The truth as I see it about being a Doctor

[trailking]

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Members do not see this ad.

"We all know that aspiring med students
come from families with big bucks so money is not an issue and they live a life
that is both warm and fuzzy."

ABSOLUTELY not true. Your view on everything is a little skewed. Just because your life has been full of mommy and daddy handouts doesnt mean that other people have been chillin and waiting to be a doctor. Some people really want this and put in alot of time and effort to achieve it. Youre clearly not one of these people (as they usually don't think about cost analysis) so I'm sorry if the message is lost on you.

PS- you ever wonder why, after 33 applications, you only got 5 interviews? your numbers and stuff lined up, adcoms just probably knew you were a douche

sorry PRE-MED JCLM.....I'm in and almost out and Gates picked up the bill
and physically I can't douche....how 'bout you

 

[jellybean13]

What an annoying post.

 

[gujuDoc]

Residencies are paid for by Medicare dollars. That's O.K. Public funded medical
education is also O.K. Medical education should cost 8k a year rather than the
24k minimum for public schools. Then the entire debate would become moot.
Medical education in Europe has virtually no tuition costs so the pressing debt issue
is not a factor in the medical cost equation. The crying need for Primary Care specialist is reportedly caused by graduates choosing specialties so they can pay
their medical school loans.

I thought it was MediCAID not MediCARE that pays for residency salaries and programs.

 

[trailking]

MEDICARE pays for residency costs. Apparently its $100,000 per year
per residency. The residents gets about 50% of that amount as salaries
and benefits. MEDICAID pays for the cost of treating patients with limited
or no income
​

 

[avatarftw]

Aha, you forgot to include taxes. That 15K/month is actually 9K net. Thus, that 3K/month is 33% of your income--not an insignificant amount.

3k a month sounds rather small when you're making 15k a month as an IM attending or 20k+ if you're in a competitive field. I understand what you're saying and Medicine is not without its faults. However in the long run medicine provides so many benefits. Of course you'll be pushing back your life by an average of 7 years and work like a slave. But when you think about the fact that your job is in high demand and you do make more money then probably 90% of the country, I think it is worth it. ( Not that I'm advocating going into medicine for money)
So for every fault medicine has I bet you can find faults more faults in other fields. Btw don't think if you're in one of those banking/economics fields you'll have a easy life in money. They work horrible hours and have very little job security.

 

[trailking]

What an annoying post.

It may be annoying and so are the snarky, smarmy retorts. Threads should focus
on debate and discussions rather than sophomoric quips.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

I havn't seen a whole lot of discussion on where it all will put you in the long run, say 10-15- or 20 years down the line.

Possibly because there isn't a medical student (or pre-med) on here who has the slightest idea what anything in any occupation will look like 10-20 years from now.

 

[trailking]

people will still be getting sick, and hopefully demand for services will still exceed
supply of Docs so we'll have a job.

 

[Frazier]

It may be annoying and so are the snarky, smarmy retorts. Threads should focus
on debate and discussions rather than sophomoric quips.

Out of curiosity:

What book were you reading when you first came across the adjective of "smarmy"?

 

[gettheleadout]

Why r font so big

 

[trailking]

Out of curiosity:

What book were you reading when you first came across the adjective of "smarmy"?

I like words starting with S

 

[trailking]

Why r font so big

I just got so excited about the thread after playing video games in mamma's
beasement that I forgot how to format

 

[avatarftw]

The issue isn't about having a job but getting reimbursed an equitable amount for the service provided. Price-fixing is not cool. Market forces are not allowed to work in medicine.

people will still be getting sick, and hopefully demand for services will still exceed
supply of Docs so we'll have a job.

 

[trailking]

The issue isn't about having a job but getting reimbursed an equitable amount for the service provided. Price-fixing is not cool. Market forces are not allowed to work in medicine.

market forces are allowed to work.....you don't have to accept Medicare, Medical
patients or payments from H.M.O's and PPO's or any insurance carriers that sets
a reimbursement max. You can post a price on the door for example...$1000 per hour
for professional services and expect patients to pay cash on delivery. That's
what the tummy tuck and boob lift specialist do.

 

[QofQuimica]

The focus of the thread was initially for folks to relay their "story" with respect to
information, ideas, opinions, suggestions etc. with respect to attending medical
school. A personal vignette so folks who are considering entering the field have
a frame of reference for making an informed and conscious decision. Finances are
a factor along with other elements of the application and selection process. I was
planning to give my own personal "story" covering some of these other topics. I
was hopeful other med students would do the same in the interest of informing the
uninformed so they know the plus and the minuses they will encounter before they
go through the gauntlet. SDN is filled with repetitive questions about how the
system works. I was trying to give my own version and was hopeful that other
med students would provide their story in the public interest. Obviously, the
posts got fixated on the monetary issue. We all know that aspiring med students
come from families with big bucks so money is not an issue and they live a life
that is both warm and fuzzy. Like so much of political life today...let's keep the
public in the dark. I'm done and will stay warm and comfy in my FEMA trailer,
and pay the monthly bill for 3k of student loans, love my work and be happy.
The thread bombed and so be it.....Lets focus on stuff like.....will my 2.0 GPA
and 18 MCAT get me into Harvard Med School.

