veterinary medicine

macflea

hi guys,

currently working as a vet for 9 years in a 2 man practise on call every second night and every second weekend and earning 45000 euros. i coming to stage in my life i am burnt out from it and sick of whole lot. i would like to chuck it in and return to college to do something else . i am 33 with enough 555 points
1. i was thinking of pharmacy but now since there are two more colleges i am thinking there may be too many pharmacists in 4 years time chasing too few jobs in ireland and be back at squre one again.
2. medicine would be tempting but 4 year course then another 2-3 years to become a gp 6-8 years in total, and very expensive . would have to go through point system as only have a pass mark in vet degree.
3. i have tried to join department of agriculture but unfortunately i have no one on inside to pull a few strings. its who you know unfortunately.
4. industry nothing happening there.
5. phd or masters , yes but where could i go with these, department of agriculture well they only take people with contacts on inside , slightly bitter about this.

has anyone any suggestions? or any vets that made a succesful transfer to another profession.i suppose medicine is obvious one, one i will be looking up.
cheers macflea

anotherlostie

I would definitely stay away from Pharmacy - see thread on salaries for more details. You would probably be worse off financially after you qualify, although your quality of life with regard to the hours you work would be better (notwithstanding evening and weekend working).

haemfire

macflea wrote: »

hi guys,

currently working as a vet for 9 years in a 2 man practise on call every second night and every second weekend and earning 45000 euros. i coming to stage in my life i am burnt out from it and sick of whole lot. i would like to chuck it in and return to college to do something else . i am 33 with enough 555 points
1. i was thinking of pharmacy but now since there are two more colleges i am thinking there may be too many pharmacists in 4 years time chasing too few jobs in ireland and be back at squre one again.
2. medicine would be tempting but 4 year course then another 2-3 years to become a gp 6-8 years in total, and very expensive . would have to go through point system as only have a pass mark in vet degree.
3. i have tried to join department of agriculture but unfortunately i have no one on inside to pull a few strings. its who you know unfortunately.
4. industry nothing happening there.
5. phd or masters , yes but where could i go with these, department of agriculture well they only take people with contacts on inside , slightly bitter about this.

has anyone any suggestions? or any vets that made a succesful transfer to another profession.i suppose medicine is obvious one, one i will be looking up.
cheers macflea

jesus i though a vet out of college would be on about 60k, i know of lab techs/medical scientists qualified 3/4 years on 70k+ by doin on call, you would be entering uncertainty going into medicine up till recently 360 graduates a year now with grad places there will be 7-800, why not look at dentistry, or setting up a small animal clinic the only probelm is you will have no have no soul to be charging for tedious medicines for sick old(should have been put down 5 years ago) dogs, yeah i think grad med should be reduced to a 2.2 , what about all the people with degrees in vet, pharm ect, who are ranked below arts grads with 2.1s

I.P. Freely

Vets are cool, so arev doctors

onetrueone

macflea wrote: »

hi guys,

currently working as a vet for 9 years in a 2 man practise on call every second night and every second weekend and earning 45000 euros. i coming to stage in my life i am burnt out from it and sick of whole lot. i would like to chuck it in and return to college to do something else . i am 33 with enough 555 points
1. i was thinking of pharmacy but now since there are two more colleges i am thinking there may be too many pharmacists in 4 years time chasing too few jobs in ireland and be back at squre one again.
2. medicine would be tempting but 4 year course then another 2-3 years to become a gp 6-8 years in total, and very expensive . would have to go through point system as only have a pass mark in vet degree.
3. i have tried to join department of agriculture but unfortunately i have no one on inside to pull a few strings. its who you know unfortunately.
4. industry nothing happening there.
5. phd or masters , yes but where could i go with these, department of agriculture well they only take people with contacts on inside , slightly bitter about this.

has anyone any suggestions? or any vets that made a succesful transfer to another profession.i suppose medicine is obvious one, one i will be looking up.
cheers macflea

My sympathies go out to you. I'd say stay away from Retail Pharmacy as the Hours are long (with no lunch break) and there will soon be unemployed Pharmacists.
Have you thought about teaching?
I think it's important to try and find something you enjoy that gives a reasonable work/Life balance.
Btw the nepotism in Ireland you have mentioned makes me sick.
Good Luck.

onetrueone

haemfire wrote: »

yeah i think grad med should be reduced to a 2.2 , what about all the people with degrees in vet, pharm ect, who are ranked below arts grads with 2.1s

Yes, how absolutely ridiculous that situation is.

