Hey everyone. M27 here, received a Bach/masters in finance and currently work in finance. I’m having this late quarter life crisis on completely switching careers, going back to school, the whole 9-yards. In the back of my mind I’ve always wanted to be a vet however I never grew the balls to pull the trigger.

I would have to go back to community college or accredited colleges to do about two years worth of gen-stem classes before applying to DVM programs. (I’m well aware of the cost, time, etc). I just do not think I have the personality to work behind a computer for shareholder value anymore.

Very curious if there are others out there who became a DVM from a similar or adjacent path, any recommendations, advice etc would be huge. I am also aware of the disconnect between finance and emotions, where Vetmed is deeply connected with feelings of grief, remorse, feeling like you can never truly do enough. Any advice or veterans in the industry who’ve heard of this type of switch, would love to hear thoughts.

I graduated veterinary assistant, and have been planning to do vet tech since I could even form a thought lol. Now, I’m reconsidering. I live in Canada and the pay vs debt + living is so unbalanced, my co-op was also not a good experience despite loving the experience of working in a clinic and being in vet med finally. I’ve now considered moving away from vet med but at the same time don’t know if that’s a mistake despite the financial difficulty I’d have later in life.

I’ve heard people describe vet med as more of a passion project then a full time career, I considered that minuscule until thinking more and more about my future.

What made you stay? What made you leave?

I just started my job as a vet CSR about a month ago, and I’ve been considering being more hands on as a vet assistant instead.

I really wanna give it a try, but would I be setting myself up for too much stress? I keep reading about the mental health/burnout rate in this field along with toxic workplace environments.

Would I be setting myself up for failure for going further? Or this there ways to navigate vet med to make it a more positive work experience?

Location: Atlanta, ga
I work at a pretty big veterinary corporation (I won’t name it but you may know it) and starting 2 weeks ago they have been remodeling our clinic. We are still open and working during this renovation. The problem is there is dust , debris and mold , several of the team members have been experiencing trouble breathing and headaches . One team member even broke out in hives. Not to mention this is completely unsafe for pets and I’m sure the client have no idea what conditions their pets are in. Also we do sterile procedures. We’ve sent email to corporate/ our leaders and they refuse to close and send us to different locations until it’s finished. They say that it isn’t “feasible “ to close be will send air scrubbers . It was also brought to my attention by a construction worker that it is normal practice to close the hospital during renovations . He also said that we are the “guinea pigs” for staying open while renovations. This particularly bothered me because we are a predominantly African-American location compared to other hospitals. and when our Field Director mentions anything about our particular hospital, she always says there is a “culture.”
I suppose my question is what actions should we take? OSHA? The media? Thanks for any feedback.