<p>^ Anyone who goes into medicine for the money is straight ■■■■■■■■. Ignoring the obvious reasons of it being so mentally demanding that your heart needs to be in it, look at it economically. There are so many better ways to make money. Just a rough example:</p>
<p>Accounting major going to Big 4 after undergrad:</p>
<p>22yrs old- $45k/yr+bonuses/benefits (associate)
23-26 yrs old- $60k/yr+bonuses/benefits (senior associate)
26-30 yrs old, depending on if staying in public or going to private- $90-100k/yr+bonuses/benefits (manager)</p>
<p>Assuming the individual leaves for the private industry at 30, he has accumulated (theoretically) $625k in salary plus bonuses and benefits… WITH NO DEBT! All this while now possibly moving into the private industry where someone with his level of experience can be at a position as a controller/manager making $150k-200k a year +bonuses/benefits and having very close to a normal 40hr work week with vacation time, etc.</p>
<p>Now let’s look at his friend going to med school:</p>
<p>22-26 yrs old- in med school going into loads of debt for tuition and living expenses (assuming his parents aren’t rich and paying for it): -$250k
26-30 yrs old- residency and the like: $40k/year tops</p>
<p>So now let’s look at the two individuals. Person A is $625,000 into positive income since undergrad while Person B is $250,000 in debt minus whatever small amount of the $40k/year he used to start paying his bills. Lets say $40,000 total over the four years. He’s now $210,000 in debt.</p>
<p>So assuming Person B is done with training after only 4 years and is being a gen phys., instead of the more that is certainly possible with different specialties, our break down is like this:</p>
<p>Person A: Up $625,000 and heading into a nice 40-50 hr work week making $150,000/year+bonuses and benefits…</p>
<p>OR</p>
<p>Person B: In the hole -$210,000, heading into either a hospital job or opening up a practice, which would lead to more debt. Either way, not exactly looking like you’ll be FILTHY rich any time soon as so many people think. </p>
<p>DISCLAIMER: This model isn’t perfect, but it is in the ballpark enough to illustrate a point.</p>
<p>Do doctors go hungry? Of course not! But this isn’t the 80s anymore and the “get filthy rich” profession isn’t medicine anymore, unless you wanna do cardiopulmonary or neurosurgery or something, but then of course the debt numbers for this example go up.</p>
<p>Business and Finance, though much riskier now than in the past, are still the big money careers. The sky is still the limit for a CEO or an IB. If you really wanna get stupid rich, be a rapper or an athlete. A-Rod is getting $30 mil a year to be a slightly above average 3rd baseman at this point in his career. Talk about a nice paycheck.</p>