u/Far-Lake1095

Hey!
I don’t really know how to start this but I’m kinda going through a crisis rn. I’m applying to vet school but I’m really burnt out and I’m starting to maybe consider that vet med isn’t for me. I’ve been in this for 4 years. I have devoted everything (oh and I mean everything) to going to vet school but I mean is it even worth it?
My old best friend just got her dental hygienist and gets paid 100k a year to brush teeth. Literally. In vet med rn as a vet assistant I have been everything from pharmacy tech to nurse to budget manager to plumber to dental hygienist to x ray tech to phlebotomist to optometrist to medical records to bedside care… the list goes on. and on. And I get paid basically minimum wage ($19 an hour). I work hard. Very hard. But what comes the line where I’m getting myself in a profession where I am just working for free? On top of that am I getting myself in a career where I’m sacrificing my physical health, time w family, flexibility, financial freedom etc for what? The animals I help are very meaningful to me and it’s why I’ve stayed in it for four years but there’s SO many problems w the system. How am I supposed to as a vet justify being a corporation’s b*tch limiting discussions w owners to 15 minutes getting product out the door as fast as possible to meet quotas? How am I supposed to justify being a LITERAL DOCTOR FOR MULTIPLE SPECIES getting paid the same as some dummy clicking a button on an MRI machine for ppl and telling them to stay still? How as a literal multi species doctor can I justify getting paid the same as a dental hygienist?!? Someone who brushes your teeth… I can’t help but acknowledge this glaring reality…

On top of that I’m financially stressed rn. Badly. To put gas in my car rn that’s an entire 10 hour shift. Gone. Out the window. I’m $1000 in credit card debt. (I know I’m in college it’s normal to be broke…) but still… I’m begging my parents for basic groceries…

TBH if I don’t get into vet school this cycle I literally financially cannot stay as a vet assistant forever. It’s a dead end job. What I go get my vet tech to get paid $2 more an hour?!? Yippee. Still as a vet tech make maybe $23 an hour… if I don’t get in this cycle i hate to say it but I need to move careers… I’m an adult now I can’t stay in a job w no room for advancement or growth perpetually year after year applying over and over again…

But I can’t help but feel like I’m giving up on them. My patients. My dedication to the field… everything.

I’m studying ecology and graduating w my undergraduate degree in that at the end of the summer (IK stupid degree that has no jobs available- also contributes to my stress of no plan B if vet school doesn’t work) and so rn I’m doing everything I can to make that degree hire-able? I’m pursuing a geospatial information certification (5 more classes) and trying to get a bunch of OSHA certifications too. (To start breaking into environmental roles essentially). I’m on scholarship to school and have two years of eligibility left. (I drop the last year if I get accepted this cycle). So on top of that cert I’m gonna try my best to get a degree in molecular cellular and developmental biology (I only need to take 8 more classes). This is if I hate GIS then it’s another pivot out of vet med to something I guess?

Or do I sell out be another vet med burnout story and take a 12 month advanced RN course to become a nurse. Boom 100k. Course to become a damn dental hygienist? Lemme tell u if I can take a tooth out of a dog I can take a tooth out a human be fr. Go become a CT person and click a button and reign in the dough? Idk have a family, kids I can see, animals of my own?

Not to say human RN etc roles are easy to do but when you are EVERY human healthcare role at once for every species ever getting paid 75% less it hurts… I’m sure I could work way less hard and get paid triple what I do in this field as it is now.

Vets please am I crazy?!? How do you all deal with it?!? Ppl say vets burn out bc of euthanasia but tbh I’m burning out bc this is literally just working for free and I’m financially struggling despite having the scope of like every human healthcare profession?!? There’s no advancement and honestly the field lacks so much respect.

Idk what to do… I’m still applying this cycle and in this next year that i wait for decisions to come out I got a lot of big adult life choices to make. As idealistic as vet school committees want me to be…only being a vet assistant forever is not real. I can’t survive and be an adult off the money of vet assisting year after year application cycle after application cycle.

Does this make sense? Idk any advice helps. I do love the field I really really do. But I don’t want my bleeding heart to get in the way of the correct financial choice. And I’m not a punching bag. I’m not community toilet paper. My skillset should not be used for free.

I appreciate any guidance. Thank you.