So the University admissions people reckon that someone with a 2.1 degree in media studies (who did the entire course by submitting coursework) is more eligible to become a Doctor than a Vet with a 2.2. degree??

ergo

that's a tough situation you're in original poster

earning 45K for a 1 in 2 rota is just entirely unfair (and I'm sure I'm not the only one here who is amazed that this is your financial reward for all this hard work after doing a tough 5+ year degree :eek: )

think carefully about what option you take in terms of medical things - as you may have noticed there are an awful lot of disillusioned doctors out there as well as disillusioned pharmacists / physios etc

and for all of those courses with the number of places having doubled in many cases the employment prospects in combination with the downturn will become bleak (the reality of this hasn't even hit home yet, well not for medicine, as the increased numbers haven't gotten to graduation stage yet)

look carefully at what you're going to end up doing

you mention GP, key thing there is, no matter how pissed off you become with the job (and you may love the job), at least you won't be on a 1 in 2 rota there

But, once you finish your medical degree and intern year, even to get into GP in Ireland it's ultracompetitive, 3 to 1 applications for places and for a lot of schemes it's who you know too. But that might have become more flexible bu the time you'd be at that stage

If you go for medicine it would be helpful if, at the end of the day, you'd be open to the option of emigrating if needs be, sad but, imho, true

Teaching is also worth thinking about. But from hearing the teaching unions conference reports, things there could be getting tricky too

headtotoe

Maybe all the heatlthcare professions are not worth the effort compared to the hassle and uncertainity overall, somebody said dentistry, this has good hours but with the recession private practice will see a slump with people not bothering or going up north or to eastern europe to get treatment. plus the set up costs in dentistry are massive.
what about optometry? Looks like a cool job and interesting does anybody know their salary?

haemfire

a few years ago i heard that a locum optometrist can earn 1200 a week

iseethelight

3. i have tried to join department of agriculture but unfortunately i have no one on inside to pull a few strings. its who you know unfortunately.

Its not who you know. Its well known the Dept. of Agriculture only take vets with the best marks and you said you only have a pass. Don't blame others when its not true.

And no before anyone asks I'm not a vet in the dept. Agriculture

haemfire

are you serious about the salary, i though a 33 yo vet who be doing badly on twice that!!!!

macflea

thanks for all the reply guys , currently in uk doing interviews for small animal positions. going to try specilise in smallies.
i also rang limerick to enquire about medicine and the lady told me on phone that i would need a frist class honours in vet med to get in , first class honours in vet med are rare two thirds of class on graduation gets a pass degree, she got annoyed with me when i asked why someone with a frist class honours in arts would have preference over a vet .
as regards department they recruit evert 4 years and form a panel of peoples they draw from, i applied 6 years ago and was turned down , not even called for an interview, they gave me a list of reasons why , last year they recruited again using the list of reasons they gave me i filled out the appliation saying i fullfilled out criteria that they refused me last time , guess what, not giving an interview again??????? i since found out 2 people who got in , totally less quailified and i know for a fact they have relations in do agriculture, its not me i know other vets who were turned down , one guy even put it in hands of a solicter , he is in ministry of agricuture in uk who wants to return home. on both occassions they sent me a letter sating 177 people applied but only 30 called for an interview. i not going to take it further cause if they dont want you they dont want you and make your life a misery in there.
there are vets out there doing finacially a lot better than me i agreed on this some making 50-80000 . its about getting into a good practise. but i was explaining my situation.

thanks guys macflea

kelle

Best of luck, macflea.

JuliusCaesar

macflea wrote: »

currently working as a vet for 9 years in a 2 man practise on call every second night and every second weekend and earning 45000 euros. .........has anyone any suggestions? or any vets that made a succesful transfer to another profession.i suppose medicine is obvious one, one i will be looking up.

are you working in ireland or the uk at present?

Am shocked at the salary I have to say, you'd earn more as a staff nurse! Does the other guy in the practice earn the same? And whereabouts are you - country I suppose seeing you're not doing small animals

Just wondering if you've thought about expanding the practice in ways that would bring in more money - more stuff to sell: like a pet shop; having a holiday kennels for hamsters, budgies, cats & dogs etc; teaching dog training classes or whatever. You might want to talk to a development advisor at your local enterprise board.

PS I knew of a vet who changed to food science

Anthony16

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

are you working in ireland or the uk at present?

Am shocked at the salary I have to say, you'd earn more as a staff nurse! Does the other guy in the practice earn the same? And whereabouts are you - country I suppose seeing you're not doing small animals

Just wondering if you've thought about expanding the practice in ways that would bring in more money - more stuff to sell: like a pet shop; having a holiday kennels for hamsters, budgies, cats & dogs etc; teaching dog training classes or whatever. You might want to talk to a development advisor at your local enterprise board.

PS I knew of a vet who changed to food science

A vets salary is totally dependant on how successful the practice is.I know this is stating the obvious but most people believe vets are "loaded" which is not true.My dad has a very successful practice and earns 100k + a year but he works 14 hour days most of the time and is on call 24/7. It only pays well if u work unbelieveably hard

bleg

did you ever think of regulation? wouldn't be any harm to apply to the IMB