A poll carried out by The Children's Mutual has found that becoming a veterinary surgeon is one of the most popular career ambitions for 5-7 year olds, second only to becoming a teacher.

The Children's Mutual questioned over a thousand parents about what their children said they wanted to be when they grew up and found that the majority of today's children are looking for a career which requires further training and education. The top careers of doctor, teacher and vet have featured in the 'What I Want To Be' poll for the last three years, demonstrating that children consistently aspire to careers that will need higher education.

However, if you want your children to follow in your footsteps as a vet, you might like to start setting something aside now. According to The Children's mutual, it currently costs £74,700 to train to become a doctor and £75,100 to become a vet but these are set to increase by around £41,000 based on current projection levels over the next 18 years. 

The top 10 career ambitions in 2010 (2009 in brackets) were:

  1. Teacher (1)
  2. Vet (2)
  3. Footballer (4)
  4. Doctor (3)
  5. Fireman/woman (5)
  6. Policeman/woman (7)
  7. Pop Star (New entry)
  8. Nurse (New entry)
  9. Archaeologist/scientist (New entry)
  10. Dancer (New entry)    

Tony Anderson, Marketing Director of The Children's Mutual, said: "The children questioned for our research are lucky enough to have a Child Trust Fund account and with half of accounts opened with us receiving additional savings on a monthly basis, we hope these children face brighter financial futures.  The question going forward is how parents will fill the savings black hole for children born from January 2011 if the Child Trust Fund is scrapped." 

PS: Whilst you're here, take a moment to see our latest job opportunities for vets.