Yes, I Am Doing Medicine For The Money!!!!!

[MinnyGophers]

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Current starting salaries post-residency are more realistically in the volvo/honda range, not mercedes and porsches. Times have changed and entry barriers for setting up practices are higher than the days when the folks you know got in. By the time you are making enough to buy a 75k+ car, you probably will have kids and needing to pay that money in tuition, daycare, etc. Expect comfortable, not extravagant.

I agree. People seem to believe that docs make so much, when really, it's not THAT much... Most docs earn about $100k-$150k per year, but you can just as easily earn that with a phD or in business... nowadays, that's nice, but not luxurious... You won't be able to afford million dollars mansions right out of the bat without smart investing and savings.

Obviously, I'm talking about regular docs, not docs of the tropical variety like brain/plastic surgeons and the likes 😉

 

[MiesVanDerMom]

My dentist, a very good one at that, who has her own practice, drives a beat up 1998 Honda Civic. But on that token, that is what we see. How about when she gets home?!?

But the car a doctor drives has little to do with what kind of doctor they are. If I recall correctly, people of all professions drive Mercedes and other expensive cars.

yes, you understood my post perfectly. i was literally saying the car someone drives determines if they are a good person or not. i was not speaking figuratively. when i see people driving expensive cars, i shoot them. finally someone on SDN understands me 👍

 

[MiesVanDerMom]

As far as "what my doctor drives" comments, don't put too much into that. They know better than bring their Ferrari to work. I personally know of a few doctors that have $300k+ Ferraris and Lamborghinis, but drive a regular pos car to work everyday. They don't even THINK about bringing their nice car to work. My friend's dentist has a 360 Modena ($170k new), but drove his Civic to work. The fact is, you don't know how much money your doctor has in the bank. I doubt you know how they spend their money, too. Everyone makes decisions in thier lives based on opporutnity costs. Would you go through med school and go into debt to make twenty thousand a year? I highly doubt it.

i don't think i have ever posted something on SDN and not had it warped by at least 2 people.

 

[gdawg102]

You also have to take into account that there are many passionate, caring, blah, blah people that make it through medical school but end up not being good doctors. If someone is extremely good at what they do because they are highly motivated (and even if it is mostly by money) then I would rather have them operating on me than some really nice, passionate, caring doctor that just can't do as good of a job. There are so many people who respond to threads such as the OP's and they are trying to sound like Gandhi, but the fact that most of you are replying with the predictable "I'm a saint and thats it" response makes me wonder if you're just saying it to hear yourself say it.

That's true, I don't disagree on that. I would imagine that there are lots of caring cuddly doctors who are bad at what they do. I don't think any person with two brain cells to rub against each other and a beating heart will contest with you on that they would rather have a competent Surgeon who wasn't friendly vs. an incompetent one who was. WHo doesn't want that?! I was answering the question, is it possible to go into medicine with the motivation of only doing it for the money and be a good doctor...and my answer was yes. It is. But there are also bad doctors who get away with it and make money too. I'm not trying to be ghandi, but thank you anyway...You are very enlightening....

 

[xylem29]

Yes, I agree, there are some good doctors out there who only care about money because they are very skilled enough to get away with being good and not caring or showing any kindness to their patients...Then again, there are also bad doctors who have made it through and do it only for the money..like the one I went to two weeks ago who couldn't even find my vein when he was taking my blood. He obviously didn't care that it hurt when he stabbed my arm 5 times with the needle only for me to point out that perhaps my other arm with the more apparent vein would be a better place to draw blood! he just wanted me out of the building so that I can pay my 125 with as little time to spare....Reality bites, some jerks make it in this profession all for the wrong reasons and still enjoy that bmw...ugh...
👎

This will sound cynical on my part - and I may be wrong too - but I've already met a lot of doctors, you know, really important ones, like the head of departments and stuff, and I've noticed that they all have egos.

