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?

One other thought - it's hard to tell how you will feel once any possible children are in the equation. Some people thought they would be keen to go back to work afterwards and feel differently afterwards and the same the other way round.

The only people I know who combine young children and an inflexible job with unpredictable hours have a very involved/flexible/SAH partner, and/or very involved local grandparents, often both.

There is no paid childcare available at 8am on a Saturday, for example. Or 7pm on a Monday. Or for a child who is unwell. Normal childminders/nurseries/after school clubs etc just don't open at those times and (understandably) won't take unwell children. Unless your partner is a very high earner and a nanny is an option you would only manage it with family help.

Depending on your existing skills you could look at bioinformatics.

What type of consultant are you op?

I'm a doctor not a vet, but the courses are probably similar intensity and difficulty.

At 28 I'd say go for it. When I was studying there were several mature students that age, and they did really well. You're still young.

The only issue is children, because I think it would be virtually impossible to study and train while bringing up small children, unless you had a team of child carers. And even then you'd feel terrible because you'd be missing so much. It would be better if you could postpone having children until you'd qualified, and could maybe work part time. But I don't know how long it takes to get to that point, so that's a consideration too.

What are the ethical grounds? I don’t think you can just say you don’t want to. From the link another poster shared veganism and religious reasons are considered but are not an immediate guaranteed pass to not go to an abbatoir.

When you say consultant, what does that exactly mean? I immediately thought a doctor but that doesn’t fit with all humanities at A level.
Public relations? Recruitment? Management? Something financial?

When I was young, you needed better A level grades to study to be a vet, than you did to do medicine. It's still harder to get into - far fewer places.

It might even be the hardest of all the university courses to get onto. And that is saying something.

If you want children, I wouldn't consider being a vet at your age. It's very un-family friendly - you'll need to do your share of weekends, holidays and nights and that often means being able to go to an emergency with literally no notice - as in, someone rings you and you have to drop whatever you're doing and go.

Can relate to this as a child of a vet.
Own private practice in Yorkshire Dales. The amount of time spent chasing bad debts, meeting regulatory requirements, record keeping, business administration, etc. Treating animals was only part of it. In the first 10 years of my life he and my mum went out socially twice a year. One the vet association's annual dinner dance and one on my Mum's birthday. We had a good two weeks a year family holiday though and a new car every two years for work. That's the reality of large animal practice.

If you didn't get on the course or failed a year you could always become a doctor, was the in joke. Not without some truth.😂

I've been a vet nurse for many years, i know the reality that vets experience.
One aspect of the job that i haven't seen mentioned is how very physical it is , most of my team have a chronic back,hip,knee or all 3 ! problems.
Bear this in mind for further down the line as you get older, also it is not a kid friendly job, i couldn't begin to count the amount of plans i have had to abandon due to emergencies keeping me at work -this is the norm.
a pp mentioned neglect and suffering ,thankfully we don't see much of this but we do have unreasonable owners with unreasonable expectations regularly.
Yes it's a great job, also heart warming ,very funny and at times very sad , one extreme to the other , i wouldn't want to work in any other field but !!!!
I think you may possibly regret giving up that amazing salary ,not many vets get near that ! but most of all the complexities of fitting years of uni then the job around your potential family.