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Vets vs. Meds


bj89

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Think about it. Even if a veterinarian treats only cats and dogs on a regular daily basis, you have to consider that there are countless breeds of cats and dogs, all with specific sensitivities, disease/parasite risks, and nutritional requirements.

 

Think also in terms of diagnostics. When something hurts, you can tell the doctor what's wrong. When an animal is in pain, it may be lethargic, have a decreased appetite, show signs of nausea, or be more vocal than usual - all symptoms of many conditions.

 

Veterinarians are also surgeons and dentists for animals. Vets perform most all surgeries and dental procedures required with the exception that severe cases are sent to specialists.

 

Medical doctors are obviously also very knowledgeable; all I'm saying is that it is uncommon that veterinarians receive the respect they deserve, if any at all.

 

Oh the old vets vs. Meds debate.

 

I think they are both challenging and have similar skill sets.

 

I'm not going to debate about which one requires more knowledge, is more prestigious or has smarter people in it because I haven't done either of them... And really, without going through each profession and training for them it would be tough to say which is harder/easier unless we rely on other peoples views.

 

I like vets and I love animals. If somebody told me I could only be a vet... I definitely wouldn't shy away from

It.

I don't feel like getting into a debate about it even though I do have some points that I'd like to raise, but I did get the clarification I was looking for so thanks for that.

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I'd love it if someone interested in vet could weigh in with some questions I have:

 

-Why do you think vet and med are "very different professions" (to quote meddream, above)?

- Do you really think vets don't get repect? I see a lot of respect in the community for my vet.

 

 

Like hking, I love animals too. I think I would have real trouble being a vet for a couple of reasons, first off, I'm too old at this point to establish a practice :) anyways, but:

1/ Same reason I would have trouble with straight peds, little loveable things in pain

2/ Seeing people put an animal down becuase it would cost them too much to take care of it (even if it's just $30 medicine per month), actually, I think this is very similar to my reasons for not wanting to practice medicine in the US.

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I am originally from Ontario but have lived in Nova Scotia for the past three years for the purpose of completing by BSc. Despite this, I am only eligible to apply to OVC. In order to be eligible for AVC, which I am also interested in because I love the Maritimes, I would have to take a year off after completing my degree and work and not be school, as this would make me an Atlantic Canadian resident. It doesn't matter that I've lived here for three years while renting a house and hold a Nova Scotia driver's license. The pre-requisite requirements are also very different depending on the veterinary college. Not only are the course requirements different, but OVC requires the MCAT and AVC the GRE.

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I'd love it if someone interested in vet could weigh in with some questions I have:

 

-Why do you think vet and med are "very different professions" (to quote meddream, above)?

- Do you really think vets don't get repect? I see a lot of respect in the community for my vet.

 

 

Like hking, I love animals too. I think I would have real trouble being a vet for a couple of reasons, first off, I'm too old at this point to establish a practice :) anyways, but:

1/ Same reason I would have trouble with straight peds, little loveable things in pain

2/ Seeing people put an animal down becuase it would cost them too much to take care of it (even if it's just $30 medicine per month), actually, I think this is very similar to my reasons for not wanting to practice medicine in the US.

 

 

that's why i don't ever want to get a pet again. too hard to see them go (age way too fast). :(

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a cute comic in response to the "pets age too fast" : http://i.imgur.com/Sb0Bl.jpg

 

I think being a vet is a great job, kudos to those who do it and do it well. I thought about it for about 5 minutes, until I realized that if anyone ever walked into my clinic with a snake or giant bug of some sort I would run in the opposite direction. Blood, organs, pus? no problem. Snakes? not so much. :P

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How many different organisms does a med student need to know everything about?

One. The human being.

 

How many different organisms does a vet student need to know everything about?

Yeah.

 

Except we have a much much better understanding of human medicine, so even though there is only one species (homo sapiens), there is WAY more knowledge to learn about that one species than say a vet would have to learn about a canine.

 

This in no way belittles veterinarians. It's just a different situation for physicians and vets. Vets need to know many different fields with a smaller amount of knowledge in each field. Physicians need to know more about a single field. Both will have difficultly mastering all the required knowledge to be proficient in their scope of practice.

 

On a somewhat related note: I have the best vet ever. I'm really sad that I will have to leave her when I move for residency this June.

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I know a few people at my school who have gotten interviews at vet schools out west with having marks not even close enough to get them into med school interviews. They have however lived with animals for their lives.... So it's quite subjective.

 

Wow, the vet schools out west must be very different from OVC (Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph). The people I know who went to Guelph for veterinary medicine all had stellar GPAs (3.8+), great MCAT scores (at least 10 in every section), and many, many years of volunteer experiences with animals.

 

I also know people with very good GPAs (3.7+) who used up all three tries they had to get into Guelph without ever getting in. :( One of them was contemplating going to Australia to do vet med (not unlike the situation with medical schools).

 

Now granted, I only know a handful of people who were admitted to OVC, but I do know that getting in is incredibly difficult. It sounds like it is easier out west.

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Wow, the vet schools out west must be very different from OVC (Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph). The people I know who went to Guelph for veterinary medicine all had stellar GPAs (3.8+), great MCAT scores (at least 10 in every section), and many, many years of volunteer experiences with animals.

 

I also know people with very good GPAs (3.7+) who used up all three tries they had to get into Guelph without ever getting in. :( One of them was contemplating going to Australia to do vet med (not unlike the situation with medical schools).

 

Now granted, I only know a handful of people who were admitted to OVC, but I do know that getting in is incredibly difficult. It sounds like it is easier out west.

 

Those stats for OVC on that first post don't seem good at all though... Compared to Med:

~84% average of 2 years and 9 9 7 Q MCAT...

