Finace or Doctor path? Based on my resources what would you do?

[obscurehero]

Alright so I'm a freshman undergrad student at cornell studying engineering. I'm at the point where I could major in whatever I want, but the classes I choose, along with the internships and activities I do, will separate my career apart.
I'm at a crossroad, one path leads to becoming a doctor and the other leads to doing business. All my life I was 99% sure I wanted to become a doctor until these last couple of years where I've been told by actual doctors that if they had the opportunity to restart, they'd go into a different career. But I have racked over 600 hours volunteering in clinics, hospitals and er rooms (in HS). I have done 3 internships all based on medicine. I know what it takes to get into medical school and I have a clear idea of what I need to do. Whereas for investment banking, I just have a vague idea of what's required to become one.

If I go into medical school, I'll major in biological engineering which will overlap with the med school requirements.

If I go into something like finance/investment banking (trading), there's a major called operations research where bank firms can directly recruit from.

My goals for this job are just to able to support family, pay bills, get a house..etc) and earn around 200-250k, 10 years after I start.

So I'm asking you to put yourself in my situation, with my resources and make a decision with the fact you would do something that your good at***. Of course you would need to take into consideration job security and how hard it is to get into both careers

You sound like someone who wants the secret to living a happy mildly rich life in the suburbs with exactly 2.1 kids and a nice monstrosity of a house that blends in with all the other cookie cutter McMansions. Or without the sarcasm and assumptions: you sound like someone who wants to know what the key is to a happy life.

Not gonna get it bro

We can't tell you how to achieve that goal. You have to struggle through life like the rest of us schlubs... If you're going to start planning out your life step-by-step, you'll only set yourself up for disappointment. Find a mentor, talk to them but, more importantly, listen to them. Double major if you can't decide, find a way to pick between two options that you can train for so that when you graduate you still have the option to pick either.

Try i-banking and hate it and quit and apply to medical school. OR love i-banking, or love the money and stay in...and then at 35 get laid off b/c of the next financial crisis and go to medicine OR think i-banking is for blood-suckers and go into medicine and love it and only make $100k/yr OR think i-banking is great and medicine would be nice too, but you really love engineering! These permutations could continue ad infinitum

There are very few people who know exactly what they want to do from high school and do it, in my experience, at least. You are young and you have so much life to live, stop trying to pretend like you can control it. The more you make life try to fit into your plans the more unhappy you will be.

Cheesy, cliche suggetions:

Be humble. Listen more than you speak. Be frugal, but generous. Love. Appreciate the journey as much as the destination. Embrace change and the unexpected. Choose a career for its own merits and let the money sort it self out...

I grew up quite happy in a family of six (four siblings) where my dad made less than $50k/yr until I was in my teens when he started making $60k/yr. If you live your life chasing after money, you might get to the end of your life and find out that you had not truly lived. Money isn't bad, its the pursuit of money that can be quite corrupting.

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[Nilf]

What careers are you talking about that are easier/faster than going into medical?

Pretty much, almost any career will yield higher income/effort ratio than medicine, and many will yield higher income in absolute numbers.

Why dont' you stick to engineering? You can transition into upper management in couple of years, or open your own business, or go back to school. Sky is the limit.

Read the copied and pasted post below...

The bottom line: there are tons lucrative and rewarding careers out there... Don't be so narrowminded to limit yourself to 'banking' or medicine.

Here is a post by a poster 'Medzelot'. Several examples of high-paying, low-stress careers:

Right now, according to payscale the average attending physician income across all specialties is $161,460. There are physicians who make less than $100K, which means the so-called "salary floor" is not as high as people have said. Floor means the lowest reported, not the average.

Your income will vary by specialty, and how you choose to practice. Most of you turd farmers reading this, if you even get into med school (and despite the fact that you all say you want to be surgeons), will end up in family med, internal med, or peds, where you will make from $116 - $150,000. That makes up 50% or more of doctors, so there are your odds right there. And these are gross income figures, not accounting for taxes, malpractice insurance, and out-of-pocket expenses for practice. Let's also not forget that as a doctor, the average starting salary is $46,000 during residency.

