Is a Career as a Veterinarian Right for You?

When I was in junior high school, my social studies teacher gave my class an assignment. We were to select several different career fields (I can't remember how many) that we might some day like to work in and write a brief essay about each. Because I LOVE animals, I chose zoologist and veterinarian as two of my potential careers. Alas, a lack of skill - and affinity - for math and science proved that such careers were not for me.

Veterinarians have to train almost as rigorously as medical doctors. Besides a bachelor's degree, aspiring veterinarians must also go to school to earn their doctor of veterinary medicine degree and take special exams in order to obtain the necessary certification to practice in a particular state.

Some veterinarians forego the traditional route of private practice in favor of doing research, sometimes alongside medical doctors and other researchers, to study the causes of certain diseases, like HIV, that plague humans. They also work with medical doctors to research animal diseases, like avian flu, that can be tranferred to humans.

Although most vets choose to go into private practice so they can stay close to urban and suburban areas, there are some who don't mind traveling out to the rural countryside to care for livestock and farm animals or to look after race horses or racing dogs. Since zoos are generally situated close to metropolitan areas, most of the veterinarians who treat the wild and domesticated animals there are in private practice and work for the zoos on a contract basis.

An entry level veterinarian can earn as much as $68,000 per year, according to PayScale.com, but it's not the kind of career field someone goes into for the money alone. Anyone who doesn't love working with animals or the general public or who hates keeping long hours, probably shouldn't choose a career as a veterinarian.

Article by content coordinator, Candice Arnold