I am a veterinarian (by training) – when I got out of school – my first job paid $35K and I literally would have made more money flipping burgers. (I worked 60 hours a week.) I left private practice due to a number of factors -but the pay (and hours) were certainly a big factor.
I HAVE been told that the starting salary is much better now- and that will help them address those large loans:
From the AVMA website ( https://www.avma.org/news/veterinary-starting-salaries-rise-2023-educational-debt-holds-steady)
The mean starting incomes in 2023 for the following areas was:
- $125,416 for private practice
- $87,417 for public practice
- $46,186 for residencies
- $53,266 for internships
Am I encouraging people to go into veterinary medicine? NOPE – because most people can’t actually afford ‘proper’ medicine for their pets - so you spend a lot of time guessing at medical diagnoses and then giving antibiotics or steroids and hoping for the best. Basically for general private practice, you don’t really get to practice medicine. I guess if you are lucky enough to get into a specialty -then you actually get to do more medicine but those spots were few and far between -and only the very best students even had a chance at them.
If you have the grades for veterinary school – go into human medicine instead - you don’t need to be a MD – plenty of supporting fields pay well and don’t require the extensive schooling. THEN you go and have the money to have lots of cats or dogs or donate to shelters! 