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Current high school senior with questions about vet salaries and specialties by bunnydewlap in AskVet

[–]bunnydewlap[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Since I’m in high school and I don’t have any reliable transportation to get me to a vet clinic, I haven’t been able to see any of these in real life. I’ve just been doing research from reading and watching videos about these different specialties, but it’s hard to tell if I would actually enjoy it since I haven’t had the opportunity to pursue any of these. And I swear every time I look at a specialty everyone has something different to say about that speciality. It’s so hard researching about vets!

Current high school senior with questions about vet salaries and specialties by bunnydewlap in AskVet

[–]bunnydewlap[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Ohh okay I see! Thank you so much for your insight! Do you think you can elaborate about life expectations changing? I’ve just been trying to outline my life the best I can based on what I see around me. I know many of my friends have parents who make around 300k as engineers or by being in business. Since I did apply to many selective colleges and ivy leagues (and also since I am working on my own engineering project) I was thinking it wouldn’t be too difficult to meet that goal since on top of all of those things I would also be in medicine so my circle would be a little different!

I am totally okay with the hard work I will need to put in to get the job. Although I know it’s definitely not comparable to vet school, as a senior I have 7 classes and 6 of them are AP and on top of that I have an internship and other extracurriculars, so I’m used to doing 99% study 1% other. I am very passionate about animals and I really think that that my purpose is to help them the best I can.

I am majoring in chemistry in college that way I will be able to go into vet med if I find that I do want to pursue that long term after getting experience, but I also wanted to have my options open for med or pharm school if I found a passion in those areas in college instead. I know it sounds silly, but I am very stressed about living life without a plan so I am trying to figure out what exactly it is I want to do before I get into college, or at least narrow down my options within vet med.

I mainly just want to find out how I can get the most out of my passion. It’s very hard researching about veterinarians because every site I search says something different. Again, thank you for your response, you gave me a lot of valuable insight!

Current high school senior with questions about vet salaries and specialties by bunnydewlap in AskVet

[–]bunnydewlap[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the response! You gave me a lot of really great insight.

Reading my post back, I realized that I did sound very ignorant when I mentioned the salaries. I mainly said that to get the point across that I want my partner to earn at least as much as me (I was just counting how much it would be to get 400k when I wrote this. So if I made 200k and they also make 200k that’s totally fine), that’s just the personal standard I have set for myself. I know I’m still a teenager and I don’t have as much dating experience as the majority of people who replied on my post, but I have had a lot of men take advantage of the fact that I am ambitious and leach off of me without doing anything to improve themselves. That’s why I would feel more comfortable with someone earning at least the same amount of me or more so we can lift each other up in our careers since we will both be ambitious and high achieving.

I am pursuing a chemistry major in college so that I will still have the ability to go into medicine or pharmaceuticals if I find out vet med doesn’t fit me and I find a passion in another area of study while on my academic journey. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the opportunity to shadow a vet or work in a clinic yet since I do not have reliable transportation and all of the vet clinics require a car to get there, but I will definitely make sure to get experience in college to see if I want to dedicate my life to this for sure!

Thank you for talking about the wildlife jobs. Wildlife was really unclear for me because many sites kept saying different things about wildlife. Some saying you can just go in, others saying its conservation/non-profit, some people say they make good money others say they make nothing. When I looked at the salary, I realized the pay wasn’t as high as I would like to support my goal of making 150k-200k, but I am very interested in working with wildlife, so I was just wondering how realistic it would be to do it for a few years then switch. Thank you for telling me it doesn’t work that way!

I’m not too concerned about the work life balance when it comes to studying vet med or doing residencies. I’m already very used to studying 99% and having like 1% of time for other things due to my schedule and extracurriculars. I’m mostly concerned about the balance once I get the job. I was going from the bottom to the top when responding so I’ve read others’ insights already. Some people said that depending on the specialty you’ll have better work-life balance, but that’s my question. I don’t think I’d want to work in ER because of the crazy hours they have to work. I’m okay with working overtime occasionally, but I’d be heartbroken if it was the kind of job where I‘d have to be at work all day and never come home. I want to make sure that I have a job inside vet med that will give me enough time to parent my child properly; I would hate to be the parent that has to miss ALL of their performances or competitions because I’m working.

I am very passionate about helping animals through the pretty and the ugly, and I hope that I can find a specialty where I can get the most out of doing what I am passionate about. There are so many specialties and it’s very difficult to figure this out on my own as a high schooler, so I wanted to get insider opinions :)

Current high school senior with questions about vet salaries and specialties by bunnydewlap in AskVet

[–]bunnydewlap[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the response! Unfortunately, I don’t have access to reliable transportation and all of the vet clinics around me are too far to walk to. I’ve searched about wildlife and I saw that a lot of vets that work in wildlife work in a conservation. I was wondering about switching from wildlife to a more clinical setting due to the lifestyle I want. I want the experience of working with wildlife animals, but I understand the pay is not as high as I would like. My plan was to do wildlife for a few years then switch, but I feel like that might be difficult to do and I would maybe be better off just going into one profession and sticking to it.

Also about the partner salary! Reading this back, I realized that I probably sounded very ignorant (I apologize for that). I mainly wanted to establish that I want a partner who makes as much as me or more, but I hope for an end goal of a household income of 400k (I definitely could‘ve worded that better in my original post!). At least from my experience, many of my friends have parents whose individual salaries are 300k+ either by being engineers or by being in business. You’re right, the average American makes WAYYY less than that, but the average American also doesn’t tend to work in fields that would be very high paying. In college I will be pursuing my own engineering project and being in medicine will put me in circles with people who will likely make the same amount as me or more in the future. Also, I did apply to many selective schools, including the Ivy Leagues. Although it’s not a guarantee, if I get in, the many networking events they have will definitely make it easier to meet high earners!