It's kinda ironic - that the admissions requirements make it look like they only accept the most well rounded, compassionate, and hardworking ppl but I just have this feeling that medicine, due to the way being a "physician" is portrayed in mainstream media (just compare it to dentists), the fact that simply getting into medical school is so competitive, that almost everyone out of 1500 first year life science students want to do "med school", that almost every MSc student in a faculty tied with medicine wants to do "med school", etc, you get the point - even students who go into EMS, pharmacy, physiotherapy, nursing, if they find that their gpa's were amazing - you know, as it's commonly said - why not shoot higher? why not do better? what's "better" or "higher" about medicine/doctor? I dunno - it seems that medicine attracts some of the worst people. If the "premed" atmosphere is so competitive and bad - it's the students that make it that way and it's these same students that get into medical school. The more humble ones who weren't as competitive/power hungry took it a bit easier, got some lower stats, and - since they want to help ppl - are cool with going DO or IMG. The power hunger/ego/greedy types are the ones that usually feel DO or Carribean are somehow inferior and usually criticize going that route. Lastly, the same factors that make radiology so competitive - i.e., students who actually have no interest in rads but who always aim for the top, and thus many just go for it simply b/c it's the highest one can aim for - are the same factors that make med school competitive to get into.

I think it has a lot to do with achievement, the first big achievment is feeling good about yourself b/c you got accepted into a class of 150 out of 2000 applicants. The other big achievement is that you know that as the doctor, you are pretty much at the top of the food chain in the hospital - and as much as ppl keep saying doctors don't make that much money - i can almost garauntee that if doctor salaries were equivalent to highschool teachers - we'd have less students going for med school - let's just face it - there are a rare breed of students who want to help ppl - and the rest believes in the false perceptions of what it means to be a "physician", it's all in our heads - and society maybe - premeds FOR SURE - put medical school on a pedastal.

I'm not trying to slag fellow premeds - because I can tell you that if doctors and getting into med school had the same difficulty of getting into teachers college, same prestige as a highschool biology teacher, and paid the same, I wouldn't have found my way onto SDN. I'm just saying that in a way - certain types of ppl need to go into medicine b/c it's only a certain type that could withstand all the years of training and education.

 

[notdeadyet]

Most docs earn about $100k-$150k per year, but you can just as easily earn that with a phD or in business...

I may be wrong, but I don't think I've ever met anyone in academia making six figures. A PhD can be a lot of fun, but it's one of the most financially risky paths out there.

 

[MinnyGophers]

I may be wrong, but I don't think I've ever met anyone in academia making six figures. A PhD can be a lot of fun, but it's one of the most financially risky paths out there.

Most phDs i know easily make in the six figures, even professors...
However, it really depends on what kind of phD you have, where you end up working, and how long you've been there. Most likely, a chemistry phD or an engineering phD will end up making a lot more than a literature/art history phD...

A phD in the sciences is not too shabby, me think. 😉

 

[notdeadyet]

Most phDs i know easily make in the six figures, even professors...

Wow, the sciences must be a whole 'nother payscale in academia than the one I'm used to.

Overall, the average pay for full professors nationwide is $81K/year with associate professors at $60K. I had no idea there was this large a salary discrepency between liberal arts and science....

 

[Chakshu]

The highest paid prof at U of Toronto last year was an English literature prof., a female. She made 391k and she was on a year's break. I think here in Canada, there isn't that much of a difference b/s social science and science profs.

 

[MinnyGophers]

Wow, the sciences must be a whole 'nother payscale in academia than the one I'm used to.

Overall, the average pay for full professors nationwide is $81K/year with associate professors at $60K. I had no idea there was this large a salary discrepency between liberal arts and science....

I think it really depends on where you teach, how long you've been there, tenure, whether you do research on the side..etc... Science profs have more opportunities to do research/receive grant money...etc... than do non-science ones.

80k/ year is probably the average for profs, but I know some who make more than that.

 

[MinnyGophers]

The highest paid prof at U of Toronto last year was an English literature prof., a female. She made 391k and she was on a year's break. I think here in Canada, there isn't that much of a difference b/s social science and science profs.

391k? In Canadian dollars, right?

 

[Chakshu]

391k? In Canadian dollars, right?

Yeah.

 

[63768]

This is a totally inaccurate way to look at things and will get you laughed out of many circles. A dollar today is worth more than a dollar a year from now. Always.

dude, i know that. i didn't put it correctly. what i meant was whether you were willing to defer money now for money later because that's what all doctors do, maybe not consciously. you're forgoing any current income for a hopefully larger future income.

example: as a healthcare consultant, straight out of college i was offered a consultant position at a starting salary of $60k with the opportunity to move up the ladder quickly since i'd worked there for almost 3 years as a college student. i could be making $60k+ now but i've decided to sacrifice that for the future income of a doctor.

without any confounding factors, current dollars are worth less than future dollars as you said. given the choice between getting $100 today or $100 five years from now, i'd take it today. but when it's a career, there are too many other factors involved that can make current dollars worth less i.e. when you love what you do and are willing to delay gratification.

