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

[inaminute]

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In Hindu societies such as India or Nepal, brides are burned alive if dowry is insufficient. At least 5000 women die each year from dowry murder, and the official cause of death is typically reported as a kitchen fire. The UN estimates that as many as 25000 women may be killed each year. In most cases, the husband is not punished. Naughtiness is also punished by bic-flicking.

What's racist about that? 😎

 

[gujuDoc]

Because as a doctor, you are trusted to make decisions on peoples' health. Often, the decision that makes you the most money and the decision that best benefits a patient's health is not the same. You can imagine how problems would arise when a doctor considers money as PRIMARY, and everything else (insert patient's health here) as secondary.

A comfortable living is a great part of being a doctor, but if money is all you want then there are plenty of ways to make a ton of money that are faster and not as demanding as medicine. They also don't involve the dilemma of compromising the health of patients' to increase profit.

If however you only want the money, and you don't mind harming people, then you may consider a career in drug trafficking, African diamond mining, law, Halliburton, or becoming a warlord. That way, you will leave one more spot for all us hopeful premeds. 😉

I think that many doctors, even those who may be motivated by money, wouldn't go that far. Yeah there might be people who would, but I think more or less what most people will do is go into a field where they could do their job well but go into a field they know will be lucrative and well rewarded if money is their goal. Or in some cases, if they have a creative mind and entrepenurial spirit, they'll start something on the side and invest their money in a way that the profits will return many times over.

As an example, I always use the example of Dr. Kiran C. Patel in Tampa and his wife.

Dr. K.C. Patel is worth over a net worth of 600 million dollars. Yeah you heard that right. What did he do?? He started an HMO company in partner with his wife who is also a doctor and their doctor relatives. Wellcare health plans. Then he sold it..

He also invests in lots of philanthropic endeavors which has won him many local and national awards.

There are other ways of bringing your MD to use even if that is your goal. It isn't mine but I don't doubt there are those out there who kind of are doing this for financial reasons. Partly, its the desire to be educated and partly the desire to be well off that drives many of the people I know into medicine.


In Indian society, being educated is to be respected, but to be educated and making a high earning potential is a big deal. It is not what influenced me into medicine, there are more personal reasons for that, however I've seen it to be true with many family friends I know.

 

[inaminute]

I need to be Indian.

 

[bigman43]

wtf?! 😕 this is the first time i've ever heard this. if the dowry is too low, cant you just marry someone else?

 

[gujuDoc]

In Hindu societies such as India or Nepal, brides are burned alive if dowry is insufficient. At least 5000 women die each year from dowry murder, and the official cause of death is typically reported as a kitchen fire. The UN estimates that as many as 25000 women may be killed each year. In most cases, the husband is not punished. Naughtiness is also punished by bic-flicking.

What's racist about that? 😎

This is only true in the more uncivilized villages and areas of India. While these practices were prevalent in the olden days, the more modern areas would have someone arrested if such a thing occurred. India has actually become a very modern country in many of the more developed parts of the country. Mumbai and Ahmedabad for instance are very urbanized and modernized. Such practices would hardly be observant there.

However if you go to the villages where records of births and deaths are not even taken on paper documents officially such things may be observed.

 

[bigman43]

whenever i go to the villages, they call me america boy and come visit me from the ends of the village.

they also form lines to touch my laptop and my digital camera. they think my nike kicks are sweeeet.

👍👍👍👍


i wonder how much dowry im worth. if its too low, im going to burn someone. HAHAAH

 

[gujuDoc]

wtf?! 😕 this is the first time i've ever heard this. if the dowry is too low, cant you just marry someone else?

India, Pakistan, areas like that in many parts of the countries are stuck in the medieval ages because they are not educated to the ways of the modern world and educated world. There are still parts of India where people live almost like they are in the wild with no electricity or running water, no records of when they were officially born, or when someone's officially died. It is areas like this where you often hear of such stories.

Again, I repeat, such practices are actually being outlawed and not really found in the more modern areas of India.

