is what your passion is, then no its not that long.

I think what you need to do is take it one step at a time - first finish high school, then go to college, and then decide if you want to go to vet school.  If you do, great, if you dont, then you can always do something else!

Answer 3

A lot of people actually take more than 4 years to complete their bachelors degrees if they are working or if they have personal issues that come up. It may also take extra classes to complete pre-vet requirements that aren't part of your major. It is even harder to get into veterinary school than med school because there are less of them. You probably also need a year or more of internship after veterinary school, so 8 years would be lucky for you.

There are other ways to work with animals. Vet tech programs are much shorter, but the pay is crappy. Vets really don't make money either considering how much schooling they need for school. Most of it goes back into the practice. You could become a biologist, but to really do much with that you would at least need a masters degree which ideally would take 6 years. Even then the job market may be a bit competitive, especially if you want the fun hand-on job with animals.

Go to http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos076.htm for more information on becoming a vet, and check out other occupations there too. Lots of people love animals so pretty much anything dealing with them is competitive. You will need to make sacrifices no matter what. Good luck.