Curious what Jobs and Salaries Did you give up for med school

[theraball]

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Computer programming field, low six figures for several years in the 90s, hiatus right after 9/11, in '03 decided on medicine. Since that time I have walked away from some lucrative consulting opportunities and a couple of $90K job possibilities because of my post-bacc class schedule.

If I were doing medicine for the money, I'd have be a *****. I'm giving up 10 years of high 5 or low 6 figures to go deeply into debt (while raising a young family) and come out eventually to make perhaps what I used to make, only with worse hours. It's not about the money; it's the spiritual satisfaction, which as others have pointed out is priceless.

 

[seamonkey21]

I gave up a job paying base $62K with additional bonuses, and $600/month car allowance. In addition, they gave you money to set up a home office and paid all utilities associated with it. What is wrong with me? I now have loan payments over $1000!!!!! 😉

 

[Taty]

Computer programming field, low six figures for several years in the 90s, hiatus right after 9/11, in '03 decided on medicine. Since that time I have walked away from some lucrative consulting opportunities and a couple of $90K job possibilities because of my post-bacc class schedule.

If I were doing medicine for the money, I'd have be a *****. I'm giving up 10 years of high 5 or low 6 figures to go deeply into debt (while raising a young family) and come out eventually to make perhaps what I used to make, only with worse hours. It's not about the money; it's the spiritual satisfaction, which as others have pointed out is priceless.

Well spoken good luck to you

 

[LadyWolverine]

Paralegal at large law firm. $60-70K+.

I'll miss the pay, but I definitely won't miss the hours.

 

[sw3b]

Corporate pilot 36K - 42K

 

[Miliwen]

While not in med school yet, what I will be giving up in 3-4 years:

Project Manager for a Energy Conservation Company

40k right now. I recieved a rather large promotion and should be making 50k+ by the end of the year. No fancy stock options or anything. In 3-4 years, I can see myself around 60k.

I could make 10x that much and would still want to goto med school. 🙂

 

[thoffen]

Currently software engineer (aerospace embedded) $73k/yr.

 

[rkl_OD2be]

I was a software engineer making about $90,000/year before I started optometry school...

 

[Maxprime]

Investment Banker - next bonus would have been six figures . . . very tough to leave the lifestyle. I'm going to try to avoid putting in my personal statement that I gave up more in pay than I'd be getting as an attending . . . :sad face:

It will be nice to no longer work 120 hours a week, though. 🙂

 

[randomxrokstar]

EMT-I bouts 30k a year not too much to miss heh

 

[postbacmd]

Internet Architect for a Fortune 50 company. Giving up ~70k, 4 weeks vacation, 401k, etc. and one of the best work environments in the world! I am just glad I realized my calling at 28 and not 82, whatever the outcome I know I will be happier directly helping others. Might be single, poor, overworked and underappreciated the rest of my life but that’s okay.

 

[ucjames]

Tour consultant for a very high-end luxury travel company. I won't miss the pay (~$34k), but the benefits... My office at various times sent me on a cruise of the Inside Passage and then 4 nights in Alaska to scout the area so I could plan a new tour up there, a 19-day trip to China (that would have cost $10k plus airfare to do on my own) so that I would be more familiar with our tours there that I was selling, barging in France along with some time in Paris and a couple nights in Carcassonne. I also helped run a business escorting military history tours for veterans groups in my vacation time that took me to the Normandy area multiple times, the Alsace-Lorraine area, Florence, and London.

This year, between budgetary limitations and the difficulties of my wife's schedule as a first-year resident and mine as a full-time postbac student, our official vacation is 2 nights this coming weekend in Lake Geneva, WI - about 2 hours or so drive from home 😉

 

[jumboolia]

IF I overcome all the hurdles and future obstacles I will have given up a Pharmacist salary which is around 90-100K with a sign on bonus of around 35K sometimes, plus stock options, 401k, etc, etc, blah blah blah

 

[HuntinDoc]

If I get through the prereq's and get in...gave up pharma rep job -- 70-100k depending on sales, + car and gas, stocks, etc... was only 23. Could have moved up and had millions in the bank when I retired at 52. Oh well.

 

[little_late_MD]

Right now I would be giving up about 50K/year as a Banking Consultant. In about 2 years when I would be entering med school, I will be giving up about $100,000 in wages and bonuses. However, I don't think I can ever quantify how much working in the business world has made me realize I hate this line of work.

 

[mcat_study]

well, i gave up being an owner of a health food company start-up overseas. and i already found big fat investors, but medicine is what i live for🙂 so will see if i get in.
wish everybody

 

[slb]

This is a fascinating thread. i will post to keep it alive.

I make a little over 35K as a loan operations specialist in commercial loans. it seems like a lot of money to me because I used to be a barista at an independent coffee shop... Lots of cred, little cash...

