Regarding the psych jobs issue, what is your understanding of just what I can make coming out of residency, and what type of income are you going to find in the jobs that pay off student loans?
Someone asked me this question, I'll answer here since I think its relevant to this topic.
Coming out of residency-what you make is going to depend on several factors. Many of these factors are common sense & I'm sure I'll be wasting your time going over them (e.g. hrs you choose to work)
However some factors residents are not aware of...
1)Choosing to work in an extremely underserved area will land you more money. Several of these underserved areas will have the state give you yearly bonuses & the places offering jobs are willing to pay more. If you choose to make a private practice in these areas--your docket of patients will load up quickly--and you will probably have the option of accepting cash only patients because you will be in such high demand.
The difference? Could be $120K vs $225K for the same amount of work--all depending on where you choose to work. Another bonus is the same areas that are underserved often times have a very low cost of living.
The place I'm working at now, I'm making about $140K a year. That however is for only 40 hrs/week of work and no calls. I could do calls for extra money (make about $75/hr for the call work). I'm choosing not to right now mostly because I'd rather study for my boards & get board certified. I'm also living in an area where there is no shortage because there's a good residency program in the area.
2) Post residency training & Liscences. Get Board certified--you can up your pay & get more job oppurtunities. Some places will only take board certified psychiatrists. Get a fellowship, that too can add money. Other types of post residency things you can go for--methadone or suboxone liscencing (get suboxone, it almost makes methadone obselete), ECT certification, clozapine liscencing, among several others.
3) The type of work you choose to do. There's plenty of different types of psychiatry work out there--outpatient, inpatient, consult, day program, PACT (AKA ACT) Teams.
4) US Military-if you choose to sign up as a resident, they have several benefits that can pay for student loans and give you a nice stipend. You will owe them military service (I believe its 6 months of service for every year they gave you a stipend as a resident, you'd need to double check). However as bad as that may sound, during that time in doing your service-you will get paid as an attending. It looks great on your record, you can get lots of good military benefits (since you'll be made an officer) & they provide the room & housing. If you're very young and want to see the world, its not a bad option.
What type of income in the places that offer to pay for student loans? This is too broad a question. Several places offer to help pay for loans as part of their package for signing on.
. Those figures really make my picture much more realistic for doing psych. Oh -- did I mention that I have to save for retirement?? Oh, crap.
