Survey for Surgeons or Soon to be surgeons

[ithinkiloveyou]

Please fill out if you have the time!
1. Age:
2. Gender:
3. Marital Status:
4. How many years of schooling did it take you to become a surgeon?
5. What is the minimum undergraduate GPA should a prospective surgeon/med school student should maintain?
6. Estimate the cost of medical school.
7. In your opinion, what are some of the best medical schools?
8. What is the starting salary of a surgeon?
9. What surgical specialties do you recommend?
10. What is the workload for a beginning surgeon? ___ hours per week
11. Why did you chose to become a surgeon?

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[shahkg]

Please fill out if you have the time!
1. Age:
2. Gender:
3. Marital Status:
4. How many years of schooling did it take you to become a surgeon?
5. What is the minimum undergraduate GPA should a prospective surgeon/med school student should maintain?
6. Estimate the cost of medical school.
7. In your opinion, what are some of the best medical schools?
8. What is the starting salary of a surgeon?
9. What surgical specialties do you recommend?
10. What is the workload for a beginning surgeon? ___ hours per week
11. Why did you chose to become a surgeon?

1. 27
2. Male
3. Soon to be engaged
4. 27 yrs
5. As high as you can
6. 100 MILLION Dollars!! Costs are rising each year.
7. The ones you can get into
8. 200k give or take 25k
9. Whatever interests you
10. As many as you want
11. For the chicks

 

[Vincristine]

1. 27
2. Female
3. Married
4. 27 yrs (plus another 5-9)
5. undergrad GPA? Like I have a clue what my undergrad GPA was or should be. I think it's pretty irrelavent
6. I am in debt $190k from undergrad and med school (approx $50k undergrad, $140k med school)
7. Best med schools?! That varies widely. I come from a small school which doesn't necessarily have a great name, but I believe I got a very good education and had much much more clinical/hands-on experience.
8. Enough that I'm not worried about the amount of debt I have.
9. Surgical Specialties? Your favorite one.
10. Workload, ranges depending on what you make of it.
11. Because surgery rocks.

 

[iliketocut]

1. 27
2. female
3. married
4. 20 years (not including residency)
5. not an answerable question..do the best you can
6. $150K
7. again, not answerable. The best ones are the ones you like best.
8. varies: $200K and up
9. ?? There are so many good ones: transplant, surg onc, pediatrics
10. More than other specialties, but situation dependent.
11. I would rephrase this question. For me, it's: Who WOULDN'T choose to be a surgeon? It just doesn't make sense to do anything else

 

[Smurfette]

1. 28
2. F
3. Single
4. been training my whole life but did take one year off after college.
5. Once you are in med school, no one cares
6. tuition 85K, plus living expenses
7. difficult to say; it depends on what characterisitcs you find most important
8. no idea...I am not doing this for the money
9. Personally, I am not a fan of ENT or ortho, but that's just me and my experiences.
10. if you mean a new attending's hours, I have no idea. It would vary depending on practice type
11. I'm a 'do'er, not a thinker.

 

[Furious_D]

most important
8. no idea...I am not doing this for the money

Puh-leeeze....I'm sure if you were getting paid $50k/yr that you would not become a surgeon.

 

[SteadyEddy]

Well honestly, I can't say that I wouldn't. Some of us did go into this profession with intent of helping people. I know Smurfette personally and would likely smack you for such an insensitive statement. To keep in line with the original question...

1. Age: 27
2. Gender: Male
3. Marital Status: Married
4. How many years of schooling did it take you to become a surgeon? 6+2 (Pediatric Surgery)
5. What is the minimum undergraduate GPA should a prospective surgeon/med school student should maintain? It varies. Just do your best
6. Estimate the cost of medical school. 60k
7. In your opinion, what are some of the best medical schools? Probably the oldest ones. Again, this is subjective though and would depend greatly on the perspective.
8. What is the starting salary of a surgeon? 200k and up (an estimate)
9. What surgical specialties do you recommend? Whatever floats your boat.
10. What is the workload for a beginning surgeon? Until the patients are tucked in with!
11. Why did you chose to become a surgeon? Surgeons are the point guards of the hospital. They are basically equipped to handle any situation, and are the middle point for the different specialties. I would echo Vincristine in the fact that surgeons are some damn cool people. Hope this helps

Puh-leeeze....I'm sure if you were getting paid $50k/yr that you would not become a surgeon.

