How much does the AAMC profit?

[Arbor Vitae]

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Anybody ever wonder how much profit the AAMC earns each year. They must not have that many employees so low overhead costs. If you just look at application fees alone saying each applicant spends on average $500 and 40,000 apply, then that's $20 million right there. It definitely doesn't cost close to $20 million to forward apps to schools.

 

[bigloley]

Anybody ever wonder how much profit the AAMC earns each year. They must not have that many employees so low overhead costs. If you just look at application fees alone saying each applicant spends on average $500 and 40,000 apply, then that's $20 million right there. It definitely doesn't cost close to $20 million to forward apps to schools.

They also administer the MCAT so they have the fees associated with that.

However, the AAMC is a non-profit organization. We can assume that all those fees go somewhere

 

[tiedyeddog]

It's a non-profit. Like churches. Don't question it. (not srs) 😎

 

[Arbor Vitae]

Yeah, but where? There has to be something shady going on. If you factor app fees with mcat fees, and the cost of what they actually do there, there is going to be a lot of extra cash at the end of the day. AAMC may be "non-profit" but I bet there are a bunch of "paid employees" taking home some hefty salaries for essentially doing nothing. You can call any company non-profit if you're paying off all the profits to individual employees.

 

[tiedyeddog]

Yeah, but where? There has to be something shady going on. If you factor app fees with mcat fees, and the cost of what they actually do there, there is going to be a lot of extra cash at the end of the day. AAMC may be "non-profit" but I bet there are a bunch of "paid employees" taking home some hefty salaries for essentially doing nothing. You can call any company non-profit if you're paying off all the profits to individual employees.

I honestly have no idea what a company or group has to do to be "non-profit". Obviously, big non-profits, like Komen, have CEOs that make big salaries....

 

[bigloley]

Yeah, but where? There has to be something shady going on. If you factor app fees with mcat fees, and the cost of what they actually do there, there is going to be a lot of extra cash at the end of the day. AAMC may be "non-profit" but I bet there are a bunch of "paid employees" taking home some hefty salaries for essentially doing nothing. You can call any company non-profit if you're paying off all the profits to individual employees.

You could be right but they also have a lot of other costs. Organizing the medical school admissions process is quite costly, especially verifying every single transcript, LOR, etc. from applicants. The LCME is also sponsored by the AAMC - so they fund the stringent accreditation process.

 

[Arbor Vitae]

I honestly have no idea what a company or group has to do to be "non-profit". Obviously, big non-profits, like Komen, have CEOs that make big salaries....

Yeah, what's the difference? Individuals are still profiting. How do I work for the AAMC?

 

[ppfizenm]

I honestly have no idea what a company or group has to do to be "non-profit". Obviously, big non-profits, like Komen, have CEOs that make big salaries....

the profit generated cannot be distributed to employees/bosses/ect it has to be used for preservation/plans/expansion

This doesn't mean employees are not paid a salary.

 

[Tots]

Anybody ever wonder how much profit the AAMC earns each year. They must not have that many employees so low overhead costs. If you just look at application fees alone saying each applicant spends on average $500 and 40,000 apply, then that's $20 million right there. It definitely doesn't cost close to $20 million to forward apps to schools.

I doubt the AAMC is rolling in cash. First, not everyone pays 500$ or more since some people end up with FAP. They have to pay people to verify 40,000 transcripts in a relatively short amount of time. A lot of their money must go to IT - securely storing and distributing 40,000 applications seems like no simple task. We know they have people who organize and sort all the application data and then publish it for us - that's got to be some of the budget(though it might be folded in with their other non-application data and analysis work). Also the AAMC is a lot more than AMCAS so who knows if some of the application fee is going to support other programs put on by the AAMC.

 

[NickNaylor]

In this thread, people don't understand what a non-profit is.

 

[b-real]

The AAMC also controls ERAS, the residency app service.

 

[Local Native]

If more people knew that the NFL is a non-profit organization then you'd understand how much of a joke that classification really is.

 

[235788]

people still get paid in a non-profit.

