I'm a DVM and have been since 1985. I really think age and age bias is a non-issue within this profession. When I was in school in the early 80's, we had many older students. One was retired from the Air Force before he applied to vet school.

I have two much older vets who work in my practice (I'm the practice owner, so that makes me their boss). I have to plead ignorance to their exact ages! One is about 75 and one is about 65 They're great workers and enthusiastic about the profession.

The oldest one was awaiting a kidney transplant and on dialysis 3 days a week when he started working with me. He had retired and had to study to take the state boards again.

Almost all of my techs are also middle-aged and older (one is 63). At 52, I'm a relative spring chicken.

I do have to express some concern about people with multiple career path changes. One of my friends in college was a Ph.D., a Chaucer professor. This person went to vet school, dropped out...went to law school...dropped out...and is now teaching Chaucer again.

A good many of us leave private practice for other careers--we work for industry, government or do consultant work. And sadly, one of my classmates just comitted suicide. He had changed career paths after vet school, too.

I'm not being biased against you. All I'm saying is that people I've known who have changed career paths multiple times may have deeper issues that result in ongoing frustrations, etc.

Burnout is an enormous problem in my profession. I can't count the number of times I've been to the brink and back. We see so much sad and tragic stuff. We have to deal with non-animal problems--staffing, business, management, cash flow... The animals and their care are only about 50% of the job. Every animal that comes in is attached to a person, and offices don't manage themselves.

Also, in the early 80's, I got through with rather minimal student loans--which it took me 10 years to pay off. I understand that student debt is astronomical now.

That said, I love what I do. I love the medical thought and decision-making process. I love being a clinician. There are still days where I get an endorphin "high" from my work.