Everyone says physician compensation is going down…. but medscape shows 29% increase since 2015?

[voxveritatisetlucis]

I would also keep in mind that forums like white coat investor attract a certain type of person who is likely already dissatisfied with his or her financial situation

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[VA Hopeful Dr]

I would also keep in mind that forums like white coat investor attract a certain type of person who is likely already dissatisfied with his or her financial situation

There's definitely truth in that. I stopped reading when I started feeling guilty about not owning multiple rental properties and having over 1 million in assets by age 38.

 

[rulerkk]

You will find in that thread, if you’re curious enough to read through it, that the OP was a naysayer about physician compensation. But the variety of physicians on the thread discuss how everyone praising these alternative career paths are too optimistic of the “greener grass” on the other side.

The average physicians make over $300k. The average engineers, techs, finance types make much less. The best compensated physicians and the best compensated other careers make comparable amounts of money to the extent that they can build lots of wealth, in the 10s or 100s of thousands per year.

Either way, to be in that kind of position requires extraordinary effort in the career path over decades after college and extreme diligence to use a large portion of your disposable income for savings.

 

[ChordaEpiphany]

Wisconsin in the particular type of chemistry he does is #6 in the US.

Everyone is #1 in the universe if you get specific enough. It doesn't make Wisconsin grads any more sought after by pharma, consulting, VC, etc... Simply not a top program in a disconnected city, and for that reason it's not that competitive compared to medicine. Their website's admissions page basically confirms that.

Two things get PhDs top jobs. 1) A killer skillset in a hot area with heavy investment and few experts. 2) A program connected to top companies and firms who think that program is full of really smart, capable people. There's a reason places like UCSD and BU are massively more competitive for a BME PhD than you'd think based on the overall prestige of those universities. They are in the epicenters of their industry and students leave with great jobs and connections. The competitiveness/reputation of programs reflects this far more than explicit rankings, especially when you get as granular as a "particular type of chemistry."

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Everyone is #1 in the universe if you get specific enough. It doesn't make Wisconsin grads any more sought after by pharma, consulting, VC, etc... Simply not a top program in a disconnected city, and for that reason it's not that competitive compared to medicine. Their website's admissions page basically confirms that.

Two things get PhDs top jobs. 1) A killer skillset in a hot area with heavy investment and few experts. 2) A program connected to top companies and firms who think that program is full of really smart, capable people. There's a reason places like UCSD and BU are massively more competitive for a BME PhD than you'd think based on the overall prestige of those universities. They are in the epicenters of their industry and students leave with great jobs and connections. The competitiveness/reputation of programs reflects this far more than explicit rankings, especially when you get as granular as a "particular type of chemistry."

If you say so.

Let's make it really simple: would you trade places with even an above-average PhD student?

I absolutely would not and I'm a family doctor (ie. on the poorer end of the physician spectrum).

 

[operaman]

A bit off topic but relevant to the subsequent discussion:

I’d be wary of apples to apples comparison of various other STEM graduate programs entry metrics to medical school. With engineering in particular, those students are coming with engineering UG and those tend to be tougher than pre med coursework and their GPAs tend to be lower. We see posters in the pre med and non trad forums frequently post about the challenges of admission to med school from an engineering UG simply because GPAs tend to be a bit lower.

I remain rather skeptical that average Med students with higher GPAs in a relatively cushy pre med track could easily do other rigorous programs.

And I’m at the higher end of the physician pay spectrum and I definitely wouldn’t trade places with an above average PhD student.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

A bit off topic but relevant to the subsequent discussion:

I’d be wary of apples to apples comparison of various other STEM graduate programs entry metrics to medical school. With engineering in particular, those students are coming with engineering UG and those tend to be tougher than pre med coursework and their GPAs tend to be lower. We see posters in the pre med and non trad forums frequently post about the challenges of admission to med school from an engineering UG simply because GPAs tend to be a bit lower.

I remain rather skeptical that average Med students with higher GPAs in a relatively cushy pre med track could easily do other rigorous programs.

And I’m at the higher end of the physician pay spectrum and I definitely wouldn’t trade places with an above average PhD student.

Yeah this subject comes up with irritating frequency and it always boils down to a few basic points:

Yes, some PhDs can out earn some (most?) physicians. The majority do not. Same applies to <insert field here>.

No, just because med school is very hard to get into and you have to excel in certain things doesn't mean you would be a top-tier <insert job title here> as the skillsets are often not interchangeable.

Medicine is pretty much a guaranteed job earning over 200k/year right out of residency, usually much much more especially after 5 years working.

There is as a rule very good job security in medicine that exists in almost no other fields.

 

[gyngyn]

Closing per OP request.