 

[CalDM09]

Doesn't the AAMC do a lot of lobbying for medical education? I assume that takes up some of the excess funds

 

[kpcrew]

Yup all they do is forward your app to school and rake in the money. It's not as if they provide a good service that helps consolidate the application process or have people check your grades to make sure you're not lying or run maintenance for servers that hold all that information or have offices with phone calls and computers for answering questions that applicants have or record data that people are interested in such as acceptance rates or provide resources that can educate people that desire to attend medical school or okay I'm tired but there's probably more stuff that they do. Also, 20 employees making about $50,000 a year is one million dollars without counting benefits like medical insurance. They run this service nationwide.

 

[235788]

Yup all they do is forward your app to school and rake in the money. It's not as if they provide a good service that helps consolidate the application process or have people check your grades to make sure you're not lying or run maintenance for servers that hold all that information or have offices with phone calls and computers for answering questions that applicants have or record data that people are interested in such as acceptance rates or provide resources that can educate people that desire to attend medical school or okay I'm tired but there's probably more stuff that they do. Also, 20 employees making about $50,000 a year is one million dollars without counting benefits like medical insurance. They run this service nationwide.

their employees are not worth 50k/year! more like 30k. Its all computers - thus you need like 4-5 IT people and then the higher ups. Then you pay people to q-bank mcat questions (20k/year for the couple of weekends they spend doing that).

Some dude is making 800k/year + bonuses. He's currently in the caribbean, sailing his great yacht the "45T"

 

[ppfizenm]

their employees are not worth 50k/year! more like 30k. Its all computers - thus you need like 4-5 IT people and then the higher ups.

Some dude is making 800k/year + bonuses. He's currently in the caribbean, sailing his great yacht the "45T"

nonprofits

 

[235788]

nonprofits

as forementioned, the NFL is "non-profit."


These types of non-profits are much different than more traditional non-profits. Susan G Komen, etc. the mores more charity focused.

 

[ppfizenm]

as forementioned, the NFL is "non-profit."


These types of non-profits are much different than more traditional non-profits. Susan G Komen, etc. the mores more charity focused.

Susan G Komen sues companies/corporations/other charities for using the phrase "for the cure" using money they take in through charitable donations.

 

[235788]

Susan G Komen sues companies/corporations/other charities for using the phrase "for the cure" using money they take in through charitable donations.

lol yes another great scam of our times. There is a really good documentary coming out about them (or maybe it has come out already)

I don't think any type of magnifying glass is on AMCAS, because few people will know what it is to begin with. I would guarantee, whomever is on top is really raking it in. How could the public be outraged if they were? Its not like its a front for a charity or anything.

 

[LizzyM]

Well, most recently, their surplus was just under $5M on $109M revenue.

They report having 638 employees and paid $56,000,000 in salaries & benefits. That includes physicians and other professionals at the top who are paid $175,000 - $800,000 each.

AMCAS and MCAT are cash cows.

On the other side, they lobby for medical education.

They pay some big bucks to companies for test develpment, test administration, IT services and CBCs.

 

[235788]

Well, most recently, their surplus was just under $5M on $109M revenue.

They report having 638 employees and paid $56,000,000 in salaries & benefits. That includes physicians and other professionals at the top who are paid $175,000 - $800,000 each.

AMCAS and MCAT are cash cows.

On the other side, they lobby for medical education.

They pay some big bucks to companies for test develpment, test administration, IT services and CBCs.

So there are many who are riding around on great vessels in the caribbean! (see above post with picture of yacht)

Sounds like a great mid-career opportunity. Jump ship and get into the standardized testing business, using my "expertise" to ensure exam integrity.

 

[Socrates25]

Yes, the AAMC is a scam. Sure, it costs them some money to run web servers and develop software and control the admissions process but at the end of the day the money they make on application fees more than covers "reasonable" costs they would incur on those items. I doubt that any senior official is pulling down a multimillion dollar per year salary; however I bet they have a "board of directors" who get paid many hundreds of thousands of dollars to meet twice a year in swank hotels and do little more than pontificate on "diversity" and increasing the number of med schools as much as possible to prepare for the "baby boomer doctor shortage."

They publish an annual report on their website that should have budget info in it -- however I'm sure they dont give you enough details to decipher what they are really doing. They could claim to spend 50 million dollars per year on "IT services" which of course is an absurdly inflated number.

