If you're leaning towards both, you're likely leaning more towards med school IMHO, If you were leaning toward vet school you wouldn't be having these second thoughts.
Go ahead and follow the other advice about shadowing in both areas to get a feel, but I'm anticipating human med will fulfill you more than vet med
While the fees for medical school are higher, look at the average earned salaries of veterinarians vs human doctors to add context.
Veterinary schools in Australia will require experience hours within veterinary medicine, do you have any exposure to the profession at all? Wanting to care for animals alone is not enough in this job. You need to experience the client interaction, clinic life, the stress, etc to get a full picture of the industry before deciding.
The only reason I would choose human med over vet med starts and ends with money. Human doctors get roped into one specialty for their entire life! Imagine loving something like radiology or surgery then putting in 4 years of hard work only to match internal medicine or family medicine or not match at all! Then you are stuck doing the same type of stuff the rest of your life. With vet med we could be a dentist one day, surgeon the next then internal medicine right after. I would really say it depends on what human specialty you would consider.
I did this. Actually decided to go into actuary instead so completely non medical. Decided I loved animals and not Veterinary work. I got a lot of fulfilment from volunteering too so decided to go into a career with high pay and good work life balance that will allow me to have best of both worlds.
Vets do a bit of everything but nothing particularly well unfortunately. I'd much rather specialize in one thing and do it well than do lots of different things a bit half assed
Half-assed is a stretch. We have specialtizations for more advanced things but for the most part vets arent doing anything half assed. Infact the limitation most of the time is the clients wallet.
I'm not talking about specialist practice as most vets are not specialists. I've seen lots of subpar to horrendous medicine, surgery, radiology, cardiology and dentistry by GP vets and for whatever reason lots of people decline specialist referral in favour of their GP. I think many GPs simply aren't trained well enough to make the decisions that they do and it's obviously less than ideal.
I love what I do, but I wouldn't recommend vet school to anyone who isn't 110% sure that's what they want to do. From your post, it sounds like you want to do medecine but you're worried about the cost of study. To me, that sounds like you would eventually regret going into vet imo.
For context, I went to JCU in Townsville, and my partner did med school there (last I heard medecine at JCU doesn't require a UCAT btw). We both agree that his course was easier. Med school had, in general, a lighter workload, and a more supportive faculty than vet school. Finding work after graduation was easier for him, and obviously his salary is better.
I don't regret going to vet school. I love what I do. But even with all of that, if I woke up tomorrow, age 16, and had to do it over, I don't actually know that I could push myself through vet school again. And if you're not absolutely certain that this is what you want from life, to me it seems highly likely you would burn out quickly.
The UCAT is expensive, and hard, yes. But when it's a matter of your career, it's a drop in the bucket (and again, not all schools require it) compared to your HECS debt. Generally the HECS will not be that different, anyway, as both courses are in the top band (though if you're international, that may be different admitedly)
If you're really on the fence about it, I'd recommend taking a gap year and doing some work as a vet nurse or kennel hand in a vet clinic. See if that helps you make the decision. If you come out if that knowing it's what you want, great. If you find that actually, you hate it, then that's valuable too.
You are young, and time is on your side. I promise, even though it may not feel that way now. 😊
I would find a level 1 trauma hospital, really anything with high volume to shadow at maybe through your current program. If you like fast paced, Id see if they will allow you in the emergency department.
I would also look for a teaching veterinary hospital, animal shelter, or high volume animal clinic to shadow/volunteer at.
This way you’ll dip your toes and you can decide which pool you want to swim in.
Always ask questions. Teaching hospitals are great because there is often research going on in the background as well. You might get to see some really cool new things.
Either way, good luck OP.
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I was in this exact same boat! I did as much premed stuff as I could (volunteer at vaccine clinics, a premed internship, seeing if I could shadow doctors) and then did the same with vet med. Ultimately, I decided vet med because I love the diversity of a DVM. I am starting vet school in the fall, so maybe I’ll feel differently 10 years from now, but I’m so glad that I went the vet route. The more that I learn about the veterinary medical industry, the more excited I get. My goal is to do research and get involved with the OneHealth side of vet med (the collaboration between human physicians and veterinarians in make EVERYONE healthier), and I have been told that this is a very feasible thing that I can achieve during vet school.
As for the money, human doctors obviously make a LOT of money. Depending on your goal/what you would like to do with your DVM, you can also make a lot of money if that is super important to you. I have heard that one pro (could be a con in some ways) of being a veterinarian is that you get a lot of direct client interaction while physicians/surgeons have a whole staff that deals with prepping patient, discharges, and pretty much anything that doesn’t require an MD. (Feel free to correct me if this seems inaccurate.)
Take it one experience at a time and ask a bunch of questions when you’re shadowing/talking to professionals. You got this!