 

I'm sure all 3 schools are quite similar, but I think it's quite subjective from applicant to applicant. I'm sorry to hear that about your friends!

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Those stats for OVC on that first post don't seem good at all though... Compared to Med:

~84% average of 2 years and 9 9 7 Q MCAT...

 

I'm sure all 3 schools are quite similar, but I think it's quite subjective from applicant to applicant. I'm sorry to hear that about your friends!

 

Well, I know you need a lot more than just a good GPA and MCAT to get into vet at OVC - I know my friends all needed plenty of experience with animals of all kinds, all well as reference letters from vets.

 

I do agree that the stats in the first post don't seem that "high" to most pre-meds. The stats do vary from year to year, and perhaps my friends applied in particularly competitive years (this was also several years ago - I'm a grad student - and things may have changed since we graduated from undergrad).

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Well, I know you need a lot more than just a good GPA and MCAT to get into vet at OVC - I know my friends all needed plenty of experience with animals of all kinds, all well as reference letters from vets.

 

I do agree that the stats in the first post don't seem that "high" to most pre-meds. The stats do vary from year to year, and perhaps my friends applied in particularly competitive years (this was also several years ago - I'm a grad student - and things may have changed since we graduated from undergrad).

 

I fully agree with you on that point. You need a long history of volunteering with both large and small animals... Some med schools could care less if you even volunteer! (I.e. USask). Stats wise, even in previous years, it seems rather low, but I know for vet, they look extensively into your animal related ECs. Who knows though! It doesn't really matter to us anyways

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  • 2 months later...

Really its so difficult to say as "becoming a vet is as difficult as becoming a doctor". But personally I feel that a vets work is much more challenging. Veterinarians in private or clinical practice often work long hours in a noisy indoor environment. When working with animals that are frightened or in pain, veterinarians risk being bitten, kicked, or scratched.

 

Veterinarians who work with food animals or horses spend time driving between their offices and farms or ranches. They work outdoors in all kinds of weather and may have to treat animals or perform surgery, often under unsanitary conditions.

 

So I fell that the work of a vet is much more demanding and needs a lot of patience and stamina.

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Really its so difficult to say as "becoming a vet is as difficult as becoming a doctor". But personally I feel that a vets work is much more challenging. Veterinarians in private or clinical practice often work long hours in a noisy indoor environment. When working with animals that are frightened or in pain, veterinarians risk being bitten, kicked, or scratched.

 

Like pediatrics

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  • 2 months later...

Becoming a doctor isn’t an easy option, it takes years of study and hard work. If you like helping people there is nothing more rewarding and respected career other than medicine.

Medicine is about helping people, treating illness, providing advice and reassurance, and seeing the effects of both ill health and good health from the patient's point of view.

If you have that passion to improve people’s lives and the determination to reach the highest standards, you will have a wide range of career opportunities open to you in medicine. So undoubtedly medicine is more challenging than veterinary.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 7 months later...
Becoming a vet isn’t an easy option, it takes years of study and hard work. If you like helping people there is nothing more rewarding and respected career other than veterinary medicine.

Veterinary Medicine is about helping people, treating illness, providing advice and reassurance, and seeing the effects of both ill health and good health from the patient's point of view.

If you have that passion to improve people’s lives and the determination to reach the highest standards, you will have a wide range of career opportunities open to you in veterinary medicine. So undoubtedly veterinary medicine is more challenging than human medicine.

 

Fixed.

 

Still sounds good doesn't it?

 

Us meds don't hold ourselves high and mighty above other medical fields like vet. At least the good ones of us don't. The mission statement of medicine has nothing to do with how hard it is, so your post there really doesn't prove anything. Yes medical students work hard. So do veterinary students. I think the vet students deserve more credit than they get, and med students need to be a lot more humble.

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Becoming a doctor isn’t an easy option, it takes years of study and hard work. If you like helping people there is nothing more rewarding and respected career other than medicine.

Medicine is about helping people, treating illness, providing advice and reassurance, and seeing the effects of both ill health and good health from the patient's point of view.

If you have that passion to improve people’s lives and the determination to reach the highest standards, you will have a wide range of career opportunities open to you in medicine. So undoubtedly medicine is more challenging than veterinary.

 

.>WHAT<

 

LOL, stop talking you have no idea what you are talking about.

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Why we need to compare vets from meds and vice versa. I suppose the two is so important because they care for life more than anyone else, the thing is we people always give importance for meds primarily because they are the ones we consider as life saver. On the other hand, vets are for animals and they are as well life savers for those animals. I would like to give fair credits for the two of them as I don't want to make comparison.

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People just don't understand what being a Vet is all about.

 

People think an MD is more impressive than a DVM, how absolutely ridiculous that is.

 

 

 

There are A LOT less schools for your DVM than there are for your MD so it is MUCH more competitive.

 

On top of that;

 

* Learn about every animal on the planet and pass board exam that covers everyone of them

* 4 years to learn about Horses, Dogs, Cats, Guinea Pigs, Lizards, Birds, Cows, Pigs, Rabbits..

* You have to know Medicine, Pediatrics, Surgery, Pharmacology, Orthopedics, Geriatrics, Oncology, Dentistry, Radiology, Obstetrics and Nutrition, business/grief counselling/etc.

* Read an ear infection in a mouse, neuter a cow, do a C section on a cat ,fix an eagles wing, remove a tennis ball from a golden retriever, treat a lamb with diabetes, diagnose pancreatitis with an ultrasound and do it all with a MUCH smaller budget and A LOT less resources

 

Now any of you "MD IS THE BEST" tell me that being an MD is better than a DVM?? You're full of it. Sorry but I am pursuing this MD because I want to help people..but we consciously choose to put fast food in our bodies, an animal doesn't choose to choke on a plastic bottle or get hit by a car or get beat by its owner..

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