Crna vs Doctor help!!!!!!!

[AlphaVaz]

Hello I am a 16 year old highschool student
I'm stuck I know crna s make good money tbh that's really what I'm after but i know doctors make way more.But they also sacrifice the prime years of there life and dont have fun .I want something that easy (not literaly) but something that wont take as much stress ,time ,worrying like med school.
Who is a Crna can if you are please tell me is your lifestyle good ? Do you recommend becoming a crna ?
What do you make a year ? What do you do ? And doctors same questions but one more , are you mad someone with less schooling loans and stressing is making almost the same like you (anthesilogist ) ?
Thanks for taking a look at this .

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[Stagg737]

Hello I am a 16 year old highschool student
I'm stuck I know crna s make good money tbh that's really what I'm after but i know doctors make way more.But they also sacrifice the prime years of there life and dont have fun .I want something that easy (not literaly) but something that wont take as much stress ,time ,worrying like med school.
Who is a Crna can if you are please tell me is your lifestyle good ? Do you recommend becoming a crna ?
What do you make a year ? What do you do ? And doctors same questions but one more , are you mad someone with less schooling loans and stressing is making almost the same like you (anthesilogist ) ?
Thanks for taking a look at this .

I'll start by saying if you're in it for the money then you should not become a physician. Seeing your description, the amount of work and sacrifice required won't be worth it for you. Maybe that will change 6 years from now, but with the attitude you're conveying, med school would likely eat you alive. I'll also say that I actually enjoy med school, but my idea of 'fun' is not going out and getting wasted 2-3 times a week, so there's that.

My lifestyle as a med student is fine, but it's very busy. Many physicians work 50-60 hours per week, maybe more. They also get paid well for it. Average physician depends completely on the number of hours they work, the kind of payment model they use, and the specialty they are in. Averages can range anywhere from 200k-500k/year. Maybe higher in some subspecialties. In general, there is no medical professional (other than dentists) that will make the same amount as the average doctor for equal work.

CRNAs can make very good money, but it won't be as much as the physicians, and ultimately they will be working under or for the physicians. So being able to be in control and having more knowledge makes up for that in most physician's eyes. I don't think most physicians would be upset about CRNAs making good money, but that won't make physicians mad. What will make us mad is when a mid-level like a nurse or PA acts like they have more knowledge than a doc and try to make decisions on their own that they shouldn't be making. It's both insulting to the work the physician has put in and dangerous for the patients they are treating.

Last thing I'll say is that you've got a long road ahead of you for either career path. Focus on what's important now, which is doing well enough in high school to get into a good college and enjoying your free time now. It's good to think about the future, but if you don't take care of the 'right now' then you won't have the same future to look forward to.

 

[ComputerGuy365]

Hello I am a 16 year old highschool student
I'm stuck I know crna s make good money tbh that's really what I'm after but i know doctors make way more.But they also sacrifice the prime years of there life and dont have fun .I want something that easy (not literaly) but something that wont take as much stress ,time ,worrying like med school.
Who is a Crna can if you are please tell me is your lifestyle good ? Do you recommend becoming a crna ?
What do you make a year ? What do you do ? And doctors same questions but one more , are you mad someone with less schooling loans and stressing is making almost the same like you (anthesilogist ) ?
Thanks for taking a look at this .

This may come off as harsh, but please fix your grammar and spelling. It makes it hard to read. You can never go into medicine for the money. It's too long and hard for that. If you want money, go to wall street.

 

[AlphaVaz]

This may come off as harsh, but please fix your grammar and spelling. It makes it hard to read. You can never go into medicine for the money. It's too long and hard for that. If you want money, go to wall street.

Wow sorry did not think this was school

 

[Baller MD]

This may come off as harsh, but please fix your grammar and spelling. It makes it hard to read. You can never go into medicine for the money. It's too long and hard for that. If you want money, go to wall street.

Wall Street is much harder than Med school..

 

[JustintheDoctor]

This may come off as harsh, but please fix your grammar and spelling. It makes it hard to read. You can never go into medicine for the money. It's too long and hard for that. If you want money, go to wall street.

tell that to the people who end up doing Plastics in PP in like hollywood or something. Trust me, they are there for the money.

 

[ComputerGuy365]

Wall Street is much harder than Med school..

They're both difficult in different ways, you can't compare the two. Even if it was, why does that matter?

tell that to the people who end up doing Plastics in PP in like hollywood or something. Trust me, they are there for the money.

For something so long and difficult, you have to have a true commitment. If you want money, go to business school. You can't solely be interested in medicine for the money. Doctors do not even make that much compared to other jobs.

