Career choice

I was reading an online forum where high schoolers with a pre-health focus go to ask questions. One of the threads was asking members what kind of doctor they want to be and why. It was amusing to read their responses (and I mean that in the least condescending way possible) because of where I once was and where I am now. There's a long and boring story about my path to veterinary medicine, but it wasn't unlike those high schoolers in the forum. I had it all planned out. I guess what strikes me, here today, is that even within my career path of choice, I've changed my mind about as many times as you can. I wanted to do equine, I wanted to do large animal, I considered zoo and wildlife. Lab animal was sort of this unexplored area that I didn't think I'd like. In fact, I bristled inwardly when people told me that I'd change my mind.

But I did. Guess where I'm pointed? That's right! Lab animal.

Lab animal vets, and vets who work in public health and research and that sort of thing, aren't your typical vets. It's almost like they have their own little sub-field away from the others because they aren't exactly practicing vets in the way that the public thinks of a vet. And while every type of veterinarian is needed in his or her own way, I feel like lab animal medicine is really the place for me. I don't want the "traditional" experience of treating patients and working with clients. I want to be on the edge of things, learning and helping people to learn through animals. I want to teach, too, when I've learned enough to pass on. And it's just so funny to sit here and reflect back on who I was and what I was thinking when I was the age of those forum-goers. And I'm sure, in four years when I'm finishing my DVM I'll reflect back and probably smile too. I just don't know what I'll be smiling at, just yet.