Unfortunately medicine has all kinds of robber barons like the AAMC that are prone to develop anytime you have a regulatory body that has monopoly control over the field -- hell the AAMC isnt even the worst example. The specialty boards charge anywhere from $1000 - $3000 for their specialty board exam, and its a ****in scantron or computerized test which doesnt require nearly that level of financial support to develop or administer.

 

[235788]

Yes, the AAMC is a scam. Sure, it costs them some money to run web servers and develop software and control the admissions process but at the end of the day the money they make on application fees more than covers "reasonable" costs they would incur on those items. I doubt that any senior official is pulling down a multimillion dollar per year salary; however I bet they have a "board of directors" who get paid many hundreds of thousands of dollars to meet twice a year in swank hotels and do little more than pontificate on "diversity" and increasing the number of med schools as much as possible to prepare for the "baby boomer doctor shortage."

They publish an annual report on their website that should have budget info in it -- however I'm sure they dont give you enough details to decipher what they are really doing. They could claim to spend 50 million dollars per year on "IT services" which of course is an absurdly inflated number.

Unfortunately medicine has all kinds of robber barons like the AAMC that are prone to develop anytime you have a regulatory body that has monopoly control over the field -- hell the AAMC isnt even the worst example. The specialty boards charge anywhere from $1000 - $3000 for their specialty board exam, and its a ****in scantron or computerized test which doesnt require nearly that level of financial support to develop or administer.

scan-tron....

 

[LizzyM]

Yes, the AAMC is a scam. Sure, it costs them some money to run web servers and develop software and control the admissions process but at the end of the day the money they make on application fees more than covers "reasonable" costs they would incur on those items. I doubt that any senior official is pulling down a multimillion dollar per year salary; however I bet they have a "board of directors" who get paid many hundreds of thousands of dollars to meet twice a year in swank hotels and do little more than pontificate on "diversity" and increasing the number of med schools as much as possible to prepare for the "baby boomer doctor shortage."

They publish an annual report on their website that should have budget info in it -- however I'm sure they dont give you enough details to decipher what they are really doing. They could claim to spend 50 million dollars per year on "IT services" which of course is an absurdly inflated number.

Unfortunately medicine has all kinds of robber barons like the AAMC that are prone to develop anytime you have a regulatory body that has monopoly control over the field -- hell the AAMC isnt even the worst example. The specialty boards charge anywhere from $1000 - $3000 for their specialty board exam, and its a ****in scantron or computerized test which doesnt require nearly that level of financial support to develop or administer.

No board of directors listed in their IRS 990 but I do think that their constituency are the Deans of the 100+ medical schools and they meet in a fancy hotel at least once a year to thing big thoughts and proclaim big ideas.

They drop about $1 M/Yr on IT services. No one is making a multimillion salary but the big cheese, a former medical school dean, is making $800,000+ which seems reasonable given his experience and the fact that DC is an expensive city!

 

[pooghe]

In this thread, people don't understand what a non-profit is.

QFT.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using SDN Mobile

 

[EnergyDrink]

Yup all they do is forward your app to school and rake in the money. It's not as if they provide a good service that helps consolidate the application process or have people check your grades to make sure you're not lying or run maintenance for servers that hold all that information or have offices with phone calls and computers for answering questions that applicants have or record data that people are interested in such as acceptance rates or provide resources that can educate people that desire to attend medical school or okay I'm tired but there's probably more stuff that they do. Also, 20 employees making about $50,000 a year is one million dollars without counting benefits like medical insurance. They run this service nationwide.

Have you ever used AMCAS? They're not doing us any favors. $35 per school so the school can send you their own application and fee.

I understand the MCAT costs money and they spend thousands on each question. I understand the application costs money, it is useful to consolidate and verify everything.

But the $35/school hurts many of us who don't come from wealthy families. It reduces diversity and the quality of doctors applying. They offer FAP for those in need, but there are hundreds in need that don't qualify. I'd be more willing to pay this if all schools pre-screened before secondaries. But with secondaries you're looking at $50-100 per school.

 

[LizzyM]

Have you ever used AMCAS? They're not doing us any favors. $35 per school so the school can send you their own application and fee.

I understand the MCAT costs money and they spend thousands on each question. I understand the application costs money, it is useful to consolidate and verify everything.

