advice

[Popat Lal]

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so i'm in a strange situation. so this august i have the option of attending either a lower tier DO school or Pod school, and obviously i've chosen the latter!! but now a different sort of opportunity has presented itself. Since December i've been working at a marketing firm and been starting to like it more and more. turns out i'm good at it and after getting promoted TWICE in the past 2 months, the outlook looks great. very realistically i will b bringing $10,000/month in a year, and that will only go up depending on my performance.....now before you all start raging, let me add the I absolutely adore medicine and i still continue to volunteer at the hospice. I genuinely do want to help others clinically, as I originally aimed to be a nurse or PA because I didn't know whether I was capable....I'm definitely looking forward to start pod school but this $300,000 loan is scaring the crap outta me!!!!!! The way I calculate the math is, in 7yrs i will be at -300,000 as opposed to next 2 years I can be +100,000 and keep growing...i dont want to be a doctor to be incredibly rich, but I definitely do want to be able to pay back that loan in a timely fashion. I'll b 32 when I'm done with residency and at least 40 till i pay it back!! and that scares the crap outta me. taking this route with the marketing firm and business, i can make 300,000 forsure by the time i'm 30.i just want to be sure before i drown in debt...please try not hating too hard and just give me constructive feedback. People can b real messed up under the veil of anonymity..

 

[pod101]

I think you are wise to consider the full picture (including finances) before committing to something.

DO/Pod is a $300,000 investment. I honestly have no idea how I will pay it off. A lot of people I know are looking for the 25 year rule (debt forgiveness) or to never pay off the principle.

Positive: DO/Pod is medicine, your legacy is hopefully knowing that you changed someones life in a positive way. There is the perception that as a "doctor" you will never be without a job, unlike some other lines of work (engineering, teaching, tech job, IT job etc.) I say perception b/c this is NOT true, doctors (from Vets to MDs to Dentists to Podiatrists) all get impacted by economics and government policies.

Cons: Education is expensive. The debt is overwhelming (both monetarily and psychologically). There is a tremendous amount of uncertainty in medicine. Will you pass your boards, will you get your residency, will there still be a residency shortage, can I defer my loans, where can I practice?, did I pass that states test, can I get a loan to start my own practice, where do I want to work?, what do you mean that nursing home is contracted out to someone already?, what do you mean I am getting sued? will I still be able to work on the ankle this week? where does my jurisdiction end? what is today's new law that impacts my practice, what new med came out? did I perform enough surgeries to keep my boss happy? what do I need to do to renew my license? .... There is a tremendous amount of uncertainty in podiatry (what are we? are we physicians? are we surgeons? are we "toe nail clippers"?, are we = (MD/DOs?), can I hire a Nurse? what about a PA? what about a MA?, do they need to be trained in podiatry? Uh oh coding time...what was that code again for this procedure? Hmm should I have the patient come back in a second time b/c if I do the procedure 2x I will get paid but if I take care of both problems at once I won't get paid for 1 of the procedures...larger picture questions: do we want to be equal to (MD/DOs?), do I report to the APMA or the college of podiatric surgeons?, who is leading the way for podiatry?)

My advice do the marketing job for a week, then shadow and pretend to be a podiatrist for a week. Go for a run, eat a good meal, sit down, close your eyes and say to yourself which one could you see yourself doing (day to day job wise) for the rest of your life?

Ultimately this will be your choice.

 

[pacpod]

I'm not exactly sure what advice you are asking for from the users. It sounds like your mind is pretty well made up about doing this advertising job. In my opinion, if you find enjoyment and security in the advertising business maybe that is the route to take. The same goes for if you find enjoyment in the podiatric field, although it may be harder up front it will be worth it.

How are you calculating the ~300k in loans? Is this strictly debt from podiatry school, pod + undergrad, or pod + undergrad + loss of potential income from the job + supporting a family? You would have to take out 75k in loans per year to hit 300k (4 years of pod school). You mentioned seven years ... you are paid in residency (3 years of residency), you don't pay tuition in residency.

One thing that can be hard to mix in is the age concern you brought up. I know that can deter a lot of people but people start school at a non-traditional age all the time.

Best of luck with your decision.

 

[nikkisorous]

I would stick with the marketing firm.

If you like it and they like you why the need to switch?

Any schooling will cause you headaches that I would avoid if I was in your shoes.

