When senior veterinary students say that they want to own a practice one day, do they really know what they are talking about? Most students have no idea what owning a veterinary practice is like. Two credits of a practice management class do not quite make these students MBA material. Are these budding entrepreneurs truly prepared to operate a small business? The decision to buy a practice should not be taken lightly. Owning a practice is a life-changing commitment -- not something to "try out" for a couple of years. Often ignored are the downsides of practice ownership, including: increased responsibility, increased stress, interrupted vacations, and time taken away from a veterinarian's true specialty -- medicine. It should be obvious that ownership is not for everybody. Some veterinarians will simply be much happier as associates. Yet, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is sometimes difficult to resist. Future and recent grads who are set on owning a practice need to evaluate themselves and their lives in order to determine when and if practice ownership is right for them. Can you buy a practice? Should you buy a practice? These are two very different questions, and they both deserve careful thought. What this self-evaluation amounts to is a seemingly endless series of questions. There are no right or wrong answers, per se, just answers that may suggest one career option over another. Do you have what it takes? Ask yourself the following questions, and judge your responses. It should be obvious how responses differ between entrepreneurs and couch potatoes.