 

[Furious_D]

I know Smurfette personally and would likely smack you for such an insensitive statement...

I'd tolerate your little sissy smack then destroy you with a devastating overhand right!

 

[Smurfette]

I'd tolerate your little sissy smack then destroy you with a devastating overhand right!

You underestimate the strength of the Wisconsin contingent! Them's fightin' words!

...surgery chicks are tough...but it would still be embarrassing for you when I whooped your sorry butt.

Enough of this silliness....

To respond to your original comment: I did not ever factor in salaries when deciding on a specialty. If you don't believe me, that's your problem. I was far more concerned about picking a specialty that I could picture myself doing for years to come, and that I still liked at the end of a long, bad day. When you're going to make decent money regardless of your specialty, being happy with yourself and decisions is worth any other salary difference. Let's face it, making a 'lowly' 90K a year (about the lowest salary I've ever heard of for a practicing MD) is still a damn good standard of living. So I will make more than that a surgeon...that's nice, but I certainly don't NEED another 110+K to live well. The reason physicians make so much money is for their expertise; all those years of schooling and dedication to treating others (among other things of course) is valued highly by the public, and that is reflected in physician wages.

If I was deciding between peds (low pay example) and neurosurgery (high pay example), the fields are so different that money is not a comparison...the length of residency, type of training, practice type and patient type are the important areas of consideration. If you hated kids but pediatricians made 400K and you loved IM but they made, say, 300K, you'd go for peds? What in your life would be so much better by making 400K doing work you find miserable than making 300K and being happy and liking your job? Money doesn't buy happiness IMO.

End of tangent...let's get back to the original thread topic, people!

 

[Foxxy Cleopatra]

Please fill out if you have the time!
1. Age: 27
2. Gender: Female
3. Marital Status: Not married
4. How many years of schooling did it take you to become a surgeon? 4 years undergrad + 4 years medical school + 5 years residency (currently am at the end of my 2nd year of residency)
5. What is the minimum undergraduate GPA should a prospective surgeon/med school student should maintain? Depends- 3.5?
6. Estimate the cost of medical school. I graduated from an in-state medical school in 2003- have $120,000 of medical school debt alone
7. In your opinion, what are some of the best medical schools? The ones that accepted me
8. What is the starting salary of a surgeon? Variable- $150- $200K
9. What surgical specialties do you recommend? Colorectal, plastics
10. What is the workload for a beginning surgeon? First out of residency? 100 hours/week
11. Why did you chose to become a surgeon? Lifestyle! Seriously, I like to see results, like to be the one that can really fix something, like "blood and guts"

 

[tom_jones]

1. 25
2. Male
3. single, dating a couple of flouzies
4. We'll Im in 20th grade now, and residency is 6 years and fellowship is 1-3
5. > 3.3, unless DO
6. 20,000 a year. Alot of money to pay to have the priveledge of being a PA
7. Wherever there is a known person to write you letters. Letters and your school's reputation is more important than > 250 on both steps. Unfortunate, but true.
8. Who cares, I'm rich bitch. Seriously though, I have no idea what different surgeons make. If you're a surgeon you will make enough $ to live comfrotably, beyond that I don't really care.
9. Whatever one you enjoy the most during your intern year.
10. > 80 per week. Program dependant of how much more.
11. There is a certain attitude amomg surgeons that I share. Skilled, hardworking people that still have a personality - unlike a lot of out medicine counterparts, on all accounts

 

[Furious_D]

You underestimate the strength of the Wisconsin contingent! Them's fightin' words!

...surgery chicks are tough...but it would still be embarrassing for you when I whooped your sorry butt.

Whatever. Go gnaw on a hunk of cheese!

 

[Denial]

I am going to be 25 when I get into categorical surgery as i already matched.
I am currently a prelim year but I am surprised that every one in this survey is in their mid 20s as all my cointerns and residents here are either 29 or > 30. I am a FMG and I thought most AMGs are atleast 3o to begin GS as they either did a year of research etc.