So what other jobs can earn you that much, with less training?

Mechanical Engineer (4 year degree, no graduate training): salaries start around $50,000 and easily range up to $120,000. Engineers who work for Ford make that much without even being managers. Last I checked, the American auto industry is faring worse than U.S. health care. Mid-level managers at Ford make $190 - $300,000. I won't bother telling you what the CEO makes, because it truly is a stupid argument.

Aerospace Engineer (4 year degree, if you want you can earn a masters in 1 year after your BSE): Salaries start at $70K and range up to $150K, just for the engineers. Mid-level managers make $200K - $350,000.

CPA (4 year degree): Salaries start around $48,000 (still higher than residents) and range to $120,000, depending on whose books you are keeping.

Mid-level managers in fortune 500 companies (4 year degree in business or accounting; in many cases MBA): Salaries start at $200,000 and range over $500,000. I know a mid level manager for Honeywell. He was a CPA and got into management within 10 years. He only made less than $100K for his first five years working (huh. kind of like residency, only he didn't need to get a 4 year graduate degree before his first paycheck). Right now he makes $260,000. No MBA. No malpractice insurance. And there are literally 100's of employees like him at Honeywell. So he's not a CEO. Not even close. He's not an executive of any kind.

Financial Advisor (no degree required, high school diploma plus series 7 and series 66 licensing exams): Starting income around $40,000, average salary if you survive for 7 years [ironically, the minimum amount of time it takes to get through med school and a "short" residency]: $211,000

I won't list any more white-collar jobs, suffice it to say there are more.

Considering blue-collar options:

Tool and die workers (do you know what they do gettheleadout? They work in stamping plants. That's something like a factory): Wages are hourly and often union-protected. When allowed to work 50 - 60 hours (like a doctor), the overtime puts their compensation above $100,000.

I myself made $105,000 as a personal trainer. To be a personal trainer you need a high school degree and a certification. In this same company, the people who managed personal trainers (and had the same "academic" credentials as the trainers) made $80 - $126,000. General managers of the gyms made $90 - $130,000.

Regional managers who oversaw four or five GMs made $320,000 - $540,000. I am not making this up. Some of these guys didn't even have training certs.

While there is a lot of variability in these numbers, the point of the original poster is intact. You don't have to be a doctor (or go through the doctor ordeal) to make a six figure income.

I don't have the data, but it is likely they have just as many people in the $100 - $300K range as physicians.

 

[IMDoc607]

Go finance....you'll have a harder time making it big but you'll have a better quality of life.

Just my opinion

 

[FitnessDoc2012]

to "ones";

I suggest doing your undergrad degree in Business/Finance. There is no limitation on applying to med school (if you decide on this route) once you complete your degree from Cornell. I have a Business degree and am now attempting to pursue med school, but if it fails, then my Business degree is still useful. Your Finance degree will be from a highly ranked business program in Cornell. It would make no sense for you not to pursue this potential interest with the degree and then 4 years from now, if you are still interested in medicine, then take the mcat and apply. Try to fit in your prereqs for med school as "electives" to you finance curriculum. This will give you the most options when you graduate.

 

[8mile]

Sometimes, I feel like society purposefully puts out the relatively high physician salaries to attract smart students into medicine who don't really know that there are easier and better ways to make a buck these days.

 

[no beans]

Let me explain it. Medical schools do like students from Ivy League and other elite schools because the admissions committees at the undergrad level did their jobs and admitted very bright, very hard working, very interesting people as undergrads. On the other hand, medical schools also admit people who went to public universities and liberal arts colleges known for little else than their basketball (and/or football) teams and the amount of drinking that takes place on weekends.

I-banking programs are far more exclusive in that don't recruit anywhere but at the "best" schools.