 

[WatchingWaiting]

I agree. People seem to believe that docs make so much, when really, it's not THAT much... Most docs earn about $100k-$150k per year, but you can just as easily earn that with a phD or in business... nowadays, that's nice, but not luxurious... You won't be able to afford million dollars mansions right out of the bat without smart investing and savings.

Obviously, I'm talking about regular docs, not docs of the tropical variety like brain/plastic surgeons and the likes 😉

Your number is a bit off. Median salary for docs is more like $180K per year, $140-$160K ish for primary care types, and generally $200+ for surgery, procedural IM specialties, gas, rads, rad onc, and a couple of others. Medicine is, in fact, pretty lucrative. Compare M.D. to a Ph.D. in anything outside of engineering. Biology: 6-7 years for the PhD plus 2-4 years of post-doc and only make ~$80-90K at the end of that. PhD in history or humanities, where you'll also do 6-7 years of PhD plus some lame stint as a lecturer for a couple of years, and then get an assistant professor gig at ~$70K/year, where you will then have to work pretty hard for 7 years to convince someone to give you tenure. MBAs or JDs do have low six figure starting salaries, but that means coming out of a top school and working quite hard at a job that isn't very interpersonally satisfying (ie: no six figures for doing constitutional law or public interest law).

In short, medicine is not as lucrative as it once was, but it's one of the few professions where all you have to do is work hard, and with pretty much no luck involved, have (1) high prestige, (2) satisfaction of knowing your job is helping out others, (3) top 5% of income distribution compensation.

 

[Law2Doc]

but when it's a career, there are too many other factors involved that can make current dollars worth less i.e. when you love what you do and are willing to delay gratification.

I think your statement pretty much summarizes why no one should choose such a career primarilly for the money, and thus I would agree. But still think your suggestion that current dollars can ever be "worth less" is a bad way to look at it. Current dollars are worth more than the same amount received later, always. But some aspects of a career are simply worth more than the money, and that is really what you are bargaining for.

 

[deleted106503]

391k? In Canadian dollars, right?

Does it even matter anymore? They're almost a 1:1 basis now, lol!

 

[Haversian Canal]

I think your statement pretty much summarizes why no one should choose such a career primarilly for the money, and thus I would agree. But still think your suggestion that current dollars can ever be "worth less" is a bad way to look at it. Current dollars are worth more than the same amount received later, always. But some aspects of a career are simply worth more than the money, and that is really what you are bargaining for.

😉 😉 thats what i call wisdom 😀

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

Money is the only reason I am going into medicine and it is my TOP PRIORITY. Everything else is secondary for me. I will be spending most of my life studying, and I don't mind. If it wasn't for the money, I think people wouldn't waste their time studying most of their life. People who say that they are ONLY going in it only to help other people are LYING because if you want to do that why don't you just become a priest or something else. That way you won't waste time in helping others. Right?

My best advice to you:
1.) Don't get sued.
2.) Sell out to Pharma.
3.) Sell out to insurance.
4.) Back alley deals with lawyers.
5.) Buy a really expensive MRI/CAT/other stuff combo device and then refer EVERYone to use it.

Money is not the only great thing about medicine, you forgot all about giving physicals to 16-18 year old aspiring cheerleaders.

 

[Haemulon]

i don't think i have ever posted something on SDN and not had it warped by at least 2 people.

Ok. Now I am confused. I have read the car post, and responses, and now your two follow up responses and am still left wondering ... What are you getting at? They did not seem to be intentionally twisting your post. Maybe I'm missing something (is usually the case).

 

[MinnyGophers]

Your number is a bit off. Median salary for docs is more like $180K per year, $140-$160K ish for primary care types, and generally $200+ for surgery, procedural IM specialties, gas, rads, rad onc, and a couple of others. Medicine is, in fact, pretty lucrative. Compare M.D. to a Ph.D. in anything outside of engineering. Biology: 6-7 years for the PhD plus 2-4 years of post-doc and only make ~$80-90K at the end of that. PhD in history or humanities, where you'll also do 6-7 years of PhD plus some lame stint as a lecturer for a couple of years, and then get an assistant professor gig at ~$70K/year, where you will then have to work pretty hard for 7 years to convince someone to give you tenure. MBAs or JDs do have low six figure starting salaries, but that means coming out of a top school and working quite hard at a job that isn't very interpersonally satisfying (ie: no six figures for doing constitutional law or public interest law).

