It depends on your specialty, and it depends on how you define "lifestyle". Are you talking money? Job satisfaction? Stress? Free time?
Having done a 1-year hospital residency, I can tell you that residency absolutely sucks. If you're in a surgical specialty, expect to work MORE than the legally-allowed 80-hour work week. But that's just for the duration of your residency. Being in practice is easier.
As far as stress goes, it can vary so much that I won't try to address it here. Keep in mind, though, that there's academic medicine and then there's private practice. Two different entities with different stresses. Just remember that some specialties are tougher than others and require more of your time. OBGYN, for example, is one I'd never consider. Rumor has it that they get sued on average once every four years. That's stressful! Some specialties require more hospital call than others. That can be a major stress too.
As far as money goes, generally the surgical specialties make more, with dermatology being the notable exception. Primary care medicine (e.g. family, internal, pediatrics etc.) doesn't pay like it used to, it seems. Look it up on the web. The information is there.
Medicine is such a broad profession. Each specialty is different. Moreover, should you end up in private practice, it would be like running any other business--it could thrive, or it could fail. Typically though, healthcare practices succeed. How much they succeed can also vary with different circumstances. Generally though, physicians live good lives, make very good money, and are happy.
Then, on the other hand, there's dentistry. As a dentist I work 4 days a week and make well over $100k. The owner of the practice, who's almost 60, works 3 days a week and makes over $300k. If a nice, easygoing lifestyle is what you seek, dentistry's the profession of choice! The downsides to dentistry, however, are numerous but trivial if you're able to overlook them.
golfboy said:
From a distance, it seems like doctors have a nice life. How many people know what it's really like behind the curtains? Is the lifestyle enjoyable? All the money in the world doesn't mean jack if you hate your job.
I think this is a fundamental question that most pre-meds don't really consider, and i'm hoping that some of you could help me to answer that for myself (and yourself) as well.
How about the lifestyle of the md/phd, etc?