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Quilcene School District- Class of 2016

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Megan Weller
Mrs. Bettinger
Senior Research Paper
February 12, 2016
The Veterinarian Career:
For my career research paper I chose to write about the career that I hope to pursue,
which is the veterinary profession. The veterinary profession has a diverse field of work and a
busy working environment. To become a veterinarian, it takes a lot of different kinds of training
and requirements for both in college and after. In my research paper I will be explaining the
history of the profession, the requirements needed to graduate from college with a degree in
veterinarian medicine, and the veterinary license and how to obtain it. In addition, I will explain
the different types of specialties and professions inside the veterinary field, the different
employment statistics and wages, and some of my personal experiences with the career. I love
working with both large and small animals, studying science, and the medical profession. It is
for these reasons why I believe that I will truly enjoy working as a veterinarian for my future
career.
Veterinarians are trained just as hard to care for animals as doctors are trained to treat
humans. Although there are some similarities between doctor and veterinarian professions,
working with animals is very different than working with humans. The veterinary field is much
more diverse than that of a doctor, mainly due to the fact that there are so many different types of
animal species and physiologies that are studied in the veterinary curriculum. People have the
ability to tell you how they are feeling, what is hurt, and what they would like to be done to help
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them. Animals do not have any of these abilities. Animals have no direct way of communicating
with their owners or the veterinarians to ask for help. As a veterinarian it is your job to find out
what is wrong with the animal, why they are hurting, and how you can make them better. At the
same time, you have to be able to interact with the pet owners, please them with your services,
and give them the best care and advice to help them care for their animals that you can. The
work places for veterinarians includes working in clinics, on farms, in laboratories, and in zoos.
History
The profession of veterinary medicine is believed to have been practiced since before
1900 B.C. The specialist care for animals is probably as ancient as the domestication of animals.
Ancient Egyptian papyrus offers one of the first written records of veterinary medicine being
performed. Although there are written records from ancient artifacts that show that the advanced
Egyptian civilizations had scientists that performed animal medicine, in the rest of the primeval
world, most professional animal care was left up to the stockmen that cared for animal herds.
Veterinary medicine started becoming an even more important focus when horses became the
main source for transportation and services. When the main purpose for horses was servicing the
cavalry and artillery operations in armies, veterinarians were used to treat the horses so that the
European armies could continue to go into battle. People then began to see the greater potential
for veterinary training (Fisher). The first veterinarian college was founded by Claude Bourgelat
in Lyon, France in 1762. Claude Bourgelat devoted his time looking for a cure to combat the
cattle plague in the French herds. He later opened the veterinary college in 1761 to train students
to help eradicate the cattle plague (Wikipedia). In 1863 along the East Coast of the United
States, the American Veterinary Review was founded and became the dominating voice in the
profession. In 1900 the American Veterinary Review changed its name to the Journal of the
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American Veterinary Medical Association, which became known as the JAVMA. The JAVMA
noted veterinarians and featured their contributions. By 1913 the association had grown to 1,650
members. In 1915, the four women began practicing after they graduated from Veterinary school
in the United States (AVMA). Today there are thirty accredited veterinary colleges and
universities in the United States alone, and over 65,000 veterinarians practicing in the United
States. There is also over three-hundred and seventy veterinary schools worldwide (About
Careers).
College Requirements
To become a veterinarian in this day in age, it requires a lot of time spent studying in
college. Due to competitiveness of the career, there are many different types of work and jobs
inside the field of veterinary medicine. Some choose to be a veterinarian technician, a general
practitioner veterinarian, or a veterinarian with a specific specialty in a certain field of the
profession.
To become a veterinarian technician it requires a two year associates degree in veterinary
technology. This degree equips veterinarian technician students with the skills and knowledge
that are necessary to work as a veterinarian technician. Students often get practical training
during their degree program. After students graduate with their Associates degree in Veterinary
Technology, they are prepared to become veterinary assistants in animal hospitals and other
similar settings. The graduated students are also then ready to enroll into an advanced four year
program to get their bachelors degree in pre-veterinary studies and animal sciences (Study.com).
To become a veterinarian you are required to have a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine
degree (DMV) and a veterinary license to practice in the profession. This typically takes about

