I made the wrong career choice so now what do I do?

If you drop the program you need to be able to offer your parents and others a plausible alternative, and I respectfully suggest that studying yet another degree is not that alternative, especially one so vague and no doubt expensive as "project management" - unless you're doing it part-time whilst working full time and paying for it yourself. A course like that will offer very little incentive for people to hire you, I don't know how old you are, but if it's early to mid twenties, a working history will be far more valuable to you than another piece of paper that 30 000 people graduate with every year. More broadly, and with absolutely no offense intended, I'm picking up a slightly immature vibe to your attitude about careers and working from this question. Whilst you have every right to do a job you enjoy, you seem to be operating on this "Mr Right"/soulmate kinda thinking with regard to jobs. There's "the one" out there for you, and you've got to keep searching to find it. I think this is and will continue to lead to much dissatisfaction for you, and it's also resulting in your hyperbolic enthusiasm when you think you've "found it", which you are now embarrased about. Please be aware that most people do not love their jobs. That's why they get paid; because no one will do it for free. Further, even when people do hate - or love - their jobs, it's their jobs they hate/love, generally not their vocations, per se. I say this all the time to my friends when they are having career crises: In my overwhelming experience it is not a job per se which is good or bad, but your working environment that makes a job. Thus, you can find moderately enjoyable jobs in fields and positions you may not be totally interested in. More broadly, though, you have to work; you can't keep expecting your parents and others to pay for your personal development. This will undoubtedly mean you will do work you don't enjoy or find especially personally rewarding. That's okay, you're not doing it for personal development; you're doing it for money, to pay your bills and to spend and have fun with. Welcome to working life for most of the world. The development angle can come on the side. In summary: finish the damned course so you get a recognised qualification that will get you a job you can work at, and then - either within the job or without - isolate the aspects of working you enjoy and work out a plan that will enable you to do more of them. This journey may take several years, even a decade or more depending on how exclusive what you enjoy is. If you think you would struggle to get a skilled job outside of vet tech with your experience, I would suggest that vet tech will give you many more options than waiting tables/working at a cash register etc, both financially and in terms of career development.

Describing the OP as "slightly immature" is being kind. You're talking about thousands of dollars of *other people's money* and their equally generous goodwill. You need to get a hold of your life before all these people replace their faith in you with utter disgust at how friviously you have treated their contributions. If you want out of the Vet program, have a *written* plan to show your financial backers, detailing how you're going to pay their money back. This is your best shot at keeping your respect in their eyes.

What I’d really love to do is just take some time away from everything and be able to really think about my options and what I’d really like to do, but I don’t have the financial means to do that at this point. Get a job and then you'll have the financial means to spend your weekends and evenings thinking about what you'd really like to do. Sorry if that sounds harsh but it sounds like what you really need is to figure out your level of tolerance for loving your job. I need to like my job. I found this out by working a variety of shitty jobs to support myself. The shitty jobs not only gave me the motivation to pursue my goals it gave me the work history and savings to do what I really wanted to do. If I'd taken time off to think about it I'd still be thinking.

brown hound, I agree with you that, taking OP at her word, she should not complete the program. But right now is when a lot of people in pre-professional programs feel like they chose wrong. OP may not be liking specific things, but without enough experience she just thinks she hates all the medical stuff. It may be too soon to tell. Also, OP's question was how to get buy-in from her backers to drop out. In my experience the only way to do this is to show that, even after she decided she was probably going to drop out, she finished the year and really looked logically at whether it was the right decision. Since tuition has presumably been paid already, I don't see tons of downside to sticking with the program for a few more months and reassessing then.

It's entirely possible that you could get a job related to animal welfare once you had this degree, but not work as a vet tech. Personally, I'd see what else the degree can help you with or if there's a way for those course which you've already taken can be used for a different degree or certificate. I think quitting after 1 year isn't a sound idea--what's the worst than can happen if you finish the program?

I think you need to read I Could Do Anything I Wanted If I Only Knew What It Was by Barb Sher and do all the exercises in it. And stick to the program.

https://www.navta.net/ here. If you really have "have no interest in working with them (animals) in a medical sense", you should drop the program. Especially if it's only a two-year program and you already have a bachelors degree. The medical aspect is everything, and if you don't enjoy that, there's no future for you in veterinary technology. You will not enjoy your job, and you probably won't be that great at it. Before I was introduced to the field of veterinary technology, my parents had sunk $75,000 dollars on my education in a field I could care less about. It was expected after undergrad I would progress all the way up to a PhD, and have prestige and money. When I first told them that I was interested as working as a tech my dad googled "vet tech salary" and straight out asked if I wanted to be a pauper. They'd paid more for my college education that I will probably ever make in a year. They were pissed. I can't really blame them. I'd lived a really expensive lie for four years and given them lip service. I really wish the first semester I realized academia wasn't for me I wish I had spoken up. It would have saved everybody a lot of time, money, and grief. You need to be really honest with the people who have been supporting you. It's gonna suck. They might be mad or disappointed. Explain to them why it isn't going to work for you, and that you are incredibly appreciative of their support, and realize you are very fortunate to have them. And when you do decide where you want your education to take you, thoroughly investigate that field. I worked as a kennel manager and then a vet assistant before I chose a BsVT program. If you’re still interested in helping out animals in a non-medical way and want to earn a post-grad degree or certificate check out http://www.humanesocietyuniversity.org/academics/cas/graduate.aspx

I work in academia with many non-clinically focused LVTs, and also many traditionally clinic-focused or even clinical specialist LVTs. There are many ways to parlay an LVT into other work. You may have to pay your dues in practice for a few years, or in more clinical work at first, but you will have to pay dues in every field, no matter how perfect it seems from the outside. If you enjoy managing and coordinating projects....hooooboy, can I think of ways you could work up to lab manager or research coordinator...or incorporate your design background for curriculum development and teaching basic sciences for veterinary technicians. Or get a job in outreach or extension. There are so many paths, but they don't leap out or necessarily scoop you up as a new grad. You have to put in the time and make them happen.

I disagree that these are immature questions to ask--your dilemma is legit.