If I had it to do all over again, I would not be a vet. The debt is horrible, clients want you to magically fix things for free, things that you can’t fix if you had all the money in the world, or they want you to kill something that can be fixed, the hours blow (though that’s my fault for working at an ER clinic), management is unreasonable, salary would be great if I didn’t have so much debt. I really think the one thing I dislike the most is dealing with clients who just don’t understand that we’re not in it for the money.
I would love to go into teaching, but teaching at the University level requires internship, residency, and knowing the right people. There are a lot of people trying for few positions.
I can’t afford a horse. I would love to have a horse, but it’s probably never going to happen again. My last horse I got for free, so that helped.
In our area, teachers were required to get a Professional Certificate or a National Board Certificate within 5 years, but they removed that requirement as they were having enough trouble finding any teachers, let alone highly qualified ones. I did my National Boards because I needed to get a professional certificate. A masters is not required here either. The increase in pay from a BA to a MA is not very big.
I would love to teach in an area where your average teaching salary was $140,000. In WA state the average elementary teacher makes $59,000. I have a base salary of $50k and “bonus and stipend” of $14K. Bonus and stipend covers the time before school starts where we set up our classroom and take educational courses, conference time after school, and in my case, overnight camp with the kiddos. Benefits ($14K) are included in the initial $50k and it is mandatory that I pay for them - even if I get benefits from my husband’s work. For reference, I have a Masters degree, an additional graduate certificate, and a National Board Certification.
I’m going to second Dr. Beckett. If I had it to do over, I would NOT go to vet school. A recent study showed something like 60+% of vets do not recommend veterinary school. One of the lies they feed you is “all” the things you can do outside of clinical practice. Ha. And I say that as someone who was lucky enough to find a job outside of practice. I can and do afford a horse and have time to ride it because I was one of the lucky few to find a 9-5 job I can do with my degree. Most of my vet friends lack either the time or the money for a horse.
I know a ton of riders who teach. They have all summer off to show and ride, which is why many chose it! I’d recommend keeping your options open but vet medicine isn’t too dreamy when you’re deep in debt, overworked, and too tired for the hobbies you need to decompress. Great vet jobs exist but they’re so rare I get begged to pass on any openings I know of. Keep in mind, veterinarians have one of the highest suicide rates of any profession. I’ve lost friends to this profession and I can never, in good conscience, recommend it to anyone.
I’m a veterinarian, but I went on to do a residency to specialize (pathology) and get a PhD after vet school. This means I was in school for a VERY long time, but I love learning, so I didnt mind. Now I have a very stable job that pays very well and I have normal hours (M-F 7-5). I think the vets that are the most satisfied went on to specialize and work at large clinics where they have only limited emergency duty. Solo practitioners generally do not have a good quality of life IMHO.
That said, you have seceral more years to make any decisions. Just work on getting a science degree and you can do either.
Wow, maybe you should move to New York. A close friend retired from teaching last year, at age 55, and is receiving a pension of 70% of her salary plus lifetime medical benefits. She was not in a good school district and was only making about $115,000 about five years ago, I’m not sure what salary she retired at. But if she had chosen to stay until she was older she would be collecting a lot more than 70%. Instead, she subs when she wants, at an elementary school that is less than a mile from home, in a much better district.
I started vet training, had to do some work at a vet clinic early on and never again. Quickly changed career and never looked back.
I love animals, I could never hurt one. If you are like me, then some time in a clinic might open your eyes to what vets have to deal with, and its not pretty.
I know more teachers who have time and money to ride than vets. A nice thing about teaching is that it is a job you can do in a rural area, and though teacher pay isn’t great, in those rural areas it may go farther and give you more horse access.
Vets do have a lot of expenses in owning and running a practice (which is how most operate) and they also don’t have a lot of control over their hours. Younger vets especially do a lot of emergency appointments.
Teaching is a challenging job and it’s not for everyone, but if you get the skills and you enjoy it, you could find a very nice niche. If you teach foreign language, science, or math, you’ll likely have the most options.
I would say, go for your STEM-related undergrad degree, keep an eye on what you need for vet school and teaching, and you’ll have those choices to make when you are done with your BS. Usually you need a 5th year of school to get your teaching credential - FWIW having a masters is often helpful in an education career, if you can do it affordably. A third option would be scientific research or industry work.
Get some experience working with or shadowing a vet so you have a better sense of what that is really like.
Either teaching or vet school is also a direction you can take after a couple years of industry experience, if you are so inclined.
This
Is is the ability to shape young minds that is making teaching attractive, or is it the idea of teaching in general? A more lucrative compromise might be a career in corporate training and education. I worked as a software trainer for a while and truly enjoyed that training role. It is fun being able to pass along knowledge to others and it gave me the opportuity to work with doctors and their staff in a teaching role. I had no issues being able to afford my horse and have a fun car to boot! Eventually, I was able to segue that into a global marketing career which allows me to still get the joy of training people about new products and services, while also being able to afford a nice condo in the city and horse at a full service premium training facility. I have a BA in Geography with a focus on urban development, which has absolutely nothing to do with how I have spent most of my working life. Degrees can be funny like that! As for the vet path, my sister is a companion animal vet and is a partner in a practice. She takes off weeks at a time to do long trail rides with her horse and has plenty of time to be able to show, but she has worked hard to get to that point. She spent her early years being a contract vet so she could choose her own hours, and she made a lot of money doing that. The big issue you will find with that approach is that you will need to seek your own insurance.
