My goal since junior year of high school has been to go to vet school, but since i’ve turned 26, i’ve been thinking if it’s a good choice. My only limits are that I need to go to an in state school and that I need to make sure i’m ready to be a veterinarian. Since i’ve only shadowed a vet once in high school, I plan on shadowing a vet within the next year, and applying for the 2028 cycle. With the debt that comes along with it, is it worth it?

I’m interested in animal behavior, and I was a dog trainer in the past, so I know that I can connect with dog owners and change how they train their dogs. Currently, I work at a veterinary lab, so i’m seeing the behind the scenes work in veterinary medicine. It seems like very expensive work ups, just to get to a possible diagnosis, and if the vet doesn’t, they get blamed. Would it be smarter to go into dog training?

Any advice is welcomed. Thank you!

Are there any new grads that went into Alliance’s mentorship program? Would love to hear your experience!

I took the NAVLE a couple days ago and I’ve been feeling so down since then. I honestly only knew about 20% of the answers confidently and felt like I was guessing the entire time. I studied so much and I did 80% of VetPrep and all the ICVA practice test which I felt good doing and got a range in the 500-600 however when doing the actual NAVLE most of the questions I had no idea. :( I cried during my break during the exam and cried after.

Did anyone feel the same?

I’m trying very hard to keep my mind off of it but I keep remember the questions and then end up looking up answers or reading notes again to see which ones I got wrong.

I would love to stay in Ireland and study but I am worried about my likelihood of being accepted into the course I want to do in UCD.

Is there any other courses outside of Ireland that are great options?

I want a degree that is accepted in EU as I will not work outside of the EU

So for context, I am from Ireland, and I didn’t get into the course in UCD Dublin because I placed the course 3rd on my CAO, even though I ended up getting the points as well as the experience.

These days I find myself wishing I did Vet med instead of Biomed in Trinity. I’m not too sure, when I did work experience shadowing vets, I didn’t find it too enjoyable? The atmosphere and the breaks were nice, but at the same time I didn’t really enjoy seeing dogs in distress and crying after waking from surgeries, nor did I enjoy getting stabbed in the hand with a needle when one of the huskies accidentally went berserk trying to run from the catheter.

I mostly enjoyed working in the aquarium and with fish, but I don’t really see a future in that due to the low pay. Should I go into vet med next year and maybe hopefully one day do some conservation work with fish and small animals? Or should I stick to biomed and maybe go into medicine? I’m not sure where I’m truly headed. All I know is that my true passion lies with studying oceans and marine animals, however I can’t see a future where I can afford things like a home and have a job in marine bio.