Is becoming an orthopedic surgeon worth it financially?

[xnaeco]

Given that the median starting salary for orthopedic surgeons is around 300k, I was wondering if becoming an ortho surgeon was worth it financially in respects to paying off student loans and other debt aquired in residency/med school. I'm looking for answers from orthopedic surgeons who have been working for 10+ years post-residency.

Also, how hard would you say your entire "student" career was, including getting into the field of ortho? Was it difficult? Extremely competitive? Etc.

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[OneTripAcross]

Given that the median starting salary for orthopedic surgeons is around 300k, I was wondering if becoming an ortho surgeon was worth it financially in respects to paying off student loans and other debt aquired in residency/med school. I'm looking for answers from orthopedic surgeons who have been working for 10+ years post-residency.

Also, how hard would you say your entire "student" career was, including getting into the field of ortho? Was it difficult? Extremely competitive? Etc.

Just an intern here. But that quoted starting salary seems a bit low to me. Ortho pays well, 400+k median in the last medscape survey. And when I was on auditions the docs who were candid about money all made 600k and up. Some were 5-10 years out.

The thought that you should pursue what you love should apply to a point. After I did my ortho rotation all other areas of medicine took a back seat. It was a no brainer and I never looked back. I would suggest waiting for this type of realization before thinking about the money or lifestyle. If you never get that feeling then maybe look into that kind of stuff.

 

[PatsyStone]

This post showed up in the residency forum section, and given my lack of any experience related to ortho (I'm doing derm), I have a few general thoughts.

I'm assuming you posted this because you are a pre-med who is unsure if med school is worth the cost, and understandably, you're trying to gather as much info as possible. First, although people put derm on a pedestal, ortho and ENT are often just as competitive. The point of this is that you should not enter med school with the mindset of ortho-or-bust. I know a lot of guys in my class (and in previous years) who wanted ortho but didn't get it. I always cringe when I meet people who tell me that they only want to do derm because it's a difficult road, and even if you cross all your t's, there is no guarantee. Medical school is a huge financial and time commitment, and you need to make sure you would be happy doing something other than ortho . . . which is difficult to determine because you likely have limited exposure to medicine, and even if you do, it was probably via shadowing, which is often not a realistic representation of what your day-to-day activities are. Deciding to go to med school is not easy, and my best advice to you is look for older threads made by people who were on the fence about med school. Good luck!

 

[blaqmamba]

Let me tell you one thing. If you're going into medicine for the money, DON'T DO IT. It's not worth the financial sacrifices, and definitely not worth the stress associated with medical school/medicine if you're only doing it for money. Make sure you know why you're going into medicine. Medicine is not an avenue to job security anymore, and with more pay cuts each year, docs aren't making nearly what they used to. Just my $0.2

 

[Sam212]

Given that the median starting salary for orthopedic surgeons is around 300k, I was wondering if becoming an ortho surgeon was worth it financially in respects to paying off student loans and other debt aquired in residency/med school. I'm looking for answers from orthopedic surgeons who have been working for 10+ years post-residency.

Also, how hard would you say your entire "student" career was, including getting into the field of ortho? Was it difficult? Extremely competitive? Etc.

Depends what financially worth it means to you. If you're looking to become filthy rich by doing Ortho, I am afraid you'll be disappointed. However in medicine, Ortho does as well as anyone else, if not better. But don't pursue it for the money or you'll be sorry IMO.

Most people in Ortho love what they do, so I think it'll be a resounding yes that pursuing Ortho was definitely worth it.