 

[Xenith]

I think you are too young! At sixteen I knew I wanted to be a doctor, but couldn't articulate why. Maturity and experience will help you answer. Explore both professions through college because both are clinically related.

 

[JustintheDoctor]

They're both difficult in different ways, you can't compare the two. Even if it was, why does that matter?



For something so long and difficult, you have to have a true commitment. If you want money, go to business school. You can't solely be interested in medicine for the money. Doctors do not even make that much compared to other jobs.

thats true for most specialties, but MAJORITY of people who go into plastics do it for the money. Bo0b jobz 4 day$

 

[md-2020]

thats true for most specialties, but MAJORITY of people who go into plastics do it for the money. Bo0b jobz 4 day$

Unrealistic and inaccurate portrayal of plastics.


Cosmetics is impossibly hard to get into and even then you will probably not be doing that 100% of the time or even anywhere close to that.

Go look in the plastics forum if proof is required, or ask any practicing PRS doc.

If you want money, go to business school....Doctors do not even make that much compared to other jobs.

Seriously...c'mon.


People here on SDN keep referring to IB, finance, business etc as some sort of automatic, unending gravy train for the unethical and greedy, when in fact...it's just as difficult to do well/earn $$ as medicine.

 

[JustintheDoctor]

Unrealistic and inaccurate portrayal of plastics.


Cosmetics is impossibly hard to get into and even then you will probably not be doing that 100% of the time or even anywhere close to that.

Go look in the plastics forum if proof is required, or ask any practicing PRS doc.


Seriously...c'mon.


People here on SDN keep referring to IB, finance, business etc as some sort of automatic, unending gravy train for the unethical and greedy, when in fact...it's just as difficult to do well/earn $$ as medicine.

what did you mean by that? If they go into PP the chances are they will be doing tummy tucks and other surgeries similar for the rest of their career. I'm not talking about one that works with hospitals etc

 

[md-2020]

what did you mean by that? If they go into PP the chances are they will be doing tummy tucks and other surgeries similar for the rest of their career. I'm not talking about one that works with hospitals etc

You will not have enough patients to support the media-supported vision of catering to rich housewives that pay upfront in cash. In the big markets (NYC, LA), there is already an oversaturation of such practices, and established docs often have to become affiliated w/ a hospital and take call etc. The vast majority of PRS docs don't even do cosmetics, and the ones that do have to supplement their workload with other procedures (burns, trauma, etc), which actually pay quite poorly. In addition, cosmetic surgeons have to compete with other surgically trained docs and even IM/FM/dentists who open up boob job/nosejob etc clinics.

I again urge you to visit the plastics subforum for better insight.

 

[JustintheDoctor]

You will not have enough patients to support the media-supported vision of catering to rich housewives that pay upfront in cash. In the big markets (NYC, LA), there is already an oversaturation of such practices, and established docs often have to become affiliated w/ a hospital and take call etc. The vast majority of PRS docs don't even do cosmetics, and the ones that do have to supplement their workload with other procedures (burns, trauma, etc), which actually pay quite poorly. In addition, cosmetic surgeons have to compete with other surgically trained docs and even IM/FM/dentists who open up boob job/nosejob etc clinics.

I again urge you to visit the plastics subforum for better insight.

eh, I'm fine with your source of information(I can honestly care less). Thanks for clearing it up though!

 

[md-2020]

eh, I'm fine with your source of information(I can honestly care less). Thanks for clearing it up though!

Yep.

At the moment (read: will probably change a bit when we go into the match), high compensation/glamorous lifestyle is still far and away seen in Derm. Pure $$$ look at Ortho-spine.

 

[Baller MD]

They're both difficult in different ways, you can't compare the two. Even if it was, why does that matter?.

I'm in a U.S. Allopathic school and about to graduate. Med schools is easy. You just pass a few tests and get your MD. So I'm calling out your bs and saying you don't know WTF you're talking about. There's hundreds of thousands of doctors out there who have gone through it and there's much less wallstreet people out there. Get into med school first kid before you start thumping about how med school is hard or harder than something else.

 

[JustintheDoctor]

I'm in a U.S. Allopathic school and about to graduate. Med schools is easy. You just pass a few tests and get your MD. So I'm calling out your bs and saying you don't know WTF you're talking about. There's hundreds of thousands of doctors out there who have gone through it and there's much less wallstreet people out there. Get into med school first kid before you start thumping about how med school is hard or harder than something else.

Pretty sure he's either a sophomore or junior based on his past threads.. In highschool

 

[Baller MD]

Pretty sure he's either a sophomore or junior based on his past threads.. In highschool

I know he's in high school.