In short, medicine is not as lucrative as it once was, but it's one of the few professions where all you have to do is work hard, and with pretty much no luck involved, have (1) high prestige, (2) satisfaction of knowing your job is helping out others, (3) top 5% of income distribution compensation.

You are indeed right, my numbers were a bit on the lower side.
But like you said, the more you earn, the harder you work. That's obvious. Also, medicine isn't like most jobs where you climb the ladder and do less and less work ( hiring lackeys under you) for more pay, so you do have to work your butt off some 70+ hours /week ( in most specialties) to earn that kind of money. It's definitely not as easy as some make it sound.
You also have malpractice insurance to consider, burn out, lawsuits, risk of killing your patient...etc...

 

[MinnyGophers]

Does it even matter anymore? They're almost a 1:1 basis now, lol!

Lol it converts to ~$350k American dollars.... It's probably not so much for the one getting paid that, but that's still a $40k difference

 

[Testy McAterson]

I may be wrong, but I don't think I've ever met anyone in academia making six figures. A PhD can be a lot of fun, but it's one of the most financially risky paths out there.

mediator judges are where it's at, i tell you what. i was hit by a red light runner last year and the mediator in my civil suit (we met/settled yesterday actually) makes $385/hr. dude made $2695 in the seven hours we met yesterday (eat it, defense suckas). now THAT's good money...

 

[AKPsiMD84]

I think that the OP has some huge ovaries to come out with such a blunt statement. If she wants to go into medicine for money its her issue... time will tell her if she is fit for the job or weed her out appropriately.

I always pictured doctors making more money off of their non-work based income... such as investments (real estate, stocks, funds, etc.) and any business deals (using their money to fund a franchise setup for example)... rather then their hospital 80 hour weeks. Also through their practice which can be set up into a company offering different small-business income opportunities.

 

[Nasrudin]

This will sound cynical on my part - and I may be wrong too - but I've already met a lot of doctors, you know, really important ones, like the head of departments and stuff, and I've noticed that they all have egos.
.....
I'm just saying that in a way - certain types of ppl need to go into medicine b/c it's only a certain type that could withstand all the years of training and education.

I think your assessment is enormously accurate. That said I would actually prefer to be around someone who got satisfaction from the challenge but was focused on making good money that the morally superior types who like to imagine themselves being gloriously crucified in the service of indigent.

To put it another way: Who would you like cover a night shift with as a partner, a crusader bent on saving themselves and others from the forces of darkness or a business guy who understands the virtues of basic customer service but who has a sense of humor? I'll take the company of the latter any day of the week.

I want to help people......Be a teacher. By the time they kid to the ED from a gs wound its almost too late.

I want to do a challenging, personally rewarding, and interesting occupation and make good bank doing it, straight up. I am already trying to think of other ways i can make money while being a physician.

 

[Cirrus83]

Umm...this thread's a year old...

And no I'm not doing it for the money, I'd be joining my compsci friends in attempting dot.com startups. Heh, one of my friends actually managed to create a fairly successful website that he then sold to a larger company...sadly not for millions, but stil, good money 😛 And now he's talking with VCs about his next move while working for a very large and successful software company...

lol, guess I shouldn't have gave up on compsci even though that teacher was a total a-hole. I think I still kinda have a bit of a knack for it (ironically my last job involved coding and scripting in a language based on C). And of course my friend keeps trying to convince me that I should go the dot.com route since it's so "easy" to secure to VC capital, lol.

Err, btw, he's pretty brilliant in terms of what he comes up with and his coding work so don't just assume this is really a viable route for most of us

I do have an idea though, but some a-hole registered the domain.

 

[Law2Doc]

Umm...this thread's a year old...

Agreed. No point replying to a year old thread when someone basically started a similar new one the other day. Let the sleeping dogs lie.

 

[dabiophyz]

Clearly I don't agree with going into medicine for the money. BUT, I never understand why everyone thinks that means that person won't be a good doctor. If he wants to be rich he will have to be a great doctor. In the end isn't the patient getting the best possible care the most important thing? I would rather go to a world renound surgeon who is a greedy dingus than some guy who went into medicine for the right reasons but isn't as skilled. Thoughts?

