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- Jul 11, 2010
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What is something that you wished you should have known earlier or done before applying to medical school?
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Shadowing a doctor in a private practice outpatient setting is worthless. Shadowing doctors on medical wards is much more meaningful.
Disagree. I chose an outpatient field and now consider my ward/inpatient experience as worthless. It's all relative
What is something that you wished you should have known earlier or done before applying to medical school?
If you don't absolutely love the idea of medicine, run away. To be happy with medicine in its current state, you better start out being 100% dedicated to give your life to it.
Disagree. I chose an outpatient field and now consider my ward/inpatient experience as worthless. It's all relative
Don't choose medicine for the money. You can make more elsewhere.
If you don't absolutely love the idea of medicine, run away. To be happy with medicine in its current state, you better start out being 100% dedicated to give your life to it.
Professional sports.No you can't.
Obviously you're farther along than I am, and I don't remember what specialty you're in, but I can't help but feel like you don't have to be willing to give your life to a profession. It's not just because I'm not willing to kill myself for a job like so many other med students these days -- it's also because I've met more than a few residents and attendings who clearly have a life outside of what they do inside of a clinic or hospital, some of whom are very candid about the importance of "lifestyle."
No you can't.
No you can't.
That is by no means the norm for engineers. If you're going to compare people earning in the 90th+%ile of their respective professions, compare an anesthesiologist's or surgeon's salary to this guy's, not a primary care doc's. Or take the average salary of an engineer and the average salary of a primary care doc and compare those. That would be a bit more accurate...A simple comparison: My best friend graduated with an engineering degree with a 2.8 gpa. Mine was 3.9+. He started at 75k and is now well over 125k/year at 45 hour weeks. They are offering him over 200k to do international work.
A simple comparison: My best friend graduated with an engineering degree with a 2.8 gpa. Mine was 3.9+. He started at 75k and is now well over 125k/year at 45 hour weeks. They are offering him over 200k to do international work.
He has no graduate school debt compared to an average of 125k of debt for med school. At the end of med school, he had earned 400k. That puts him 525k ahead roughly. I'm doing 5 years of residency/fellowship with a possibility of 6. Residency salary is 50k roughly. My buddy is out-earning the average resident by 75k. If he receives no raises and does no international work, he will be 975k ahead of me before I finish training. This doesn't include added income through his investments or interest from med school loans.
An employed engineer could well be over $1 million ahead of me before I get my first post-training job.
If you choose a primary care type field (50% of docs roughly) and the engineer does international work, the primary care doc will never catch up monetarily.
I still wouldn't trade my experience for his. I love medicine and everything I do. I do have colleagues that don't love medicine, and they are miserable. If the debt wasn't there, I'm sure some of my med school friends would have walked away from residency.
That is by no means the norm for engineers. If you're going to compare people earning in the 90th+%ile of their respective professions, compare an anesthesiologist's or surgeon's salary to this guy's, not a primary care doc's. Or take the average salary of an engineer and the average salary of a primary care doc and compare those. That would be a bit more accurate...
A simple comparison: My best friend graduated with an engineering degree with a 2.8 gpa. Mine was 3.9+. He started at 75k and is now well over 125k/year at 45 hour weeks. They are offering him over 200k to do international work.
He has no graduate school debt compared to an average of 125k of debt for med school. At the end of med school, he had earned 400k. That puts him 525k ahead roughly. I'm doing 5 years of residency/fellowship with a possibility of 6. Residency salary is 50k roughly. My buddy is out-earning the average resident by 75k. If he receives no raises and does no international work, he will be 975k ahead of me before I finish training. This doesn't include added income through his investments or interest from med school loans.
An employed engineer could well be over $1 million ahead of me before I get my first post-training job.
If you choose a primary care type field (50% of docs roughly) and the engineer does international work, the primary care doc will never catch up monetarily.
I still wouldn't trade my experience for his. I love medicine and everything I do. I do have colleagues that don't love medicine, and they are miserable. If the debt wasn't there, I'm sure some of my med school friends would have walked away from residency.
It's easy to say "you can make more money elsewhere" when you mistakenly believe that getting into medical school qualifies you to be in the top 10% of engineering salaries. Most medical students can barely handle calculus, let alone 4 years of engineering even at a 2.9 GPA. Ignoring this, an experienced engineer makes an average of ~$100k/year. $75k is well above the average starting salary.
