Male students in veterinary school: did you ever feel isolated?
I’m entering my first year of veterinary school this fall. I’m a 26M and married, and one of the things I’ve been thinking about is what it will be like entering a profession and school environment that is overwhelmingly female.
I have absolutely no issue working or studying with women, in fact, my current clinic is almost entirely female, and I’ve enjoyed working with everyone there. However, I’ve noticed that being one of the only men in a learning environment can sometimes feel isolating for me. I find it harder to approach people to ask questions, and I sometimes feel like I’m intruding when I approach established groups of people.
I’ve worked as a veterinary assistant for about a year, but I also sometimes feel behind compared with other people with similar experience at my clinic. I’ve wondered whether some of that is simply because I haven’t always felt as comfortable asking questions or getting involved in certain learning situations.
Going into vet school, I’d really like to avoid falling into that same pattern. I’m not expecting to make lifelong best friends with everyone, but I’d like to feel comfortable approaching my classmates with questions, and generally feeling like I’m part of the class rather than on the outside of different groups.
For the older students and men who have gone through veterinary school:
- Did you ever experience this kind of isolation as one of the few men in your class?
- Did being older than many of your classmates make much of a difference?
- Did you find it easier to connect with other male students, or did you mostly make friends regardless of gender?
- What did you do during your first year to establish an academic group?
- Is there anything you wish you had done differently when you started?
- And, perhaps most importantly, did this feeling of being “the odd one out” improve as you got further into vet school?
I’d especially appreciate hearing from men who felt similarly going into vet school but eventually found their place. I’m trying to go into the first year with realistic expectations.