Well, I say "do it," after talking with people in the field. Make an informed decision. I also second going to a career counselor. That's a master's level clinician who specializes in career issues. While I don't want to do that, it's an interesting field.
I really thought I was ready to stay at home and play when I quit teaching. After all of those years of being the only working mother among my friends, I was itching to do nothing. Well, even endless time to ride didn't pan out for me. I thought about a lot of things. Most of them were quasi-medically related, but I suck at science and math and I didn't want to have to take 2 years of undergrad courses as a prerequisite. The decision to enter clinical mental health counseling awoke some things that I had thought about doing while in college, but was deterred by stupid advice and other stuff. I believe Nancielle went to the same school and program that I will graduate from in May. I am 57, so by the time I work for 2 years and qualify for my license, I will be almost 60. There have been people (2 men) who have entered my program in their 70's.
I waited along time to do something *I* wanted to do, as we can comfortably afford to live on one income now. But, since I go to a private college, I did take out loans. I really didn't need to, however, DH was just being kind of nervous when I applied to school, so we had the money and it will be paid off very quickly with the bonuses DH gets.
Tulip, I generally agree with your advice about going to a state university. However, for the first time in my life, I didn't take my own advice. I compared the program at U Mass Boston to the program I am in at Lesley. There was just no comparison. I also looked at employment stats for grads and that was also telling. Plus, it's just easier for me to get there and that was a major concern for me.
Being a vet is hard and it's extremely competitive to get into vet school. The daughter of one of my friends in AZ is finishing her second vet internship and applying for residency now. She was one of those "perfect" students and she still didn't get in to all of the schools she applied to.
But, I still say, it's not stupid to consider a career change again. Investigate lots of things.