Calling All Animal Lovers! Start a Career as a Veterinarian

By Joe Pringle
Joe.pringle@medicalhealthcarecareerschools.com
Medical Health Care Career Schools Columnist

For animal lovers, there may be no better career than veterinarian. Getting into veterinary medicine is the perfect chance to be around animals all day long.

Step 1: Assess Your True Interest

Many people think that veterinarian jobs will just be fun and games with pets all day. They tend to forget that much of being a veterinarian and working in veterinary medicine involves putting animals down as the only way to ease an animal’s suffering.

Step 2: Veterinary Schools

After assessing careers in veterinary medicine, you still want to become a veterinarian. That means you will need to attend a four-year program at one of the 28 veterinarian schools across the nation. Before you can enter a veterinarian school, you must have at least one year's worth of undergraduate work, but your best bet is to have at least a bachelor's degree, preferably in biology, pre-med, or another science. You also may have to take an entrance exam before getting into veterinary school. Once you're in a program, you can choose to specialize in a specific area of veterinary medicine, such as radiology, surgery, neurology, or anesthesiology.

Step 3: Get Certified

Upon graduation from veterinary school, you will need to be licensed to practice veterinary medicine. The exact license requirements vary from state to state.

Step 4: Begin

Now is the time when you begin practicing veterinary medicine. You can choose what type of veterinarian career you wish to pursue: Working in a veterinary clinic, a veterinary hospital, or starting your own private practice!

The Path to Practicing Veterinary Medicine

Assess your interest in becoming a veterinarian, study veterinary medicine at one of the 28 veterinarian schools in the United States, become a licensed veterinarian in your state, and begin practicing veterinary medicine! The road may be long and hard to becoming a veterinarian, but for those who love animals, it is well worth the effort.

Sources
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

About the Author
Joe Pringle is a full-time student at Seattle Pacific University, where he is studying psychology. He currently works as a freelance writer.

Posted on: May 5, 2006