Good luck with whatever direction you choose in life! That may continue to change over time so keep an open mind and enjoy the ride!
In Arizona, many school districts are emergency-certifying teachers who do not have teaching degrees, period, and never mind masters degrees. That said, teachers probably do get pay bumps for a masters degree. As an aside, I recently met someone who was an on-line teacher. She works for a company that contracts with school districts to provide this service. She teaches 8th and 9th grade —, and has 250 active students. !! But think about this: NO disciplinary problems. NO silly activities. Just teach and grade. Interesting option! She does work all year round, but makes more $ - a lot more than she would in a local school district with her experience level.
Another teaching option is community college. We probably have fewer discipline issues, students in the STEM fields are mostly motivated (albeit sometimes for the wrong reasons). The pay is generally better than K-12, you have essentially the same annual schedule as K-12, with summers and a few weeks in December off, but it is possible to rig things so that you don’t start until later in the day. If your personal life is such that you are willing to work nights, you can end up with good chunks of the day free. Starting out you’re going to get a less-desirable schedule, but things improve with seniority, and generally there are enough full-time people who don’t want to teach nights, that people who want that schedule can get it.
As a result I have a great riding schedule and don’t have to fight traffic as I’m commenting against traffic to the extent that’s possible in Los Angeles. I do give up things that people want to do at night. And, whatever your schedule, if you use a decent portion of each day to ride, you’re going to end up shifting a fair amount of work to weekends.
We don’t have subs. It is possible to trade with someone.
But any level of teaching isn’t for everyone.
I’m not saying they CAN’T or DON’T have some high earning teachers, but this seems more realistic:
Salaries. For 2018-19, starting salaries for teachers will range from $56,711(bachelor’s degree, no prior teaching experience) to $85,794 (master’s degree, eight years teaching experience, plus additional coursework). New teachers with a master’s degree but no prior teaching experience will earn [B]$63,751.
That is for NYC public schools.[/B]
Keep in mind, though, that many state pension funds for teachers are drying up all over the US (perhaps among the worst is in my own state of Illinois, where we, too, have a pension that stipulates a high percentage payout annually of the average salary of the last five or so years of work). Those who are collecting now are doing fine. It is a virtual guarantee, though, that the my pension will not be there when I hit retirement age. That’s a mandatory 10% payroll deduction to fund something we ourselves may never see. Think about two-teacher households, of which there are plenty. How is a family supposed to save responsibly for retirement when 20% of their household income is funding someone else’s (via a fund that almost certainly won’t be there when it’s their own turn)?
It’s a real problem. Teachers unions won’t let pensions go, but, looking at the way things are going, many of us under 40 would be much better off holding onto that 10% and investing it ourselves.
Teachers in several states have gone on strike lately because the pay and working conditions are awful. I was a teacher for 5 years in a state that I think is likely to strike soon. The school funding situation is unconstitutional here, has been declared so in court, yet there are no consequences and no motivation to change. In 5 years I never got a raise due to wage freezes, and I didn’t actually make a living wage. I am grateful every day that I was able to get out. I love my subject, I love the kids, I love teaching, but schools are not the place to do it.
ETA: I taught a STEM subject. It makes it easier to find jobs, but the pay and conditions are just as bad as for anyone else.
I was a fifth grade teacher for 5 years until last Friday. Honestly, I don’t recommend it.
I started college as a pre-vet student and decided to change after 2 years of schooling. I went through the 4 years of elementary ed and graduated with 2 additional minors and an outdoor ed certificate. During this time I worked in a riding instructor position for about 20 hours a week. Even though I was at the barn often I didn’t get to ride until my senior year.
Once I started teaching I figured that I’d have enough time to ride. Nope. Teachers work ridiculous hours and I had to take on a second job to support myself. I was still at the barn but I’ve ridden less than 50 times in the last 5 years. This year I ended up not being able to afford my bills and decided to change careers. Even though I can ride for free anytime that I have available time I haven’t ridden since Christmas.
It’s incredibly difficult (not impossible, but difficult) to support the horse lifestyle on a teacher’s schedule and budget. I’d recommend that you really think it through before going down the teaching route. Many teachers work 60+ hours a week, make almost poverty level pay, and burn out after 5 years.
All this his being said, I do know some teachers that have made it longer than a few years and have kept their passion. You’re still very young so there’s plenty of time to make a decision. I’d be more than willing to chat with you as you make your decision.
Teaching is very different from state to state! In some states teachers have to get a second job just to pay reasonable bills. In others the compensation is good. NY state seems to have generally high salaries and benefits.