Therefore, if you are at one of the "best" schools you might as well take full advantage of that and go into a career that is open only to graduates of those fancy-pants schools.

I have to agree with Silverfalcon on this issue, LizzyM. I am in a huge public university (known for sports teams and partying), where I am a bright, hardworking, student with interesting pursuits. My sister goes to an 'elite' school and is all of the above- the only difference in our high school stats is that mine were a bit higher and I had more meaningful, long-term extracurriculars. I did read what you said, and I cringe when I hear your bias toward public university schools because, given how hard I work, I don't feel I deserve that. Can't we just be seen as individuals and be evaluated regarding how well we did given our resources? Why should we be branded as being not as good? How is this different than any racial or ethnic bias?

I feel it is harder to attend a public university where the impersonal nature of the classes, the anonymity of students, and competition for any worthwhile ventures makes it very difficult to obtain opportunities such as research, recommendations, etc. You have to grow up fast around here and become assertive if your goals are high. My sister has professors at her beck and call. They all know her, develop research projects for her and walk her through every detail, and are very happy to write recommendations for her. I struggle to have my professors even know who I am and I have to come up with my own projects practically begging for a little help. I have to send my applications for the free clinic the first day they accept them and spend days writing essays for the opportunity- which takes 8 students yearly from 210 applications. My GPA is higher than my sister's and I take more difficult courses. Do you think it's because my classes are easier? My organic professor gave only 8% of students A's. I worked for one and got one, but despite my many office hour visits, he doesn't know me and is not willing to write a letter for me (the class had over 250 students). So I feel it is unwarranted to be considered as one from a 'lesser' school. Maybe if I didn't have the vantage point of seeing what it's like from each point of view I would agree that perhaps those from 'elite' colleges are brighter, more hardworking and more deserving, but I know myself and I know my sister (she is great, btw, and very deserving as well).

Could you be a little more open-minded toward those at public universities and not assume we are just beer-drinking sports fanatics? Can you put in a good word to the adcom for those of us that exhibited serious, responsible behavior and good old hard work and success at our schools also?

 

[circulus vitios]

Medicine is simply not worth the time, effort and LOST OPPORTUNITIES. The lost opportunities include personal and professional activities that you COULD have been doing but medical career will prevent you from doing so.

somebody here posted a examples of how much money people make in other careers... Personal trainers breaking 100K is not unusual... THIS > medicine.... because...


Medicine comes with many MANY upalatable moments that you will have to endure for at least 10 years, and likely longer. And at the same time you will not have a chance to do things that other 'civilian' part of the population is doing. Mark my words.

I mean... if you are a bright, hard working individual from a good school, why would you endure a decade of torture and missed opportunites for a promised land of a six digit salary, if there are many other, easier ways to get there?

And don't even get me started on the new healthcare law, malpractice lawsuits, etc.

Note... this is coming from someone who beat the system and landed a coveted elite specialty certification, and is currently in the process of raking in the $$$...

Get some perspective. It's not all roses and lollipops in the land of investment banking. I'll take deferred earnings over 80+ hour weeks in Excel, NYC cost of living, $100k in ivy league student loan debt, and all the crap associated with maintaining appearances in a bulge bracket ibanking office (playing politics, buying a nice clothes/car/apartment, getting an even more expensive ivy league MBA if you want to move past analyst, etc.)

 

[circulus vitios]

Pretty much, almost any career will yield higher income/effort ratio than medicine, and many will yield higher income in absolute numbers.

Why dont' you stick to engineering? You can transition into upper management in couple of years, or open your own business, or go back to school. Sky is the limit.

Have you ever had a real job in your entire life?

Getting a 3.5 GPA while taking super duper hard classes like biology, organic chemistry, physics, and general chemistry means I'm smart and lucky enough to do anything I want! I could easily "open my own business" with no prior business experience, or even "transition to upper management" with a whole two years experience because I'm just so gosh darn smart!

edit: Where do you even get your data? Payscale is never accurate. BLS.gov says "In 2008, physicians practicing primary care had total median annual compensation of $186,044, and physicians practicing in medical specialties earned total median annual compensation of $339,738." ~60% of all physicians are specialists.

