When would I start making the real money?

[anonymousername]

I'm a 20 year old junior now. I'll spend an extra semester in UG and hopefully matriculate when I'm 23. I'll graduate med school at 27 and spend approx 3-5 yrs in residency. After I finish my residency I'll be between 30 and 32. I know that the next stage can change depending on specialty but I am unclear about what happens after one finishes residency for most specialty. Questions:

Would I apply for a job at a hospital?
Will i start earning the "big bucks" immediately after residency?
Are sub-specialties competitive? which ones?
Does one earn a good salary by going into a sub-specialty?


This has always bugged me and it seems like to small of an issue to make a thread about but can an MD apply for a specialty as an oral surgeon without having a dds/dmd?



(we really need a random questions thread...)

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[AMEHigh]

I'm a 20 year old junior now. I'll spend an extra semester in UG and hopefully matriculate when I'm 23. I'll graduate med school at 27 and spend approx 3-5 yrs in residency. After I finish my residency I'll be between 30 and 32. I know that the next stage can change depending on specialty but I am unclear about what happens after one finishes residency for most specialty. Questions:

Would I apply for a job at a hospital?
Will i start earning the "big bucks" immediately after residency?
Does one earn a good salary by going into a sub-specialty?



(we really need a random questions thread...)

Doctors work at more places than just hospitals 🙂 But yes after residency you would apply for a job.

Unless you do a fellowship, yes you would start making a typical doctor salary after residency.

I don't know what you mean by a good salary, but I think all doctors make a good specialty, even if you don't sub-specialize. You can be a PCP and make a decent 6 figure salary, which is plenty of money to live on.

 

[loveoforganic]

If you do a fellowship (typically, maybe always? required for subspecialties), you're looking at some more time of sub-attending pay. If you choose not to subspecialize, you'd be looking at attending salary following residency. Exact salary depends on specialty, location, practice, etc. Some subspecialties pay great, and significantly more than non, others don't.

 

[DrYoda]

You'll start making a "doctor's salary" after you finish your training (residency/fellowship). However, you'll probably start at the lower end of the pay scale. Once practicing you then get to concern yourself with working your way up to partner, department chair or whatever else is the top-dog position is in your particular set-up.

 

[NK1Positive]

If you do HPSP you'll start making money right away 😉 I totally wouldnt do it though... I think

 

[Slack3r]

You shouldn't be in it for the money anyway. It's best not to concern yourself with such trifling matters.

 

[milliya]

Doctors work at more places than just hospitals 🙂 But yes after residency you would apply for a job.

Unless you do a fellowship, yes you would start making a typical doctor salary after residency.

I don't know what you mean by a good salary, but I think all doctors make a good specialty, even if you don't sub-specialize. You can be a PCP and make a decent 6 figure salary, which is plenty of money to live on.

Whats a PCP?

If you do HPSP you'll start making money right away 😉 I totally wouldnt do it though... I think

Whats HPSP?

 

[DrYoda]

Whats a PCP?

Primary care practitioner

Whats HPSP?

The medschool version of ROTC, where the military pays your school/living expenses in return for service later.

 

[Contrarian]

You shouldn't be in it for the money anyway. It's best not to concern yourself with such trifling matters.

lol

 

[anonymousername]

Whats a PCP?



Whats HPSP?

kids these days don't want to get their hands dirty....



http://lmgtfy.com/?q=http://www.goo...icial&hs=TBd&q=pcp+medical+wiki&aq=f&oq=&aqi=


http://lmgtfy.com/?q=http://www.goo...-US%3Aofficial&hs=iBd&q=hpsp&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g10

 

[Perrotfish]

Would I apply for a job at a hospital?

Or a group, or open up your own shop yes

Will i start earning the "big bucks" immediately after residency?

Depends on specialty. At the one extreme EM salaries are essentially flat, so that after residency your pay immediately jumps to around the average and stays there for the rest of your life. At the other extreme academic medicine has more of a classic office dynamic, when you start with a lower salary and then see that increase with raises and promotions. Another possibility is if you joina group you might go thorugh some sort of trial period before making partner, so you might have a while of relative poverty before seeing a huge jump.

Are sub-specialties competitive? which ones?

The competitiveness of a subspecialty generally depends on the pay/lifestyle gap between someone who has done the specialty and someone who hasn't. Cardiology, for example, is extremely competitive. The various family medicine fellowships, which with a couple of exceptions don't really change your practice, not so much.

Does one earn a good salary by going into a sub-specialty?

Again, depends on field. IM subspecialists generally earn much more. With FM or the Surgical fields the financial advantages of subspecializings are more debatable. Keep in mind that to get to a subspecialty you need to do a fellowship, which, like residency, isn't very well paid.

 

[anonymousername]

thank you, very helpful

 

[c5212]

thank you, very helpful

Off topic, but to you.

JACK BAUER dominates the world.

 

[Slack3r]

I also wondered something along the same lines. I've seen on here that many attendings work similar hours to residents (perhaps an exaggeration, but I see 65+ thrown around quite a bit), yet I have yet to encounter a physician in private practice that works that much. Is that kind of work-load more characteristic of academic medicine? How does PP compare to academics or large hospital settings?

 

[iMedical]

Does real money even come when after graduate? What about all the debt? Real money does not really come until you are like 40 right? (at your rate)

And wouldn't the fastest way to make money would be to go the cheapest school possible and live frugally for like the first 5-10 years of your life after you graduate?

Also funny question. Do a lot people coming out of residency live with their parent's house initially? Assuming you don't have a spouse that takes care of you.

 

[fahimaz7]

When you graduate, there will be no more "big bucks". A redistribution of reimbursement is coming down the tracks, with a lot of specialties facing a 30-40% reduction in pay, while PCPs will get a slight bump.

