As discussed in the previous section, veterinary and animal experience will play a role in determining whether you’re admitted to veterinary school. Formal experience, such as work with veterinarians or scientists in clinics, agribusiness, research, or some area of health science, is particularly advantageous.
Less formal experience, such as working with animals on a farm, in a stable, or at an animal shelter, is also helpful. Even if you don’t work for them, get to know veterinarians in your community by talking to them about the profession. They are the ones who will be writing letters of recommendation for you.
Once you are in veterinary school, you can generally expect to spend the first two years in the classroom, studying physiology, anatomy, pathology, and more. Third-year students begin to gain experience in surgery and medicine. The fourth year is spent in rotations through the different specialties as well as in large- and small-animal clinics. Elective courses taken during the fourth year may be spent in veterinary practices, gaining real-world experience; in shelters; or in zoos. Over the entire four-year period, you can expect to spend approximately 4,000 hours in classrooms, labs, and clinics. That’s approximately nine classes each quarter or semester.
Surgery resident Kendra Hearon, VMD, takes a moment to get to know her Rhodesian Ridgeback patient.
Josephine Deubler, VMD: Veterinarian of Firsts
In 1938 M. Josephine Deubler became the first woman to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (UPSVM). She was also the first female to earn a graduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania, the first female member of the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medicine Association, and the first veterinarian to judge Best in Show at Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Deubler joined the faculty of the UPSVM in 1946 and remained there for half a century. In 1971 she instituted the University of Pennsylvania Annual Canine and Feline Symposium, the first veterinarian-breeder seminars in the country, which continue to educate dog fanciers in the United States. To honor Deubler’s fifty years of service, the university named the Josephine Deubler Genetic Disease Testing Laboratory.
In the dog show world, Deubler (above with show judge Samuel Draper) was considered a “pillar in the sport,” as described by former handler and judge Peter Green. She was a noted terrier breeder and a respected show judge, and in 1977 she became the show chairperson of the legendary Montgomery Kennel Club Dog Show, the world’s most prestigious all-terrier event. She received the AKC’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003, and the university established the Dr. Josephine Deubler Deans Scholarship to memorialize her contributions to animals. She died in 2009.
Veterinary school is expensive. The costs for tuition, books, fees, and supplies can top $100,000 for the four-year period. The average educational debt for veterinarians was nearly $120,000 in 2010, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. New graduates often face staggering student loan bills.
AN OPEN MIND
“Always keep an open mind to opportunities out there. A veterinarian’s training is very broad. Veterinarians are very adaptable, ready learners, so the sky is the limit in terms of how we can apply our skills. Many of the skills we learn as veterinarians are translatable to other areas, things like the communications skills learned in talking to clients or the creativity required in working in a barn at three in the morning and maybe not having everything you would have if you were in a more-controlled environment. All of those skills are very easily applied to other areas that veterinarians can be very effective in.”
—Katherine Feldman, DVM
Specialization
Only about 10 percent of veterinarians have met the requirements to become a specialist in a particular area. Beyond an undergraduate education and four years of veterinary school, board-certified veterinary specialists have an additional three to five years of advanced training in a particular area of veterinary medicine. Their knowledge and skills in a particular field have been evaluated and recognized by individual specialty organizations that have been accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).
Veterinarians can choose to specialize in any of the following areas: anesthesiology, behavior, cardiology, dentistry, dermatology, emergency and critical care, epidemiology, internal medicine, microbiology (which encompasses bacteriology/mycology, immunology, and virology), neurology, nutrition, oncology, ophthalmology, pathology, pharmacology, radiology, surgery, theriogenology (reproduction), and toxicology—and that’s not even a complete list. There are also specialties in avian, equine, and feline medicine; food-animal, dairy, and swine health management; laboratory animal medicine; and zoology. There is a shortage of specialists, especially in the teaching field, so just about any specialty is a good career opportunity.
Licensing and Continuing Education
Once they graduate, veterinarians must meet state licensing requirements. With some exceptions for veterinarians working for certain federal agencies or state governments, all states and the District of Columbia require that veterinarians be licensed before they can practice. Requirements to become licensed include successful completion of the DVM/VMD degree or equivalent education and a passing grade on a national board examination. A board exam consists of hundreds of questions and takes a full day to complete. Most states also require a passing grade on an exam that covers related laws and regulations of that state, and some test clinical competency as well. And just because you’re licensed to practice in one state doesn’t mean you’re qualified to practice in another. Generally, you must first take and pass the new state’s examination before being allowed to practice there.
Graduation and licensing aren’t the end of education for veterinarians. There are frequent advances in veterinary medicine, and most states have continuing-education requirements for licensed veterinarians, which may involve attending classes or otherwise demonstrating knowledge of recent veterinary advances. For instance, state-licensed veterinarians in Oregon must earn at least thirty hours of continuing education every two years. Most veterinarians gain continuing-education credits when they attend seminars at local, regional, or national veterinary conferences. Veterinarians also spend a lot of time reading veterinary journals. In this career, the homework never ends.
With the assistance of one of her vet techs, oncology specialist Susan Ettinger, DVM, examines a Rottweiler.
Employment Outlook
Some 59,700 veterinarians were employed in 2008. Most were of them self-employed or were salaried employees of a veterinary practice. Other employers of veterinarians include the U.S. government, chiefly the Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security; state and local governments; colleges of veterinary medicine; medical schools; research laboratories; animal-food companies; and pharmaceutical companies. A few veterinarians work full-time for zoos, but most zoo veterinarians are private practitioners providing part-time services.
Through 2018, veterinary medicine is expected to be one of the fastest growing professions, increasing much faster than the average rate for all occupations. Surveys and projections indicate a steady demand for veterinary medical services. Because there are only twenty-eight schools of veterinary medicine, there are a limited number of graduates each year. Those newly minted veterinarians can expect very good job opportunities, not only in private practice but also in animal welfare, in