Anyone considering medicine (especially as a physician) should think long and hard about their choice. You should spend plenty of time shadowing multiple phsycians to see what they do for a living and if it is in fact something you would be interested in.
Secondly, a lot of us get into medicine with altruistic motives. Money is actually a secondary consideration. As you go through the training process, most accumulate (unless you're independently wealthy or get a scholarship) a large amount of educational debt. With the big push for some type of nationalization of healthcare, most people that I've talked to, that I consider to be a lot smarter than me, think that it will ultimately lead to lower salaries across the board for physicians. The current administration is promoting many socialized medicine type ideas to fix the current healthcare system.
What does this mean for us? Well, if you look at what physicians make in other countries that have some form of socialized medicine, and compare that to here......the difference is quite striking. I saw a salary survey for a cardiologist in Canada last week in which the avg salary is around $110k Canadian. Based on current currency conversion rates, multiply that x about 1.2 and you would have the US equivalent, or approx $132k US. Good money, but when compared to what US cardiologists make currently (i've seen ranges from $300k to $1 mil), it is remarkably telling what socialized medicine will mean. Think about whether you are willing to spend 4 yrs of undergrad, 4 yrs of medical school (5 at some schools like Case Western), and 3 yrs at a minimum in residency to end up making that type of salary.
Your friends who choose business, and do an MBA or something of that sort, will be making more than you by the time you finish residency if they work smart and hard. I've got a friend that I graduated high school with who did 4 yrs undrgrad, 2 yrs for MIS, and is now making $250k. I'm still in training making $40k, and have $250k in loans to pay off. Not to mention, I have essentially had no life for the past 9 yrs.
Do I love what I will be doing? Yes, but I feel more bitter each and every day about how many hours I have worked/will have to work, and now am facing the possibility of making much less than someone with much less education while working twice as hard. I'm wondering if I'll be able to pay off my loans.
If you think about all of that, and are ok with the prospects of what may come for physicians, then I wish you the best. I am too far invested to turn back now. Would I have done anything different had I known what i know now.....I might would've went to nusring school instead and become a nurse practitioner. They will end up making the same amount of money as physicians and have essentially the same autonomy with a lot less time invested, and a WHOLE lot less debt.