 

[inaminute]

India, Pakistan, areas like that in many parts of the countries are stuck in the medieval ages because they are not educated to the ways of the modern world and educated world. There are still parts of India where people live almost like they are in the wild with no electricity or running water, no records of when they were officially born, or when someone's officially died. It is areas like this where you often hear of such stories.

Again, I repeat, such practices are actually being outlawed and not really found in the more modern areas of India.

translation: a zillion people still torch their women in India.

 

[inaminute]

whenever i go to the villages, they call me america boy and come visit me from the ends of the village.

they also form lines to touch my laptop and my digital camera. they think my nike kicks are sweeeet.

👍👍👍👍


i wonder how much dowry im worth. if its too low, im going to burn someone. HAHAAH

your "laptop"? uh huh

 

[gujuDoc]

I need to be Indian.

Why do you say that?

BTW in response to the whole Indian culture thing, there are also good sides to Indian culture:

For one, your parents will often support you with your education and financial needs. For two, you always can return home after school if you need a place to stay for awhile. Actually many people don't move out til they marry. in return, many kids look after their parents when they get old rather then putting them in nursing homes.

Now a days, women are gaining more rights then in the olden days. Now a days, the concept of arranged marriage is changing to more of a blind date kind of thing where the parents may help to introduce a member of the opposite sex but leave the decision to their kids. Women are also gaining more opportunities both in America and India in govt, business, medicine, law, and all other fields. I could go on about this topic but I'll stop here.

 

[bigman43]

your "laptop"? uh huh

yeah its 15" wide.

 

[gujuDoc]

translation: a zillion people still torch their women in India.

NO NOT REALLY!!!!!!

 

[inaminute]

Why do you say that?

BTW in response to the whole Indian culture thing, there are also good sides to Indian culture:

For one, your parents will often support you with your education and financial needs. For two, you always can return home after school if you need a place to stay for awhile. Actually many people don't move out til they marry. in return, many kids look after their parents when they get old rather then putting them in nursing homes.

Now a days, women are gaining more rights then in the olden days. Now a days, the concept of arranged marriage is changing to more of a blind date kind of thing where the parents may help to introduce a member of the opposite sex but leave the decision to their kids. Women are also gaining more opportunities both in America and India in govt, business, medicine, law, and all other fields. I could go on about this topic but I'll stop here.

hey, I'm TOTALLY into Rohinton Mistry.

 

[bigman43]

AHHAHAHA who teh hell is that.

 

[gujuDoc]

BTW:

India is not a theocracy. You might also want to take that into acct. If these practices are occurring in such places its because they may also not have adequate law enforcement to stop such inhumane practices. It is not the law like in the days of hindu kings and queens or muslim moghuls.

While India is a majority Hindu populus, there are far more religions existing. Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Christians (both catholic and protestants of different sects), etc. exist in India.

 

[inaminute]

AHHAHAHA who teh hell is that.

if you were Indian you would know.

 

[inaminute]

Jhumpa Lahiri, too

 

[inaminute]

BTW:

India is not a theocracy. You might also want to take that into acct. If these practices are occurring in such places its because they may also not have adequate law enforcement to stop such inhumane practices. It is not the law like in the days of hindu kings and queens or muslim moghuls.

While India is a majority Hindu populus, there are far more religions existing. Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Christians (both catholic and protestants of different sects), etc. exist in India.

yup, and still the women burn...

 

[Nick Riviera MD]

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?

I assume you must be joking because if making money is your main concern, you are in the wrong line of work my friend. You should have gone into finance or some other business field and then went on to get an MBA, and look for a job on wall st. When you consider the high cost of medical education, the opportunity cost of all those years of training, the cost of malpractice insurance, and the low pay for residents, you can see that the net present value of medical school is very low. You would be far better advise to go into a field that requires less training, start earning money and invest it wisely. You’ll become a millionaire much more quickly and easily that way. I suggest that if money is truly your major motivation for going into medicine you don’t bother applying to med school. There are too few space in med school to give one to a person who is going in for the wrong reasons.

 

[artaxerxes]

hmm, I dig the Bactrian-Greek king Antialcidas of Taxila....