Engineer from 22-65 years old @ $100k/year = $4.3 million
Physician from 30-65 years old @ $180k/year = $6.3 million - $500k student loans = $5.8 million
With a reasonable PCP salary and an unreasonable engineering salary, you're still ahead by $1.5 million.
Things I wish I'd known before applying:
1) There is absolutely no need to challenge yourself and take the tougher courses in college. GPA TRUMPS ALL in medical school admissions. Sigh.
I disagree. I took a number of difficult, med-school level classes during college and I had a lot easier of a time transitioning between college and med school than many of my classmates (difficult in terms of depth of material, nothing will prepare you for taking multiple classes like this during school). However, I'd recommend taking these classes towards the end of your college career so you'll have a solid foundation. Don't fill your schedule with them but if you don't have the study skills that difficult courses require med school is going to be a rude awakening.
I also recommend taking time off. It wasn't my original plan but now I'm so glad I did. A year or two is nothing in the grand scheme of things but having a job, paying your own bills, and having some free time is priceless. It makes you a more well-rounded person and I feel a little sorry for my classmates that haven't known anything but libraries and books. Not to mention that when I come home from a long day at the hospital I can sit on my nice couch and watch my nice TV that I bought when I had a job instead of the cheap crap I had during college.
Stay away from serious relationships unless you know you'll be able to focus and do well even if the relationship starts going south
Stay away from serious relationships unless you know you'll be able to focus and do well even if the relationship starts going south
Just got out of mine and it is awesome. So much more time and less stress.
It's easy to say "you can make more money elsewhere" when you mistakenly believe that getting into medical school qualifies you to be in the top 10% of engineering salaries. Most medical students can barely handle calculus, let alone 4 years of engineering even at a 2.9 GPA. Ignoring this, an experienced engineer makes an average of ~$100k/year. $75k is well above the average starting salary.
Engineer from 22-65 years old @ $100k/year = $4.3 million
Physician from 30-65 years old @ $180k/year = $6.3 million - $500k student loans = $5.8 million
With a reasonable PCP salary and an unreasonable engineering salary, you're still ahead by $1.5 million.
Just got out of mine and it is awesome. So much more time and less stress.
Haha congrats. I know the feeling. Now you can save up some money too lol
Obviously you're farther along than I am, and I don't remember what specialty you're in, but I can't help but feel like you don't have to be willing to give your life to a profession. It's not just because I'm not willing to kill myself for a job like so many other med students these days -- it's also because I've met more than a few residents and attendings who clearly have a life outside of what they do inside of a clinic or hospital, some of whom are very candid about the importance of "lifestyle."
I wish i will take it more easy and have friends and go out etc. Yes i used the future tense because i know i will be a typical pre-med and not do anything to change until it's too late.
The bank account is definitely benefiting from it.
Wow. I WISH those suckers had started saving money due to our break-ups but that's what I get for dating cheap guys. I sure know how to pick 'em.
My point is if you are in it for money, you can find it quicker elsewhere if you have the drive.
Hahaha that's too funny. I blow way too much money on my gf's. That's what I get for picking the high maintenance types :/ too frustrating. Why can't everyone just be normal? Lol
What is something that you wished you should have known earlier or done before applying to medical school?
Stay away from serious relationships unless you know you'll be able to focus and do well even if the relationship starts going south
More than one? Nice!
At the same time too
What is something that you wished you should have known earlier or done before applying to medical school?
A simple comparison: My best friend graduated with an engineering degree with a 2.8 gpa. Mine was 3.9+. He started at 75k and is now well over 125k/year at 45 hour weeks. They are offering him over 200k to do international work.
He has no graduate school debt compared to an average of 125k of debt for med school. At the end of med school, he had earned 400k. That puts him 525k ahead roughly. I'm doing 5 years of residency/fellowship with a possibility of 6. Residency salary is 50k roughly. My buddy is out-earning the average resident by 75k. If he receives no raises and does no international work, he will be 975k ahead of me before I finish training. This doesn't include added income through his investments or interest from med school loans.
An employed engineer could well be over $1 million ahead of me before I get my first post-training job.
If you choose a primary care type field (50% of docs roughly) and the engineer does international work, the primary care doc will never catch up monetarily.
I still wouldn't trade my experience for his. I love medicine and everything I do. I do have colleagues that don't love medicine, and they are miserable. If the debt wasn't there, I'm sure some of my med school friends would have walked away from residency.
I wish I had known Obama would actually get elected...