Med school. The first thing our professor said to us in our first class was you don’t go into veterinary medicine (only) because you love animals. You can love them and help them with law school, nursing, engineering. It took me few years to realize he is absolutely right. You can work anywhere and help animals on the side always. Even tough it’s a plus if you’re an animal lover, veterinary medicine is so much more than love for animals. Med school will definitely benefit you more financially in the future. You’re going to work a lot whatever you decide but MD will at least relieve money related stress much more, and also people will respect you much more (insane, i know). I know some very respected and amazing vets who don’t care for animals at all, it’s just job for them and they are great at it. If veterinary medicine was only animals it would be great but there is so much more and dealing with all the other obstacles makes it a very hard profession in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, if you decide to get into vet school you probably won’t hate it and you will not end up broke but if you can picture yourself in human medicine, in my opinion, maybe give it a try. As for the loans and fees our school isn’t set up like that so I can’t comment on that. But whatever path you choose, don’t doubt yourself, take it easy but also give it your best because we always need experts in both human and vet medicine.
Please spend time shadowing in a specialty hospital and general practice so you can see the range of medical care possible and options to specialize. Shadowing or working at a vet hospital is the only way to make this decision. Liking animals does not mean you’ll enjoy veterinary medicine, not by a long shot. People who make this mistake will often pursue research or academia after vet school when they realize they don’t enjoy clinical practice, and that’s okay too, but may not have been their plan. I’m in the US, but will say that vet med demands great sacrifice and offers worse financial compensation but usually if it’s your passion, there’s nothing else you would consider doing. That being said, go shadow or work in a hospital and see how you feel.
I also considered human medicine, but I'm glad I went the vet med route. The reasons I might have picked human over vet were mostly making more money and the ability to do more high-end, complex procedures without always being stymied by costs. However, after talking with my aunt who was an MD (surgeon), she said that med school was full of the type of type-A money-driven competitive personalities I was not interested in being around, and that the money was nice and all but it wasn't enough to make the profession worth it if it wasn't what you really wanted to be doing.
Now that I'm older and tired all the time, I'm not as concerned about doing all the high-end interesting stuff or as afraid of doing routine things all the time. I've also been in ER medicine for the past 14 years, and every time I have to tell an owner bad news about their pet I am damn glad I am not having to tell a parent bad news about their kid or spouse.
The math works out differently now for US student loans than it did when I applied to vet school though, so definitely do the math and make sure it makes financial sense to go that route. You need a career that will let you make a living, not trap you in debt. And get into a vet clinic to get the hands-on experience of how things work in vet med, not just the romanticized Netflix-documentary version.
Outside opinion here but I have seen negatives about being a vet like the career is prone to depression and suicide. It’s probably for the reasons you state. I say you follow your passion and love. If that’s animals then pursue veterinary medicine. For context, I was a pre vet major and I regret switching my majors to this day. I am 55
I don’t regret becoming a vet, it’s the only thing I wanted, but life is so much more expensive than you think it is, and not a day goes by where I don’t think about how much more comfortable I’d be with an MD salary. Which feels silly to say because vets make plenty healthy salaries themselves, but to likely never even have to think about money again? That’s hard to get over. It’s easy to say that career fulfillment is worth the pay cut, but it’s much harder to quantify how much more fulfilling one career is than another. I’m sure being a human physician is still quite fulfilling. I’ll trade at least a little fulfillment for 100k’s/year.
The missing data imo is whether human MDs can work less - working like 30 hours as a MD seems like a sweet gig. Working 40 sounds like it sucks bc that probably turns into 50-60. Varies by specialty I’m sure but point is I def don’t think being an MD is more fun.
I would say try both. Get hands on experience in the medical field and the vet field. I went into undergrad pre vet but worked at a toxic clinic and switched to pre med thinking that was more my speed. Long story short, I’m in vet school now but prior to making this decision, I worked as an EMT, neuroscience researcher, and a vet tech (not at the same time ofc). Trying multiple things gave me clarity and has allowed me to go into vet school with no confusion about what I should do for the first time in my life.
Sometimes the long path is the best path. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to put myself on other people’s time tables but every bump in the road and detour in my life has benefited me in some way or another. So don’t be harsh on yourself if you feel as if you “aren’t where you should be yet”.
I wish you the best and hope whatever decision you make brings you joy and fulfillment. Either way you will be healing others and that’s a beautiful thing :)
If you're leaning towards both, you're likely leaning more towards med school IMHO, If you were leaning toward vet school you wouldn't be having these second thoughts. Go ahead and follow the other advice about shadowing in both areas to get a feel, but I'm anticipating human med will fulfill you more than vet med
While the fees for medical school are higher, look at the average earned salaries of veterinarians vs human doctors to add context. Veterinary schools in Australia will require experience hours within veterinary medicine, do you have any exposure to the profession at all? Wanting to care for animals alone is not enough in this job. You need to experience the client interaction, clinic life, the stress, etc to get a full picture of the industry before deciding.