 

[artaxerxes]

I assume you must be joking because if making money is your main concern, you are in the wrong line of work my friend. You should have gone into finance or some other business field and then went on to get an MBA, and look for a job on wall st. When you consider the high cost of medical education, the opportunity cost of all those years of training, the cost of malpractice insurance, and the low pay for residents, you can see that the net present value of medical school is very low. You would be far better advise to go into a field that requires less training, start earning money and invest it wisely. You’ll become a millionaire much more quickly and easily that way. I suggest that if money is truly your major motivation for going into medicine you don’t bother applying to med school. There are too few space in med school to give one to a person who is going in for the wrong reasons.

Although I wonder how many doctors there'll be if it only paid 60-70K a year.....

 

[badasshairday]

Getting burned is better than being gang raped like they do in Pakistan to settle tribal scores.

 

[artaxerxes]

Getting burned is better than being gang raped like they do in Pakistan to settle tribal scores.

I don't know, I rather get gang raped than burned any day....burning is rough.

 

[bigman43]

I don't know, I rather get gang raped than burned any day....burning is rough.

uh...gang rape usually ends in murder. idiot.

 

[dizzle69]

hey, I'm TOTALLY into Rohinton Mistry.

I'm Indian, but I have no idea who RH or JL are -- might have to do with me being "white-washed" though ... *add in any combination of abbreviated terms that you guys have for people like me ... 🙄*

At the end of the day -- I'm NOT going to India to find me a mail-order bride wanting a green card ... hell, I might just decide to go for those gorgeous "ghoras" -- im a "white-washed ABCD .. ABDH ... ABIH ... etc etc" anyways ... right?!

- end hijacking rant

 

[badasshairday]

I don't know. 8-10 guys fromt he other village that hate your family and your village coming and taking you when you are a 14 year old girl. They penetrate and violate you by grabbing you and licking you and doing nasty **** like that. Making you give them oral and nastiness.

Then they send you home naked. Your family disowns you, no guys will marry you. Most likely you will be stoned to death or just kicked out of the village and die anyways.

I rather just go for the burn, its much quicker.

 

[bigman43]

I don't know. 8-10 guys fromt he other village that hate your family and your village coming and taking you when you are a 14 year old girl. They penetrate and violate you by grabbing you and licking you and doing nasty **** like that. Making you give them oral and nastiness.

Then they send you home naked. Your family disowns you, no guys will marry you. Most likely you will be stoned to death or just kicked out of the village and die anyways.

I rather just go for the burn, its much quicker.

wow, that was really graphic. you are a very disturbed person. please, proceed to the nearest balcony and jump off.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

You should have gone into finance or some other business field and then went on to get an MBA, and look for a job on wall st.

copout response

 

[dizzle69]

I don't know. 8-10 guys fromt he other village that hate your family and your village coming and taking you when you are a 14 year old girl. They penetrate and violate you by grabbing you and licking you and doing nasty **** like that. Making you give them oral and nastiness.

Then they send you home naked. Your family disowns you, no guys will marry you. Most likely you will be stoned to death or just kicked out of the village and die anyways.

I rather just go for the burn, its much quicker.

👎

Any experience -- God forbid on the receiving, or even worse, giving end of this?

 

[whoisthedrizzle]

I love all the altruistic bull**** on this thread. I'm in it for the money, but the adcoms sure as hell aren't going to know that. I've got my "I just love helping people" story down pat.

 

[Nick Riviera MD]

copout response

Copout? It's a matter of simple math! All I'm saying is that if you are primarily interested in making lots of money, then there are far better ways to do it than becoming a doctor. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that I would want to be a doctor if they made 40K a year- its far too much work and costs too much for the training. If anything doctors don’t make enough money. But if money is someone’s primary motive for entering medicine, then they will probably not be very happy with their career.

 

[AlXguy]

Because as a doctor, you are trusted to make decisions on peoples' health. Often, the decision that makes you the most money and the decision that best benefits a patient's health is not the same. You can imagine how problems would arise when a doctor considers money as PRIMARY, and everything else (insert patient's health here) as secondary.

