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?

I’m all for ‘do what you love’, but don’t make any decisions hastily. What exactly is it you like about being a vet? Since you make good money in your current job, can you go part-time and spend the rest of your time doing something with animals? You could get the best of both worlds, keep your well paid job and still have plenty of time to do what fulfils you without the downsides of being a vet.

I looked into this myself- not worth it financially unless you go into equine. Do an animal based hobby/volunteer at vet hospitals or rescues instead.

You're on £100k at age 28?! Wowzers trousers. With As at A levels, did you go to uni? So maybe only been in work 7 years? That's crazy income for that age. (As a 43 year old who was recently chuffed with a recent pay rise finally taking me over the £30k mark).

Look, we have one life so live it. If your north star is being a vet, make it happen. If it sucks, you can change again. A very expensive way to be a real life Mr Ben but it happens, I know adults in their 70s who had huge career changes which involved retraining.

I'd hate to be a vet!

Can you stick with what you're doing for say a couple of years, live fairly frugally and save like hell while you've got the chance?

28 is still so very very young.

I am sad for you that your mum influenced your A level choices to an extent that it limited your options with pursuing a career in an area you were passionate about. That sucks. My parents supported us to choose subjects we loved and we've all ended up in careers linking to those. My son's doing A levels in subjects I never would've chosen because they're what HE likes and link up with a higher education route to a career with good prospects and of interest to HIM not me!

It's definitely not too late to make a change. In teaching, some of the best teachers and most influential educators have been those who switched over from other pathways, bringing other expertise and experience but also really enjoying the journey and being grateful for the opportunity.

I think you're wise to look at volunteering opportunities in animal focused organisations to get some hands on experience and perspectives before you make any big decisions. It could be that there are other areas of learning and employment around animals and conservation that draw you in more than vet studies.

Good luck either way!

Friend is a vet

Has always said most stressful part was dealing with humans

Plus if you stop being a FT vet, you have to do so many days per year vet work to keep ypur qualifications active

Plus on call working hours

I think it's easy to imagine that a drastic career change is the answer to boredom - but what if you do all that retraining and in 10 years time you're bored again?

You need to find out what being a vet is really like - speak to people and maybe get some experience shadowing vets.

Then you need to work out if you can afford to take 7 years out of work and pay all your fees. Plus you want to have kids in that timeframe - how will you afford a couple of year of unpaid maternity leave and how will you fund nursery when you go back to studying?

Maybe the answer is to work part time or to get a job with a more interesting company - or to go self employed? It's a big deal to give up what you already have.

I don’t think the suicide rate is that higher. It’s way higher in the medical profession and police officers (I used to work for the police and was horrified by the suicide lists)

most vets I know enjoy their jobs so I’d say go for it. I’d love to be a vet.

I think most of us reach a point in our careers where we're wistful about other potential paths we could have travelled. You're in a privelidged spot to have the finances to actually do something about it - but will that actually lead to fulfilment?

Career isn't the be all and end all. You're making serious money; what doors could that open for you? Do you need to work full-time? When you have a family, what do you see your life looking like? I was incredibly ambitious before DC, after IDGAF. And it doesn't have to be DC; could you travel / invest in property?

My colleague's daughter has just graduated as a vet and is struggling to find a job. I would research employment statistics before taking the plunge.

On 100k save madly for 3 years while doing the volunteering so you can fund your career change

Six years of uni to become a slave to your private equity paymasters. No thanks. I knew quite a few vets at uni and very few are vets now.

Vets I know are massively underpaid for what they do, they have to deal with idiot members of the public (anti vaxers, people who put cosmetic stuff ahead of their animals health, people who shout at them that they're horrible and heartless for not giving free treatment like the nhs) and the hours are unsociable - people want to see the vet for non emergencies after work so standard hours for vets around here seem to be til 7pm which means that all nursery and school pick ups fall to their partners. They are also on minimum holiday allowance and don't get paid for sick days etc (so again all kids sick days fall on their partners).

£100K at 28 is way above average. I’d look to keep going and invest wisely and you could be financially set up in a decade or so. Then you can decide exactly what you want to do without the usual financial stress of mortgages etc.

Being a vet sounds great but it’s a huge amount of incredibly unglamorous hard work for not a huge reward.

I’m not sure training guide dogs is classed as a hobby lol, it’s a professional, often stressful, full time career especially if you are training the clients too.

28 might feel old to start now. But if you don’t do it then when you’re 40 you’ll look back and realise how young it was and that you had time to make a change. You only live once. If you are really passionate about it then go for it. You’re more likely to regret the things you don’t try than those you do.

I also used to work for the police, I worry much more about my vets than I did my officers. The suicide rates are way higher although I understand from friends that the police rates are increasing 😢

the high vet suicide rate is at least partially due to the fact they have relatively easy access to lethal drugs.. human medical doctors have more barriers to it.

Ofc being a vet can also be horrible and stressful, but they also have access to a cabinet of lethal injectables. It's a bit like how an average person is way more likely to commit suicide if there's a gun in their house.

YANBU to want a career you're passionate about but don't underestimate the value of a job you find easy when you have young kids. Particularly if you have flexibility and/or the option to reduce your working hours and still be a high earner

My DIL is a vet (recently qualified)

It's a really gruelling course.

There are compulsory placements I think about 30 weeks-worth) that have to be taken in between terms so you end up with very little holiday time in which to work / earn. DIL was away in Wales on a lambing secondment, somewhere else for dairy farm, horses, zoo, small animal vets etc etc. With travel and accommodation at her own expense. She was quite badly injured by a farm animal on one of these placements.

First job and she is rostered to be on call overnight at weekends, day time weekends, Saturdays etc.

So,,, you would need to have savings behind you and I can't see that the training and beginning of the career ladder are conducive to starting a family. So if you're going to train, best get on with it!

I am still gobsmacked by earning £100k at 28!

I did my life all wrong.

Thank you everyone! Lots of food for thought. I want to be a vet because I’m fascinated by animal disease and biology, and love the idea of having the autonomy to diagnose and treat.

im not put off by difficult humans or having to put animals down. My only hesitation would be not wanting to work in an abbatoir as part of training, but apparently that can usually be avoided on ethical grounds.

the children aspect would be the hardest I think. Has anyone studied part time with young children? Would current vets suggest I wait until after I’ve finished having children and then retrain at that point? I’d probably be late 30s/early 40s.

Why do you want to be a vet?

It’s literally one of the most challenging jobs out there.

Why not just drop a day and volunteer at an animal shelter?

You can’t study PT.

When were you thinking of having DCs?

You have to do work placements which will likely be difficult with young DCs.

I’d probably buy a small flat or house, pay a huge amount of the mortgage off over a very short time while volunteering in different animal settings. Save for course fees and then do the course.

You do have to do abattoir training / short placement, it's compulsory even if based on a short visit:

Information for prospective students | Veterinary Schools Council UK

And since course modules and placements with agricultural animals bred for the food industry are compulsory and the role of vets is (supposedly) to ensure animal welfare at the end stage of that process , why would you dodge it?

Firstly do research into pre entry requirements get this done before leaving your current employment use your holiday days for any exams, work experience.
Once your are then accepted into vet degree can resign. I have known some people who managed babies well while studying as uni have crèche and the days/terms are not too long. Some universities are adaptable for deferring exams and doing part time hours while on maternity leave.
A bonus on mature student with experience is you may get into research type work easier. So you enter uni for degree but end to staying there good work/life balance