<p>The career possibilities are nearly endless with a DVM degree. You can work in private practice, industry, government, academia, military… In terms of research, you can do that in any area of veterinary medicine–pathology, bacteriology, virology, any subject. You will likely need to get a PhD on top of a DVM (or if you are sure you want to do research, you may be able to get by with just a PhD). Research can pay well (not always), and in many cases also offers better hours and benefits than private practice. The vets that make the most money will usually be the ones that have specialized (in surgery, internal medicine, dermatology, opthamology, pathology, etc.–pretty much any specialty that exists in human medicine exists in vet med as well), but this requires an additional 3-year residency with rigorous testing (and usually a 1-year internship before that). That is in addition to the 8 years of college just to become a vet. For non-specialists, here are the stats for what new grads made in their first year, split up by what species they worked with: [Market</a> research statistics - First year employment](<a href=“http://www.avma.org/reference/marketstats/1yremploy.asp]Market”>http://www.avma.org/reference/marketstats/1yremploy.asp) I wouldn’t suggest going into vet med for the money–in comparison to the amount of money spent on our educations, we really don’t make a lot. But it can be a very rewarding career!</p>