Pros and Cons of being a pediatrician vs a veterinarian?

Good Day again Andrea,
You have many great choices ahead of you in your career path! How very exciting., I would think that go with your heart on the decision either you want to help people or you want to help animals. The money if you are investing that much time in college, I would say to you to be a M.D. with whatever specialty doctor that you would choose. The only sad part in working as a Physician is people pass away, so do the animals, so you must look at the big scope and the big picture and know this is a fact of life and what choice that you can deal with. When you are a specialty doctor or doctor not much room for error. With animals we all love them however it may be easier on you emotionally and physically. Many hours are put in for a doctor whereas a vetertarian gets to go home mostly at night and have little call. However, the demands and money are in being a Doctor of Medicine. You will for sure have plenty of jobs. With Veternarian you may find it difficult to find a good location and make a median of about 66 to 80k yearly depending on your lactation. When you are a doctor you have the potential to make much more. People are always going to need medical, so will animals, however people must have care animals sometimes go without the care that they need. So when you choose look at the whole picture of each field, using thought emotion, your G.P.A. and what field will you prosper in the most and what field will you stick with thought the course of your path. This takes many years of schooling. Both of the fields you have chosen take a great investment in college and I thank you for that and your humanitarian efforts. I wish you all the best. You will do fine...

I would like to answer this from a veterinarian's perspective. It is a great question, and I think one that all medical professionals struggle with. I think that the quality of life being a veterinarian or a pediatrician are the same. (contrary to the opinion above, most vets work longer hours and get less vacation than their human doctor counterparts). We also get paid less. However, our liability and malpractice insurance is much less, and we have a lot of professional options in veterinary medicine. For a pediatrician, you will have to do an internship and residency after med school, which is an additional 3-5 years, depending on the specialty. Veterinarians can also do an internship and residency to specialize in radiology, surgery, etc. If you specialize, you will make a LOT more money and be in more demand. There are emotional trade offs with both professions, but in general, veterinarians do not get nearly the respect that their physician counterparts do. If respect for your chosen profession is high on your list, then go to med school. If you are obsessed with animals, then become a vet! It is rewarding!