Why I’m attending Podiatry School.

[LordofWaffles]

I’m making this thread hoping that the replies are just honest and have a full sense of reality behind them. I just want to share my experience as to why I’ve put down my deposit at NYCPM this fall. A good reply from someone would be to share their experience good or bad leading up to their decision in attending podiatry school.

Ok... you may have noticed i used the word reality before, and its because on these forums you will find that many people are lacking a sense of it. While reading this forum I’ve seen people crying poverty over a 150k salary. That is a fine salary to live a comfortable life, and dont forget your wife or husband will be working too! But thats just it you never hear that because the people who debate salary and is it worth it on here are just not quality people in my opinion and probably end up being pretty ****ty doctors. These people are simply just trolls, dont let them discourage you. I doubt they've ever worked a real back breaking job in their lives. Theyve never met the guy scrapping metal working 2 jobs who sleeps 4 hours a night and never sees his family. And they cry that this career isnt worth it because its only 150k for 40 hours a week. Absolute trash. If you want to be succesful and are ambitious podiatry is a fine field that can give you the tools to achieve that.

I wanted to be an MD, I think if my life was not what it was, if i didnt work my way through college, have to take care of sick family members and drink my early 20s away I wouldve achieved that, but I made mistakes and now that path is unavailable to me. I actually applied to DO school this fall and think i may have had a slight chance but i didnt want to fill out the secondaries because it was a lie to say i wanted to learn about OMT and wanted to perform that procedure. I shadowed someone who was very well known for their OMT. He used to talk to me saying he was gifted and that I should believe in auras and stuff... I really tried to have an open mind towards it, but im sorry thats not medicine thats BS imo, this isnt a scifi netflix show its real life. I decided to look into podiatry.

I ended up shadowing these 2 podiatrists that were very nice, both had families and you could tell they were satisfied with their lives. To contrast the DOs i shadowed were all miserable and told me to look into something else as well as other MDs who worked in the office too. The patient flow in a podiatrist office is just also different. You walk into the room most of the time to perform a procedure vs everytime playing 20 questions with your patients as a generalist would. Thats why pods can see 40-60 patients a day.

In my opinion im very satisfied with my choice on picking a pod school. Worst comes to worst you make 150k a year and that is an honest good living. But you have the chance to be lucky and make upwards of 250k or even more from what Im hearing. You also get to spend your life helping people. You get to be a specialist, which is a much better work environment than being primary care. The mix of patients you see is great in this field too and you even get to practice orthopedics a little too. In my opinion podiatry as a field is getting better theres definitely a lot more exposure than there used to be. People like “thetoebro” are making a name for themselves. He just got a 6 episode series on A&E. Hes a canadian chiropodist, very similar.

For anyone looking into this field or medicine at all... no you arent going to be a millionaire those days are over. I just find it fascinating that on here particulary in the podiatry forum there is really a lot of negative people who are quick to list an alternative career like investment banking or software engineering like nothing at all. And say you can make millions. I dont want to work for greedy people who all they care about is money and pushing crap on people. I want to be a doctor.

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[Weirdy]

With all due respect, you haven't started yet.

I agree that there is a lot of whining here, but I will also say 150k is not that much when you break it down per month AFTER taxes and take into account interest accrued.

Taxes, debt repayment, house payments/rent, car payments, monthly expenses, God forbid you throw kids in the mix or your spouse also has debt even while they work. And this is working at a place that will compensate you fairly.

I came in with the same mindset as you. Stats were too low for MD/DO. Went in knowing the debt burden down to monthly payments. Laid in bed calculating how much I'd have left over per month after taxes, monthly debt payments, rent, car payments, food/misc expenses.

You will work like a dog, You will make more money than you or your parents will have ever made. But it will not be as lucrative or as easy as some MD/DO get away with.

I am not saying you picked the wrong profession. I hope you graduate, do your residency, and keep pushing to make this field better and more respectable.

But I do want you to realize that 150k is not that much money when you get out.

 

[Nowehjose]

I'm trying to make millions as a foot cream salesman on daytime tv.

 

[Shino’s Beetles]

Definitely agree with you Podstudent1340. I will say those complaining about salary are sometimes justified when u consider things like high debt as well as overhead fees and operating expenses, which many of us will go through. I would like to see just a little more optimism from these forums but that’s just me.

 

[josebiwasabi]

Save this post and come back to it in 8 years. Let's see if you feel the same way after you've finished schooling and training and are dealing all the headaches involved with the practice of medicine.

Don't be mistaken, I do not regret my decision to go into podiatric medicine and surgery. I greatly enjoy what I do. But I also think I deserve to be fairly compensated for my time and expertise. You have zero right to say that anyone who cares about salary are "just not quality people in my opinion and probably end up being pretty ****ty doctors."

 

[LordofWaffles]

Save this post and come back to it in 8 years. Let's see if you feel the same way after you've finished schooling and training and are dealing all the headaches involved with the practice of medicine.

