<p>Tons of people say they have "crunched" the numbers and etc, but I think they just "crunched" the doctors salary and compared it to an uncrunched normal salary and said "Hey look docs don't earn much!"</p>
<p>Anyways, according to several medical journals, the average US radiologist earns roughly 400k a year. How is that not rich? Explain.</p>
<p>ok my bad. the national average is like 320k a year. being a doctor only takes like 4 more years for this monstrous gain.</p>
<p>And yet corporate attorneys make just as much money for a less rigourous admissions process and far fewer hours. (Not that law school is easy or lawyers don't work long hours, but by comparison.)</p>
<p>Corporate financiers, in fact, will end up making double the amount of money doctors do (and they'll be better equipped to know what to do with it).</p>
<p>Nobody's saying that being a doctor pays poorly. What people say is that relative to the other sorts of careers they could've gone into, being a doctor is either a lot more work for very little more money or a lot less money.</p>
<p>but can anyone become a corporate financier and do all corporate financiers earn so much?</p>
<p>I'm willing to bet that if you end up going to one of the Ivy league schools or other elite East coast schools that are a favorite of the Investment Banking firms, that the odds of you ending up getting such a job and earning a lot of money are far higher than getting into medical school. Considering that even if you don't make the top salaries in IBanking, you'll be making money at a comparable rate to most physicians without having accrued 4 years of debt and a subsequent 3-7 years of residency at salaries that are start most places about 44k. Radiology is a 5 year residency, so even as a 5th year resident, you'll only be making about 52-55k for that year...Given that you'll be working about 80 hours a week (maybe not as a radiology house officer, but other medical specialties for sure), going into IBanking is going to be a much higher wage/hour worked.</p>
<p>
[quote]
do all corporate financiers earn so much?
[/quote]
Obviously not, since I expressed it in terms of the average/median. But for every person who makes less, one will make more.</p>
<p>Dang, it's no wonder students are scampering for med school; I had no idea the pay was that high. The alternative is 7-8 years of graduate school and come out making $30-60K. If you can find a job. :(</p>
<p>Yes, if you're comparing medicine to PhD work. It depends on your point of reference. The other thing, of course, is that the example given (radiology) is perhaps one of the most extreme specialties in medicine. Many pediatricians and primary care physicians are making $90K. Very comfortable, definitely. But hardly outrageous.</p>
<p>Also, many graduate students in the biomedical sciences can be funded, which means that while they're making a pittance, at least they're not spending a lottery/incurring a fortune in debt. Remember one of the basic principles of economics: money early matters more than money late. Finally, also notice expenses. A $300K cardiologist is paying $175K in taxes (17% + 35% + sales, property, state, city) and then you incorporate malpractice insurance, office expenses, insolvent patients, etc. Professors have tenure, work fewer hours (sometimes much fewer, sometimes very close), etc. So while doctors make more money, the difference isn't as large as it might seem.</p>
<p>Still, many premeds could have pursued lucrative jobs in the private sector/business world/pharmaceutical industry, even as late as matriculation to medical school. (Actually, healthcare consulting is still interested in medical students.) If they'd been following Econ/MMS tracks early on, even more of them would've had that option open.</p>