 

[circulus vitios]

Undergraduate biology and chemistry courses are not that hard. A few of them are, but most are not. And yes I have a biology degree.

That post wasn't even directed to you. But nevertheless: sarcasm, how does it work?

 

[LizzyM]

I have to agree with Silverfalcon on this issue, LizzyM. I am in a huge public university (known for sports teams and partying), where I am a bright, hardworking, student with interesting pursuits. My sister goes to an 'elite' school and is all of the above- the only difference in our high school stats is that mine were a bit higher and I had more meaningful, long-term extracurriculars. <snip>
Could you be a little more open-minded toward those at public universities and not assume we are just beer-drinking sports fanatics? Can you put in a good word to the adcom for those of us that exhibited serious, responsible behavior and good old hard work and success at our schools also?

I am open minded about sports and party schools (both public and private); I'm sorry that wasn't clear. It is the i-banking and trading companies that are not -- they are recruitng only from the Ivies and similar "elite" schools. The OP is thinking that he's letting his privileged position go to waste if he doesn't take advantage of that advantage that he has over people who go to non-elite schools.

 

[Ones]

I am open minded about sports and party schools (both public and private); I'm sorry that wasn't clear. It is the i-banking and trading companies that are not -- they are recruitng only from the Ivies and similar "elite" schools. The OP is thinking that he's letting his privileged position go to waste if he doesn't take advantage of that advantage that he has over people who go to non-elite schools.

Yes my thoughts exactly. Also thank you very much nilf, very very helpful response

 

[logjammer]

your becoming
a doctor for money?

wow shallow much

 

[no beans]

I am open minded about sports and party schools (both public and private); I'm sorry that wasn't clear. It is the i-banking and trading companies that are not -- they are recruitng only from the Ivies and similar "elite" schools. The OP is thinking that he's letting his privileged position go to waste if he doesn't take advantage of that advantage that he has over people who go to non-elite schools.

Thanks for your response. I wish the adcoms weren't so quick to judge when it comes to schools. If they are looking for diverse students (not necessarily URM's, but those of every socioeconomic class and background), they should be looking at students from all types of schools and not have to raise the bar even more to glance at a student from a public state school. I have an acquaintance from my hs who went to Harvard undergrad. She was just accepted to my school's medical school with stats that would not have received a second look from most others. I am happy for her, but it makes me more aware of the big school name bias.

 

[Nilf]

Have you ever had a real job in your entire life?

Getting a 3.5 GPA while taking super duper hard classes like biology, organic chemistry, physics, and general chemistry means I'm smart and lucky enough to do anything I want! I could easily "open my own business" with no prior business experience, or even "transition to upper management" with a whole two years experience because I'm just so gosh darn smart!

edit: Where do you even get your data? Payscale is never accurate. BLS.gov says "In 2008, physicians practicing primary care had total median annual compensation of $186,044, and physicians practicing in medical specialties earned total median annual compensation of $339,738." ~60% of all physicians are specialists.

dude,

I've copied and pasted a post about salaries form another thread on this forum. Read my post carefully. The salary number are realistic, and they match my own observation.

I know a Mexican who is running a sheetrock-laying business, hires a few other guys (and a few illegals as well), and has netted 150K last year. Note that the last year we had housing crisis, which put a big dent in this income.

I know personal trainers who charge $60 per hour.

Can't tell you precisely how big of paychecks the engineers in my area bring home, but it seems to me like it's north of 100K easily.

Cops make good money too, they get excellent benefits, get retire early with generous pensions, and you get to carry a gun. Google their salaries for yourself, they are public domain methinks.

