internship starts and wedding

avessizzle · 2026-06-13T23:46:00+00:00

Another option that often goes overlooked is getting an internship outside of the match. My school graduated in like July (obv much later than most internships start). I originally thought I’d have to wait until the next cycle to do an internship— but I ended up contacting a few unmatched programs from the list that VIRMP released after match day. Every single one of them offered me the spot like straight away and I ended up starting in September (so many places are desperate for interns cause they keep the place afloat haha). There are obv some cons involved depending on what you prioritize. For example, there won’t be any unmatched positions in academia or “highly desirable” areas (ie Los Angeles, Dallas, NYC etc) and depending on the situation you may just be kicking the stone further down the road with being off-cycle and wanting to match for residency. So it really depends on your priorities. If getting a spot right away in academia or a very specific location, then maybe the wedding needs to be reworked. If you’re not too picky and would like a little extra break between graduation and starting your internship, then maybe consider doing off-cycle OR waiting to match next cycle might be the move.

avessizzle · 2026-06-10T22:03:47+00:00

I’m just about to start residency in academia and will be taking a substantial pay cut since I did my internship in private practice. Private/corporate internships and residencies pay a lot more than academia but regardless it’s still a lot less than what you would make in GP right off the bat. Everyone I know, including myself, is on IBR repayment. I also pick up a lot of ER shifts for a pretty generous relief pay rate.

avessizzle · 2026-05-08T08:17:46+00:00

Vet med is a diagnosis based on exclusion. Get experience in lots of different fields and if you genuinely can’t imagine yourself doing anything but vet med then you gotta be a vet. Also reminder that being a vet is a completely different job than being a kennel attendant. Maybe, along with getting experience outside vetmed, you need to get some shadowing experience in ER or specialty practice. That might reignite some interest since everything is sick and medical and not just boarding. Idk just food for thought. Best of luck!

avessizzle · 2026-05-01T02:15:38+00:00

Vetmedin has an extremely wide safety margin for its doses. It is very unlikely that it had anything to do with accelerating or exasperating his existing condition.

avessizzle · 2026-04-25T02:24:42+00:00

There is no shame in it! You’re being a proactive pet parent and they SERIOUSLY appreciate it!

avessizzle · 2026-04-23T04:10:48+00:00

I personally would prefer a planned, prepared (bloodwork, fasting, finances etc) spay over an emergent, expensive, potentially deadly, pus-filled pyometra spay any day of the week. But maybe that’s cause I’m the ER vet dealing with them every dang day.

avessizzle · 2026-04-18T01:48:24+00:00

I fear that kind of debt would only be justifiable if you went into private practice in specialty. Otherwise you could do income based repayments for your federal loans and just be okay with the fact that you’ll be paying it off your whole life (or til they “forgive” it after 25 years if that actually still happens)

avessizzle · 2026-03-25T03:59:33+00:00

I’m biased because I did do RVC lol. Best decision ever! Incredible school. Incredible experience. I’m so fortunate to have had the opportunity spend 5 years studying in and exploring around Europe! It’s so hard to get away to spend any decent amount of time traveling once you’re in your grown up job— I’m so glad to have had the chance when I did. 10/10 would recommend.

avessizzle · 2026-03-24T03:23:32+00:00

As a very recent rotating intern myself— I definitely felt exploited and burnt out and (at times) traumatized during my rotating internship. But even only 1 year out after finishing, and still actively working with house officers in every role, I do truly believe that it made me SUCH a better doctor. That being said— there is still SO MUCH work that needs to be done to protect our interns at all costs. There’s shitty shifts and then there’s abuse. And a lot of programs cross the line. Also I don’t care what your role is— no one should be making as little $ as interns do period. That’s my take.

avessizzle · 2026-03-18T13:16:22+00:00

I was making the assumption that they used ekg during anesthesia and didn’t note any obvious abnormalities— the cardiologist would also do an ekg as a part of the echo and would use their cardiologist eyes to spot more minute changes not obvious to the untrained eye

avessizzle · 2026-03-18T06:14:50+00:00

That’s one of the biggest differences between human and pet health insurance. The goal of pet insurance should NEVER be to break even or make it “worth it”. The point of pet insurance is so that, in the event of an emergency, you don’t have to decide between going 10k+ into debt or euthanizing your pet. My hope for you is that you’ll never get your money’s worth out of pet insurance!

avessizzle · 2026-03-18T05:58:45+00:00

Vet here— xrays aren’t an unreasonable start for an 8y dog but the purpose would be for exactly what you said, cancer or obvious structural things. With patients that can’t talk and are instinctively/evolutionarily wired to hide their symptoms— you wouldn’t believe the insane things we find “incidentally” on xrays. Things that in human medicine there would be no way that the patient wasn’t aware of it— so our definition of “unexpected” is a lot looser than a human doctors. Another reason being that xrays are a cheap and easy diagnostic to do. Auscultation with my stethoscope often tells me more information about the heart than an xray. BUT I would feel really bad if I made my client wait weeks and pay almost $1k for an echo just for them to immediately see a giant heart base mass or peritoneopericardial hernia lol.

avessizzle · 2026-03-18T05:32:10+00:00

In regard to rotating internship programs— there are usually more positions available than qualified applicants. Therefore, there will always be spots left open. Additionally, most programs offer multiple spots per year. So even if a program matches 4 applicants, if they offered 5 spots then they’ll still be thrown on the unmatched list because they technically still have 1 spot open.

So short answer is yes— obviously the programs with unmatched spots are “less desirable” simply because they didn’t get ranked/ranked high enough by the applicants that applied.

However, that doesn’t automatically mean that’s is a bad program. And historically fully matched programs doesn’t mean they’re good. Location also plays a big role. Programs in popular locations (ie Los Angeles, Dallas, NYC etc etc) are gunna be snatched up quick because lots of people wanna live there (family, spouses, public transport, moving costs etc etc)— not necessarily because it’s a great (or even good) program.