 

[8744]

On the subject of burning out, I betcha' more people burn out who went into medicine strictly to hep' people than people who went into it for the income. If you guys think that every patient encounter is gong to be a beautiful, low environmental impact, simultaneous orgasm where you will fix the patient's problems you are heading straight for the iceberg of your flooded dreams.

In fact, most patients are not fixable at all. You just kind of tinker a little here or there, maybe take out an organ or two, to keep 'em going until the Reaper gets around to them. The ones who aren't that sick would probably get better by themselves.

Now, I happen to like smelly, disgusting, non-compliant patients who are dropped at our door in extremis but that's just me. A lot of people look around and say, "You know, my entire job description is to interfere with natural selection."

Rejecting Darwin at the net, so to speak.

 

[Sir Buckethead]

Your youth for money is a bad trade.

 

[Kappy1]

Medicine is a great profession when it comes to job securiy and benefits. But if you are looking to make it big you are in the wrong place. Get an MBA or go into real estate. Most physicians who work for a hospital make $200,000-$250,000. In private practice you can make signifgantly more. Managed care has right now taken a big bite out of doctors pay checks and there seems to be no relief in sight. My dad is a specialist working for a hospital and hasn't seen a raise in 10 years. Again in order to make a lot of money in medicine it means seeing a lot of patients in as little time as possible.

 

[MDee]

you want money?


Do business.

 

[etf]

The ceiling for I banking isn't going to be 2.5 times the "regular ppl"s salary, even if the salary is. People go into risky careers because with increased risk comes increased chance of rewards. Some folks have been known to get 2-3 times their salary as a year end bonus in I banking during good years. Regular ppl don't have earning potential substantially higher than their set salary. Similarly physicians also generally have income ceilings, and thanks to insurance company reimbursement policies, some specialties need to do more and more procedures each year to get to those ceilings.

But I agree with the prior poster who suggested the OP is a troll. His thread isn't even as creative as some of the money hungry threads that have come earlier this year. I hope he brings more effort to his future career or he won't be making much bling.

one of the commodities traders that my brother works with earned a salary of $650,000 last year. his year end bonus was $19 million.

 

[foreverLaur]

medicine for the money? HA. if that is your reason you are going to be in for a big disappointment. medicine does not equal money. by the time you graduate and finish residency, you have on average $100,000 or more in loans to pay off and you are 30 years old and just finishing school. someone in a business field probably has $500,000 up in salary on you and their loans paid off.

like said before. i-banking = money. my best friend just graduated with a BS in Accounting and then went a 5th year to get his Masters in Accounting. He's now an i-banker making a nice 6 digit salary straight out of college with barely any loans to pay off.

If you want to pick a career based upon money, go with accounting/finance. You can work in any business field and if you work hard, you'll make a ton of money. At the condo we have on the lake, everyone there is 35, married, kids, huge house, boats, jet skis, plus a $550,000 condo. What do they all do? They are all financial advisors.

Medicine does not equal money. If money is your motivator, you'll be disappointed when you aren't making it until way later in life and all your friends are 10 years ahead of you and because of that you'll hate your job and that isn't fair to the people who depend upon your care.

 

[kdburton]

medicine for the money? HA. if that is your reason you are going to be in for a big disappointment. medicine does not equal money. by the time you graduate and finish residency, you have on average $100,000 or more in loans to pay off and you are 30 years old and just finishing school. someone in a business field probably has $500,000 up in salary on you and their loans paid off.

like said before. i-banking = money. my best friend just graduated with a BS in Accounting and then went a 5th year to get his Masters in Accounting. He's now an i-banker making a nice 6 digit salary straight out of college with barely any loans to pay off.

If you want to pick a career based upon money, go with accounting/finance. You can work in any business field and if you work hard, you'll make a ton of money. At the condo we have on the lake, everyone there is 35, married, kids, huge house, boats, jet skis, plus a $550,000 condo. What do they all do? They are all financial advisors.

Medicine does not equal money. If money is your motivator, you'll be disappointed when you aren't making it until way later in life and all your friends are 10 years ahead of you and because of that you'll hate your job and that isn't fair to the people who depend upon your care.

