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It's the number one undergrad degree for veterinarians. Private vet practices in upscale areas are insanely profitable.

by aphextron 8y ago

pkaye 8y ago
I also heard vet school is pretty expensive.
- wcfields 8y ago
  I've also heard that it's even more competitive than human medical schools.
  - Retric 8y ago
    I hear a lot of failed vets become doctors. Veterinary school is harder to get into and their is a lot of overlap in background materials. Med school has a lot of overlap so if somone desideds to swap carriers it’s an easy transition into a high paying job.
  - GlenTheMachine 8y ago
    This may well be true. While there are hundreds of medical schools in the United States, there is only one vet school per state. And some, like Virginia and Maryland, combine - so there are in fact only about 30.
- thaumasiotes 8y ago
  Causality can't run from vet school being expensive to veterinary practices being profitable. It can only go the other way - profitable practices lead to school being expensive.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    > Causality can't run from vet school being expensive to veterinary practices being profitable. Yes, it can: expense of getting into the field limits competition. Now, long-term steady-state eventually the market should adjust so that the people are willing to pay the up front cost because of the actual rewards, but real meaningful effects are often not long-run steady-state effects.
grouseway 8y ago
And for some it is a very stressful job. They have a very high suicide rate: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4266064/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4266064/ "The rate of suicide in the veterinary profession has been pegged as close to twice that of the dental profession, more than twice that of the medical profession (2), and 4 times the rate in the general population (3)."
- harshreality 8y ago
  correlation or causation? I could easily imagine that more depressed people pursue veterinary jobs because being around animals makes them less depressed.
  - dv_dt 8y ago
    The linked article goes through a list of qualitative factors which could be linked (though it does not seem to attempt to quantify their correlation).
  - creaghpatr 8y ago
    I imagine vets have to frequently put animals down and have those talks with the owners, I could see that being a huge buzzkill
    - c0nducktr 8y ago
      Especially if they owners simply can't afford to pay to keep the animal alive. Imagine being a surgeon and telling someone that their child needs their appendix removed, and the parent sees the cost and says "eh, let's just put them down". Vets have to deal with that all the time.
  - GlenTheMachine 8y ago
    The debt load of veterinarians is pretty staggering. Going to vet school is as expensive as going to medical school, but the pay is considerably less than an MD makes. It is not at all unusual for a vet to graduate with $300k+ in student debt, and to still be paying that debt down well into their fifties or even sixties. You also have to deal with pet owners who are... let's say irrational. People seem to be even more willing to believe in homeopathy or nutritional fads or essential oils when dealing with their pet's health than with their own. The bills for veterinary care are not as high as for human medicine, except that most people don't have pet insurance and so pay much higher out of pocket bills than for their own health care, which makes the emotional stakes even higher. And owners will not hesitate to trash you on social media. The issue here is that to a much greater extent than doctors, veterinarians gain new patients by word of mouth and recommendations. So reputation is even more important than it is to doctors. A few ugly, well-placed reviews in Yelp or Facebook can do considerable harm. All of this leads to an extremely stressful job, especially for younger vets or vets with young children.

It's the number one undergrad degree for veterinarians. Private vet practices in upscale areas are insanely profitable.

pkaye 8y ago

I also heard vet school is pretty expensive.

wcfields 8y ago
I've also heard that it's even more competitive than human medical schools.
- Retric 8y ago
  I hear a lot of failed vets become doctors. Veterinary school is harder to get into and their is a lot of overlap in background materials. Med school has a lot of overlap so if somone desideds to swap carriers it’s an easy transition into a high paying job.
- GlenTheMachine 8y ago
  This may well be true. While there are hundreds of medical schools in the United States, there is only one vet school per state. And some, like Virginia and Maryland, combine - so there are in fact only about 30.
thaumasiotes 8y ago
Causality can't run from vet school being expensive to veterinary practices being profitable. It can only go the other way - profitable practices lead to school being expensive.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > Causality can't run from vet school being expensive to veterinary practices being profitable. Yes, it can: expense of getting into the field limits competition. Now, long-term steady-state eventually the market should adjust so that the people are willing to pay the up front cost because of the actual rewards, but real meaningful effects are often not long-run steady-state effects.

grouseway 8y ago

And for some it is a very stressful job. They have a very high suicide rate: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4266064/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4266064/ "The rate of suicide in the veterinary profession has been pegged as close to twice that of the dental profession, more than twice that of the medical profession (2), and 4 times the rate in the general population (3)."

harshreality 8y ago
correlation or causation? I could easily imagine that more depressed people pursue veterinary jobs because being around animals makes them less depressed.
- dv_dt 8y ago
  The linked article goes through a list of qualitative factors which could be linked (though it does not seem to attempt to quantify their correlation).
- creaghpatr 8y ago
  I imagine vets have to frequently put animals down and have those talks with the owners, I could see that being a huge buzzkill
  - c0nducktr 8y ago
    Especially if they owners simply can't afford to pay to keep the animal alive. Imagine being a surgeon and telling someone that their child needs their appendix removed, and the parent sees the cost and says "eh, let's just put them down". Vets have to deal with that all the time.
- GlenTheMachine 8y ago
  The debt load of veterinarians is pretty staggering. Going to vet school is as expensive as going to medical school, but the pay is considerably less than an MD makes. It is not at all unusual for a vet to graduate with $300k+ in student debt, and to still be paying that debt down well into their fifties or even sixties. You also have to deal with pet owners who are... let's say irrational. People seem to be even more willing to believe in homeopathy or nutritional fads or essential oils when dealing with their pet's health than with their own. The bills for veterinary care are not as high as for human medicine, except that most people don't have pet insurance and so pay much higher out of pocket bills than for their own health care, which makes the emotional stakes even higher. And owners will not hesitate to trash you on social media. The issue here is that to a much greater extent than doctors, veterinarians gain new patients by word of mouth and recommendations. So reputation is even more important than it is to doctors. A few ugly, well-placed reviews in Yelp or Facebook can do considerable harm. All of this leads to an extremely stressful job, especially for younger vets or vets with young children.