Advice on career

[switchingdroppingout]

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Hello

I am a PhD student in mathematics, looking to finish in around 3 years as my quals and courses were done little earlier than usual.

For a long time, I was confused which career path to choose. I mainly had three choices, medicine, finance (the quantitative side) and academia. I've done pretty well so far (am at a top 10 institute), so the latter 2 are still an option despite being very competitive. But I've mostly droped the academia idea, not because I dislike research (quite the opposite), but I'm not too interested being a professor.

I've done some work during and after undergrad with some internships and even full time jobs of various roles. Analyst, trading, some stuff on the quant side etc. I know that for phds or mfes, starting salaries even at hedge funds are around 130k base with a range like 50-100% bonus. With fairly substantial increases after 2-3 years. I can probably get an offer around 200k including stock as a SWE, but I'm not interested in that.

I'm having a hard time deciding between medicine and finance, as I'm very interested in both, and so the two main factors for me are earning potential and the training needed. I can easily drop out and finish with a terminal master's and apply to medical school. My mcat is pretty high (40+ range) and my undergrad GPA is good.

I know medical school is a whole different thing, but assuming I do well, am interested and able to to match into some competitive speciality, what kind of earning potential is there? Does it stale off at some point? Would I be making a dumb decision switching without much difference in income? Would I be "wasting my 20s" working 10 hours a day in medical school and residency?

 

[Tenk]

So, this is somewhat of a deeper question than many would think. Long term you would come out ahead if you took a high paying job now because you would 1) not have med school debt, 2) get a 7+ year head start, 3) start investing now. Also if you worked as hard at that job as you would in medical school and residency you would come out REALLY far ahead.

Now, like many other jobs, where you work largely determines your salary but this is especially true in medicine. I know people in my specialty (emergency medicine) who make half as much as I do in big cities and 1.5x as much as I do working locums in nowheresville. So nobody can really answer your question without first knowing 1) what your specialty will be and 2) where you plan to work. The right specialty in the right location can easily double or triple your salary listed. The wrong specialty in the wrong location will be about equal pay to that.

 

[de Ribas]

Maybe not the best option as it will be questioned.

I can easily drop out

Maybe not the best option as it will be questioned

working 10 hours a day in medical school and residency?

Probably more than that.

My mcat is pretty high (40+ range)

Most likely will have to retake that one.


Why medicine? Do you want to go back to pre-med, 4 years of med school and at least 3-4 years of residency? I would encourage you to shadow if you have not done so.

 

[switchingdroppingout]

So, this is somewhat of a deeper question than many would think. Long term you would come out ahead if you took a high paying job now because you would 1) not have med school debt, 2) get a 7+ year head start, 3) start investing now. Also if you worked as hard at that job as you would in medical school and residency you would come out REALLY far ahead.

Now, like many other jobs, where you work largely determines your salary but this is especially true in medicine. I know people in my specialty (emergency medicine) who make half as much as I do in big cities and 1.5x as much as I do working locums in nowheresville. So nobody can really answer your question without first knowing 1) what your specialty will be and 2) where you plan to work. The right specialty in the right location can easily double or triple your salary listed. The wrong specialty in the wrong location will be about equal pay to that.

I'm currently in Massachusetts but am based in NY. But assuming I do well, get into a competitive specialty, and sometime down the road get put in a high cost of living area, what would I be looking at? I know that is very unlikely, but I just want to get an idea of what the prospects are if I manage to do very well.

The head start would be important, but if I'm working at 130k for 4 years the finance route, wouldn't it be balanced out quickly?

I hope I'm not sounding naive. I'm not too familiar with medicine as a career (although I have read up about the training, and have shadowed two physicians) and just want to make sure that I'm making a choice that's financially sensible.

 

[Tenk]

Depending on the specialty you could make anywhere from $200,000-$500,000+ in a high cost of living area. Keep in mind with taxes the amount you take home drops off significantly past a few hundred thousand.

The reason you come out ahead is because you aren’t accounting the fact that you are not working 10 hours a day five days a week in med school and residency. That’s only 50 hours. If you take into account studying + working you are more at the 100 hour a week mark. Yes it is that intense.

My reccomendation to you: find a great job in your field and try it out. Start saving money. Don’t get tied down with big purchases. If you love your job and lifestyle, stick with it. Life isn’t all about work and medicine is 100% Work. If you hate it and find it empty, then apply. You’ll have a great story, a great CV, and you’ll have life experiences and a strong work ethic to back it up. Plus you’ll know you for sure you aren’t making a bad decision.