Your friend is going to get tossed to the side when the next few crops of business students graduate and will work 90hrs/wk for a little over $100,000/year. The thing is that i-banking is not a safe "alternative" career path for anyone to take because it is even more cut-throat than medicine, and in order to make as much as many top-of-their game doctor you'd have to be really good at pitching deals and finding some small companies to lowball. I know plenty of investment bankers and you'd be hard-pressed to be as successful as the average doctor (financially speaking at least) when working as an investment banker; plus you have shi1tty job security. At least medicine is somewhat interesting. If you're going to spend that much time at work because you want to make money then you might as well do it as a doctor where you're not at a desk/on the phone/in front of the computer all day.

 

[physiclas87]

medicine for the money? HA. if that is your reason you are going to be in for a big disappointment. medicine does not equal money. by the time you graduate and finish residency, you have on average $100,000 or more in loans to pay off and you are 30 years old and just finishing school. someone in a business field probably has $500,000 up in salary on you and their loans paid off.

like said before. i-banking = money. my best friend just graduated with a BS in Accounting and then went a 5th year to get his Masters in Accounting. He's now an i-banker making a nice 6 digit salary straight out of college with barely any loans to pay off.

If you want to pick a career based upon money, go with accounting/finance. You can work in any business field and if you work hard, you'll make a ton of money. At the condo we have on the lake, everyone there is 35, married, kids, huge house, boats, jet skis, plus a $550,000 condo. What do they all do? They are all financial advisors.

Medicine does not equal money. If money is your motivator, you'll be disappointed when you aren't making it until way later in life and all your friends are 10 years ahead of you and because of that you'll hate your job and that isn't fair to the people who depend upon your care.

i think i must have read at least 15931538 posts with the same exact content written in slightly different ways. and this one's neither written well or persuasive. 👎

 

[foreverLaur]

Your friend is going to get tossed to the side when the next few crops of business students graduate and will work 90hrs/wk for a little over $100,000/year. The thing is that i-banking is not a safe "alternative" career path for anyone to take because it is even more cut-throat than medicine, and in order to make as much as many top-of-their game doctor you'd have to be really good at pitching deals and finding some small companies to lowball. I know plenty of investment bankers and you'd be hard-pressed to be as successful as the average doctor (financially speaking at least) when working as an investment banker; plus you have shi1tty job security. At least medicine is somewhat interesting. If you're going to spend that much time at work because you want to make money then you might as well do it as a doctor where you're not at a desk/on the phone/in front of the computer all day.

again, depends on interests. i know people who wouldn't pursue medicine if it paid $800,000 a year.

i am currently working in Philadelphia and it was on the news last night that doctors are leaving the state of Pennsylvania because they are actually *losing* money because of the lack of reimbursements from insurance companies and the high cost of malpractice insurance.

the biggest thing i'm trying to stress is that you can't go into medicine for money because it may not be there. depending on the specialty, salary varies. you are 10 years behind a college grad. even a $60,000 a year worker will be up close to $500,000 on you by the time you graduate. malpractice is insanely high. insurance reimbursements are low.

the doctors my mother work for... (allergy & immunology)... their salary has been cut in half just because of all that. it could get a lot worse or it could get better.

i think what people don't realize is that you are 30+ years old by the time you finish residency and begin a real career and you are in massive debt. you do it because you love it. and yes, doctors still do make good salaries (not what it used to be, but still good). you will live a very rich life, it just starts a lot later. you have to sacrifice more than a normal career in the beginning to reap the benefits at the end.

oh and not written well? i have a minor in English because I wrote a 400 pg thesis for Honors and won an award for it. plus i don't sit here and reread it and make sure it is perfect or flows well or has perfect sentences. thats what i do in school. if you can understand it, then it is good enough. And I don't mean to be persuasive... my intent is to present facts based upon doctors I have close relationships with.

 

[Beau Geste]

i think i must have read at least 15931538 posts with the same exact content written in slightly different ways. and this one's neither written well or persuasive. 👎

Especially since physicians live in one-bedroom apartments eating ramen noodles while driving a pinto.

 

[durfen]

See -- you really need to look at the prior threads on this same topic. You are clearly trolling, but not doing it as well as some of the threads that have come before you. I mean, money first, respect second. What's third -- the golfing or the trophy wife?

(Yes I know i'm replying to an old post)

Trophy wife!!!

All jobs suck. Medicine sucks less because you like what you do and you get pretty well compensated for it.

Respect? In America? Yeah right. Patients think we're idiots here. If I wanted respect I'd go to India and work in a rural hospital (don't kid yourself folks, they're actually pretty advanced).

