A goal for many veterinary students is to open their own practice sometime in the future. As a new graduate, the most powerful deterrent to starting your own practice is the lack of clinical experience and confidence. If you get out on your own too soon, you're likely to find that analyzing illnesses and making diagnoses without proper guidance can be frustrating, unrewarding, and even deadly - and that is no way io build a praciice. A greai deal can be learned by working with an experienced practitioner. Even learning how not to run a practice, is still a valuable lesson. We have all heard the common and true expression, "You learn more during the 'first year in practice than during the four years in vet school". Most students figure that they should work for someone else for a few years to develop their clinical and managerial skills before either buying into a practice or starting their own.