Nothing good these days come with no cost... I really don't think the cost is that bad as many portray it in SDN...
Anyone out there regret med school->residency?
- Thread starter camng11
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Generally speaking, it's not.
If you finish residency with 500k+ in debt, I can understand thinking otherwise however.
My partner is a musician and pre-covid he made 6 figures. He could essentially wake up whenever he wanted, got to tour the world for free and make money being creative and doing what he loves. His hourly rate for certain projects is more than my hourly rate as a physician. The downside is that there is essentially no guaranteed paycheck for him and he obviously hasn’t had much work this year. He works hard and not saying his career is super easy, but yes there are jobs out there, even if rare, that have a better return on their investment than being a physician.
The definite plus about being a doctor, especially one in a general field like FM or IM is that you’re pretty much guaranteed a job for life. As we’ve seen during covid some physician jobs aren’t thriving as much but FM and IM can likely find work in a variety if settings.
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From what I've seen, the #1 setting for children's resentment toward parents is divorce. Somewhat further behind at #2 is socio-economically privileged kids. But the kids taken away and placed in foster homes never express resentment. These are kids physically/sexually abused by their parents. The greater the abuse, the greater the unconditional love. Otherwise, some resentment from kids toward parents being parents is natural.
Also, our internal emotions have a huge influence on those around us. If I am ambivalent, then others around me will reflect that ambivalence.
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I’m in FM, shortest residency possible. Considered IM—>HemeOnc but didn’t have 6yrs left in my tank.
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I don't know what is "portray[ed]" on SDN, but I am in-state at an allopathic public university, and my "tuition" was ~$48K my first year (I'm a MS3). Total cost were about $75K (first year) although I minimized my borrowing and had less than that. Still, I'm borrowing close to $70K per year, so with interest, I'm looking at at least $300K. That is "bad" to me, although it could be a lot worse. For people going to private school, it is worse. I'm looking online right now and the private school I'm looking at is $59K per year "tuition" with total cost hovering from $92- 100K depending on the year. Even if you are able to significantly cut expenses, someone would be paying at least $85K per year. That is $340K before interest, so probably close to $400K when all is said and done with interest. $300-400K+ in debt is pretty bad, IMO. I'm not sure what is being portrayed on SDN.
*Edit: I'm not sure if by "cost," you are referring to tuition/cost of medical school or other costs. If it is other costs besides tuition/cost of schooling, please ignore my comment.
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I have a lot of regrets. I had no debt because I was MD/PhD, but I spent 4 extra years of my life on that PhD.
I applied into rad onc residency, which seemed like a good idea at the time. I didn't realize that I wouldn't even get interviews at most of the places where they did the kind of research I did and wanted to do. Instead I matched at a low-tier place where they basically laughed at my research. It seemed like they wanted more MD/PhDs because it was prestigious, but gave no actual support for research. I applied for jobs everywhere when I was done training and had one offer after searching the whole country. The place was known to be malignant, but what choice did I have. Well turns out they lied to me about the job, and I got stuck 100% clinical at 3 different satellites for way less than typical rad onc pay. Everyone in the department is treated better than the physicians and turnover is high. The chair doesn't back up the docs at all and the department admin and clinic directors are downright hateful. I've spent years looking for a new job and I've gotten nowhere because the rad onc job market is absolute garbage.
My advice is to make sure you have an option to practice when you're done. Most people think if they can get through residency they'll have a good attending job on the other side. For me it was the opposite. Residency was pretty laid back. I've got another 20 years probably stuck in the same job I hate in the location my wife hates. Sure at least I can provide for my family (sort of, since cost of living here is very high) but even the full-time PCPs in this thread probably make as much or more than I do.
I applied into rad onc residency, which seemed like a good idea at the time. I didn't realize that I wouldn't even get interviews at most of the places where they did the kind of research I did and wanted to do. Instead I matched at a low-tier place where they basically laughed at my research. It seemed like they wanted more MD/PhDs because it was prestigious, but gave no actual support for research. I applied for jobs everywhere when I was done training and had one offer after searching the whole country. The place was known to be malignant, but what choice did I have. Well turns out they lied to me about the job, and I got stuck 100% clinical at 3 different satellites for way less than typical rad onc pay. Everyone in the department is treated better than the physicians and turnover is high. The chair doesn't back up the docs at all and the department admin and clinic directors are downright hateful. I've spent years looking for a new job and I've gotten nowhere because the rad onc job market is absolute garbage.
My advice is to make sure you have an option to practice when you're done. Most people think if they can get through residency they'll have a good attending job on the other side. For me it was the opposite. Residency was pretty laid back. I've got another 20 years probably stuck in the same job I hate in the location my wife hates. Sure at least I can provide for my family (sort of, since cost of living here is very high) but even the full-time PCPs in this thread probably make as much or more than I do.
I went straight through from high school without any breaks. Absolutely no regrets. That being said, a cookie cutter path is not meant for everyone. It sounds like you’re pretty burnt out. If it’s starting to affect your happiness and performance, maybe reach out to your program and see what resident support resources are available. If there are none, report it to ACGME.
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I dont regret it. Residency isnt too bad. Worst part is having to listen to boomer docs say how much easier we have it nowadays. They tend to forget we pay 10x as much for med school as they did "back in my day."
Otherwise its great besides those Q weekly rants on how they walked uphill both ways in 56 feet of snow to work 60 hours of nightshift straight.
Otherwise its great besides those Q weekly rants on how they walked uphill both ways in 56 feet of snow to work 60 hours of nightshift straight.
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Sounds like the road I'm heading down in pathology. Got really interested in research in med school and thought I'd go into pathology to try to work my way into a research career. Now after being a year in I'm realizing I don't want that life and I want more flexibility than can be provided in path.
Not quite sure what to do. Debating a switch to family medicine. Also considering leaving medicine all together and getting into software engineering.