A comfortable living is a great part of being a doctor, but if money is all you want then there are plenty of ways to make a ton of money that are faster and not as demanding as medicine. They also don't involve the dilemma of compromising the health of patients' to increase profit.

If however you only want the money, and you don't mind harming people, then you may consider a career in drug trafficking, African diamond mining, law, Halliburton, or becoming a warlord. That way, you will leave one more spot for all us hopeful premeds. 😉

I never said that money was my top priority, however money and respect are extremely important in my decision. And you know what, I'll study as hard as I can and work as hard as I can, and someday I will be a doctor. I don't care the speeches you give others that resembles doctors being humanitarian. I've my motivations for becoming one, and I don't wish to disclose them. And no, its not money. But If I'm going to go through 4 yrs of undergrad and then 4 yrs med school and then approximately 3 yrs residency, there's had to be some kind of motivation for doing that. Helping others is one of the reasons, but it's not THE motivation for becoming a doctor.

 

[drlook]

Hm, I agree with most people here. Money is a factor. It always is. This is true for any job, why shouldn't it be true for a doctor? But if you are going into medicine ONLY for the money, then read all the other posts, because that's just not a smart reason. You have to have other reasons to, otherwise it just doesn't make sense. If it's your TOP priority then be careful - and I hope that changes - because I do think that'll create ethical dilemmas later in life. You really should put keeping your patients healthy first - it doesn't have to be your TOP priority, but it makes sense for it to come before money. There will be conflicts between making the $$ and being a good doctor.

I want to be a doctor for three reasons: 1) I love, love science - bio and chem especially. I actually enjoyed studying for the MCATs. Yeah, I'm a nerd like that. 2) I like to hear other people's stories and help them fix their problems. I like problem solving. My reason is less about helping others and feeling sympathetic and more about enjoying a good problem. I'm one of those people who LIKES standardized testing. Not surprisingly, I'm probably going into psychiatry. 3) I want to make a decent living, but I don't really need to be rich. I just want to be comfortable. Being a doctor is perfect for me. If I wanted to be rich, I'd go into my uncle's business (he's a tax lawyer), or my dad's (investment banker) and trust me, they're pretty damn comfortable. I wouldn't have to go to school again either and incur so much debt.

I completely respect those who say money is their top priority, although, like I said, it might run you into some dilemmas later in life. It's not my top priority, but it's third, which is close. However, I think it's obnoxious to say people are lying or "copping out" if they state any other reason to be a doctor. Other people don't care as much about money. As hard as that is for those who care about money to understand, realize we are having equally a hard time understanding why money is so important. If I cared that much about money, I'd be aiming to go straight into private practice instead of clinical research, where I'll probably make only about 80 grand a year when I finish residency and it'll take me a couple decades (and good research) in order to make anywhere close to what you private practice peeps will make. Just don't walk around calling our reasons bullsh** if you don't want us to call your reasons bull too.

In the end, I'd rather go to the doctor who keeps their patients health a priority before their own wealth.

 

[bigman43]

im in it because male doctors are usually average guys with hot ass wifes.

 

[badasshairday]

Why do research doctors make so much less money than clinical doctors?

Do they at least get some sort of breaks on there loan payments?

 

[AlXguy]

having a "hot wife" is another reason for becoming a dcotor. 😀

 

[artaxerxes]

uh...gang rape usually ends in murder. idiot.

Decapitation is better than burning....anyone whose been burned knows that...*****....

 

[inaminute]

I don't want a hot ass wife. That's a guy thing.

As for tax lawyers making more than docs: hahahahaha!

Do you know what it takes to make that money as a tax lawyer? do you know what a good law school costs? do you realize that every accountant is trying to give tax law advice (and that their clients buy it because they THINK it's cheaper)? My dad is a tax lawyer, and a very good one, but even HE thinks the med school thing is a much better bet, both monetarily and psychically.

 

[foreverLaur]

I don't want a hot ass wife. That's a guy thing.

As for tax lawyers making more than docs: hahahahaha!