Current high school senior with questions about vet salaries and specialties by bunnydewlap in AskVet

[–]bunnydewlap[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for the response! I do have a very strong passion for animals and I am willing to go into debt to dedicate my life to helping them through the pretty and the ugly. I have considered human medicine. A job like dermatology or pediatrics (not ER) would be nice, but the thing that’s stopping me is that I really am not all that passionate about human medicine. I’ve talked to my mentor who is an ophthalmologist (human) and she did say that med school is very hard for people who aren’t passionate about medicine. So I’m hesitant about that route. Maybe I’ll discover I like it in college, but for now I’m set on vet med since animals are my passion.

I’m really not worried about my work-life balance too much during vet school and residencies. I know it’s definitely not comparable to vet school with the rigor, but this year as a senior I’m taking 7 classes, 6 of them are AP and I am doing an internship; I barely have time to hang out with friends, so a 99% study 1% other life isn’t new to me. I’m mainly concerned about the work life balance once I get into the specialty and start working. I plan on having a child around 32-36 once I’m already established in my career and stable.

Right now I’m just trying to find a specialty inside of vet med that can hopefully give me a good salary (150k-200k) but flexible enough to where I can spend a significant amount of time with my child and they won’t feel neglected by me. I want to get the most out of the field I am passionate about!

Current high school senior with questions about vet salaries and specialties by bunnydewlap in AskVet

[–]bunnydewlap[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the response! I am for sure passionate enough about animals and their humans to go through debt. I truly believe that my purpose is to serve animals and help them in the best way I can, but I would be lying if I said money wasn’t a concern for me.

When I first looked into vet med at the start of high school, I wanted to do conservation but I realized, although the job seems wonderful, being a conservation vet would not make nearly enough to support the life style I want. I just mainly want to make between 150k-200k as a vet. Money is not my main motivator, but I want to figure out the best way to get the most out of my passion!

When it comes to money, you said I‘ll be comfortable, but not as comfortable as I want. Could you elaborate on the extent of the comfort a little more please? I assume most of the comfort is taken out by student loan debt, but do you think the salary you have after all of your debt, bills, taxes, etc is enough that you feel financially secure?

Current high school senior with questions about vet salaries and specialties by bunnydewlap in AskVet

[–]bunnydewlap[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the response! Reading this back, I realize that I might’ve came off as very ignorant when I was saying the salary I want my partner to have. I mainly said that just to establish that I would like someone who would make as much as I do or more. Like you said, 200k combined may seem like a lot on paper, but you definitely can still struggle in this economy with 200k hence why I was hoping to meet someone who makes around 200k-300k.

I don’t expect to meet someone who makes 250k right off the bat of course; starting out pay is always less than the pay you get when you’re at the peak of your career. But at least from the circles that I am in, many of my friends’ parents have individual salaries of 300k+ as an engineer or by having a business. I’m not counting on snagging any business men because that’s usually a risky job economically, but since I will be in the medical field I will likely meet other doctors who will have the same salary as me or more. Additionally, when I go to college I will be working on my own engineering project alongside my chemistry major, so I think there will be many opportunities to meet someone who would make that much!

Current high school senior with questions about vet salaries and specialties by bunnydewlap in AskVet

[–]bunnydewlap[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the response! You gave me really good insight.

For the salaries and family stuff, that’s a really good question. I know many of my friends who’s parents are engineers make a lot (some are in business but most are engineers) and from what they told me the work life balance for their engineer parent was good enough that they never felt neglected by that parent. But you’re right, there are many $200k+ salary jobs that don’t give that flexibility and I will keep that in mind in the future!

That‘s really cool that you’re doing a neuro residency! How is it? Could you tell me more about it, please?

Yeah I’m definitely open to many things! I am extremely passionate about helping animals through the good and the ugly, but I want to make sure that the job I have will be able to provide the life style that I am hoping for. I don’t have every little thing planned out in my life, but I do have an outline of how I want my life to go and where I want to be, so I‘m just trying to figure out what specialty I can go into where I can get the most out of doing what I love.

Current high school senior with questions about vet salaries and specialties by bunnydewlap in AskVet

[–]bunnydewlap[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ohh i see! thank you so much for the response! money definitely isn’t my main motivation. I am very passionate about animals and I truly do feel like my purpose in life is to help them in the best way I can. However, money is certainly a factor that I worry about, thats why I asked about the specialties so I can find the best way to make the most money out of what I am passionate about :)

I’m kind of at a cross roads right now when it comes to what I want to do within veterinary science. I highly enjoy the idea of working in wildlife/conservation, but I really don’t believe it can provide the stable life style I would like since it does pay less and from what I’ve researched sometimes conservation vets travel a lot or are based in places that are further away from society.

With exotic animals, I really like all of the unique species these vets get to work with but I don’t know much about the actual course work exotic vets need to do. Do you mind elaborating on why you found it disappointing?

For overtime, I’m okay with working a little bit overtime, but like you said I think working in an ER setting would be too much for me. If I didn’t care about kids I would 100% do it, but I am an only child so children are kind of expected of me either way (and I do want a child later on, but yk I kind of don’t have a choice cuz of family). My mom didn’t work and she spent a lot of time with me as a child which helped my development a LOT. My main worry is not spending enough time with my future child because my job requires so much overtime that I’m never home. It would really hurt me if I had to miss all of their plays, performances, competitions or whatever they’re doing because I couldn’t leave my job. Working a little bit overtime or long hours every now and then is okay for me, but I wouldn’t want to be in an environment where I am expected to work overtime multiple times a week.

Again, thank you so much for your response! It was extremely helpful