Training to be a vet: Difficulties young people may face
In this article, Mary Spears discusses becoming a vet: the difficulties that young people may face.
Many young people may have dreams of becoming a vet. The reality is that it is a career path full of challenges.
If you are serious about working with animals, you need to consider these challenges so you know what lies ahead. For a start, it is difficult to get a place in a vet school.
Veterinary education is comprehensive and requires perseverance and determination to complete it. Here are some of the difficulties you may face as a veterinary student.
It is hard to get a place
To get a place in vet school, you need top academic grades. It is extremely competitive, and even if you do meet the academic requirements, you may still not get a place.
There are always many more applicants than places available. If you present yourself as a well-rounded candidate with pre-application experience in places like vet clinics, horse stables or dog kennels, you may have a better chance of getting in.
It can be humbling if you do get a place and realise the calibre of students in the class. You may feel intimidated, but you need to realize that you only have to do your best and not compete against other students.
Finances can be challenging
Most vet schools are in large cities where living costs can be high. The combined costs of tuition and board can add up, and you may not even be able to take on jobs to supplement your living expenses due to the demands of your studies.
During your holidays, you have to get practical experience in veterinary clinics and elsewhere.
If you do not get financial support from your family, it can be difficult to cope. You do not want to pile up credit card debt while studying, so you need to manage your finances very carefully. It will also take a while after graduating for you to pay back any student loans.
Learning difficulties
If you are a student who wants a career as a veterinarian, you have to absorb a great deal of information. Apart from attending veterinary classes, you will also have many papers to write, and you may not have time.
The education requirements for a veterinarian are very challenging. You can reach out to the experts at Uk.EduBirdie with a request to write my dissertation for me or any other academic paper as such. A professional writer will write a deeply researched, plagiarism-free essay for you within the required timeframe.
It is easy to forget your end goal
For the first couple of years, you will focus on preclinical fields such as anatomy, pharmacology and biochemistry. This is followed by three years of clinical training in medicine and surgery.
The years of study are long and hard. It is easy to lose sight of your end goal.
As the veterinary field becomes more competitive and advanced, it is very important to keep your end goal in mind. This can help you to persist, and you may discover you enjoy one field of veterinary science more than another.
When you finally qualify as a vet, you are not limited to working in a veterinary clinic.
There are various fields of veterinary medicine you can decide to work in, such as in a laboratory, a zoo, or a wildlife centre.
You may decide to specialise in a specific species or focus on exotic animals or farm animals instead of domestic animals.
Veterinarians have to be emotionally strong
Choice of your first job is very important, and it is best to be in a place that is prepared to nurture a new graduate.
It will take a while before you feel comfortable about putting all the theory you learned into practice.
If you have experienced veterinarians around you who are prepared to offer you support, you will learn far quicker.
As a vet, you have to wear many hats – medic, nutritionist, surgeon, bereavement counsellor, and more.
Emotions often run high when dealing with families and sick animals. You must deal with this, manage it, learn from it and carry on. If you cannot, your own mental health will suffer, and your work will suffer too.
Conclusion
Being a vet is not always easy, and it can be emotionally draining, humbling and challenging.
However, despite all the difficulties that come with learning to be a vet, the reward of knowing you can help to save the life of an animal or improve its quality of life cannot be underestimated. That ability to make a difference can more than makeup for all the hard years of study.
Author’s bio
Mary Spears writes for a digital agency where she has won huge appreciation for her quality writing and superb customer dealing.
She is also into essay writing, and it is mostly the Ivy League students who contact her for academic writing assistance. Her free time is for learning digital painting work and watching movies.
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