 

[SocialistMD]

I like how this "survey" was initially posed as an assignment for an undergrad class...

Denial- I think the average age of US medical school graduates is somewhere between 27 and 28.

 

[forbin]

Please fill out if you have the time!
1. Age:
2. Gender:
3. Marital Status:
4. How many years of schooling did it take you to become a surgeon?
5. What is the minimum undergraduate GPA should a prospective surgeon/med school student should maintain?
6. Estimate the cost of medical school.
7. In your opinion, what are some of the best medical schools?
8. What is the starting salary of a surgeon?
9. What surgical specialties do you recommend?
10. What is the workload for a beginning surgeon? ___ hours per week
11. Why did you chose to become a surgeon?

1. 26
2. Male
3. Single
4. 13 (K-12) + 4 college + 4 med school = 21 years
5. I would say 3.5 to be competitive
6. Private school ~$200,000 including tuition + living expenses
7. Almost all U.S. schools will provide excellent training
8. Resident $40K, Attending $200K
9. ENT
10. Intern 80-90 hr/wk at most places, ENT resident 60-70 hr/wk
11. Because operating is awesome! I chose ENT specifically for the variety of pathology and surgeries, the anatomy of the head + neck, relatively healthy patients (aside from H+N oncology), and the benign lifestyle after residency.

 

[Rony]

I am going to be 25 when I get into categorical surgery as i already matched.
I am currently a prelim year but I am surprised that every one in this survey is in their mid 20s as all my cointerns and residents here are either 29 or > 30. I am a FMG and I thought most AMGs are atleast 3o to begin GS as they either did a year of research etc.

Not entirely. I am 24 and will start GS internship this June as well even though I admit to being on the low extreme. Avg age of grad seniors is more like 26-27.

 

[mddo2b]

Please fill out if you have the time!
1. Age: 31
2. Gender: M
3. Marital Status: single (divorced)
4. How many years of schooling did it take you to become a surgeon? 4 college,4 med-school
5. What is the minimum undergraduate GPA should a prospective surgeon/med school student should maintain?3.5
6. Estimate the cost of medical school.$130,000
7. In your opinion, what are some of the best medical schools?whichever accepts you
8. What is the starting salary of a surgeon? 150,000-200,000
9. What surgical specialties do you recommend?whatever you like
10. What is the workload for a beginning surgeon? 80___ hours per week
11. Why did you chose to become a surgeon? doing is better than calling consults

hope this helps

 

[ithinkiloveyou]

thanks, all

 

[Blade28]

Please fill out if you have the time!
1. Age:
2. Gender:
3. Marital Status:
4. How many years of schooling did it take you to become a surgeon?
5. What is the minimum undergraduate GPA should a prospective surgeon/med school student should maintain?
6. Estimate the cost of medical school.
7. In your opinion, what are some of the best medical schools?
8. What is the starting salary of a surgeon?
9. What surgical specialties do you recommend?
10. What is the workload for a beginning surgeon? ___ hours per week
11. Why did you chose to become a surgeon?

1. 26
2. M
3. Single
4. 4 years undergrad, 4 years med school
5. 3.5
6. Depending on state vs. private, $80k-$160k
7. Irrelevant
8. $150k-$250k
9. Whatever you like
10. As a resident, approximately 80 hr/wk. Later, no limits!
11. I love surgery - can't do anything else!

 

[TheThroat]

1. Age: 30
2. Gender: M
3. Marital Status: Married
4. How many years of schooling did it take you to become a surgeon? 4 years undergrad, 4 year med school, on 4th year of residency
5. What is the minimum undergraduate GPA should a prospective surgeon/med school student should maintain? Probably 3.5, maybe less for DO
6. Estimate the cost of medical school. Instate: 10K/yr, private: 25-30K/yerr
7. In your opinion, what are some of the best medical schools? I liked Baylor, but I am sure that others are nice.
8. What is the starting salary of a surgeon? Oto is around 250K
9. What surgical specialties do you recommend? Oto, baby!
10. What is the workload for a beginning surgeon? _70-80_ hours per week
11. Why did you chose to become a surgeon? Love to cut.

