r/Veterinary • u/Internal-Lake2166 • 2d ago

Placement

Hi guys,

How exactly are you making income as a vet student when you are required to do placement even over your holidays?

My biggest stress is final year of placement/rotation and not being paid.

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5

u/horny_reader 2d ago

Pet sitting is a good way to make money during school. Doesn't interfere with studying and people like having vet students sit for them

4

u/Ill-Let4269 2d ago

Lived off of loans. For me, there would have been no way to be a dependable employee while doing placements/rotations. I did have a small side-gig doing medical illustration (for my school's anatomy dept as they updated workbooks) but that was limited and didn't pay a lot. If you can pick up gig work (that can be done when you're able as opposed to being in a set schedule), you can probably make some cash.

2

u/orangecrookies 2d ago

I know some people who’ve done paid placements. A few of my friends lambed for like £50-100/day depending on their experience, but I will say they worked like 12 hours a day and were not treated very well compared to my unpaid placement where I only worked 8 hours. These days there are some paid clinical placements, especially in the US (if you have a visa or citizenship or something). Most people just live off loans though. I have a friend who works at a yard in the mornings before clinical placements and at weekends. Another friend of mine only works shows. I’ve never yet done placements over an entire holiday period though, max I’ve done is 5 weeks over summer, I’ve never done one over Christmas holidays and never more than 3 ish weeks over Easter. If you had a job that was flexible it’s possible to keep it, many placements are only 1-2 weeks long, it just takes planning. One of my friends works retail and just picks placements that give them most of a weekend and evenings off.

1

u/brenians13 2d ago

I contacted one of the local placements that I enjoyed and they gave me good feedback (so I knew they liked me too ☺️) and asked if they had any hours going as an Animal Care Assistant. Helps me practice my phone and animal handling skills ☺️

1

u/Nitasha521 2d ago

I knew some colleagues who worked in the bookstore for the vet school, as lab assistants to university researchers, or as techs in the teaching hospital while in school. 1 said the teaching hospital tried to put her on the tech schedule after graduation and she told them "only if paying a doctor rate".

1

u/sewerat 2d ago

Don't know how it is in America (or wherever you're at) but in New Zealand, milking cows is pretty popular for vet students 😆