So You Want to be a Veterinary Technician?

by Kelly Lemke, CVT

Kelly Lemke, CVT

It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to "be" when I grew up.  I was never one of those kids who knew what they wanted to do by the time they were 10 years old.  After I graduated from high school, I went to UW-Milwaukee for a few years taking pre-vet classes with the plan of going on to veterinary school.  Then life got in the way.  I got married, bought a house, and realized that I didn't want to be in school for 4-5 more years, or spend a few hundred thousand dollars more on my education.  The only thing I still knew was that I still wanted to work in veterinary medicine.  Becoming a veterinary technician was the perfect option, and looking back, I'm so happy I never made it to veterinary school. 

To become a veterinary technician, a person must graduate from an AVMA accredited school and pass the Veterinary Technician National Exam.  Thirteen years ago when I started school, the only AVMA accredited school in Wisconsin was Madison Area Technical College.  The Veterinary Technician program is two years, plus a summer internship.  I spent hours taking notes in lectures (with an actual pen and notebook), staring into microscopes in clinical pathology labs, prepping and monitoring surgery patients in surgical nursing classes, and learning how to examine, draw blood, and give injections to mice, cows, goats, horses, dogs, and cats.  I carried on average 16 credits a semester, which cost me roughly $2000/semester.  On top of that, I had to buy books, a stethoscope, scrubs, coveralls, and boots to wear in the barn.  These additional supplies were about $500 a semester.  The summer internship was considered “summer school” so I had to pay to do that as well.  I spent 320 hours working here in a small animal hospital and at Jefferson Veterinary Clinic working with large animals.  I was fortunate to be paid minimum wage during my internship, but many of my classmates were not paid at all, which isn’t unusual for an internship.  All told, my education cost me around $11000, plus the money I spent on gas driving to Madison five days a week for two years.  In 2011, the average starting salary for a Certified Veterinary Technician was $20000-$23000, which in the “real world” isn’t a lot of money.  In fact, low salary was the number-one cited reason for veterinary technicians leaving the field in a 2007 survey by the National Association of Veterinary Technicians.

Veterinary Technicians don’t spend as much on their educations as veterinarians do and oftentimes don’t have huge amounts of debt coming out of school.  Yes, we don’t earn a lot of money, but there are other rewards.  If a person is unable to afford veterinary school, becoming a veterinary technician is an affordable option.  If you are trying to decide what you want to “be” when you grow up, give us a call and arrange a day to job-shadow a technician.  We’d be happy to show you what we do!

 

So You Want to be a Vet?

by Dr. Michael Fagan

Michael Fagan, DVM

This post is geared toward high school or college students who might be considering veterinary medicine.  I don’t want to discourage anyone who is certain that they want to become a veterinarian, but I do want to help set up realistic expectations. 

I love my job as a veterinarian.  I get to work with other like-minded people.  I get to play with puppies and kittens.  I very often make patients’ lives better, and every now and then literally save a life.  Biology and medicine are interesting and challenging.  Surgery can be exciting and rewarding.  There’s no other job I would prefer to do. 

But, like any other good thing, there are not-so-good things that tag along.  Sometimes we can’t save a patient’s life, or even make it feel much better.  Euthanasia is always sad, even when it is the best and right option.  People sometimes get angry with us.  Sometimes they cannot afford a treatment we know would help.  Surprisingly, some dogs and cats don’t like us!  Bites are rare but can happen at any time.

Then there are the financial issues facing new or prospective veterinarians.  A recent article in the NY Times revealed the median cost of veterinary school (including living expenses) to be nearly $250,000 in 2011.  This does not include the cost of three to five years of undergraduate study.  Meanwhile, the median salary of new veterinarians that year was only $45,500. 

It is nearly impossible to repay a $250,000 loan on such a salary.  It would require over $2500 a month, on a salary less than $4,000 a month.  And not all graduates are finding jobs lately.  Last year, about one third of veterinary graduates were without an offer for a full time job.

There are some loan forgiveness programs, such as 501(c)3 charitable or military service, or Income Based Repayment or Pay As You Earn programs which keep payments lower but come with a potentially hefty tax burden at the end. 

So!  If science and math and problem solving and communication and a love of living things are your strong suits, by all means consider becoming a veterinarian.  But do so with eyes wide open to the cost of getting there and the challenge of repaying loans after graduation.  It is possible, but requires planning, discipline, commitment and endurance, and sometimes help from families or spouses. 

And finally, if you are still interested, contact us to arrange a day of job-shadowing so you can see what a small animal veterinarian does in real life!