|
|
 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 596
 
| My daughter is in high school and when she graduates she wants to go to Colorado to a 2 yr vet tech school. The question is will she make more money when she finishes and gets degree VS going to work for a vet straight out of school ? She wants to work for equine vet somewhere |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 512
| It depends on the situation, but I have worked for an equine vet and also for a small animal hospital and I made less money than the registered tech's made. We did the exact same thing, and they made more money because they were licensed. If she is certain she wants to be a tech, I highly recommend going to college and getting registered. Now, I did graduate with a B.S. in Animal Science (pre-vet degree) but it doesn't focus on the things needed to work as a tech. Many of my friends also did the 4 year program and graduated with a tech and 4 year degree (which is really nice!) if she ever wants to continue her education. I know many equine facilities and animal hospitals will not even entertain hiring a non-registered tech. Hope my little amount of knowledge helps! |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 596
| Thank you she wanted to also get bachelors in business management some kind of equine I think |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1035
Location: TN | In college I recall hearing that some equine vets (especially some of the better ones) won't hire a vet tech unless he or she is certified. Sounds like a fun career though, good luck to her! |
|
| |
|
 Expert
Posts: 1482
Location: on my horse | Another thing that is changing across the board is many states are starting to require practicing vet techs to be certified/have a degree. I know my state isn't one of them yet but even that is starting to change and like someone else said most clinics won't consider hiring somebody without a degree/certificate when somebody else qualified and holding papers in hand is also applying. |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 307
Location: Florida | I'm not certified and have worked at a vet clinic for a long time! :) I absolutely love it and I tend to get certified when I have the money to do so, even though it's not required in FL :) I would recommend it for sure! Huge help, as it takes a long time to learn under high-pressure through experience what the certification classes could teach rather quickly! Although, as I'm sure you know, some of what she'll need to know will only come through raw experience :) |
|
| |
|
  The Original Cyber Bartender
 
Location: Washington | Smaller clinics will want to teach there own and not pay them well. If she get's her degree she can pick the bigger clinics to apply to. Don't get me wrong street smarts are great, but paper will help her along with her smarts to get into a facility that will pay her for her worth.
Get the degree. |
|
| |
|
Veteran
Posts: 122
| fatchance - 2014-01-10 9:26 PM
Smaller clinics will want to teach there own and not pay them well. If she get's her degree she can pick the bigger clinics to apply to. Don't get me wrong street smarts are great, but paper will help her along with her smarts to get into a facility that will pay her for her worth.
Get the degree.
This exactly....I learned a whole lot just working for a vet but was not getting paid for what I was doing. A girl I knew was getting paid way more at another place cause she had been certified but I knew more than her. And most places nowadays do require schooling. |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 929
| I worked in vet's offices and practices for years, small animal, equine, and an exotic animal specialty practice. While I knew A LOT I wasn't getting paid what the certified techs were. All of us in the exotic hospital eventually wanted to work in the San Diego Zoo's hospital and they will not even READ your resume unless you have a tech license AND BS degree.
In the state of California (at least it used to be this way) even if you are accredited from another state, you MUST sit for the CA state boards before you can add the RVT to your name. Not sure how it is now...stopped caring about vet tech stuff in 2005. LOL |
|
| |
Folks on-line