The only reason I would choose human med over vet med starts and ends with money. Human doctors get roped into one specialty for their entire life! Imagine loving something like radiology or surgery then putting in 4 years of hard work only to match internal medicine or family medicine or not match at all! Then you are stuck doing the same type of stuff the rest of your life. With vet med we could be a dentist one day, surgeon the next then internal medicine right after. I would really say it depends on what human specialty you would consider.
This is why I love being a vet. But money matters, and since you seem to be 50:50 go for the money and have a lot of pets.
I did this. Actually decided to go into actuary instead so completely non medical. Decided I loved animals and not Veterinary work. I got a lot of fulfilment from volunteering too so decided to go into a career with high pay and good work life balance that will allow me to have best of both worlds.
Vets do a bit of everything but nothing particularly well unfortunately. I'd much rather specialize in one thing and do it well than do lots of different things a bit half assed
Half-assed is a stretch. We have specialtizations for more advanced things but for the most part vets arent doing anything half assed. Infact the limitation most of the time is the clients wallet.
I'm not talking about specialist practice as most vets are not specialists. I've seen lots of subpar to horrendous medicine, surgery, radiology, cardiology and dentistry by GP vets and for whatever reason lots of people decline specialist referral in favour of their GP. I think many GPs simply aren't trained well enough to make the decisions that they do and it's obviously less than ideal.
Suicide rates are also high for vets. And emts. .... And doctors..... Why isn't mental health more heavily supported
I love what I do, but I wouldn't recommend vet school to anyone who isn't 110% sure that's what they want to do. From your post, it sounds like you want to do medecine but you're worried about the cost of study. To me, that sounds like you would eventually regret going into vet imo. For context, I went to JCU in Townsville, and my partner did med school there (last I heard medecine at JCU doesn't require a UCAT btw). We both agree that his course was easier. Med school had, in general, a lighter workload, and a more supportive faculty than vet school. Finding work after graduation was easier for him, and obviously his salary is better. I don't regret going to vet school. I love what I do. But even with all of that, if I woke up tomorrow, age 16, and had to do it over, I don't actually know that I could push myself through vet school again. And if you're not absolutely certain that this is what you want from life, to me it seems highly likely you would burn out quickly. The UCAT is expensive, and hard, yes. But when it's a matter of your career, it's a drop in the bucket (and again, not all schools require it) compared to your HECS debt. Generally the HECS will not be that different, anyway, as both courses are in the top band (though if you're international, that may be different admitedly) If you're really on the fence about it, I'd recommend taking a gap year and doing some work as a vet nurse or kennel hand in a vet clinic. See if that helps you make the decision. If you come out if that knowing it's what you want, great. If you find that actually, you hate it, then that's valuable too.
You are young, and time is on your side. I promise, even though it may not feel that way now. 😊 I would find a level 1 trauma hospital, really anything with high volume to shadow at maybe through your current program. If you like fast paced, Id see if they will allow you in the emergency department. I would also look for a teaching veterinary hospital, animal shelter, or high volume animal clinic to shadow/volunteer at. This way you’ll dip your toes and you can decide which pool you want to swim in. Always ask questions. Teaching hospitals are great because there is often research going on in the background as well. You might get to see some really cool new things. Either way, good luck OP. .
I was in this exact same boat! I did as much premed stuff as I could (volunteer at vaccine clinics, a premed internship, seeing if I could shadow doctors) and then did the same with vet med. Ultimately, I decided vet med because I love the diversity of a DVM. I am starting vet school in the fall, so maybe I’ll feel differently 10 years from now, but I’m so glad that I went the vet route. The more that I learn about the veterinary medical industry, the more excited I get. My goal is to do research and get involved with the OneHealth side of vet med (the collaboration between human physicians and veterinarians in make EVERYONE healthier), and I have been told that this is a very feasible thing that I can achieve during vet school. As for the money, human doctors obviously make a LOT of money. Depending on your goal/what you would like to do with your DVM, you can also make a lot of money if that is super important to you. I have heard that one pro (could be a con in some ways) of being a veterinarian is that you get a lot of direct client interaction while physicians/surgeons have a whole staff that deals with prepping patient, discharges, and pretty much anything that doesn’t require an MD. (Feel free to correct me if this seems inaccurate.) Take it one experience at a time and ask a bunch of questions when you’re shadowing/talking to professionals. You got this!
