Can somebody tell me

[TootyPhooty]

If all of this schooling is actually worth it?

my friends are all buying houses and new cars and getting married

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DexterMorganSK]

If all of this schooling is actually worth it?

my friends are all buying houses and new cars and getting married

It's worth it if you have the passion and drive for it. If learning and new challenges make you happy and determined, then it's also worth it.
If it's for the title or $$$, then no. There are much quicker ways to get rich.

 

[deleted1097413]

With most of us graduating at $300k debt I don’t see how it’s worth it.

 

[wakaflocka88]

Then don’t be lazy.

 

[heybrother]

Totally worth it. In 7 years you'll be making $75-120k with 2 weeks off and the possibility to someday buy a private practice brimming with possibility. Glass half full - the fact that it hasn't been remodeled in 30 years is just the perfect opportunity for you to put your own stamp on it. If you are lucky you'll even get a 401k or health insurance, after a year or two. Looking for an opportunity to give back? Your school will literally contact you within a week of graduating asking you to make a donation or buy a white coat for the future generation. Uncle Sam is also here to help. He knows times are tough with the recession and Obama and what not so he has generously offered to accept 15% of your income year for the rest of your life. And bonuses. Every pre-pod knows that whenever you hear a small starting number it means there's a big bonus coming. The boss's wife will definitely be click clacking away on her calculator figuring out the big bonus that is coming your way minus expenses. You are going to be solidly middle class in a decade. Positive net worth in 2 or 3. And obviously the USMLE is going to open up endless possibilities for us. I fully expect the ratio of applicants to podiatry schools will increase to at least 1:1. The sky is the limit.

 

[TootyPhooty]

Totally worth it. In 7 years you'll be making $75-120k with 2 weeks off and the possibility to someday buy a private practice brimming with possibility. Glass half full - the fact that it hasn't been remodeled in 30 years is just the perfect opportunity for you to put your own stamp on it. If you are lucky you'll even get a 401k or health insurance, after a year or two. Looking for an opportunity to give back? Your school will literally contact you within a week of graduating asking you to make a donation or buy a white coat for the future generation. Uncle Sam is also here to help. He knows times are tough with the recession and Obama and what not so he has generously offered to accept 15% of your income year for the rest of your life. And bonuses. Every pre-pod knows that whenever you hear a small starting number it means there's a big bonus coming. The boss's wife will definitely be click clacking away on her calculator figuring out the big bonus that is coming your way minus expenses. You are going to be solidly middle class in a decade. Positive net worth in 2 or 3. And obviously the USMLE is going to open up endless possibilities for us. I fully expect the ratio of applicants to podiatry schools will increase to at least 1:1. The sky is the limit.

Wow this depressed me more than helped

 

[TootyPhooty]

Reality ought to be inspiring! I mean, this is the profession that you chose.

Yeah I mean I guess you’re right but also is this really true?

 

[TootyPhooty]

Sir. How can you be an osteopath, a dentist, and a chiropodist all at once?

Lol yaaa awk

 

[TootyPhooty]

It's worth it if you have the passion and drive for it. If learning and new challenges make you happy and determined, then it's also worth it.
If it's for the title or $$$, then no. There are much quicker ways to get rich.

In the long run , is the salary even worth all the stress

 

[DexterMorganSK]

In the long run , is the salary even worth all the stress

The stress will be there no matter what field you go into. I'm not sure what year you are in, but I feel like you should have thought of all this before enrolling?
I understand the income to debt ratio, which is one reason I tell prospective to lower their debt (if they can). The money is there in this field, but you have to work harder than other physicians that do the same thing. That said, as I wrote above, it is not about the money ( at least not for me); you really have to like what you do.

 

[Treaty of Dorsi]

Wow this depressed me more than helped

Take everything people say on SDN with a grain of salt. It’s a very small sample of the total population. If you’re already in school, there is no point worrying IMO. Better to put your head down and work your ass off to set yourself up for the future as best as you can!

 

[heybrother]

I know text doesn't carry sarcasm well, but I really feel like if you'd read this forum at all for awhile my commentary was a comedic amalgamation of the ridiculous monster that is podiatry and her favorite forum, SDN.

You don't have to listen to people in the game describe unfortunate things they see, but consider the following - do you become optimistic when you read pie in the sky stories in the pre-pod forum? Cause that's confirmation bias. Take the good with the bad, maybe you can make something from it.

Should you continue? Most people do. Forever ago at DMU a hospital administrator explained to us that in fact we were all engaging in "sunk cost fallacy". We all of course immediately dismissed it or more likely didn't understand it, but I look back with some amusement on that lecture. Sunk cost is all over this (SDN) forum. A person looking outside of podiatry seeing nothing but opportunity should give sunk cost / AKA escalation of commitment consideration.

Its already been stated above - you have to have some degree of passion/interest etc. That's a tricky thing for this profession. The simple truth is NO ONE really understands this profession going into it unless maybe their daddy did it. I had no real appreciation of what I would be doing going into this. MDs/DOs can go in with child like wonder and then somewhat pick the thing that fits them best, maybe, if they are competitive. In podiatry its foot and ankle, no changing lines.

This is a really expensive degree. The pay-off is highly variable.

If you think I'm just some mad person then here's my thing. My life ain't bad. I like the city I live in. I either operate on my surgery day or I go home. My surgery volume has picked up a lot now that Covid is ...resolving. I'd like more rearfoot referrals, but they are picking up. I take no call except on my own surgery patients. I don't go to nursing homes. I don't get called in the middle of the night. We don't take Medicaid. I see my wife/kids every day at lunch. I'm right around the sweet spot of patient load - enough people to make money while also having the time to discuss more therapies/options etc and therefore potentially increase the visit value. I can't think of a negative reaction I've had with another physician in town. I've had worse jobs. Downsides currently. Lack of vision / leadership / management from the practice owner. We are leaving services and therefore money on the table. Probably the need to start my own practice in the next year - that's the ultimate sunk cost there - time spent working building up someone else's practice. I thought I could show them the light. Last of all, battling insurance is becoming a full time job. Looking back through my billing the other day (I shouldn't be the one doing this) I found a 11042 paid at $80 from a private insurance. Medicare pays $125. As insurance drives down the value of visits you either make less money or you see more patients. PP podiatrists only make money from the service their clinic offers unless they own additional modalities ie. labs, pharmacies, surgery centers and some of those things are scammy as hell. Your value is your collections from the surgeries you perform (and the patients will have globals afterwards), CPT in clinic (injection, nail surgeries, debridements, flexor tenotomies, etc), E&M in clinic, imaging (xrays, ultrasound), DME (orthotics, boots, braces, splints) and whatever cash, potions, laser dressings you dream up. I've explained this before but when you do an ankle fusion as a hospital doctor there is a much larger pot of money to be divided up based on the facility fee and the professional component. In PP If you want to be paid larger amounts of money you have to collect. You will have to bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars for your practice and remember that this money comes out of your patients' pocket. Food for thought.