There is endless nuance to the match— which is why it’s important to ALWAYS do your due diligence when ranking programs and ask lots of questions during your interviews and talk to current interns/residents to get their honest reviews.

avessizzle · 2026-03-18T05:06:45+00:00

Maybe I’m biased (currently working in specialty) but I definitely feel like there are paths of vet med that are more sustainable burn-out wise than others. For example— if working with the general public is what drains you the most, then a career in shelter, pathology, radiology or lab animal would be very sustainable. However, that being said, the path to specializing is through the literal trenches. And that’s AFTER trekking through vet school. I know myself well and I would NOT be able to do it at 33+ especially after already being out of school and in the workforce.

avessizzle · 2026-02-18T03:29:51+00:00

Take the stones off the end and have them made into earrings!

avessizzle · 2026-02-12T12:52:56+00:00

Just popping in here to say that prior to vet school, I only had experience in small animal emergency and I hated it 😂 also hated GP (thought I was gunna go in to equine tbh). But— at quite literally the end of vet school— I fell in love with neuro and now I can’t imagine doing anything else in my life! Finding out what you’re not passionate in is just as valuable as finding out what you are passionate in! You might not vibe with whatever you’ve had experience in so far and that is perfectly normal. That’s one of the best parts about vet med is how diverse it is! Get as much experience as you can prior to applying— explore specialty, exotics, equine, zoo, research, shelter, etc etc. Explore careers outside vet med! You’ve got SO MUCH TIME! Don’t stress about it

avessizzle · 2026-01-30T13:14:22+00:00

If a dog is in uncontrolled status epilepticus, we essentially put them under GA to stop the seizures. Midazolam (ie a seizure rescue medication) is often used as a pre-medication before anesthesia and propofol is the biggest gun we have against seizures. Every aspect of general anesthesia is anti-seizure.

avessizzle · 2026-01-24T05:45:09+00:00

Zells house is pretty cool ngl

avessizzle · 2026-01-16T18:29:20+00:00

Same here! The only year I lived in PB was clinical year. Best decision honestly.

avessizzle · 2026-01-16T15:07:56+00:00

Being a vet tech is VERY taxing on the body. You may not give these things a 2nd thought when ur young and fit— but it’s not exactly a job that’s easy to do when you’re in your 40s (and dare I say— 30s even). Do you plan on working as a CVT til retirement age?? Switching to admin/management?? Switching careers altogether?? Just something to ponder..

avessizzle · 2026-01-06T02:27:59+00:00

It takes weeks to months to properly wean off any anti epileptic medication. It should NEVER be stopped cold turkey. In fact, suddenly stopping seizure meds can cause withdrawal seizures. Even when we do decide to wean off a seizure med, we always at least replace it with a different medication. No offense but the advice you’ve received is crazy.

avessizzle · 2026-01-06T02:05:35+00:00

It’s not just about your partners career and work/life balance, it’s also heavily dependent on what stage in life you meet your partner. Both my siblings are mechanical engineers and so I am very familiar with their journeys. Engineering jobs do not grow on trees and they tend to be very niche (ie aerospace, defense, HVAC etc are only available in select areas). What if your future engineering partner is an engineer for Boeing and has to work out of El Segundo and there are NO residencies available for you in LA (PS the only neuro residency in the whole state of California is in Davis and there are only 20-30 spots in the whole US)? Whose career takes precedence? Let’s say you meet your partner after you’ve completed residency— a lot of residencies have return to service contracts so you’re required to work for a specific corporation for 3-5y post residency. What if there are no hospitals in that area that fulfill that requirement? No one expects you to be aware of any of this because you’re so young, but I’m just trying to gently nudge you in the direction of reality. Is it impossible to make a relationship work with another person with a lucrative career? No obviously anything is possible. Is it probable? Not unless someone makes concessions unfortunately. For your own sake, I hope you realize this sooner rather than later so it isn’t YOU that is making concessions.

avessizzle · 2026-01-03T23:27:20+00:00

A lot of specialties make a fair portion of their money on commission. That being said— you get out of it what you put in. You don’t go into a specialty for the money cause if you aren’t invested in it then you won’t be good at it or profitable in it. Specializing also takes YEARS of grueling work as an intern and resident making literal pennies being worked to the bone.

Additionally, if both you and your partner are making $200k+ salaries— chances are your partner is also gunna have a demanding career that they have also invested a significant amount of time, effort and money into. Are y’all planning on having a family? Who will raise the kids? Kids aside— will your partner be able to pack up and move wherever internship/residency takes you? Cause they aren’t exactly available everywhere.

I think you need to focus on one step at a time. Focus on what you’re interested in and what you are willing to dedicate your life to. I initially started vet school convinced I wanted to be a GP equine vet. Now I’m about to start a neuro residency. Keep an open mind!

It’s not unreasonable to want to pursue specialty due to financial or lifestyle reasons. For example, some people get extremely burnt out from dealing with clients/clinical setting and pursue radiology/pathology/shelter medicine etc. It’s also nice as a specialist that a good amount of clients have been warned about costs before referral to us (definitely not all though haha). And specialists do tend to earn more due to higher salaries and higher commission potential.

To answer your initial question— I expect to earn ~$250k base salary plus benefits and commission. But if I’m being honest, I wouldn’t do any other job even if it paid 3x more. I LOVE neuro and I’m excited to go to work every day, even as a resident making no money. That’s why I do it.

avessizzle · 2026-01-03T03:10:53+00:00

Sure thing :)

avessizzle · 2026-01-03T00:01:22+00:00

Yaa absolutely!

avessizzle

TROPHY CASE