 

[Contrarian]

When you graduate, there will be no more "big bucks". A redistribution of reimbursement is coming down the tracks, with a lot of specialties facing a 30-40% reduction in pay, while PCPs will get a slight bump.

30-40% is a huge hit. are you speculating or do you have some real data to suggest this is in the pipeline?

 

[sgtbrushes]

Does real money even come when after graduate? What about all the debt? Real money does not really come until you are like 40 right? (at your rate)

And wouldn't the fastest way to make money would be to go the cheapest school possible and live frugally for like the first 5-10 years of your life after you graduate?

Also funny question. Do a lot people coming out of residency live with their parent's house initially? Assuming you don't have a spouse that takes care of you.

(1)Real money comes after you complete your residency, not after you graduate. Student loans are another bill you will have every month, just like rent, utilities, gas, insurance, food, entertainment, and health insurance.
(2)This is what people do, except for maybe going to the cheapest school.
(3)When you come out of residency, you have completed 4 years of med school and 3-7 years of residency. Most people move out of their parents' house prior to years before completing residency - like before starting med school. You will want to. Even if you have to pay $10,000+ a year in rent, utilities, and insurance.

 

[jvesco22]

When you graduate, there will be no more "big bucks". A redistribution of reimbursement is coming down the tracks, with a lot of specialties facing a 30-40% reduction in pay, while PCPs will get a slight bump.

Thanks CLEO, anything else in our future?

 

[FIREitUP]

Thanks CLEO, anything else in our future?

you're a Libra, aren't you darlin'?

 

[Omar Gooding]

I also wondered something along the same lines. I've seen on here that many attendings work similar hours to residents (perhaps an exaggeration, but I see 65+ thrown around quite a bit), yet I have yet to encounter a physician in private practice that works that much. Is that kind of work-load more characteristic of academic medicine? How does PP compare to academics or large hospital settings?

Actually it's completely up to the physician how much time they want to put in. My dad is in an internal medicine-geriatrics physician in private practice but he averages 100 hours a week, which is more than a resident (this is due mainly to him having the 2nd largest practice in Illinois). But my neighbor is a pediatrician and he probably works 40 hours a week. It's all up to you.

 

[MedMan25]

Actually it's completely up to the physician how much time they want to put in. My dad is in an internal medicine-geriatrics physician in private practice but he averages 100 hours a week, which is more than a resident (this is due mainly to him having the 2nd largest practice in Illinois). But my neighbor is a pediatrician and he probably works 40 hours a week. It's all up to you.

100 hours a week? Wow. Hope he is making some mad scratch with a schedule like that.

 

[Omar Gooding]

Believe me, he is.😀

 

[Contrarian]

100 hrs/week is intense. what's his schedule like?

 

[Omar Gooding]

Wake up around 3:15 am, get to the hospitals (he goes to 3) around 4:30, rounds until 8 am. Heads to the office from 8 am-5 pm. Or if its a Tuesday, he goes to 3 nursing homes where he's medical director at each. After the office, he heads back to the hospitals until 7. Comes home for dinner until 8. Goes back to hospitals until 10 or 11 pm. Once he gets home, the phone rings ALL night long. On the weekends, he usually goes to the hospital both days from about 7-4 (even when he's off call, he's not covered at 2 of the hospitals). It's no way to live.

 

[Contrarian]

rough. I guess he must really like what he's doing though. Not sure I'd be able to function on that little sleep day-in and day-out.

 

[searun]

Wake up around 3:15 am, get to the hospitals (he goes to 3) around 4:30, rounds until 8 am. Heads to the office from 8 am-5 pm. Or if its a Tuesday, he goes to 3 nursing homes where he's medical director at each. After the office, he heads back to the hospitals until 7. Comes home for dinner until 8. Goes back to hospitals until 10 or 11 pm. Once he gets home, the phone rings ALL night long. On the weekends, he usually goes to the hospital both days from about 7-4 (even when he's off call, he's not covered at 2 of the hospitals). It's no way to live.

Wow, your father must have a serious sleep deficit which could shorten his life span. If I were your dad, I would invest all of the money I am earning, buy a large sail boat in San Diego, a good blender for my margaritas, and spend my time watching sunsets and catching good winds in my sails.

 

[Contrarian]

Wow, your father must have a serious sleep deficit which could shorten his life span. If I were your dad, I would invest all of the money I am earning, buy a large sail boat in San Diego, a good blender for my margaritas, and spend my time watching sunsets and catching good winds in my sails.

some people are just born with the ability to run on a few hours of sleep. I doubt many people are like this, but his father might be one of them. I don't think it's something you can train yourself to do.

 

[Omar Gooding]

It's really funny because even though he goes on such little sleep, he hasn't been sick in 25 years and is in perfect health.

 

[randombetch]

It's really funny because even though he goes on such little sleep, he hasn't been sick in 25 years and is in perfect health.

Wow, does he plan on continuing much longer like this? Or is he going to retire rich in his 50s?

 

[Premeddie]

Well, I have something to tell you: you are adopted, because your father is obviously an android, and 95% of androids are sterile.

 

[anonymousername]

Well, I have something to tell you: you are adopted, because your father is obviously an android, and 95% of androids are sterile.

...and the other 5% are off killing terrorists



premeddie, what happens if you actually get into medical school? will you change your name to meddie??

 

[anonymousername]

or when you're a resident, will you change it to reddie?

 

[Premeddie]

hahahaha I might have to. I don't know what I'll call myself if I don't get in at all. Right now I'm just living day by day, like Rambo. Looks like you've chosen a more generally applicable name haha. Do you think Jack Bauer has ever been an android?