Hey!
I don’t really know how to start this but I’m kinda going through a crisis rn. I’m applying to vet school but I’m really burnt out and I’m starting to maybe consider that vet med isn’t for me. I’ve been in this for 4 years. I have devoted everything (oh and I mean everything) to going to vet school but I mean is it even worth it?
My old best friend just got her dental hygienist and gets paid 100k a year to brush teeth. Literally. In vet med rn as a vet assistant I have been everything from pharmacy tech to nurse to budget manager to plumber to dental hygienist to x ray tech to phlebotomist to optometrist to medical records to bedside care… the list goes on. and on. And I get paid basically minimum wage ($19 an hour). I work hard. Very hard. But what comes the line where I’m getting myself in a profession where I am just working for free? On top of that am I getting myself in a career where I’m sacrificing my physical health, time w family, flexibility, financial freedom etc for what? The animals I help are very meaningful to me and it’s why I’ve stayed in it for four years but there’s SO many problems w the system. How am I supposed to as a vet justify being a corporation’s b*tch limiting discussions w owners to 15 minutes getting product out the door as fast as possible to meet quotas? How am I supposed to justify being a LITERAL DOCTOR FOR MULTIPLE SPECIES getting paid the same as some dummy clicking a button on an MRI machine for ppl and telling them to stay still? How as a literal multi species doctor can I justify getting paid the same as a dental hygienist?!? Someone who brushes your teeth… I can’t help but acknowledge this glaring reality…

On top of that I’m financially stressed rn. Badly. To put gas in my car rn that’s an entire 10 hour shift. Gone. Out the window. I’m $1000 in credit card debt. (I know I’m in college it’s normal to be broke…) but still… I’m begging my parents for basic groceries…

TBH if I don’t get into vet school this cycle I literally financially cannot stay as a vet assistant forever. It’s a dead end job. What I go get my vet tech to get paid $2 more an hour?!? Yippee. Still as a vet tech make maybe $23 an hour… if I don’t get in this cycle i hate to say it but I need to move careers… I’m an adult now I can’t stay in a job w no room for advancement or growth perpetually year after year applying over and over again…

But I can’t help but feel like I’m giving up on them. My patients. My dedication to the field… everything.

I’m studying ecology and graduating w my undergraduate degree in that at the end of the summer (IK stupid degree that has no jobs available- also contributes to my stress of no plan B if vet school doesn’t work) and so rn I’m doing everything I can to make that degree hire-able? I’m pursuing a geospatial information certification (5 more classes) and trying to get a bunch of OSHA certifications too. (To start breaking into environmental roles essentially). I’m on scholarship to school and have two years of eligibility left. (I drop the last year if I get accepted this cycle). So on top of that cert I’m gonna try my best to get a degree in molecular cellular and developmental biology (I only need to take 8 more classes). This is if I hate GIS then it’s another pivot out of vet med to something I guess?

Or do I sell out be another vet med burnout story and take a 12 month advanced RN course to become a nurse. Boom 100k. Course to become a damn dental hygienist? Lemme tell u if I can take a tooth out of a dog I can take a tooth out a human be fr. Go become a CT person and click a button and reign in the dough? Idk have a family, kids I can see, animals of my own?

Not to say human RN etc roles are easy to do but when you are EVERY human healthcare role at once for every species ever getting paid 75% less it hurts… I’m sure I could work way less hard and get paid triple what I do in this field as it is now.

Vets please am I crazy?!? How do you all deal with it?!? Ppl say vets burn out bc of euthanasia but tbh I’m burning out bc this is literally just working for free and I’m financially struggling despite having the scope of like every human healthcare profession?!? There’s no advancement and honestly the field lacks so much respect.

Idk what to do… I’m still applying this cycle and in this next year that i wait for decisions to come out I got a lot of big adult life choices to make. As idealistic as vet school committees want me to be…only being a vet assistant is not real. I can’t survive and be an adult off the money of vet assisting year after year application cycle after application cycle.

Does this make sense? Idk any advice helps. I do love the field I really really do. But I don’t want my bleeding heart to get in the correct financial choice. And I’m not a punching bag. I’m not community toilet paper. My skillset should not be used for free.

I appreciate any guidance. Thank you.

I just got my final grades back and I got a C+ in physiology and a C in ochem 2. I’m trying to go to vet school but I feel like this fucks me over really bad. The problem if I don’t get into vet school is that there is no plan B to make money and live in the world. I’m desperately applying to internships in my major field (ecology and environmental science) to get that plan B but this major makes nothing and there’s no roles. Am I doomed to be a dead end veterinary assistant forever? How do I even pivot? I don’t know what to do I feel so stupid at school so burnt out and so scared about the future. I just want a stable job and to be able to support a family. My gpa dropped from a 3.6- 3.4 w my grades this semester. (Context: this semester was really emotionally difficult my childhood cat died my grandpa died my childhood dog died my snail died and I had to euthanize my beta fish- all were pretty traumatic deaths. I also was recovering from bulging two discs in my spine) idk pls any advice I just feel very depressed and hopeless and scared. Intensely scared about the future. I need to be able to make a living.