I can't wait to be living on loans again, because I hate banking like nothing else. I am taking an ultrasound tech class, though, and will hopefully get a U/S tech job soon... Hopefully one that pays well, because I have a whole lot of debt to pay off before I start med school. I guess it's good that I won't be able to start for a couple of years - I can try to sock away a little money.

Any radiologists out there in the chicagoland area who want to hire a hardworking premed ultrasound tech (and pay her scads of cash)? 😉

 

[Trismegistus4]

I was a systems analyst for a big pharma company before taking the plunge. I had worked my way up to $70k/year, though I was never satisifed with the vacation time (only 2 weeks/year for the first 5 years), but the year I left was the year it would have increased to 3. It was boring yet stressful, and I don't think I could have stood to do it any longer.

I was there just long enough to vest in the pension plan, and recently found out that upon turning 65 I will receive $331 per month from the company. By then that should be just enough to take my grandkids out for lunch. 😀

 

[choklad]

.

 

[heymanooh1]

I'm giving up being a bum

 

[Nashima]

Starting with the Spring 07 semester, I am going to give up a yearly salary of $60,000 in sales + monthly commissions + car and cellphone allowance. 🙁

 

[primadonna22274]

PA, family practice and EM, for 6+ years. Top salary (2 jobs) last year $99k, working 200h/mo. Blech.
Probably more like $80-85k this year (one job), more like 160h/mo.
Why give it up? I want to be the captain of the ship.
Tired of having to change my practice habits daily depending on who the attending is and what his/her particular whims are, many of them not evidence-based or out-of-date.
🙁

 

[MaiPenRai]

Leaving a $7,500 a year teaching job at a university in Thailand. The pay is sufficient to survive here, but barely enough to buy a ticket back. Still, working in paradise has its perks :0). Was paid 39K a year teaching at a middle school in the Bronx, but after mandatory grad school, lesson planning, grading, tutoring, holding detention, etc. I worked nearly 80 hours a week... Still, I can imagine that residency hours would be a lot more demanding and the pay won't be much at 35...

 

[angrypirate]

I gave up working at a food manufacturing facility as a machine operator making $45K/year. I lost interest in this profession 3 years ago but it paid well (for having a high school diploma) and so I stayed there for 6 years. Now I'm poor but I decided I want more out of life and I've always had a passion for science and the human body. So we will see where this path takes me. Ba Ba Booey to Y'all! 👍

 

[kidthor]

I have a pending offer at a law firm for $145K to start (for after I finish law school), but hopefully I'll be in med school next year instead!!!

 

[Salomon]

A decade of ski patrolling lead me to medical school.

 

[mrsdkelley]

teaching high school science 32k

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I did some side consulting while on sabbatical from my last start-up firm, but I left $160-$185k on the table to go back to school (instead of deferring). I'm now on the tail end of my clinical degree, but I'm seriously considering Med school once I get a substainable consulting group up and running. (3-4 years) I get offers every few months for similar $, but I'm too close to quit, and it would only delay any chance to head back to med school, if things work out.

-t

 

[Richie Truxillo]

Ex-Computer programmer, Database Tech, Database Admin, Webpage developer here. Also ran two small companies for a couple years. Salaries ranged from 21k on up. Sometimes I reflect fondly on my days working atCorning...However I'm a third year medical student now and so far I am much happier than I ever was rotting away in a cubicle 😉

 

[bookmaven]

elementary school teacher. at least 50 hours a week during the school year, $40K. So not enough $ to do any traveling or fun during the summer, usually had to take on teaching summer school to make ends meet.

 

[medtechv79]

PA, family practice and EM, for 6+ years. Top salary (2 jobs) last year $99k, working 200h/mo. Blech.
Probably more like $80-85k this year (one job), more like 160h/mo.
Why give it up? I want to be the captain of the ship.
Tired of having to change my practice habits daily depending on who the attending is and what his/her particular whims are, many of them not evidence-based or out-of-date.
🙁

oh gawsh!! isn't that the truth?!! Working for someone else really sux! especially if they don't treat their employees right and only care about he bottom line.....$$$$!!! Though, for now until I finish my prereqs I still have several years working for "the man". haahhah

 

[souter]

Curious what Jobs and Salaries Did you give up for med school. What was the motivation, and how did you deal with it financially. What were your backgrounds and what kind of salaries did you sacrifice for medicine.

I was pulling down 24K per year, but got laid off just before quitting so I got to collect unemployment my first year of med school.

 

[Law2Doc]

I was pulling down 24K per year, but got laid off just before quitting so I got to collect unemployment my first year of med school.

There are actually legal issues if you enrolled as a full time student at the time you were supposedly unemployed.

 

[souter]

There are actually legal issues if you enrolled as a full time student at the time you were supposedly unemployed.

I assume the statue of limitation has expired but, I asked the unemployment office if it was OK and they said yes. I even reported weekly that I was enrolled in retraining and not actively looking for work. I only got 700 per month and that was close to the state maximum.