 

[NoTownPreMed]

I hear a lot of these high school kids nowadays aspiring to become CRNAS or Doc's without knowing the slightest clue about the profession aside from the "X" dollar amount they make. Chances are, they've probably heard about the profession because they googled "Highest paying profession" the night before career day or their parents fed them with a lot of baloney about how glorified the profession is.

 

[WholeLottaGame7]

I'm going to be the voice of dissent here and say that you can go into medicine for the money. None of the medical students or pre-meds on this thread would actually go into medicine if they got paid $30K/year at the end of it. If you can make it through the process (which is admittedly not easy), medicine is a fairly good way to make a good (not great) salary with pretty good job security compared to other comparable high-paying jobs.

I'm not going to delve into a whole lot of details about CRNA vs MD because you can search the Anesthesia forum for all the information you want. But in short, CRNAs are nurses who then complete at least a year of employment in an ICU followed by about 3 years of nurse anesthesia training. They typically work under the supervision of an anesthesiologist, though can operate independently in some areas of the country. Anesthesiologists are MDs who complete a four year anesthesia residency (+/- a year of fellowship). The educational requirements, pay, and hours worked are all somewhat higher for the MD route.

OP, you are way too far away to be worrying about these differences, though. You still need to do well in high school, get into a decent college, do well there, get into medical school, and then see if you're even interested in anesthesia. I can promise you that there's nothing you have done or seen in high school that will help you make that decision right now.

 

[sonofva]

If you don't think that 250k is a great salary you need to reevaluate your life priorities

 

[WholeLottaGame7]

If you don't think that 250k is a great salary you need to reevaluate your life priorities

Depends on how you define great. What is a greater gig, $250K/yr with 60-80hr work weeks and over $250K in debt, or $100k/yr working 3 12-hr shifts a week with little to no debt?

 

[WholeLottaGame7]

Don't get me wrong, $250K is a lot of money. Trust me, my parents were a teacher and a nurse, I know. We're fortunate as doctors to be making a comfortable salary like that. But many of my friends were making close to or over $100K right out of college in fields like engineering, IT/data analysis, and consulting, and I'm just trying to argue that those salaries are just as "great" as a physician's.

Part of it is perspective, no doubt. In medical school, I took out about $25k/yr in loans, and about $16K of that was tuition, etc. So less than $10k/yr on food/rent/transportation expenses.

When that world is all you know, it's hard to imagine how $250K/yr isn't great. But sometime soon, life happens. Wife, new cars (both ours were over 12 years old), a house, 20 different types of insurance (health, life, car, disability, house, umbrella, etc), the loan payments, retirement accounts, etc.

 

[JustintheDoctor]

Depends on how you define great. What is a greater gig, $250K/yr with 60-80hr work weeks and over $250K in debt, or $100k/yr working 3 12-hr shifts a week with little to no debt?

I'll take it! And especially, mostly anything associated with nursing gets a ton of overtime if you work in a hospital. I know nurses that top 120k a year working overtime, CRNA's get paid 150k for example PLUS you can include the ton of overtime they will most likely get so they can get in the $200k~ range before taxes.

 

[md-2020]

I'll take it! And especially, mostly anything associated with nursing gets a ton of overtime if you work in a hospital. I know nurses that top 120k a year working overtime, CRNA's get paid 150k for example PLUS you can include the ton of overtime they will most likely get so they can get in the $200k~ range before taxes.

There are a lot of nurses that would take serious issue with the numbers being posted here.

 

[JustintheDoctor]

There are a lot of nurses that would take serious issue with the numbers being posted here.

That literally makes zero sense. You can go look it up on google, and there are plenty of posts like mine. Go look around the RN/PA/NP forum.
Unless my sarcasm detector wasn't accurate and you're trolling me?

 

[md-2020]

That literally makes zero sense. You can go look it up on google, and there are plenty of posts like mine. Go look around the RN/PA/NP forum

I dont really care enough to research this, as I am certainly going to become a physician for many reasons. Common sense and being around a hospital just tells me that it is anything but normal for nurses to pull in 200k+.

So you're going the NP/CRNA route instead of med now?

 

[JustintheDoctor]

I dont really care enough to research this, as I am certainly going to become a physician for many reasons. Common sense and being around a hospital just tells me that it is anything but normal for nurses to pull in 200k+.

So you're going the NP/CRNA route instead of med now?

Do you mean, me personally(as in my studies)?

 

[md-2020]

Do you mean, me personally(as in my studies)?

Yes. You said "I'll take it" to working 36 hrs/wk making 100k.

I googled NP average salary and it is 97k. More than double the mean is most likely exceedingly rare.

 

[JustintheDoctor]

Yes. You said "I'll take it" to working 36 hrs/wk making 100k.

