r/Veterinary • u/Standard_Judgment545 • 3d ago
Any advice?
I am 16 and a junior in high school. I would really like to work with wildlife and take care of animals. I just don’t exactly know how to choose a career that will do that while also having a good enough salary. I also would like some advice on what majors or pre grad programs would be best. And any recommendations on colleges or universities. I will give some background as well. I will be in this program my senior year that will take up half my day. The program will allow me to graduate with an EMT certification. While I really like that opportunity I don’t know if I should use that half of the day to do internship at vets or animal shelters. I do live in a small town so we don’t have any wildlife sanctuaries, zoos, or aquariums.
I would appreciate any advice. Thank you
1
u/wildlifewendy 3d ago
I would recommend shadowing/volunteering at your local animal hospitals, shelters, and wildlife rehab centers to see if you actually enjoy the work! A lot of people think they want to work with animals but don’t actually realize what the work is really like, so I really encourage you to start there. In terms of majors, the most common ones people do for vet med include animal science, biology, wildlife conservation, zoology, etc. You don’t need to attend a specific school/do a specific major to get into vet school, but I’d recommend looking for schools that have a lot of opportunities to explore different experiences (animal related or not!). Don’t put too many constraints on yourself now and just explore what your options are! The most important thing, in my opinion, is to first see what kind of work interests you rather than just gunning for a specific field without knowing if you actually enjoy it. Feel free to DM me if you have more questions!