 

[neurodoc]

I was a journeyman plumber with my own business, which is how I paid for my college and grad school education (I studied "useless" subjects, like literature and math). After getting an MA in Literature from UC Berkeley, along with a second BA in Biology, I decided to apply to med school and got in. This gave me some focus, and I really enjoyed the work I had gotten into. I wound up specializing in Neurology and got Board Certified.

I still like plumbing. It allowed me to get through college, grad school, and med school with less than $20K student debt, which I paid off many years ago. In fact, I plan to go back into the plumbing business when I retire from medicine...🙂

Nick

 

[BleepTastic]

I quit a 40K advertisingish job. But I got plenty of job offers ranging from 30k to nearly 100k (hedge fund w/ stake in the fund) . I only actually liked the 30k job (can't survive on that) so I said "screw it" and stopped working to focus on getting into med school.

 

[Goguryo]

I wiped screens and was paid with nice threads.

 

[MiesVanDerMom]

i finally got a job to give up for med school. I am part-time nanny and make 100 bucks a week now. 👍

 

[Application5150]

I'm not in medical school yet, but I graduated in 2000 with a BS in Mathematics. I'm in the application cycle right now.

My first real job out of college was for a leading aerospace firm with the following compensation package:

$61k/yr (Exit salary of $66k after 2 years with company)
401k w/ 100% match in company stock for the first 4% of payroll contrib. & vested immediately
Pension vested after 1 year with the company
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Life Insurance
Accidental Death/Dismemberment Insurance
Long Term Disability
Short Term Disability
Healthcare Reembursement Account
and more

After one figures the cost of postbacc, med school, and lost compensation from viable working years the total cost of switching to medical school is conservatively about $500,000-$1,000,000 (with a comparable salary package). When one considers company investments in the employee, interest on investments, paid time off, 401k match, etc. then the number goes higher.

Like the mastercard ads, however, happiness is priceless.

 

[twofish]

IT consultant in a major consulting company 70k/yr

 

[MDDOWhatever]

Curious what Jobs and Salaries Did you give up for med school. What was the motivation, and how did you deal with it financially. What were your backgrounds and what kind of salaries did you sacrifice for medicine.

Between 80K and 340K per year over the past 11 years as a programmer, data warehouse architect and small software company co-owner (for about 4-5 years, which were the years between 150K and 340K). I had to give up the software company and work as a senior sw engineer close to campus while doing my premed fulltime, for a couple of years, but quit that job last summer and now work from home contracting and am making $65/hour (not the highest rate in town, but very reasonable for both parties), pretty much until school starts... probably. Oh, probably have not worked over a 45 hour week without being paid for every extra hour, for nearly 10 years. It's easy money to solve business problems with software. Really is. I hope I haven't grown too soft, but I pushed myself hard doing fulltime work, fulltime premed and fulltime family to prove to myself I could still hack it.

Money is just a tool to do what you really want to do in life. I don't give a **** if I never make anything close to what I'm making now (although I know I will)... it's the knowledge I'm after really. That and the ability to wake up every day and be doing what I really want to be doing.

 

[Buckeye4life]

I am working as a traveling physical therapist. I make about $1500/week after taxes for 13 week assigments. I am doing this right now to just pay off my credit card debt before entering medschool. It was a tough decision of putting off buying a house and big screen plasma for another ten years🙂

 

[LuLuBelleDO]

RN making $58k per year...😛

 

[Buckeye4life]

I am working as a traveling physical therapist. I make about $1500/week after taxes for 13 week assigments. I am doing this right now to just pay off my credit card debt before entering medschool. It was a tough decision of putting off buying a house and big screen plasma for another ten years🙂

 

[LuLuBelleDO]

RN making $58k per year...😛

 

[gotmeds?]

Paramedic -- 70K/yr

(I was making more than an RN?? I guess out union really wasn't that bad, after all.)

 

[DOctorJay]

contract physical therapist making 100K a year. 3rd year student now, and still happy with the decision to pursue medicine (plus I still have a GREAT per diem job).

-J

 

[htyotispharm]

Community Pharmacist --$114,000/yr

 

[DR TOOTH]

Hi,
I am looking at starting application to Medical school for year 2008. I am an Oral Surgeon in late 20s based in London. I am visiting Ann Arbor b/w 17-27th..if you have the time and inclination to do so, I'd be very interested to meet up and know more regarding applications and attitude to non-trad students .
Look forward to your reply.

 

[deleted36260]

IT project manager. 75k
Self Employed after that 75k

Working part time now at a sysadmin job to get through school - 40k.

Further more, the software startup that I repeatedly turned down a partnership in (despite knowing it would be successful) is in aquisition talks as of yesterday. Well, there goes a million dollars out of my pocket - bittersweet 🙁 🙂 Still happy with my direction.