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eight years to complete. General practitioner veterinarians take on the responsibilities of being a
surgeon, pharmacist, diagnostician, radiologist, orthopedic surgeon, behaviorist, and dentist.
After high school, to-be vets must have a Bachelors of Science in Animal Science from a four
year university or college before moving on to a veterinary medicine school. Courses taken for
an undergraduate degree usually include anatomy, animal management, equine care, animal
nutrition, chemistry, biology, physiology, zoology, and microbiology. Some students that are
pursuing the veterinarian career also take social sciences, mathematics, and communications to
better their chances of getting in to an accredited veterinary school (Rhonda Campbell).
Statistics have shown that people who have had experience working with animals and who have
been in extracurricular activities that involve studying and being acquainted with animals,
generally have an advantage of being accepted into an accredited veterinary school. The
acceptance rate for being accepted into an accredited veterinary college ranges from 6.8 percent
to 34.9 percent depending on the applicants desired school, making being accepted into a
veterinary school very competitive and tough to do (AAVMC ). Once you are admitted into
veterinary school, you spend the next four years studying for your doctorate degree. Doctorate
programs are generally divided into two-year segments. The first year is mainly focused on
classroom work and studies. During the first half of vet school, students will study subjects such
as: veterinary pharmacology, clinical pathology, animal behavior, animal nutrition, diagnostic
imaging, large and small animal medicine, and anesthesia and surgery principles. For the
remaining two years of vet school, students study and participate in clinical practicums. The
students get clinical and hands-on experience, and complete rotations in different veterinary
specialties. During the clinical practicums students get to learn how to treat wounds, perform
surgeries, set fractures and breaks, and prescribe mediations (Study.com). After all the college

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courses are completed and the students have their diplomas, some of the future veterinarians will
have a spent over $135,000 in college tuition. Some of the top veterinary colleges ranked in
2015 in the United States of America include University of California-Davis, Cornell University,
Colorado State University, North Carolina State University, Ohio State University, University of
Wisconsin-Madison, Texas A&M University, and Washington State University (U.S. News and
World Report Education ).
Veterinarian License
After graduating with both a Bachelors in Animal Science and a DMV in Veterinary
Medicine, the new graduates must obtain their licenses in veterinary medicine. All of the states
in the United States require that veterinarians pass the North American Veterinary Licensing
Exam (NAVLE). This test is used to assess the knowledge of animal species and veterinarian
activities. The test is seven and a half hours long and has 360 questions. Some states have
additional requirements. Some of these requirements include the passage of veterinary law and
basic and clinical sciences examinations, or the BCSE. The BCSE test determines the minimum
level of skills, tasks expected, and knowledge of a veterinarian entering the workforce in Canada
and the United States. The rigorous exam consists of two-hundred and twenty-five questions and
must be completed in a timed two-hundred minute session (AVMA).
Veterinarian Professions and Specialties
Once a veterinarian has earned his or her license, practice can begin right away. Some of
the newly graduated veterinary students choose to start their own businesses or apply for jobs
immediately, while some choose to do internships to gain practical experience if they are
planning to prepare for a veterinary specialty or planning to prepare for a competitive job. In the