 

[jazzmetal]

just want to make sure that I'm making a choice that's financially sensible.

It sounds like you are in your 20s? If so, I'd say you have enough working years ahead of you to make medicine pay off. I will add, as someone who's been working for a long time already, that at a certain tipping point of income, how much you *enjoy* your work becomes so much more important. Sounds like you have the chops to hit that point fairly easily in either finance or medicine, so I'd encourage you to investigate which one would you find more intrinsically fulfilling.

 

[Medic741]

Do you want to throw away 8+ years of your life living barely above the poverty line while studying 8+ hours/day + weekends?! Not worth it if you have better options ie finance...

if that’s weirdly not intimidating, you’ll fit in just fine in MED school (I wouldn’t change my decision to pursue this route for anything)

 

[switchingdroppingout]

It sounds like you are in your 20s? If so, I'd say you have enough working years ahead of you to make medicine pay off. I will add, as someone who's been working for a long time already, that at a certain tipping point of income, how much you *enjoy* your work becomes so much more important. Sounds like you have the chops to hit that point fairly easily in either finance or medicine, so I'd encourage you to investigate which one would you find more intrinsically fulfilling.

Yes I'm in my early 20s. Thanks, I'll think about that. From my time working at a firm, I know that working in finance will definitely be less interesting and fulfilling, but then again, I've heard some bad things from physicians in my extended family saying how even surgery becomes tiresome/uninteresting after a while (and how many patients are not nice to work with).

 

[jazzmetal]

Yes I'm in my early 20s. Thanks, I'll think about that. From my time working at a firm, I know that working in finance will definitely be less interesting and fulfilling, but then again, I've heard some bad things from physicians in my extended family saying how even surgery becomes tiresome/uninteresting after a while (and how many patients are not nice to work with).

For sure, no job is perfect and even a job that starts out perfect can get old after a long enough time. Hence my attempt to switch careers!
As another poster said, you could start off in finance and make the switch to medicine later. Just don't wait as long as I did. Seems like 4-10 years (your late 20s to mid 30s) gives a decent time in Career #1 but still lots of runway in Career #2. And applying to med school isn't cheap, so having some savings helps.
Best wishes! It sounds like you have several good options.

 

[switchingdroppingout]

Depending on the specialty you could make anywhere from $200,000-$500,000+ in a high cost of living area. Keep in mind with taxes the amount you take home drops off significantly past a few hundred thousand.

The reason you come out ahead is because you aren’t accounting the fact that you are not working 10 hours a day five days a week in med school and residency. That’s only 50 hours. If you take into account studying + working you are more at the 100 hour a week mark. Yes it is that intense.

My reccomendation to you: find a great job in your field and try it out. Start saving money. Don’t get tied down with big purchases. If you love your job and lifestyle, stick with it. Life isn’t all about work and medicine is 100% Work. If you hate it and find it empty, then apply. You’ll have a great story, a great CV, and you’ll have life experiences and a strong work ethic to back it up. Plus you’ll know you for sure you aren’t making a bad decision.

Depending on the specialty you could make anywhere from $200,000-$500,000+ in a high cost of living area. Keep in mind with taxes the amount you take home drops off significantly past a few hundred thousand.

The reason you come out ahead is because you aren’t accounting the fact that you are not working 10 hours a day five days a week in med school and residency. That’s only 50 hours. If you take into account studying + working you are more at the 100 hour a week mark. Yes it is that intense.

My reccomendation to you: find a great job in your field and try it out. Start saving money. Don’t get tied down with big purchases. If you love your job and lifestyle, stick with it. Life isn’t all about work and medicine is 100% Work. If you hate it and find it empty, then apply. You’ll have a great story, a great CV, and you’ll have life experiences and a strong work ethic to back it up. Plus you’ll know you for sure you aren’t making a bad decision.

Thanks. I'm definitely considering the work load, that's definitely more extreme that what I've done so far.

Sorry, what do you mean by studying + working exceedings 100 hours in medical school? I thought the first two years were just studying.

 

[Tenk]

Thanks. I'm definitely considering the work load, that's definitely more extreme that what I've done so far.

Sorry, what do you mean by studying + working exceedings 100 hours in medical school? I thought the first two years were just studying.

The first two years are pretty much non stop studying yeah but after that it’s work and study. Say goodbye to weekends. They don’t exist. Just another day of the week.