 

[DocEasyCheesy]

Wow the first honest person in here. Everyone says its not about the money but it is. People know if they make it through school and the residencies that their pretty much guarenteed over 100k atleast. Sure we care about the people! But if doctors made 35k a year this site wouldn't exist and nobody would endure the hardships of medical school. Thats a fact, I know a few docs, and they live like Movie stars, but ITS NOT ABOUT THE MONEY< OK😎

 

[foreverLaur]

Wow the first honest person in here. Everyone says its not about the money but it is. People know if they make it through school and the residencies that their pretty much guarenteed over 100k atleast. Sure we care about the people! But if doctors made 35k a year this site wouldn't exist and nobody would endure the hardships of medical school. Thats a fact, I know a few docs, and they live like Movie stars, but ITS NOT ABOUT THE MONEY< OK😎

Doctors do get rewarded for all the time/effort they give and the role they perform. Whether or not it is worth it is up to the individual person. My mom's best friend switched from pre-med to Nurse Practitioner because it would get her a decent salary and she'd only have 2 more years of school vs 4 + residency. She makes about $80,000 a year and still gets to perform a doctor-ish type role. I think this is a more popular idea for women as the women I know still want to be very involved mother's. It gives you the ability to practice medicine with a salary high enough to support yourself and a family on and live nicely and they don't have th extensive schooling... plus in nursing there are a lot more opportunities for part time work.

But again... it is up to the individual person to determine if the final outcome is worth the time/effort/money put into it or if they would be equally as happy or happier going a shorter/cheaper route.

As a woman/future mother, I'm struggling with that very decision. I've wanted to be a doctor since I was 4 years old, but the path to get there and the life you then lead is conflicting with my other goals, such as wanting to be a very involved mother and wanting to get married and be able to travel with my husband before having kids... but wanting to have kids around 30. Can't do both 🙂.

We'll see - still another year until I decide whether or not to take the MCAT!

 

[badasshairday]

I agree. People seem to believe that docs make so much, when really, it's not THAT much... Most docs earn about $100k-$150k per year, but you can just as easily earn that with a phD or in business... nowadays, that's nice, but not luxurious... You won't be able to afford million dollars mansions right out of the bat without smart investing and savings.

Obviously, I'm talking about regular docs, not docs of the tropical variety like brain/plastic surgeons and the likes 😉

I would say its more around 150-200k, which is pretty good coin.

 

[deleted77919]

Especially since physicians live in one-bedroom apartments eating ramen noodles while driving a pinto.

As a med student I eat more Ramen than I should and live in a dorm room that is 11x14. No car either (living in Manhattan and such). The one bedroom apartment and pinto sounds like a significant upgrade to me.

 

[foreverLaur]

I would say its more around 150-200k, which is pretty good coin.

Note website on salary information & training (from AAMC)
http://www.aamc.org/students/cim/specialties.htm

Another thing to keep in mind is compensation by hours worked. There is a well known saying in medicine that 40 hours is part time. They may make twice as much as the average person, but they work twice as long and went to school twice as long. My dad went to college for 4 years for an engineering degree and makes $150,000 (Lockheed Martin).

I don't think salaries compensate for malpractice insurance and such either.

Just going back to the original post. Don't go into medicine just for the money. The money is (usually) a bonus but it can't be #1. If you do, 10 years down the road when you finally fish, are 32 years old and in mega debt you may be jealous of your friends making $60k a year for the past 10 years.

If you truly have a passion for medicine, then it is all worth it.

 

[DocEasyCheesy]

150k-200k, mmmmm sounds good to me. PLus you get chicks. You get alot of hot chicks man. If your not doing it for the love of medicine, then do it for the girls man. It isnt just about the money though, its the title, When a hot girl asks you "So what do you do" replying "I'm a Doctor" closes the deal man. I'll have like 20 chicks living in my mansion while i'm doing the doctor thing during the day.

 

[foreverLaur]

Money is the only reason I am going into medicine and it is my TOP PRIORITY. Everything else is secondary for me. I will be spending most of my life studying, and I don't mind. If it wasn't for the money, I think people wouldn't waste their time studying most of their life. People who say that they are ONLY going in it only to help other people are LYING because if you want to do that why don't you just become a priest or something else. That way you won't waste time in helping others. Right?