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veterinary field there are over forty different kinds of specialties, including internal medicine and
surgery.
If a veterinarian wants to become a specialist in a specific field of veterinarian medicine,
they must become certified in the specialty. A veterinarian specialist is a veterinarian who has
completed additional requirements and training, and has passed an exam that evaluates their
skills and knowledge in their desired specialty area. There are twenty-two American Veterinary
Medical Association acknowledged veterinary specialty organizations, and there are currently
forty-one distinct veterinary specialties. Some of the specialties include oncology, cardiology,
and dentistry (AVMA). Before taking the certification exam for the veterinarians desired
specialty, they must meet the requirements for education and experience for that specialty of
veterinary medicine. After a veterinarian is certified in a specific specialty, they can work as a
specialist in their desired field of veterinary medicine.
Employment Statistics and Wages
The veterinarian career is a very competitive and sought-after profession. Only 62, 470
veterinarians were employed in 2014 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Bureau
Labor of Statistics also states that the employment rate for the veterinarian profession will
increase 12% between the years of 2012 and 2022. The average salary for veterinary technicians
was $30, 500, with the lowest salary being $21,270 and the highest salary being just over
$44,000. The mean hourly wage for a licensed veterinarian is $47.23, and the average annual
wage was $98, 230. The salary of a veterinarians differs depending on which state the
veterinarian practices in. By 2022 it is estimated that there will be 78,700 jobs available for
future veterinarians (United States Department of Labor). The highest average incomes for
specialties included ophthalmology ($199,000), lab animal medicine ($169,000), pathology
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(157,000), surgery ($133,000), internal medicine ($127,000), radiology ($121,000), and

theriogenology ($121,000) (About Careers).
Personal Experiences
Over the years I have been able to watch and assist with the work that many different
veterinarians have performed on my familys animals on our ranch. I have even been able to
help give aid to some of my own animals for both major and minor procedures. I have helped
with animal management, animal husbandry, animal first aid, animal vaccinations, and different
kinds of animal care and grooming.
To gain further knowledge about that veterinarian career, I shadowed a local veterinarian
with a Doctorate in Veterinarian Medicine in Port Townsend, Washington on December 22, 2015.
At the job shadow I had the opportunity to get first had experience of what some of the daily
responsibilities of a veterinarian and a veterinarian technician are really like. I was able to assist
with the some of the basic procedures such as: taking animal vitals, filling out patient and owner
reports, and measuring and filling out prescriptions needed for certain patient treatments. I was
also able to closely observe the veterinarian as he assessed the animals and communicated with
the pet owners.
Conclusion
To become a professional veterinarian, it is a long and tedious process that takes a lot of
hard work and dedication to the career. While doing research for my paper, I learned about the
all classes and requirements needed for college and after, the history of the profession, how to
obtain a license in veterinary medicine, and all the different types of specialties and professions
inside the veterinary field. I was also able to learn more about the different employment and
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wage statistics for the present and future. After all my experiences with the profession and
researching the career in depth, I believe that the veterinarian field is an excellent career choice
and a great future path for me to follow.

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Works Cited
AAVMC . Media Frequently Asked Questions- Facts and Statistics. 2016. 6 January 2016.
About Careers. Veterinary Specialist Salary. 2015. 11 December 2015.
AVMA. ECFVG - Basic and Clinical Sciences Examination Candidate Bulletin. 2015. 9
December 2015.
. History of the AVMA. 2015. Web. 10 December 2015.
. Veterinary Specialists. 2015. 15 December 2015.
Claude Bourgelat. Photo.
Fisher, J. Origins and Early Development of the Veterinary Profession. 2002. 14 December 2015.
Hunter, Pamela. Veterinary Medicine: A Guide to Historical Sources. 2004. Web. December
2015.
Jeffrey Joyner, Demand Media. What Education or Training Do You Need to Become a
Veterinarian? 2015. 9 December 2015.
Rhonda Campbell, Demand Media. What Degrees or Requirements Do You Need for a
Veterinarian? 2015. 3 December 2015.
Rolin, Bernard E. An Introduction to veterinary Medical Ethnics: Theory and Cases. 2006. Web.
December 2015.
Study.com. Veterinarian Education Requirements and Career Info. 2003-2015. 7 December
2015.
. Veterinary Technician Education Requirements and Training Info. 2015. 15 December 2015.
U.S. News and World Report Education . Best Grad Schools-Veterinary Medicine . 2015. 15
December 2015.
United States Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics/ Occupational Employment and
Wages, May 2014. 25 March 2015. 10 December 2015.

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