Don't be mistaken, I do not regret my decision to go into podiatric medicine and surgery. I greatly enjoy what I do. But I also think I deserve to be fairly compensated for my time and expertise. You have zero right to say that anyone who cares about salary are "just not quality people in my opinion and probably end up being pretty ****ty doctors."

Maybe that was a little out of line... but I honestly dont take it back. Everyone is overworked, tired and hates work man. Welcome to the future. Im not saying its the most fantastic gig in the world, but hey there in nothing wrong with 150k a year. People support their families for less than half that and they are worked worse than dogs. I have almost every right to say what I want. Have you ever worked till your fingers bled? Have you ever physically strained yourself so bad working that you couldnt even stand up the next day? I think that people on here are so out of touch with reality that its sickening. Its irresponsible to tell bright young minds to steer away from a field because of money, because while many of you have great experience working in the field many of you have no experience or have forgotten what its like working at a dead end job and being stuck. I hope i do come back in 8 years to reflect upon this thread, so that I can remember what it felt like to make a good move in my life.

 

[Weirdy]

I think that people on here are so out of touch with reality that its sickening. Its irresponsible to tell bright young minds to steer away from a field because of money, because while many of you have great experience working in the field many of you have no experience or have forgotten what its like working at a dead end job and being stuck. I hope i do come back in 8 years to reflect upon this thread, so that I can remember what it felt like to make a good move in my life.

Look dude, I've got nothing but respect that you made a better choice for yourself and others in your family.

But slow down and get over yourself for a bit. This is not the oppression olympics. You've got your entire life after you graduate to get into pissing contests with the people around who will have NO problem telling you they are better, faster, smarter, richer, meaner.

Some of us HAVE been through what you've been through. We will still come on here and say "Hey here's what you're signing up for. It's not all sunshine and rainbows. If you still want it after you know the good and bad, then welcome to the club."

We do not need to beat our chests before we discuss salary, debt, and return on investment.

 

[josebiwasabi]

You seem to think manual labor as the only type of work that is difficult. Most manual labor jobs are physically challenging but do not require critical thinking. And the decisions that need to be made do not have an immediate impact on another individual's wellbeing.

Medicine takes a tremendous toll on your mental and emotional health.

I have had patients that I have directly cared for die in front of me. I was massaging the heart of a 20 year old male after an open thoracotomy in the trauma bay when the surgeon declared time of death at 2:18am. I have had to tell patients and their family that I cannot save their foot and they need a below knee amputation. I have had to tell a patient that they will never walk independently again. I have had to run a code on a random patient because I was the only physician in that wing of the hospital when the patient became unresponsive. I have had to make the call to bring a patient to the OR in the middle of the night due to worsening infection. I have had elective cases have bad outcomes.

If you want to talk about physical work, try waking up at 4am, working all day, being on call overnight maybe getting 1 or 2 hours of sleep at the hospital, and then working a full day again the next day. Oh and don't forget, what you are doing will directly impact another human beings health.

I am not saying that my work is harder than working until my hands bleed. It's just hard in a different way. In addition, the manual laborer probably isn't concerned about lawsuits from unhappy patients (no matter how frivolous their claim may be). Do they go to bed wondering if it would have been better if they had never cut on that one patient?

You have not had any of these life experiences, while many of us on here have. Although at my core I am the same person, I am a very different person now than who I was prior to my medical education and training.

 

[LordofWaffles]

Haha thats good **** man! I think thats bad ass! See this is the stuff I want to hear. I really didnt mean to offend. I guess I was venting because I actually felt discouraged reading some of the posts on here, and wanted to get all that out of the way first in this forum. What you just described is what I want to do. I just see myself in that role. Im a very empathetic person but I just couldnt see myself doing anything else than being a doctor and thus podiatry is my option. Its why i took to this forum to say screw some of these people and dont feel discouraged, because there really are some trolls on here looking to just do that.

 

[Nowehjose]

Nurses are empathetic. So are social workers, EMTs, firefighters and basically anyone.
-Firefighting is dangerous.
-Social Workers don't get compensated much.
-Emt/Nurses don't get compensated for the work risk.
-Podiatrist don't get compensated as well as MD/DO specialist overall and still have expensive schooling.

You get positives and negatives for each, so don't get upset because people are trying to get students to look at both sides of the picture before spending $160k on something that's not 100% for them. Podiatry isn't for everyone, it's not the hidden gem of medicine. Weirdy said it well, you need experience before you cast all negatives as trolls. We are students/podiatrists here giving examples of how we feel in regards to our profession.

$.02

 

[FutureDPM123]

Podiatry is a top paying profession. Will you make as much as a anesthesiologist? No. Could you make that much and possibly more? With your own practice, sure. In the end, becoming a physician is the only career path I see fit for me. If I thought I would like nursing, or physician assistant, or dentist/dental hygienist, I would have aimed for those. We often think about making a lot of money, but studies have shown happiness plateaus after around $75K. Will you be driving a Lamborghini? Probably not. Could you get a nice used car? Heck yes. Will you buy a mansion? Probably not. Could you afford a nice home in nice neighborhood? Definitely. If I wanted to make a lot of money, I would've gone into business (which we still can by opening our own practice). Remember that often times the people who are more dissatisfied are more vocal about it and you got to take what you read with a grain of salt. There are downsides to every profession, and that's why it's so important to be doing something you love.