If you join army right after highschool, you can serve until you are 33, get honorable discharge, get lifetime pension and medical benefits for you and your family, and then be virtually guaranteed a cushy government job with excellent benefits and 35 hour workweek with next to no responsibility and great job security.

Note that I am talking about folks who did NOT have to endure a grueling decade of postgraduate education and tons of debt.

Note that I didn't even mention law, business, banking etc.

To bottom line: there are many careers out there, many of them overlooked, and too 'lowly' for snotty premeds, which will blow medicine in terms of return of investment.

It's harsh truth for you premeds. And for me, too.

 

[circulus vitios]

dude,

I've copied and pasted a post about salaries form another thread on this forum. Read my post carefully. The salary number are realistic, and they match my own observation.

I know a Mexican who is running a sheetrock-laying business, hires a few other guys (and a few illegals as well), and has netted 150K last year. Note that the last year we had housing crisis, which put a big dent in this income.

I know personal trainers who charge $60 per hour.

Can't tell you precisely how big of paychecks the engineers in my area bring home, but it seems to me like it's north of 100K easily.

Cops make good money too, they get excellent benefits, get retire early with generous pensions, and you get to carry a gun. Google their salaries for yourself, they are public domain methinks.

If you join army right after highschool, you can serve until you are 33, get honorable discharge, get lifetime pension and medical benefits for you and your family, and then be virtually guaranteed a cushy government job with excellent benefits and 35 hour workweek with next to no responsibility and great job security.

Note that I am talking about folks who did NOT have to endure a grueling decade of postgraduate education and tons of debt.

Note that I didn't even mention law, business, banking etc.

To bottom line: there are many careers out there, many of them overlooked, and too 'lowly' for snotty premeds, which will blow medicine in terms of return of investment.

It's harsh truth for you premeds. And for me, too.

You take the best case scenario for non-medicine jobs and compare them to the worst case scenario for medicine jobs. What a useful comparison.

 

[Nilf]

You take the best case scenario for non-medicine jobs and compare them to the worst case scenario for medicine jobs. What a useful comparison.

No dude, these are not the best case scenarios. Those are people I know.
And they achieved that with fraction of the effort, sweat, tears and blood (literally and in that order) that I had to put up with. For you this is anegdote,for me this is reality.

Go around... talk to people, make friends with them, find out how much they make. You might be surprised by what you find out.

Here is another example of cops salary:

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/brookline/2010/08/police_dominate_brooklines_top.html

Highlights from the link:
Among the police salaries, Patrol Officer Kevin Sullivan received $180,431 for the year, with his base pay of about $59,000 bumped up by more than $55,000 from overtime, more than $52,000 from working police details, and about $14,000 from his Quinn Bill education-incentive bonus.

According to Brookline's payroll records, 147 employees in municipal or school district positions made more than $100,000 for the fiscal year.



Now, you are going to argue that this is the best case scenario... I can answer that IF I PUT AS MUCH EFFORT INTO BECOMING A GODDAMN COP AS I DID TO BECOME A TRIPLE BOARD CERTIFIED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL, I AM DAMN SURE THAT I WOULD MAKE THE BEST CASE SCENARIO.

Do you realize how ridiculous your argument is? You are arguing cops vs doctors...

 

[circulus vitios]

No dude, these are not the best case scenarios. Those are people I know.
And they achieved that with fraction of the effort, sweat, tears and blood (literally and in that order) that I had to put up with. For you this is anegdote,for me this is reality.

Go around... talk to people, make friends with them, find out how much they make. You might be surprised by what you find out.

Here is another example of cops salary:

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/brookline/2010/08/police_dominate_brooklines_top.html

Highlights from the link:
Among the police salaries, Patrol Officer Kevin Sullivan received $180,431 for the year, with his base pay of about $59,000 bumped up by more than $55,000 from overtime, more than $52,000 from working police details, and about $14,000 from his Quinn Bill education-incentive bonus.

According to Brookline's payroll records, 147 employees in municipal or school district positions made more than $100,000 for the fiscal year.



