Check out this cute little weekend story from CNN, “15 jobs that pay $70,000 per year”: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/08/27/cb.jobs.that.pay.70k/index.html
High salaries have a nasty stigma attached them. One that reeks of years of school, advanced qualifications, extensive training and many years of experience, which some people just don’t have.
While these are in fact requirements of some high-figure salaries, they aren’t a prerequisite for all of them.
What many workers don’t know is that there are numerous jobs that pay well above the average full-time worker’s salary of $33,634* — that don’t require a Ph.D. or at least 10 years experience.
Wow, I was intrigued. Tell me more! Let’s see what careers are on the list…
Radiation therapist, Nuclear power reactor operator, Management analyst, Industrial-organizational psychologist, Environmental engineer, First-line supervisor/manager of police and detectives, Computer systems analyst, Advertising and promotions manager, Administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officer, Administrative services manager, Education administrator, post-secondary, Marine engineers and naval architect, Physician assistant, Agricultural sciences teacher, post-secondary, and Veterinarian
Wait, hold up. VETERINARIAN? On a list of jobs that doesn’t “reek of years of school, advanced qualifications, extensive training and many years of experience.” Are you kidding me?! I was aghast when I saw my career on a list of relatively “easy to get jobs.”
To the author’s minimal credit, she does say:
That’s not to say that the following positions are easy to come by — like any position, no matter what the salary, you do have some qualifications to score the job. (emphasis mine)
You’re right, we do have to have some minimal credentials. Like earning a DVM, which stands for DOCTORATE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. That’s right, it’s a medical degree. And it takes 4 years after regular college, just like your family physician. Oh, and you have to pass a separate licensing exam to even practice, and keep it up to date. Just like a “real” doctor.
To get into vet school you have to attend at least three years of an undergraduate study and take more required courses than a pre-medical student. You have to keep your grades up, get great test scores, and have over a thousand hours of hands-on animal experience.
If a veterinarian does not continue on to advanced study in a residency or internship (which is becoming increasingly common), it generally takes 8 years (rarely does a student get accepted before earning a bachelor’s degree).
This is just the latest example of how veterinarians are viewed. To the public at large, we are not professionals but pill poppers who couldn’t get into med school (News-flash: it’s usually tougher to get into vet school than med school). We have as much training as doctors and dentists and more than lawyers and many PhD holders. Would it even cross anyone’s mind to have included dentists on a list like this? Of course not. So why should a profession whose practitioners spent as many years training and had to learn more information (think its fun to learn the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of at least 6 different species?) be treated like second class citizens?
And to add insult to injury, our salaries aren’t even as high as the article insinuates ($79,368)! The university studies I’ve seen put the current average salaries for the profession more around $65,000, and starting salaries for small animal associates are around $50,000 in many parts of the country. Even if you ballpark the wrong figure of $80,000, keep in mind the average indebtedness of vet students is over $110,000 and many break $250,000.
On average, most veterinarians work more than 40 hours a week, including large animal vets who often work over 65 hours per week. So if you compare our salaries to someone with a 40 hour work week (as this article attempts to do), the salary actually drops even more!
I may seem bitter, but don’t let that fool you. I am glad to be a vet student and enjoy my line of work. I didn’t get in it for the money, I wanted a satisfying career. I just wish ignorant articles like this didn’t slap hard-working vets in the face by insinuating our profession is a great paying, easy to achieve career that only requires a few years experience.
