Starting Salaries and Educational Debt of Veterinary Students Graduating in 2011
Posted on December 19, 2011
An article was recently published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) on employment, starting salaries, and amount of debt incurred for first year veterinary school graduates in 2011. The study was conducted using information received from all fourth year veterinary students in US veterinary schools polled in an annual survey given by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). The web-based survey was distributed to 2,618 fourth year veterinary students and it was returned by 2,483 (94.8%) of them.
Of the respondents, 60.7% were seeking employment in private practice, 35.2% were pursuing continuing advanced veterinary education, 3.8% were looking for corporate or public practice employment, and 0.3% specified having other plans. There was a drop in the percentage of students who had been offered positions in either veterinary practice or advanced education from 79.5% in 2009 and 78.9% in 2010 to 74.3% in 2011.
Of the respondents who accepted employment offers, 45.3% accepted an internship position, 3.8% accepted a residency, and 2.9% accepted an offer to other education programs (PhD, MPH, MS, etc.). The main reasons for applying for an internship were: in preparation for a residency, to practice higher quality medicine, and because students felt that they needed more training before entering practice. Of the respondents who said they were interested in board certification in an AVMA recognized specialty, 26.8% reported interest in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 19.5% in the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, 13% in the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, and 12.5% in the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners.
Students who had accepted a job offer were asked what type of compensation package they were expecting to receive. Seventy-two percent expected a straight base salary, 22.1% indicated a base salary with production bonus, and 1.0% indicated they expected a salary based purely on production.
Overall mean starting salaries excluding advanced education salaries decreased by 1.3% from $67,359 in 2010 to $66,469 in 2011. Mean starting salaries for advanced education positions decreased by a similar percentage. See Table 1 for a summary of starting salaries.
Table 1
| Employment Type | % Accepting Positions (at time of survey) |
Mean Starting Salary ($) |
|---|---|---|
| Food Animal Exclusive | 1.9 | 71,096 |
| Food Animal Predominant | 2.0 | 67,338 |
| Mixed Animal | 9.4 | 62,655 |
| Companion Animal Exclusive | 23.9 | 69,789 |
| Companion Animal Predominant | 5.1 | 69,654 |
| Equine | 2.5 | 43,405 |
| Advanced Education | 52 | 29,116 |
*Table information adapted from Shepherd, A. and Pikel, L., Employment Starting Salaries and Educational Indebtedness of Year-2011 Graduates of US Veterinary Medical Colleges, JAVMA, Vol 239, No. 7, October 1, 2011.
Students were asked to report the amount they expected to be in debt upon graduating from veterinary school; 89.6% reported having some expected debt. The mean debt increased by 6.5% from $133,873 in 2010 to $142,613 in 2011.
For the full article and more detailed statistics, see Shepherd, A. and Pikel, L., Employment Starting Salaries and Educational Indebtedness of Year-2011 Graduates of US Veterinary Medical Colleges, Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association, Vol 239, No. 7, October 1, 2011.