Just wanted to throw something out there... people do do medicine just to help. My boyfriend's friend's girlfriend (got it? 😛) got her DO, did her residency, and now is working in Latin America in various third world countries doing medicine. She doesn't get paid. She loves was she does. While it is rare for something to not be enticed by the reputation and prestige and salary of being a doctor, there are some of them out there.

 

[badasshairday]

Note website on salary information & training (from AAMC)
http://www.aamc.org/students/cim/specialties.htm

Another thing to keep in mind is compensation by hours worked. There is a well known saying in medicine that 40 hours is part time. They may make twice as much as the average person, but they work twice as long and went to school twice as long. My dad went to college for 4 years for an engineering degree and makes $150,000 (Lockheed Martin).

I don't think salaries compensate for malpractice insurance and such either.

Just going back to the original post. Don't go into medicine just for the money. The money is (usually) a bonus but it can't be #1. If you do, 10 years down the road when you finally fish, are 32 years old and in mega debt you may be jealous of your friends making $60k a year for the past 10 years.

If you truly have a passion for medicine, then it is all worth it.

Great link. People are always throwing around random numbers and its refreshing to finally see somthing official.

About your father doing the engineering stint, he would be considered a pretty much at the top of engineers with that salary while 150k is around the minimum for a family practictioners. Also job security for an engineer is crap and I am sure he needed to work many many years to work his way up.

That being said, I still believe money is a motivator for medicine but it should not be the sole driving force. You do work long hours etc, but you really want to be happy with what you are doing because all the money in the world isn't going to make you feel better when you are working 60-70 hours a week in a job you don't enjoy.

 

[Maxwell Edison]

But if doctors made 35k a year this site wouldn't exist and nobody would endure the hardships of medical school.

Yet somehow, for the same salary, people still line up to be high school teachers and open themselves up to the abuses of overbearing parents and boogereating prickish adolescents. Marines enlist to drive over land mines for less than 35k a year. People continue to procreate, there's a huge monetary sinkhole with a hardship term of your whole life.

But if your the kind of masochist who needs a BMW in the driveway to be happy, then I make this suggestion as an alternative to medicine: crime. Seriously. If you've got the science background, you can circumvent every possible forensic method of catching you available to modern man. No taxes, no malpractice, you get to make your own hours, and provided you don't seriously hurt anyone, your punishments will be relatively mild. Politics is also another great place to rake in the cash (and it doesn't discount the possibility of a little crime action on the side).

It's a question of motivation. What really compels you to endure hardship? Pride? Identity? Optimism? Idiocy? Or cool, hard cash? And even if your goal is driven by money, who needs money if you can enjoy simple things?

 

[DocEasyCheesy]

Thats very noble of her. Thats her passion, to truly help others and thats wonderful, nothing wrong with that. When i become a doctor, I'm going to go out of my way to help my patients, but my true ambition, my true motivator is that I'm going to live extremly well. So if I provide the same care for patients as your friend does in latin america, then I am no different from her. The patients dont give a crap why we became doctors, they want to be fixed up and go on their way.

 

[foreverLaur]

According to my organizatonal behavior class, money stops being a motivator at $40,000... seriously? :-\

There are perks to the military - they pay for stuff (like med school) and you get complete and amazing benefits. Still not for me 🙂.

Money can't be a sole motivator. I had an internship last summer and they could have offered me $100,000 to come back just for the summer and I wouldn't have done it. I hated it that much.

Money is certainly a factor to factor in, but I think it comes after passion/love for the job. You also have to factor in how it meshes with your other career goals. I personally need at 3 to be happy in what I do.

Job security can't be that bad for engineers. My dad is 50 and he's worked there since he was 22.

The thing with money and medicine is that it does come... but it just comes much later in life 😛. You sure do retire nicely though.

 

[DocEasyCheesy]

I have to agree with you Badasshairday, Not everyone who becomes an Engineer makes that much. ONly the top Senior level guys with like 20 years in a company. My Business prof was a V.P for a multi-million dollar company, he made like sick money, over 175k🙄. And you know what, when you make that kind of money you are going to work 60, 70 even over 80 hours a week. You think when a company pays you that kind of money and expect to only work 40 hours a week, keep dreaming. Doctors arnt the only ones who work sick hours😴. He told us that he worked all day everyday, even on saturday, and a couple of hours on sunday to review and follow up on the following week. So when you think about it, only the super top dogs make it that high...ever