Now, you are going to argue that this is the best case scenario... I can answer that IF I PUT AS MUCH EFFORT INTO BECOMING A GODDAMN COP AS I DID TO BECOME A TRIPLE BOARD CERTIFIED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL, I AM DAMN SURE THAT I WOULD MAKE THE BEST CASE SCENARIO.

Do you realize how ridiculous your argument is? You are arguing cops vs doctors...

Patrol Office Kevin Sullivan is a department patrol commander. http://www.salisburypolice.com/personnel.html He's been on the force since 1977. His salary probably represents the upper 1% of all police salaries.

Police and sheriff's patrol officers had median annual wages of $51,410 in May 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $38,850 and $64,940. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $30,070, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $79,680. Median annual wages were $46,620 in Federal Government, $57,270 in State government, $51,020 in local government and $43,350 in educational services.

So much for "blood, sweat, and tears" while he risks being shot by crazed crackheads. Have you ever had a real job in your life?

 

[BadHorse]

No dude, these are not the best case scenarios. Those are people I know.
And they achieved that with fraction of the effort, sweat, tears and blood (literally and in that order) that I had to put up with. For you this is anegdote,for me this is reality.

Go around... talk to people, make friends with them, find out how much they make. You might be surprised by what you find out.

Here is another example of cops salary:

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/brookline/2010/08/police_dominate_brooklines_top.html

Highlights from the link:
Among the police salaries, Patrol Officer Kevin Sullivan received $180,431 for the year, with his base pay of about $59,000 bumped up by more than $55,000 from overtime, more than $52,000 from working police details, and about $14,000 from his Quinn Bill education-incentive bonus.

According to Brookline’s payroll records, 147 employees in municipal or school district positions made more than $100,000 for the fiscal year.



Now, you are going to argue that this is the best case scenario... I can answer that IF I PUT AS MUCH EFFORT INTO BECOMING A GODDAMN COP AS I DID TO BECOME A TRIPLE BOARD CERTIFIED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL, I AM DAMN SURE THAT I WOULD MAKE THE BEST CASE SCENARIO.

Do you realize how ridiculous your argument is? You are arguing cops vs doctors...

I'm going to start off by saying money is a ridiculous reason to go into medicine. Nilf is absolutely right for saying that the effort/income ratio is pitiful for the average doctor, residents are barely pulling minimum wage if you work it out and board certified physicians make less on a per hour basis than many, many professions. The only thing that could possible make it worth it is a passion for what you are doing.

If you seek, exclusively, to maximize profit and minimize hours it should be obvious that medicine is not the right profession for you.

If you're set on maximizing salary and reducing long-term effort, a job in finance might be perfect for you. If you manage to make it in through the absurdly selective process, if you maintain perfect grades for all four years (whoever said we all had 4.0s freshman year is right, let me tell you as one of the few who maintained it, it was not easy), get all the right internships and pass the obscene and infamous interviews, then you will work until you are broken for a few years and then you will retire. If you want something easier (and who could blame you) you can try your luck in the business world, but don't be fooled by shiny statistics and anecdotes of people living the dream, the current climate sucks, it's tough for vets to find jobs and you either have you come up with a great idea or get really lucky to find a job paying what you want.

If I were you, with your twisted and naive ideas in tact, I would switch majors to computer science. Programmers are always in demand and that's only going to increase, starting salaries are high and if you're innovative and clever you can rise fast.

I do think that you should reevaluate your position on your profession. No matter what, a huge portion of your life is going to be dedicated to work, and if you don't enjoy it, it follows that a huge portion of your life is going to suck.