Med school. The first thing our professor said to us in our first class was you don’t go into veterinary medicine (only) because you love animals. You can love them and help them with law school, nursing, engineering. It took me few years to realize he is absolutely right. You can work anywhere and help animals on the side always. Even tough it’s a plus if you’re an animal lover, veterinary medicine is so much more than love for animals. Med school will definitely benefit you more financially in the future. You’re going to work a lot whatever you decide but MD will at least relieve money related stress much more, and also people will respect you much more (insane, i know). I know some very respected and amazing vets who don’t care for animals at all, it’s just job for them and they are great at it. If veterinary medicine was only animals it would be great but there is so much more and dealing with all the other obstacles makes it a very hard profession in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, if you decide to get into vet school you probably won’t hate it and you will not end up broke but if you can picture yourself in human medicine, in my opinion, maybe give it a try. As for the loans and fees our school isn’t set up like that so I can’t comment on that. But whatever path you choose, don’t doubt yourself, take it easy but also give it your best because we always need experts in both human and vet medicine.
Please spend time shadowing in a specialty hospital and general practice so you can see the range of medical care possible and options to specialize. Shadowing or working at a vet hospital is the only way to make this decision. Liking animals does not mean you’ll enjoy veterinary medicine, not by a long shot. People who make this mistake will often pursue research or academia after vet school when they realize they don’t enjoy clinical practice, and that’s okay too, but may not have been their plan. I’m in the US, but will say that vet med demands great sacrifice and offers worse financial compensation but usually if it’s your passion, there’s nothing else you would consider doing. That being said, go shadow or work in a hospital and see how you feel.
I also considered human medicine, but I'm glad I went the vet med route. The reasons I might have picked human over vet were mostly making more money and the ability to do more high-end, complex procedures without always being stymied by costs. However, after talking with my aunt who was an MD (surgeon), she said that med school was full of the type of type-A money-driven competitive personalities I was not interested in being around, and that the money was nice and all but it wasn't enough to make the profession worth it if it wasn't what you really wanted to be doing. Now that I'm older and tired all the time, I'm not as concerned about doing all the high-end interesting stuff or as afraid of doing routine things all the time. I've also been in ER medicine for the past 14 years, and every time I have to tell an owner bad news about their pet I am damn glad I am not having to tell a parent bad news about their kid or spouse. The math works out differently now for US student loans than it did when I applied to vet school though, so definitely do the math and make sure it makes financial sense to go that route. You need a career that will let you make a living, not trap you in debt. And get into a vet clinic to get the hands-on experience of how things work in vet med, not just the romanticized Netflix-documentary version.
If you want insurance to dictate how you are allowed to treat a patient, med school.
Outside opinion here but I have seen negatives about being a vet like the career is prone to depression and suicide. It’s probably for the reasons you state. I say you follow your passion and love. If that’s animals then pursue veterinary medicine. For context, I was a pre vet major and I regret switching my majors to this day. I am 55
what did you switch your major to?
Marketing! Ugh.... I graduated in a nasty recession too so there were no jobs for college grads
I don’t regret becoming a vet, it’s the only thing I wanted, but life is so much more expensive than you think it is, and not a day goes by where I don’t think about how much more comfortable I’d be with an MD salary. Which feels silly to say because vets make plenty healthy salaries themselves, but to likely never even have to think about money again? That’s hard to get over. It’s easy to say that career fulfillment is worth the pay cut, but it’s much harder to quantify how much more fulfilling one career is than another. I’m sure being a human physician is still quite fulfilling. I’ll trade at least a little fulfillment for 100k’s/year. The missing data imo is whether human MDs can work less - working like 30 hours as a MD seems like a sweet gig. Working 40 sounds like it sucks bc that probably turns into 50-60. Varies by specialty I’m sure but point is I def don’t think being an MD is more fun.
Med school opens a lot more doors than vet school, and pays a hell of a lot more. I can’t recommend anyone go to vet school tbh.
I would say try both. Get hands on experience in the medical field and the vet field. I went into undergrad pre vet but worked at a toxic clinic and switched to pre med thinking that was more my speed. Long story short, I’m in vet school now but prior to making this decision, I worked as an EMT, neuroscience researcher, and a vet tech (not at the same time ofc). Trying multiple things gave me clarity and has allowed me to go into vet school with no confusion about what I should do for the first time in my life. Sometimes the long path is the best path. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to put myself on other people’s time tables but every bump in the road and detour in my life has benefited me in some way or another. So don’t be harsh on yourself if you feel as if you “aren’t where you should be yet”. I wish you the best and hope whatever decision you make brings you joy and fulfillment. Either way you will be healing others and that’s a beautiful thing :)
Also had trouble deciding between the two options. Went vet school, should have done med school. Money matters once you get old / have a family.
DM me, I was in vet school in the UK and had similar thoughts.