 

[DrDawg]

1. Age: 27
2. Gender: Male
3. Marital Status: engaged
4. How many years of schooling did it take you to become a surgeon?
four years of undergrad, two years of research, four years medical school. I will be starting residency which is 5-7 years.
5. What is the minimum undergraduate GPA should a prospective surgeon/med school student should maintain?
I would say a 3.5 GPA should be enough to get into medical school, but Im six years out know, so who knows
6. Estimate the cost of medical school.
My medical school loan debt is 210K.
7. In your opinion, what are some of the best medical schools?
You can find rankings on US News and world report. In US schools the first two years of school is pretty standard. The clinical years (3 and 4) are the most important. With any US school you will get a solid education
8. What is the starting salary of a surgeon?
Residents typically make between 38K-48k. After that who knows
9. What surgical specialties do you recommend?
All of them
10. What is the workload for a beginning surgeon?
60-100 hours per week
11. Why did you chose to become a surgeon? Surgeons fix problems not manage them. When you leave the hospital most days, you can say I saved a life, and thats cool.

 

[droliver]

1. Age:34
2. Gender: male
3. Marital Status: married with 3 kids
4. How many years of schooling did it take you to become a surgeon? 4 college + 4 med school + 5 years residency + 2 years fellowship #1 + 6 months Fellowship #2 => 15.5 years total
5. What is the minimum undergraduate GPA should a prospective surgeon/med school student should maintain?3.6
6. Estimate the cost of medical school. 60-80K
7. In your opinion, what are some of the best medical schools? Hopkins, Harvard, Duke
8. What is the starting salary of a surgeon? 120-400K depending on specialty & location
9. What surgical specialties do you recommend? Plastic Surgery, Urology
10. What is the workload for a beginning surgeon? 70-80 hours per week
11. Why did you chose to become a surgeon? Beats working for a living

 

[Ergo]

1. Age: 29
2. Gender: Female
3. Marital Status: Single, divorced.
4. How many years of schooling did it take you to become a surgeon?
13 (kindergarden through high school) + 4 undergrad + 5 years working
+ 4 med school.
5. What is the minimum undergraduate GPA should a prospective surgeon/med school student should maintain? Well, 3.0 is rock bottom if you have a 33+ MCAT, 3.3 means decent chances with an average MCAT, 3.5+ no problem.
6. Estimate the cost of medical school. State=10k/yr tuition + 22k living expenses= $130k. Opportunity cost of quitting 6figure salary job = millions.
7. In your opinion, what are some of the best medical schools? Any US med school can get you into a competitive residency.
8. What is the starting salary of a surgeon? 38k residency, 200+ career
9. What surgical specialties do you recommend? Oto, urology, colorectal.
10. What is the workload for a beginning surgeon? 70 hours per week
11. Why did you chose to become a surgeon? Hands on work, real problem solving - action oriented.

 

[Leukocyte]

Money doesn't buy happiness IMO.

Well, I respect your opinion but I have to disagree with this statement.

In a capitalist society, Money is everything. Lets say a Surgeon and a Garbage Man go to a hotel. The Surgeon has only one dollar in his pocket, while the Garbage man has a credit card. There is only one room left in the hotel. Who will get it? Who will be happy at that moment?

Money--->Buy good heath plan--->Health
Money--->Buy good heath club membership/plastic sx--->Beauty
Money--->Can hire ANYBODY TO DO ANYTHING (including your own personal Surgeon)--->Power to have it your way--->Freedom

Money--->Heath+Beauty+Power+Freedom--->Happiness

Surgery is very cool, but Money is cooler (at least for me).

And yes, If I had a 1 Billion dollars, I will drop out of med school and invest it. I just want to live happily with no stress or a boss over my head, thats all.

 

[TheThroat]

The studies re: money and depression have shown that in younger populations there is a direct correlation; meaning that lower income classes have a higher prevalence of depression. However, in older populations, the prevalence of depression is less related to money and more related to other factors: health, social isolation, etc.

In my opinion, lack of money can lead to unhappiness, but the inverse is not necessarily true. Being "rich" does ensure a happy life. I would much rather be happy and look forward to going to work than not having a job and just having tons of money to be bored with.