Cheers

You'd generate a lot better convo if the theme of your OP were clearer. It would *really* help if you would start out by orienting your readers to the fact that you want to discuss the cost of med school and apps, and then explain that you're going to give an anecdote from your own life. I mean, I'm reading that OP going, ok....here's my experience, following your template:

Mid-30s white female. I have a BA from a hippie liberal arts college that you never heard of, plus two graduate degrees from nondescript state schools in two different states, and I never went to a single football game the whole time 'cause I just don't like football much. My numbers were nonexistent for GPA (P/F school) with a 43 MCAT. I had to take the MCAT two weeks late, because a hurricane hit FL the weekend I was supposed to take the MCAT. If you've never been hit by a hurricane before, it's really dark and stormy and the wind blows a lot, especially when it's a big hurricane. My application was drenched with 10+ years of research, which is kind of a good thing, because otherwise it would have been hard to explain to adcoms how I got a PhD in chemistry without doing any chemistry research. My PS was a straightforward explanation of my wanting to go into academic medicine and how I needed an MD to do this, with no effort to be cute or creative. I applied at midnight on June 1 because I am a perfectionist. This is a problem that I've had all my life, you know, and really, how can anyone expect me to overcome a weakness like wanting to be perfect? All that would happen is that I would just keep trying harder not to want to be perfect until I was perfect at not trying to be perfect. I ended up at the perfect med school for me with a perfect full scholarship, which meant that fortunately I did not have to take out any imperfect loans. Yeah, so based on that, I think med school is like, *totally* worth it. All y'all should go. 👍

Is my anecdote useful whatsoever in terms of provoking discussion on the cost of med school, or whether going to med school is worth it? I'm going to go with no. Though I must say, it's a wonderful imitation of what it's like to talk to a manic patient. Anyone here interested in psych? 😀

Oh, and to get to the OP's point, yes, med school is expensive. It gets worse before it gets better. The MCAT is a bargain compared to Step 1. Step 1 is a bargain compared to Step 2. Step 2 is a bargain compared to the board certification exams. Tuition goes up every year. There are schools that have $70,000 cost of attendance, which is just ridiculous. That could end up costing people as much as a cool million before they get it all paid off. Consider yourselves fairly warned, oh premeds. 😉

 

[trailking]

You'd generate a lot better convo if the theme of your OP were clearer. It would *really* help if you would start out by orienting your readers to the fact that you want to discuss the cost of med school and apps, and then explain that you're going to give an anecdote from your own life. I mean, I'm reading that OP going, ok....here's my experience, following your template:

Mid-30s white female. I have a BA from a hippie liberal arts college that you never heard of, plus two graduate degrees from nondescript state schools in two different states, and I never went to a single football game the whole time 'cause I just don't like football much. My numbers were nonexistent for GPA (P/F school) with a 43 MCAT. I had to take the MCAT two weeks late, because a hurricane hit FL the weekend I was supposed to take the MCAT. If you've never been hit by a hurricane before, it's really dark and stormy and the wind blows a lot, especially when it's a big hurricane. My application was drenched with 10+ years of research, which is kind of a good thing, because otherwise it would have been hard to explain to adcoms how I got a PhD in chemistry without doing any chemistry research. My PS was a straightforward explanation of my wanting to go into academic medicine and how I needed an MD to do this, with no effort to be cute or creative. I applied at midnight on June 1 because I am a perfectionist. This is a problem that I've had all my life, you know, and really, how can anyone expect me to overcome a weakness like wanting to be perfect? All that would happen is that I would just keep trying harder not to want to be perfect until I was perfect at not trying to be perfect. I ended up at the perfect med school for me with a perfect full scholarship, which meant that fortunately I did not have to take out any imperfect loans. Yeah, so based on that, I think med school is like, *totally* worth it. All y'all should go. 👍

Is my anecdote useful whatsoever in terms of provoking discussion on the cost of med school, or whether going to med school is worth it? I'm going to go with no. Though I must say, it's a wonderful imitation of what it's like to talk to a manic patient. Anyone here interested in psych? 😀

Oh, and to get to the OP's point, yes, med school is expensive. It gets worse before it gets better. The MCAT is a bargain compared to Step 1. Step 1 is a bargain compared to Step 2. Step 2 is a bargain compared to the board certification exams. Tuition goes up every year. There are schools that have $70,000 cost of attendance, which is just ridiculous. That could end up costing people as much as a cool million before they get it all paid off. Consider yourselves fairly warned, oh premeds. 😉

Now this thread is on track. I was going to delve into the subject further, but I got hit by a barrage of criticism contending that money is not an issue if you want to pursue the MD degree. I merely included the subject of cost because it is an issue, but there are also other topics for which I wanted to bare my soul to provide insider info to the pre-med group. Such subjects as the application and selection process and my experience in the trenches during my pre-clinical years. I'm having formatting problems that needs to be cleared up before I proceed. You're lucky with a
full scholarship, but I'm not and so cost is an issue. Interestingly, the new
med school in Pennsylvania cost 80k per year for out of state students. That's a
$500,000 payback after the repayment freeze is lifted when the first real paycheck
starts coming in. However, as I said before in this thread, I love the work and I can live in a used FEMA trailer and eat Top Ramen. A Zen lifestyle is appealing.