You researched the field, saw the average salary, saw the amount of debt, shadowed doctors, and have been fortunate enough to find something you are passionate about.

 

[deleted480308]

I’m making this thread hoping that the replies are just honest and have a full sense of reality behind them. I just want to share my experience as to why I’ve put down my deposit at NYCPM this fall. A good reply from someone would be to share their experience good or bad leading up to their decision in attending podiatry school.

Ok... you may have noticed i used the word reality before, and its because on these forums you will find that many people are lacking a sense of it. While reading this forum I’ve seen people crying poverty over a 150k salary. That is a fine salary to live a comfortable life, and dont forget your wife or husband will be working too! But thats just it you never hear that because the people who debate salary and is it worth it on here are just not quality people in my opinion and probably end up being pretty ****ty doctors. These people are simply just trolls, dont let them discourage you. I doubt they've ever worked a real back breaking job in their lives. Theyve never met the guy scrapping metal working 2 jobs who sleeps 4 hours a night and never sees his family. And they cry that this career isnt worth it because its only 150k for 40 hours a week. Absolute trash. If you want to be succesful and are ambitious podiatry is a fine field that can give you the tools to achieve that.

I wanted to be an MD, I think if my life was not what it was, if i didnt work my way through college, have to take care of sick family members and drink my early 20s away I wouldve achieved that, but I made mistakes and now that path is unavailable to me. I actually applied to DO school this fall and think i may have had a slight chance but i didnt want to fill out the secondaries because it was a lie to say i wanted to learn about OMT and wanted to perform that procedure. I shadowed someone who was very well known for their OMT. He used to talk to me saying he was gifted and that I should believe in auras and stuff... I really tried to have an open mind towards it, but im sorry thats not medicine thats BS imo, this isnt a scifi netflix show its real life. I decided to look into podiatry.

I ended up shadowing these 2 podiatrists that were very nice, both had families and you could tell they were satisfied with their lives. To contrast the DOs i shadowed were all miserable and told me to look into something else as well as other MDs who worked in the office too. The patient flow in a podiatrist office is just also different. You walk into the room most of the time to perform a procedure vs everytime playing 20 questions with your patients as a generalist would. Thats why pods can see 40-60 patients a day.

In my opinion im very satisfied with my choice on picking a pod school. Worst comes to worst you make 150k a year and that is an honest good living. But you have the chance to be lucky and make upwards of 250k or even more from what Im hearing. You also get to spend your life helping people. You get to be a specialist, which is a much better work environment than being primary care. The mix of patients you see is great in this field too and you even get to practice orthopedics a little too. In my opinion podiatry as a field is getting better theres definitely a lot more exposure than there used to be. People like “thetoebro” are making a name for themselves. He just got a 6 episode series on A&E. Hes a canadian chiropodist, very similar.

For anyone looking into this field or medicine at all... no you arent going to be a millionaire those days are over. I just find it fascinating that on here particulary in the podiatry forum there is really a lot of negative people who are quick to list an alternative career like investment banking or software engineering like nothing at all. And say you can make millions. I dont want to work for greedy people who all they care about is money and pushing crap on people. I want to be a doctor.

Come back when it’s time to negotiate salary and tell us how greedy you aren’t

 

[heybrother]

Been wanting to reply to this for awhile, but boards are Tuesday! Consequences be damned.

One of the things you have to escape is all the "salary" talk - yes, we can get guarantees and we may have salaries from a hospital starting out (which is great because you'll approach something like what you deserve from the get go), but ultimately we will all ultimately be creatures of our collections. So all this talk of "I'd be happy with this amount" is silly. You'll perform services that are worth money - E&Ms, procedures (CPTs), dispense products (DME), and perform other professional services. The insurance companies and Medicare and the patients will all pay something - probably less than we deserve for it. And ultimately you'll get to keep some portion of that, but that's really what this will come down to. Getting to keep what should be yours. I had a very brief discussion with a doctor awhile back looking for an associate - he was offering ultimately less than 20% of collections. So consider what busting your butt for this guy would get you - to acquire pay of $200K you would need to have almost $900K in collections. That is a big number and if you were collecting that in any other field in medicine you would likely be keeping significantly more of it. Different perspective - spent some time with a couple of excellent podiatrists - great training, busy clinic, taking call, doing full scope podiatry, many surgeries a month, etc. Theoretically being paid very well (both were well north of 200K). That said, they were employed by a hospital and I would have said they had the worst clinic support/staff of any clinic I ever visited. Stuck in their own clinic doing all sorts of tasks I intend to relegate to nurses so I can see more patients. I thought they'd have been better served with their own clinic where they could get whatever staff they needed and take control of their revenue stream/DME. Yes, there would be consequences potentially and the referral base could become complicated, but ultimately we'll all have to balance the choices we make to get through the day.