I worked in CT which has had good salaries (though not $100,000+ generally) since they were raised in the 1980s due to a teacher shortage. I could afford to ride. With my sixth year of college (district gave a salary bump), I could have afforded some showing, except the vet bills took that money! Many evenings were devoted to grading or curriculum development but I did find time to ride. The amount of time you need to devote outside of the classroom depends upon your district and subject or grade level (lower grades need more prep, upper grades need more correcting and grading). My district had teacher-created curriculum - no pre-made program to follow. I enjoyed the creativity, but it was a lot more work. At least I didn’t teach English with all those essays to read and grade! (Lab reports were tough enough)
I did get a pension which was one of the practical attractions to the job. It was a third or fourth career for me, so by the time I burned out, I was able to retire! You have to really love it to do the 37 years required here for full retirement benefits. Still my partial benefits and careful planning allowed me to retire. I did also enjoy the summer break (though they kept getting smaller!)
You really do have to enjoy both teaching and kids of that age group in order to be reasonably happy. And, the kids come with a parent or 2 (or 4). Dealing with parents (or trying to get them to talk with you at all in some cases) can be a big part of the job. There is also an increasing amount of recordkeeping regarding students’ progress, special needs, safety, mandated reporting, etc. Of course some schools are much nicer to teach in than others due to resources, philosophy, and the general culture - similar to other workplaces.
Before deciding to complete your undergrad degree in pre-vet, I would encourage you to work or shadow at an animal hospital. I went to college with the intention to be a vet, and took a part-time job at an animal hospital. 5 years later I am a tech, and have no plans to go to vet school. I am on the tail end of completing an undergrad science degree that likely qualifies me for nothing besides attending vet school.
I like my job, but it is not all puppies and kittens. Every vet I have met has discouraged me from becoming a DVM. You are going to be looking at $1k+ loan payments a month, an unpredictable schedule, and burnout. I work with vets who have been doing this 20+ years and still work 12-14 hour days, miss out on family events due to appointments running late or phone calls that need to be made… Most of your life will be devoted to your job. Vets have high stress levels, they worry constantly about their patients, drive to the clinic in the middle of the night to check on them, perform care that is less than ideal but fits in the budget of the owner… you name it. New grads will work the unappealing shifts such as nights or weekends(most vet clinics are open Saturday and Sunday now). Your pay, depending on the area, will likely start in the 60-70k range. Not much left for horses when you factor in giant student loans. In addition, your colleagues(CVTs, assistants, managers) likely are paid 30-40k max a year and work insane hours, leading to burnout and high turnover. It can be a difficult environment.
I hate to sound completely negative, but it is important to see the negatives before you devote 8 years of your life to education for this career. I would strongly encourage you to at least work in a vet setting to decide if it is right for you.
If your end goals are to ride your horse and have enough money to show, I would not choose teaching or veterinary medicine as your career.
From the veterinary side (I can’t speak for teachers), you are going to work very long hours. Equine medicine has one of the poorest quality of life, IMO (having worked in equine, small animal GP, and small animal ER). But everyone works very long hours for fairly poor pay given the degree of schooling you have undertaken, the stress level, and the hours. Veterinary medicine has one of the worst debt-to-income ratios of all the professions. It also has one of the highest suicide rates.
Specializing can help your quality of life. But you have to be prepared for many additional years of schooling (think 5-7+ if you add in internships to the residency time). Where you will be poorly paid with long hours. Also realize that residencies can be extremely competitive and you are not guaranteed one. Nor are you guaranteed a job afterwards (someone mentioned pathology… those jobs are dwindling), or “easy” hours.
I think most people don’t realize how much of the job is paperwork and talking to people. Especially about money. I spend more time doing those to things than I do looking at animals.
You really should shadow a few vets. Ask them what their hours are like. Best/worst parts of the job. Also, if they do have time for a significant hobby like riding, how many years did it take them to get to that point where they could afford and have time to do it.
Not sure if you know, but it is harder to get into vet school than it is to get into med school. The number of applicants, cf. to the # admitted, is outrageous. You will need a high GPA and vet oriented side activities to have a chance of getting in.
Not saying that you do not need good grades to become a teacher, but it cannot be as hard as getting into vet school.
I 3rd riding around with a vet. My vets frequently have ride arounds with them; I imagine that many vets like to give young people an opportunity to see their world.
Have you thought of getting a job as a camp counselor at a horsey camp? It will give you the experience of teaching in a different area, and you can see how much you like working 10 hours a day out in the hot sun. 
NYC public school teachers are not the highest paid teachers in the state. Also you couldn’t pay me enough to work in a NYC public school, that has to be one of the worst places to teach. Coincidentally I happened to be at a social event this weekend where two of the guests are vets and they mentioned that our area is becoming saturated with new young vets. Both are young and work in well established practices, they each own 1-2 horses and show both locally and the occasional AA show as their work schedule permits. I didn’t want to appear too nosy so I didn’t question them about any possible debt but both seem to spend a decent amount of money on their horsey activities and I don’t get the impression either is on an especially tight budget.