 

[MaxillofacialMN]

I would stick with the marketing firm.

If you like it and they like you why the need to switch?

Any schooling will cause you headaches that I would avoid if I was in your shoes.

Agreed. 👍👍

 

[hughesn2]

How did you get a job at a marketing firm and find a way to make $10K in just the last month? So were you in a science major and somehow a marketing company hired a college grad with a bachelors of science degree??
But if you already have a job like that I would keep it, but again you never know if somehow the marketing job won't pan out.

I would stick with the marketing job b/c it is a current payed job! I know a bunch of people that went into Supply Chain Management (MSU and WMU) and then some just gen business and my brother and 3 of his best friends are all getting $50K+ jobs out of college. My brother has been working for Kellogg's for 2yrs now as an intern and he is a full time employee starting this past January, for a 22yr old kid I think he struck gold by having a full time job.

But don't think that you will average $10K per month b/c if you tell yourself that and once it goes down by a couple K per month then you will regret it. Just think about it this way, most college grads would die to start off at $50K/yr for a job.

Do you mind me asking, what did you go to undergrad for??

 

[Fluke88]

"When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you, but because in that brief moment when the coin is in the air, you suddenly know what you are hoping for."

-Anonymous

 

[Life Sucks]

I doubt you get that much in loans. Plus, loans depend on schools, and who knows, I heard of Pod schools that give decent FA. But that's why I'm getting a CS degree, I can do something if I do have spair time to pay off my debts.

 

[zdlamkin8195]

My only advice is to do what you want to do, but never look at it and say "when I'm 40, I could have made X amount of money by sticking to the job I have." I say this bc if you keep the job and regret it later (or heaven forbid, lose the job) you will just be 40 years old with regret and the accumulation of material things - not a very satisfying life!

Without getting into the details, I was in a pretty similar situation. I turned down PA school out of college to take a GREAT job. I then became interested in Podiatry during my first year at the job, but I decided not to apply bc I still had the "new love" for my job. Now that the "newness" has worn off, ive been accepted to DMU, and that I see the pitfalls with not having the job security of a doctor - I honestly feel like I just lost a year by not applying my first year. If I made a long term decision back then by saying "when I'm 40 I would have made yada yada yada" then I would eventually turn 40 and have a lot of cool crap but would hate getting up to go to work every day...just my 2¢

Feel free to look back into my old posts to see exactly how I went about making my desicion

 

[redhorse]

Doors open is better than doors closed, so find some comfort in that.You seem happy with marketing right now. Stick with it for a year, then reevaluate. One year in the course of things is not make it or break it, regardless of age. 300K is a lot of debt to take on if you can be perfectly happy doing something else.

 

[dudestheman90]

k

 

[Ferocity]

I'd say stick with the marketing firm job. Podiatry school like medical school is 50-60k average per year (this includes tuition, room/board, travel costs, book costs, medical supplies costs, and other miscellaneous fees such as parking fees). Your looking at 200-240k debt upon graduation. Add 7-8% on top of that, your looking at as you said about 300k in loans. During residency you'll be making 40-50k base salary per year for 3 years. You could end up working 60, even 80 hours per week while your in residency. Podiatry, like medical school is an uncertain path. Will you pass all your classes, will you pass the boards, will you secure a residency, will you secure a decent paying job upon finishing residency??? There are a lot of risks involved and questions only you could answer. It seems you have a bright future and career in marketing, I would honestly stick with it. Also DO is geared toward primary care, so if you don't see yourself in family medicine, i wouldnt go for it. A family doc makes 150k avg, not much more than what you'll be making in marketing

Sometimes I stay up at night wondering if students that don't know the difference between your/you're are the ones that eventually don't succeed.

 

[nikkisorous]

Sometimes I stay up at night wondering if students that don't know the difference between your/you're are the ones that eventually don't succeed.

In your bolded sentence "your" was used correctly.

I think you meant to bold two sentences before that ^^ 🙂

 

[Ferocity]

In your bolded sentence "your" was used correctly.

I think you meant to bold two sentences before that ^^ 🙂

I bolded the entire phrase. I was just talking about passing classes and succeeding.

 

[MaxillofacialMN]

In your bolded sentence "your" was used correctly.

I think you meant to bold two sentences before that ^^ 🙂

Lol