Do you know what it takes to make that money as a tax lawyer? do you know what a good law school costs? do you realize that every accountant is trying to give tax law advice (and that their clients buy it because they THINK it's cheaper)? My dad is a tax lawyer, and a very good one, but even HE thinks the med school thing is a much better bet, both monetarily and psychically.

and yet when you graduate the average simple account with a 4 year degree will have already made $500,000 and you'll be $200,000 in debt.... stick with accounting until your mid 30s and suddenly you are making half a million. trust me, i'd stick with my current job at Ernst & Young if i didn't hate the work so much. it's going to be awfully hard to pass it up because the perks are unreal.

 

[inaminute]

and yet when you graduate the average simple account with a 4 year degree will have already made $500,000 and you'll be $200,000 in debt.... stick with accounting until your mid 30s and suddenly you are making half a million. trust me, i'd stick with my current job at Ernst & Young if i didn't hate the work so much. it's going to be awfully hard to pass it up because the perks are unreal.

I'd rather clean the toilets in Grand Central Station all day than be an accountant. (Yes, I was once an accounting major.)

and your figures are wrong. Typically a med school grad comes out with around $100k-125k (and often less) in debt, and then s/he catches up to the accountant's earnings pretty quickly and by the end of a career is waaaaaaay beyond the accountant and not suicidal like the poor accountant. Definitely a better investment to go to med school.

 

[RegulateRo]

For your information. A buddy of mine is starting IBanking this Fall He just graduated undergrad with me from UCLA. He will be pulling a 55-60K salary plus 90K bonus this year and will pull roughly 90 something K post taxes (with only a BA). He will be working 80-100 hours/week. But as a second year analyst he will make more money. As a third year analyst even more money. Then he can climb into administration or get an MBA and then go into management at a firm and by the time I am done with med school (2011) he will already be pulling 300K. And I will be going to residency pulling 38K. My sister is finishing law school. Her first year salary at a top LA firm is 145K. Her second year salary will probably be 160K, and after that who knows. Law school is 3 years. Med school is 4 plus residency. Clearly medicine is not the way to go to make money. My I-banking friend will be making 700K-1Million well before I will be and clearly is the more lucrative choice. Once he's at that point and probably well before it I dont think he'll be working 100 hour weeks--I think We'll be going to him for financial advice.

If youre trying to make money go into business. If you want a professional degree and want to make money go into law. If you want to work hard and make ends meet and deal with rigorous schooling for 7plus years go to med school. You'll make enough to survive decently but nowhere near how much you would make going into business or law. Becuase in those 7 years you are in school, the ibanker or the lawyer could have invested there loot, while we'll be starting to pay off loans. This is ******ed, sorry to waste your time. but i seriously hope the OP thinks about it.

 

[inaminute]

For your information. A buddy of mine is starting IBanking this Fall He just graduated undergrad with me from UCLA. He will be pulling a 55-60K salary plus 90K bonus this year and will pull roughly 90 something K post taxes (with only a BA). He will be working 80-100 hours/week. But as a second year analyst he will make more money. As a third year analyst even more money. Then he can climb into administration or get an MBA and then go into management at a firm and by the time I am done with med school (2011) he will already be pulling 300K. And I will be going to residency pulling 38K. My sister is finishing law school. Her first year salary at a top LA firm is 145K. Her second year salary will probably be 160K, and after that who knows. Law school is 3 years. Med school is 4 plus residency. Clearly medicine is not the way to go to make money. My I-banking friend will be making 700K-1Million well before I will be and clearly is the more lucrative choice. Once he's at that point and probably well before it I dont think he'll be working 100 hour weeks--I think We'll be going to him for financial advice.

If youre trying to make money go into business. If you want a professional degree and want to make money go into law. If you want to work hard and make ends meet and deal with rigorous schooling for 7plus years go to med school. You'll make enough to survive decently but nowhere near how much you would make going into business or law. Becuase in those 7 years you are in school, the ibanker or the lawyer could have invested there loot, while we'll be starting to pay off loans. This is ******ed, sorry to waste your time. but i seriously hope the OP thinks about it.

