To give up a £100k job to retrain as a vet?

[Fueoe]

Just that really. I’m a consultant now and bored of it mostly, and tired of sitting inside at a desk all day. I earn a lot of money though for what I do.

i always wanted to be a vet in school, but was told by my mum that I wasn’t academic enough, so I did all humanities A levels instead and got 4 As.

as an adult my confident has grown, and I’ve realised that I am actually academically capable. I just keep thinking that life is too short to not pursue the life I want.

im now 28, and have requested to start volunteering at a city farm to get experience. I’d need to do an access year or study science a levels part time so it would take me at least 6 years. I want to have kids in my early 30s too so not sure how that would work.

am I mad for considering this?

Any vets out there? Am I mad for considering this?

Do you realise how much it will cost and how long it will take? Presumably you will need to do A levels or a foundation degree in the science's

I'd get some experience first. I know five vets, four are constantly moaning about it, one loves it. I suspect it's a bit like medicine in that sense.

I've only heard negative things about being a vet. Large animal vets get called out at all hours to deal with cows, horses, etc. Small animal vets usually end up working for corporate chains that value revenue over caring for animals.

As you're only 28, you could 100% do this. Just be sure that it's the life you want from a practical point of view.

A vet I know actively discouraged his children and they're doctors instead.

Make sure you really want to do it. Get the entry qualifications before quitting your job.

Vets have a high suicide rate. It's not all petting cute animals and nice things. You will see the results of horrific cruelty, neglect and putting animals to sleep is going to be a regular thing. My best friend is a vet nurse and finds it incredibly hard sometimes. I was in a relationship with a farm vet for several years and he also struggled massively with it. I remember him coming home and crying because they'd TB tested a small herd of pedigree cows and every single one had tested positive which meant they all had to be slaughtered.

Do you already have a degree? Depending whether you are in England or elsewhere that is likely to affect funding for a second undergraduate degree.

Consider whether this is about actually wanting to work as a vet or about proving your academic skills/confidence (in which case there are probably much better ways to do that eg a science degree or masters). If it's about working with animals could you look at involvement via volunteering eg fostering. Or take your skills from your current job into a role in the animal industry somewhere (eg a veterinary division of a pharmaceutical company)

If you are planning a family, it sounds from the timing as if you would want that to happen while you are training. That sounds really tricky. Would you have lots of supportive relatives/partner who can help with childcare? During the undergraduate years you would have to do lots of unpaid placements in the holidays to build experience and lectures/practical sessions will be pretty much 9-5. Working as a vet can also be very challenging to combine with childcare, it's not easy to just take a day off if kids are sick and you can't work from home. Unless you have a partner with a flexible job and/or very available grandparents it would be very tricky.

Do you live near a vet school or would you plan to move? Lots of universities don't offer this course.

Just a few thoughts about the practicalities.

Ps how are you at working with people? All animals come with an owner attached so a large part of the job involves negotiating and explaining things to the animal owners/carers and those discussions can be tricky when people are emotional or worried about the cost.

You realise you'd have to perform surgery in an operating theatre too? Ex vet nurse here and it's vital you find out more about what it involves. I wouldn't do it OP. Could be very tricky if you're going to have children to be honest.

I don't know anything about becoming a vet but I am having similar thoughts about quitting my well paid job and going into teaching.

6 years of study, most of which would have to be while you're not working. So a huge cut in income. Do you have a mortgage? Any debts already?

Vet here - not unreasonable to retrain if you’re passionate about it. Do you have an idea what type of vet you would like to be? Unless you specialise (by sitting further post graduate exams) your income is very unlikely to exceed 100k. It can be a very satisfying career with a decent salary when compared to national averages, but not when compared to comparable careers like doctor, dentist. Sounds like your current job is likely more pay for less stress? But money isn’t everything. I know lots of unhappy vets but also some who love it! I’d suggest you do some work experience with a local vet to give you a better idea of the job before committing to any access courses etc.

Vet suicide is huge.
Years of training for a poor income.
private equity bleeding the industry dry.

You’d have to be utterly mad.

I can't speak for you but personally I wouldn't become a vet at your age; you'd have to start from scratch again right from A Levels.

You can always move into a more interesting area of consulting or business and have an animal hobby on the side. Train guide dogs or start horse riding.

If you really wanted to switch into an animal-related career, I'd be thinking of a masters in something like wildlife conservation, animal behaviour, or marine biology.

You are mad ... keep earning 100K ... eventually do less hours and volunteer with animal charities in your spare time. Lots of being a vet is running a business, doing paperwork, so you will spend a lot of time at a desk. Small animal vets are now pretty much all part of chains lots of KPIs and papework plus upselling. Large animal ones work insane hours and yes the suicide rate speaks for itself.

Be warned that it is very competitive currently to get onto a degree course to become a vet…you’ll be competing against top A-level students with stellar academic predictions plus heaps of work experience who themselves are finding it extraordinarily competitive.

Don't do it!
Hard work to get qualified, poorly paid, long hours.
Clients are getting more and more difficult because they've read something on google and think they know better than you.
You'll probably land working for a large chain who only cares are profit and squeezing as much out of you as they can.

It's really hard to get onto vet uni courses, there aren't loads and they're very oversubscribed, I would do some serious homework on that first

You could do it, but why, animals can't tell you what is wrong. You have to tell pwners to put them to sleep, I have a few friends who become vetsand they have all quit, now two are farming, and one is a teacher and much happier.

I did this (give up a massive salary and retrain). With small kids.

It was totally worth it - retraining was so interesting and has made me a new and better person. I love my new career - but as I had large savings from the massive salary days, I don't need to work FT, which makes it even better.

Do it. You live once and the most interesting lives include risks.

but those careers are really difficult to get into, and you'd still have to do A levels/foundation, then a 3 year degree, then a Masters.

I’m not a vet, but like you, wanted to be one as a teenager.

Can I ask what is your main motivation to be a vet? It sounds like some of it might be to prove a point that you’re academically capable.

If that is your main reason, I’d gently suggest that you shouldn’t consider it.

You are clearly very academically capable, based on your A levels and your current role. And at the risk of going off on a tangent, I wonder if some therapy might be helpful to work through those feelings around being academic enough 🌺

Not necessarily, she could speak to various universities about entry pathways. She has good professional experience and they do take that into account. There are foundation courses and pre-masters diplomas that provide an entryway into masters degrees.

In any case I'm not imagining that she'd go into hands-on work with animals as that is very very competitive. But there are business-related functions like finance, strategy, environmental consulting, even wildlife tech that could be a good fit with her consulting background.

My dad was a vet, retired a few years ago. He wasn’t very present in my upbringing with late nights and weekends etc. so it may be not that compatible with family life depending on what sort of vet you are/contract you have. Sometimes he’d be sitting down for family dinner and his bleep would go off and he’d have to go on out and not have dinner with us. He’s work Christmas Day, Easter Sunday etc. I’m academic but chose a 9-5 job instead as not having my dad around growing up made me reflect on what I wanted from my own family life.

Vets also I think have the highest suicide rate of all the professions (I think!) it’s a stressful job and a lot of pressure.

As a child I thought I wanted to be a vet. As an adult I think it is a horrible life, constantly witnessing animal cruelty and suffering. I'm not surprised the suicide rate is so high. However, it is an important job and if you love animals and still want to do this, more power to your elbow.

Ironically, I would have no qualms about becoming a doctor. I dislike humans.