If you need evidence that money doesn't buy happiness just look at Nilf. He's raking it in in the primest of specialties, working normal hours and still complaining loudly about how awful he has it. He thinks that if he had pursued some other path for which he holds no passion, some easier path, things would somehow be different. Does he really think he'd be working any less as an investment banker on wall street, where they are known to work hours residency-style hours until they retire? Does he really believe that his effort/salary ratio would be better if he were Patrol Officer Kevin Sullivan, the highest paid officer in an exceedingly wealthy town- or does he know how many extra work hours would warrant $55,000 of overtime pay? Does he think no cop has ever complained about his job? The thing is, if you like your job, you don't complain. Nilf got stuck doing something he hates. Don't make the same mistake.

 

[hockeyhy]

The thing that always attracted me to finance is the fact that you'll have money to spend at 22.

 

[circulus vitios]

The thing that always attracted me to finance is the fact that you'll have money to spend at 22.

It depends on which field in finance. Good luck spending your investment banking money when you're working 6 days a week for 14 hours a day.

 

[Nilf]

Patrol Office Kevin Sullivan is a department patrol commander. http://www.salisburypolice.com/personnel.html He's been on the force since 1977. His salary probably represents the upper 1% of all police salaries.


So much for "blood, sweat, and tears" while he risks being shot by crazed crackheads. Have you ever had a real job in your life?

Yes, I have had a real job.

I have also been on retroviral therapy once after I cut myself (blood) with a contaminated blade, and the patient refused to have HIV test. Retrovirals: ou know, the stuff that junkies take when they get AIDS. They make you nauseous. But the best part was waiting for several weeks until you are ready to get tested for HIV, not knowing if you are going to become seropositive... fun fun fun.

Yes, I have cried more than once during medschool and residency (tears). Being away from my girlfriend, family and friends, studying my ass off and failing, being yelled at for closing my eyes during rounds after being up whole night. You will cry too... I dont' care how tough you THINK you are...

Occasionally I had to hoist overweighed patients on and off the bed. (sweat). Once I was holding up a belly of pregnant, smelly obese woman for 1 hour to get better fetal heart monitoring results .

Have you been to Brookline, MA? I have. That's where most of Harvard med faculty live. No crackheads there. According to wikipedia, according to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household was $82,496. The median income for a family was $120,933. Officer Kevin Sullivan is surely enjoying his steady salary and relaxing job. After all, his income puts him squarely among the doctors who live in Brookline.

 

[altruism101]

Based on your personality, I would recommend business. You seem very concerned about the amount of money 'make after your education and medical school is well known for the extensive debt incurred after graduating. Evaluate your priorities and choose a career which most fits your goals. This forum probably is not the best place to seek advice due to presence of trolls and/or egotistical detractors. You should speak with a career counselor, your family and friends for optimal advice.

 

[Nilf]

I'm going to start off by saying money is a ridiculous reason to go into medicine. Nilf is absolutely right for saying that the effort/income ratio is pitiful for the average doctor, residents are barely pulling minimum wage if you work it out and board certified physicians make less on a per hour basis than many, many professions. The only thing that could possible make it worth it is a passion for what you are doing.

If you seek, exclusively, to maximize profit and minimize hours it should be obvious that medicine is not the right profession for you.

THIS.

Don't get me wrong... I know there is a VERY SELECT MINORITY of premeds out there who are truly selfless AND they understand what they are getting into. Overwhelming majority is not.

And also... I am very happy about my current job. It's very interesting, hours are good and pay is excellent. I just don't think it was worth all the effort and sacrifices.

As you stated correctly, effort/income ratio for doctors way higher than any career I think of, except scientists maybe.

 

[BadHorse]

THIS.

Don't get me wrong... I know there is a VERY SELECT MINORITY of premeds out there who are truly selfless AND they understand what they are getting into. Overwhelming majority is not.

And also... I am very happy about my current job. It's very interesting, hours are good and pay is excellent. I just don't think it was worth all the effort and sacrifices.

As you stated correctly, effort/income ratio for doctors way higher than any career I think of, except scientists maybe.

Ah, glad to hear you're enjoying your job, sorry if I got the wrong impression. I think pretty much everyone who has responded is on the same page about not going into medicine for money.