I toss the BS flag on this one. You don't KNOW you can make that kind of money in business or law---you are gambling that you will land a great job AND that you won't hate it. And you seriously understate the potential earnings of a doc, plus you ignore the fact that the market is saturated with business majors and lawyers and that there is always a shortage of docs. It's simple risk and economics.

 

[foreverLaur]

I'd rather clean the toilets in Grand Central Station all day than be an accountant. (Yes, I was once an accounting major.)

and your figures are wrong. Typically a med school grad comes out with around $100k-125k (and often less) in debt, and then s/he catches up to the accountant's earnings pretty quickly and by the end of a career is waaaaaaay beyond the accountant and not suicidal like the poor accountant. Definitely a better investment to go to med school.

I don't see how those figures meet up - everyone I know in med school is paying for all of it through loans and will all end up around $200k in debt. i know after undergrad my med school tuition will all be from loans.

the only nice thing about business though - incredibly flexible. if i want a week off, no problem. if i need to leave early? no problem. if i want to skip Wednesday to go see my daughter's play? no problem. plus, you only put 4 years and very little money into your education so working part time or choosing to be a full time mother isn't a big deal. that is a lot harder to do with the time/money/effort put into becoming a doctor.

and, everyone i work with in auditing loves their job. they work a standard 40 hour work week and get paid good money. i get $50k a year equivalent + overtime as an intern.

 

[inaminute]

I don't see how those figures meet up - everyone I know in med school is paying for all of it through loans and will all end up around $200k in debt. i know after undergrad my med school tuition will all be from loans.

the only nice thing about business though - incredibly flexible. if i want a week off, no problem. if i need to leave early? no problem. if i want to skip Wednesday to go see my daughter's play? no problem. plus, you only put 4 years and very little money into your education so working part time or choosing to be a full time mother isn't a big deal. that is a lot harder to do with the time/money/effort put into becoming a doctor.

and, everyone i work with in auditing loves their job. they work a standard 40 hour work week and get paid good money. i get $50k a year equivalent + overtime as an intern.

first of all, that isn't being a lawyer
second, in business (not accounting) people don't all have that much flexibility
third, those people you are working with are devious and are trying to suck you into their little corner of hell, I promise

finally, check out the average debt figures in MSAR

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Copout? It's a matter of simple math! All I'm saying is that if you are primarily interested in making lots of money, then there are far better ways to do it than becoming a doctor. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that I would want to be a doctor if they made 40K a year- its far too much work and costs too much for the training. If anything doctors don’t make enough money. But if money is someone’s primary motive for entering medicine, then they will probably not be very happy with their career.

your answer is a copout since MBA's dont necessarily make good money, they have a pretty low salary floor, especially ones that didn't goto top schools. If one of your main motivations in life is to earn at least 90k a year, then medicine is pretty much a guarantee. Try that in many other careers and you are definitely going to be disappointed.

That being said, if your only motivation is money then you aren't going to be happy with any career.

 

[foreverLaur]

first of all, that isn't being a lawyer
second, in business (not accounting) people don't all have that much flexibility
third, those people you are working with are devious and are trying to suck you into their little corner of hell, I promise

finally, check out the average debt figures in MSAR

they aren't trying to suck me in - i've already accepted my full time offer (doing it for a year before med school cuz the $$ will be very useful). plus, being an accountant and being an auditor are very different. i have friends who are accountants that travel a lot and do nothing but meet with people and clients and customers. and businesses give you a whole lot more flexibility than you would think. they are extremely lenient. plus i get 2 weeks paid vacation my first year, the company matches 6% to my 401k contributions, and i get a pension. and i don't see how it is so hard to get a job in business. i originally went to a smaller school and had a bad GPA and i got to pick and choose between some pretty big named companies for jobs.

and i know what the figures say, but if you factor in the average kid who doesn't have parents to pay their way through school or wasn't lucky enough to get huge scholarships, you end up in a lot more debt that that.