I googled NP average salary and it is 97k. More than double the mean is most likely exceedingly rare.

well I mean it also depends on the type of NP, I wouldn't be a standard NP if I were to go that route, but my "story" is weird and long. Technically i'm on the route for nursing school at my college and it is already to late to change it(this semester)

 

[sonofva]

Don't get me wrong, $250K is a lot of money. Trust me, my parents were a teacher and a nurse, I know. We're fortunate as doctors to be making a comfortable salary like that. But many of my friends were making close to or over $100K right out of college in fields like engineering, IT/data analysis, and consulting, and I'm just trying to argue that those salaries are just as "great" as a physician's.

Part of it is perspective, no doubt. In medical school, I took out about $25k/yr in loans, and about $16K of that was tuition, etc. So less than $10k/yr on food/rent/transportation expenses.

When that world is all you know, it's hard to imagine how $250K/yr isn't great. But sometime soon, life happens. Wife, new cars (both ours were over 12 years old), a house, 20 different types of insurance (health, life, car, disability, house, umbrella, etc), the loan payments, retirement accounts, etc.

The problem med students/residents/early physicians have is skewed expectations and poor financial management. They all look around and see that all their non doctor friends making bank early and think "why not me." Well reality check there, boss, it's not you. Realistically most physicians shouldn't plan to start making "real" money and be debt free until late 30s early 40s.

Big everyone wants the Benz and the big house right out of residency.

 

[WholeLottaGame7]

The problem med students/residents/early physicians have is skewed expectations and poor financial management. They all look around and see that all their non doctor friends making bank early and think "why not me." Well reality check there, boss, it's not you. Realistically most physicians shouldn't plan to start making "real" money and be debt free until late 30s early 40s.

Big everyone wants the Benz and the big house right out of residency.

I'm not disagreeing with you. But if you want to call it a "great" salary, which is fine, then my point was that there are a lot of other ways to make a "great" salary, which makes me wonder if "great" is the best word for it.

 

[Fajardo04]

Hello I am a 16 year old highschool student
I'm stuck I know crna s make good money tbh that's really what I'm after but i know doctors make way more.But they also sacrifice the prime years of there life and dont have fun .I want something that easy (not literaly) but something that wont take as much stress ,time ,worrying like med school.
Who is a Crna can if you are please tell me is your lifestyle good ? Do you recommend becoming a crna ?
What do you make a year ? What do you do ? And doctors same questions but one more , are you mad someone with less schooling loans and stressing is making almost the same like you (anthesilogist ) ?
Thanks for taking a look at this .

The first thing I would say is that at age 16, it's great you even know that there is a difference between CRNAs and MDs. But it is definitely way too early to decide what you want to do at this point. You will get a better feel for it as you move through college and gain more experience. Keep in mind a couple things - 1) it is much easier to become a nurse and then a CRNA than it is to become a doctor, and 2) if you choose to become a nurse do not ever believe you will have the same qualifications/knowledge/skill/experiences that a doctor does. They are fundamentally different training models. Many midlevel nurses and CRNAs unfortunately believe they have these traits, but there are absolutely no shortcuts to becoming a doctor. It's a long and difficult process for a reason.

That being said, I still had a lot of fun during med school and residency. You spend a lot of time at the hospital, but there's still time to relax and do stuff you want to do. I don't regret the decision to become a doctor at all, and I'm not mad or jealous that CRNAs make good money since I had that option as well. To clarify though, anesthesiologists make on average about double what CRNAs make or more. No doubt about it, you will make more money in the long run as a physician, but you will also have bigger debts to pay off out of residency.

Other options to consider are anesthesia assistant, nurse practitioner, physician assistant. Hope this helps.

 

[Strudel19]

Studying during your 20's isn't a sacrifice. Biggest misconception ever.

 

[ndafife]

Studying during your 20's isn't a sacrifice. Biggest misconception ever.

As I sit in my medical school's library at 8:45 on a Sunday studying (after only 2 weeks of a block) receiving snapchats from my friends (who are now in the work force making ~100k a year in the software industry) at the beach, I couldn't disagree more

 

[md-2020]

As I sit in my medical school's library at 8:45 on a Sunday studying (after only 2 weeks of a block) receiving snapchats from my friends (who are now in the work force making ~100k a year in the software industry) at the beach, I couldn't disagree more

You have the future potential to make much more, and we all know it.


It's a sacrifice but there are definitely great benefits as well...

 

[Baller MD]

nvm

 

[ndafife]

You have the future potential to make much more, and we all know it.


It's a sacrifice but there are definitely great benefits as well...

Obviously. I'm not disagreeing with the medical path (I took it). But the notion that it is not a sacrifice is absurd.