But the $35/school hurts many of us who don't come from wealthy families. It reduces diversity and the quality of doctors applying. They offer FAP for those in need, but there are hundreds in need that don't qualify. I'd be more willing to pay this if all schools pre-screened before secondaries. But with secondaries you're looking at $50-100 per school.

Self-screen. Be realistic. Don't apply to schools you wouldn't want to attend (due to geography, etc) and schools whose mission doesn't match your own (particularly schools unfriendly to OOS candidates) as well as those that are "out of your league" based on average gpa and MCAT.

 

[kpcrew]

Have you ever used AMCAS? They're not doing us any favors. $35 per school so the school can send you their own application and fee.

I understand the MCAT costs money and they spend thousands on each question. I understand the application costs money, it is useful to consolidate and verify everything.

But the $35/school hurts many of us who don't come from wealthy families. It reduces diversity and the quality of doctors applying. They offer FAP for those in need, but there are hundreds in need that don't qualify. I'd be more willing to pay this if all schools pre-screened before secondaries. But with secondaries you're looking at $50-100 per school.

Medical school costs anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 a year to attend. If you can't afford $35 to apply to a school...

 

[LizzyM]

Medical school costs anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 a year to attend. If you can't afford $35 to apply to a school...

Successful applicants can almost always find someone who is willing to loan them the big bucks at reasonable interest rates to pay tuition.

Loans are not as available to cover application fees. Furthermore, it is very rare to apply to only one school so it isn't 1 application @ $35 but 15+ applications at fees as high as $100. It is quite easy, I'm told to drop $1,000 on application fees.

 

[Snuke]

Successful applicants can almost always find someone who is willing to loan them the big bucks at reasonable interest rates to pay tuition.

Loans are not as available to cover application fees. Furthermore, it is very rare to apply to only one school so it isn't 1 application @ $35 but 15+ applications at fees as high as $100. It is quite easy, I'm told to drop $1,000 on application fees.

I easily dropped more than $1000 on secondaries alone, and I only applied to 15 schools. Some schools charge $100+, and that doesn't include the initial AMCAS fees to send the primary.

I am not sure how people apply to 20 or more schools. I certainly don't qualify for FAP, but too many more than I did would have been a stretch.

 

[ChiDO]

Here is the IRS Data for the AAMC in 2010. Split into two files due to size.

Page 29 (and 42-43) is my favorite where it lists the top executive pay.

Darrell Kirch, CEO, $800k (https://www.aamc.org/about/leadership/45068/kirch_bio.html)

ERAS: $43m.
AMCAS: $21m
MCAT: $14m
Total: $109m

So if you think about it, there are ~50-60k students applying for medical school (AMCAS), while only 20-30k applying for residency (ERAS), but ERAS has double profits...this is what you have to look forward to. 🙂

 

[MT Headed]

I easily dropped more than $1000 on secondaries alone, and I only applied to 15 schools. Some schools charge $100+, and that doesn't include the initial AMCAS fees to send the primary.

I am not sure how people apply to 20 or more schools. I certainly don't qualify for FAP, but too many more than I did would have been a stretch.

They say you can expect to spend between $5,000 and $10,000 on a medical school application cycle. That matches my own experience, which was on the higher end because I live in a remote area and had to fly to each interview, and to a lesser extent because I have a taste for high end hotels and restaurants when I travel (don't get me started on New Orleans 🙂 ). Primary + secondaries alone cost me ~$2,500.

Of course, I recently computed my medical school tuition/fees as $5000/mo so in the end it's like adding 2 more months to a 45 month experience. It would have been much worse to apply only hal-fassedly, not get accepted this season, and apply again next year. That would have been at least a $120,000 (= 24 months of tuition/fees) mistake.

 

[Arbor Vitae]

QFT.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using SDN Mobile

In this thread people don't realize the NFL is considered "non-profit."

 

[235788]

You were pretty much spot on! Now, you just have to search the yacht registers of the Cayman Islands or Martinique and I'm certain "45T" will be found - I bet it's a Sunseeker or a Viking.

👍

 

[EnergyDrink]

Medical school costs anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 a year to attend. If you can't afford $35 to apply to a school...

I won't belabor the points LizzyM already made, but I'd rather pay $50,000 for tuition than $2,000 for applications.

Keep in mind the diversity of those applying.

 

[kpcrew]

Since when did getting a job become impossible?