| Topic Name: |
life as a physician |
| Message Name: |
wake up |
| Date Posted: |
04/30/2001 |
| In Reply To: |
What BS. I'm a graduating med student. I'll have 200 grand in debt as I begin internship for internal medicine, headed for primary care. So I'm just the kind of guy you whine about not making a hefty income when it's all said and done.
HA! I'll start internship at over 40k, not 30-35 as you said. I'll start my practice at over 120k, not 60k as you said.
But you're wrong in more fundamental ways than that. You conveniently ignore the fact that MD's represent the highest paid profession in the US. Period. What about all those MBA's making millions? Come on. Don't be a dope about this. For every millionaire MBA and JD there are 10,000 making peanuts -- 40, 50, 60 thousand a year. And for every wealthy MBA you show me, I'll show you one who doesn't know for whom he'll be working 24 months from now. That's business, genius.
The poster above got it exactly right. There is NO profession that marries wealth and security as medicine does. That's the essential point, and I'm not surprised you had to respond by suggesting he has an axe to grind.
What's particularly disgusting about people like you is, you want to make a pile of money but you don't want your 20 cent halo knocked off rubbing elbows with mere mercenaries.
You should consider joining the AMA. It's made for people like you. And yes it does contribute to limiting the number of accredited med schools. Not enough talented candidates to open more schools you say? You won't find any of the admissions officers at the med schools tell you that, because they know it's not true. They'll tell you what the national MCAT scores will tell you: med schools are reduced to arbitrarily thinning the pack. When I applied four years ago, there were 92 positions for nearly 10,000 applicants. Do you think medicine is that difficult? Listen, let's keep between us the fact that med school is a matter of memorization. A brilliant guy like you wouldn't want your reputation sullied by letting everyone know we've learned a trade.
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| Message: |
OK, you're graduating from med school. I'm not impressed that you have any idea of what your life will be like after this.
$40K for residency? Great... since you'll be working an average of 80-100 hour weeks, that averages out to $8-10/hour wages. Terrific!
And how do you know exactly how much you'll be making when you come out of residency? Unless you already have a practice lined up (which I seriously doubt), you have NO IDEA what you'll be making three years from now. So that point is ridiculous. All you can use are the averages from today, which are starting salaries of $60-80K for primary care. And those salaries are very UNLIKELY to increase substantially, particularly when nurse practitioners can do a similar job for a lot less.
And I'm not sure where you get off calling the previous poster "disgusting." He or she is being realistic about medicine. You need to wake up and smell the coffee. Medicine in the past was lucrative and secure. It's still not a bad salary, but the security is significantly less than in the past, as is the take-home pay.
And yes, med school IS a lot of memorization. But if you think that's all that medical practice is, then you will have a VERY rude awakening shortly.
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