Everybody's different, though....

 

[DrDawg]

Well, I respect your opinion but I have to disagree with this statement.

In a capitalist society, Money is everything. Lets say a Surgeon and a Garbage Man go to a hotel. The Surgeon has only one dollar in his pocket, while the Garbage man has a credit card. There is only one room left in the hotel. Who will get it? Who will be happy at that moment?

Money--->Buy good heath plan--->Health
Money--->Buy good heath club membership/plastic sx--->Beauty
Money--->Can hire ANYBODY TO DO ANYTHING (including your own personal Surgeon)--->Power to have it your way--->Freedom

Money--->Heath+Beauty+Power+Freedom--->Happiness

Surgery is very cool, but Money is cooler (at least for me).

And yes, If I had a 1 Billion dollars, I will drop out of med school and invest it. I just want to live happily with no stress or a boss over my head, thats all.

There are other careers where you can make a lot more money than you can in Medicine. Why didn't you choose one of them?

 

[Leukocyte]

There are other careers where you can make a lot more money than you can in Medicine. Why didn't you choose one of them?

Well, my friend, the key word here is "didn't". Too late now. I am almost done with med school with a $100,000+ Negative Balance.

If I had the choice, will I do it again. HELL NO. However, on a brighter note, I enjoy helping people. So it is not all bad. Stressfull? Yes. Time consuming? Yes. All bad? No.

 

[TheThroat]

Well, my friend, the key word here is "didn't". Too late now. I am almost done with med school with a $100,000+ Negative Balance.

If I had the choice, will I do it again. HELL NO. However, on a brighter note, I enjoy helping people. So it is not all bad. Stressfull? Yes. Time consuming? Yes. All bad? No.

"MS-3

2006 Match-Debating between:

1) OB/GYN
2) Pediatrics-Cardiology
3) Pathology
4) Psychiatry"

Dude,

Based on you're comments and what you are thinking about going into, you are really conflicted. Here are the median salaries in Houston, TX (large reference city): (based on salary.com)

Path: 206,000
pedi-cards: 231,000
psych: 160,000
ob/gyn: 211,000

If money means everything, you need to go into a higher paying specialty. Now if you can't get into some big bucks things like rads, rad onc, anesthesia, or don't want to put in the hours for surg specialties like ortho, CT surg, or neurosurg, then go with ob/gyn, and make sure you do private practice in a small town in the south, 'cause you can get monster bank in smaller areas. I'm not talking billions, but easily over 500K/year. After 3-4 years of making big cash, then start investing in local stuff: set up a surgicenter, real estate, stocks, etc. Pretty soon you'll be over a mil a year and can retire from this stressful and time-consuming monkey that some of us enjoy doing. Path and psych will never pay that much, and pedi-cards will likely limit you to academic centers, where you'll have to teach and do things that don't make much money. Trust me, stick with surgery (or ob/gyn if thats your bag), and you can retire early.

 

[Leukocyte]

"
Dude,

Based on you're comments and what you are thinking about going into, you are really conflicted. Here are the median salaries in Houston, TX (large reference city): (based on salary.com)

Path: 206,000
pedi-cards: 231,000
psych: 160,000
ob/gyn: 211,000

If money means everything, you need to go into a higher paying specialty. Now if you can't get into some big bucks things like rads, rad onc, anesthesia, or don't want to put in the hours for surg specialties like ortho, CT surg, or neurosurg, then go with ob/gyn, and make sure you do private practice in a small town in the south, 'cause you can get monster bank in smaller areas. I'm not talking billions, but easily over 500K/year. After 3-4 years of making big cash, then start investing in local stuff: set up a surgicenter, real estate, stocks, etc. Pretty soon you'll be over a mil a year and can retire from this stressful and time-consuming monkey that some of us enjoy doing. Path and psych will never pay that much, and pedi-cards will likely limit you to academic centers, where you'll have to teach and do things that don't make much money. Trust me, stick with surgery (or ob/gyn if thats your bag), and you can retire early.

Throat, you are a cool dude. Good people, Good People.

Thanks for the advice!