I have talked to a couple of people in the field, one advisor at the school I'd apply to, and my SIL who did all the prereq work (for her it was a LOT) and the first year of vet school before quitting. She had no idea what she was getting into and found out that while she loves animals, some of the stuff was just too hard to take. I do have an advantage over her now that we've dealt with goats and chickens for the past 2 years for which there are no real vets to see (plus I'm a life long dog/cat owner, too). I also have almost all the science classes already as I had to take many of the same requirements for my engineering degree. In fact, if I was willing to go full time, I could have the prereqs done in less than a year. That doesn't really work for me though because I still need some vet experience so a 2 year time-frame makes more sense.

Quote Originally Posted by tulip View Post
Wow, I'm so proud of you for voicing your dreams. That's a huge thing!

Is $100k in student loan debt inevitable? You say you can live on one salary--is that just living expenses? How much is the vet school tuition and expenses? I assume you are in-state and this is a state university. If not, go with a state school. Private schools are unnecessary and overpriced IMO.

In the short term, I would suggest talking to a counselor to help you figure out why you are unsatisfied with your current job. If you don't do that, you could run into the same problem even in a completely different field. A counselor would also help you explore what you want to do (what will make you happy) and options to pursue your dreams.

Best wishes to you, and feel free to keep us posted if you like.

(BTW, I'm satisfied with my job. I definitely went into the right field for me, but I'm rather dissatisfied with my life in alot of ways and I'm trying to figure out how to get happier. What happened to those dreams I had? Why am I not living in Paris like I always thought I would? A counselor really helped me a few years ago, and I'm probably overdue to start that up again).
Tulip - I think that's why I'm so disatisfied with my job, I'm super happy with the rest of my life and the job feels just miserable in comparison. I have not spoken to a career counselor in 20 years. I probably should. It never occurred to me that they could help me pinpoint the issues with my current job but I am pretty certain I know what it is and I have absolutely no interest in fixing it - I made the dead wrong choice and it's high time I faced up to it. I've done a TON of thinking about this in the past few years.

I have no student loans from my first three degrees, so that's a plus. We can afford to pay cash for all the prerequisites and therefore only need loans for the vet school itself. And honestly, I could cash out some investments and pay for it outright (the advantage to already having a career!), so we have options. Living on one salary would mean covering all of our living expenses, but not tuition or books. And yes, in state. Not only is it cheaper, but it's MUCH easier to get into vet school if you stay in your own state. Resident tuition is currently at 19.5K per year for the DVM program. I expect that it will go up before I apply based on current state funding deficits. OSU is about 90 minutes away, so I'd proabably commute and avoid having to pay for room and board. So 100K is an estimate....

Quote Originally Posted by Biciclista View Post
I can quote Mark Twain here:

‎"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream."

having said that, I have great concern for the debt burden on your generation..
That Mark Twain is one smart man, isn't he? That's pretty much how I have always wanted to live my life. It's time I start applying it to my career as well.