 

[RegulateRo]

I toss the BS flag on this one. You don't KNOW you can make that kind of money in business or law---you are gambling that you will land a great job AND that you won't hate it. And you seriously understate the potential earnings of a doc, plus you ignore the fact that the market is saturated with business majors and lawyers and that there is always a shortage of docs. It's simple risk and economics.

Are you joking? Simple risk and economics? Can you do math? How old are you? Do you know anything about the risks involved in being a pre-medical student? Are you in med school?

Risks of trying to going into finance right now: Zero loans, not getting a job--keep trying at least you have zero dollars in loans
Benefits of trying to go into finance: 90K post tax salary, so positive income, almost doubly so if you compare it to being in debt (I'll be taking out 65K for my first year of med school)

Risks of going to law school: 3 year student loan ( better than 4yrs), not getting a job at a stellar firm?
Benefits: still make good money (better than negative income by being in debt 200K -- yes 200K, at least for me it will be 213K)

Risk of being pre-med student: spend all of your time taking difficult science classes, which if you do poorly in will leave you forced to try an alternative, and less guaranteed path (international schooling etc.) also if you try to opt out of medicine at that point, you likely will have no bus/accounting experience or anything that will really give you an edge in any other career field. Essentially once you go down this route its pretty tough to get out of it and still be successful. On top of that 4 years in loans. Then residency pays about 38K plus 2K every year. You want to go into neurosurgery? 8 year residency. so you wont be making decent loot until after those 8 years, which is after 4 years of med school= 12 years of school after undergrad. so youll be what like 34 or so and then you can make 500-800K a year right? Clearly this isnt as lucrative as going into law or business even with the risks of not getting a PHAT job right away. even if you wait a year or two to get the high paying job you still save in the long run for going into finance after undergrad thats 12 years of income you have over the neurosurgeon (minus the 38K residency salary). That with investments is already enough to make this a bad monetary decision.

Bottom line: if you strictly want the pay, dont go with medicine.

 

[foreverLaur]

Bottom line: if you strictly want the pay, dont go with medicine.

amen - all the people on here who think that medicine is the career for making money are nuts. certainly goes to show that just because you are book smart does not mean you are capable of surviving in the real world or having ANY common sense.

 

[AlXguy]

True, people who are in I banking, law, business and finance jobs are very rich and they start earning more than six figures after a couple of years of undergrad, while a doctor is about 30 when he/she starts to earn a six figure salary.

BUT here's the deal, Medicine is SAFE profession. Not all people become I-bankers, most lawyers make less money tha doctors, you never know if your business fails. And finance, if you don't go to a top 10 business school. You'll be living a middle class life.

Bottom line, Other fields, that make much much more than an average doctor, not all of them get that salary. In Medicine, if you've completed your med school and are in residency, then you're guaranteed that six figure income. You just have to work hard to get till med school.

 

[AlXguy]

I think that many doctors, even those who may be motivated by money, wouldn't go that far. Yeah there might be people who would, but I think more or less what most people will do is go into a field where they could do their job well but go into a field they know will be lucrative and well rewarded if money is their goal. Or in some cases, if they have a creative mind and entrepenurial spirit, they'll start something on the side and invest their money in a way that the profits will return many times over.

As an example, I always use the example of Dr. Kiran C. Patel in Tampa and his wife.

Dr. K.C. Patel is worth over a net worth of 600 million dollars. Yeah you heard that right. What did he do?? He started an HMO company in partner with his wife who is also a doctor and their doctor relatives. Wellcare health plans. Then he sold it..

He also invests in lots of philanthropic endeavors which has won him many local and national awards.

There are other ways of bringing your MD to use even if that is your goal. It isn't mine but I don't doubt there are those out there who kind of are doing this for financial reasons. Partly, its the desire to be educated and partly the desire to be well off that drives many of the people I know into medicine.


In Indian society, being educated is to be respected, but to be educated and making a high earning potential is a big deal. It is not what influenced me into medicine, there are more personal reasons for that, however I've seen it to be true with many family friends I know.

Very true, most asian culture's are like that. Especially in a Southasian society, if you're not a doctor or an engineer you're nothing and thus don't get the respect from the community.