very depressing article.
I'm just finishing intern year and while I don't regret going into medicine (yet), I think I'd be a lot more scared entering medicine now, 5 years later, than even back in 2003. Tuition has risen much higher than the rate of inflation, interest rates on stafford loans have gotten much higher, and most students will now need expensive private loans since the cap on stafford loans hasn't changed at all despite rising tuition.
I can't honestly fathom going into medicine now if you aren't independently wealthy, are very lucky to have significant scholarships, or have parents who were at least willing to pay some of the costs of medical school even if it's only living expenses. And for those planning on entering primary care fields--I don't even see how it's possible to reach middle class lifestyle by age 35 if you have $200,000 in debt at an average interest rate of 7%.
And the frustrating part, as alluded to in the article, is that the public thinks we're all just rolling in it and barely working at all. My sister's ob/gyn takes Friday afternoons off and she tries to convince me that life after residency must be wonderful. Never mind that he's a in a 5 person group and probably takes L&D call q5 and pays ungodly amounts of malpractice insurance. He gets an one afternoon off a week.
okay, ranting over.
(in reality, it's really the premeds that need to be reading this and med students early in their careers that are still deciding on a specialty.)
