Becoming a doctor

<ol>
<li>Even with +180k in debt doctors still earn more than engineers, right?(lifetime earnings are more, even more than engineering managers?)</li>
<li>Is the debt is easily payable with your 150k or more salary?</li>
<li>Do you need to intensely care about every human on earth and be a humanist to be a doctor, or can you just be a good person who does care and have a great work ethic, or is there a medium that is needed?</li>
</ol>

<p>Just personal curiosity and exploration</p>

<p>Salaries today are somewhat higher, but the “starting date” for a physician is 5 or more years later in life. So in addition to the debt of medical school, the opportunity cost of missing out on those years of higher salary in your 20s need to be considered. In the future, as the ACA/Obamacare matures and the system adjusts, I have no idea what medical specialty salaries will look like. It is getting harder for young physicians to find employment, and many experienced docs I know (I do emergency medicine) are having difficulty finding “additional hours” they are used to working to make extra money. </p>

<p>It is not easy to pay back that level of debt. Most people are getting married, having children, buying a house by the time they finally get that first “150K” paycheck. Most physicians I know are well into their 40s before they pay of the med school debt. </p>

<p>No you don’t have to have Mother Theresa like compassion to be a happy and successful physician. But you do have to have a “calling”. There are some misanthropic surgeons I know, but they LOVE operating and would rather be in the OR doing a procedure than home with their families or at the movies. You cannot do medicine for the money. Being a “good person with a great work ethic” will not sustain you. You have to love the work. Whether that is love for helping people or love for other aspects matters little. </p>

<p>Keep exploring and you’ll see if medicine might be the career for you. </p>

<p>Thanks, that was the type of answer I needed. But is it really difficult for young physicians to find employment?</p>

<p>1) First $180K is the median debt for medical students (and does not include any undergrad debt)</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/152968/data/debtfactcard.pdf”>https://www.aamc.org/download/152968/data/debtfactcard.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The median is skewed because ~15% of all med students graduate with ZERO debt (thanks to the Bank of Mom and Dad or service for education programs like HPSP or NHSC). Between 5% (public schools) and 15% (private schools) of med grads have over $300K in debt at the time of graduation.</p>

<p>Doctor incomes vary widely depending upon things like specialty, type of medical practice, location of practice and hours worked. </p>

<p>Consider also when you do your calculations that engineers start earning immediately upon graduation from undergrad whereas doctors don’t starting earning “doctor’s salaries” until 7-14 years later. Also engineers typically have their graduate education paid for by their employers.</p>

<p>(There is at least economic analysis that argues an individual who went to work for FedEx immediately upon graduation from high school, took every promotion offered and stayed with company for 25 years would have higher lifetime earnings that almost all physicians.)</p>

<p>2) Newly graduated doctors do not start out making “doctor’s salaries”, but earn modest salaries during residency ($40-60K/year) and fellowship ($70-90K/year). Your base debt can balloon quickly due to interest capitalization. (There are no subsidized loans for medical school so you start accruing interest the minute your loan is disbursed.) </p>

<p>Debt is payable provided you --a) don’t try to live the “doctor lifestyle” until your debt has been paid off; b) minimize loan amounts and minimize loan capitalization by making interest payments during residency & fellowship.</p>

<p>3) You don’t need to " intensely care about every human on earth ", but you do need to be a humanist. (Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively.) I personally don’t see how you can be a doctor without being a humanist at the core.</p>

<p>You don’t necessarily need to be a “good person” (however you define that), but you do need an excellent work ethic.</p>

<p>Another GREAT answer, thanks. Once again, do young physicians actually have a hard time finding a job?</p>

<p>I think there are lots of variables involved-- the type of specialty and location in particular. </p>

<p>There are some areas where the job market for certain specialties is weak.</p>

<p>If you only want to work in an academic setting or if you only want to work in a certain suburb of a popular major city, employment starts to get less certain.</p>

<p>That is understandable. If I became a primary care doctor(just ONE of the types I am considering), and went to school somewhere in the Midwest, how would employment look? (Don’t know if this is answerable)! </p>

<p>I don’t know anything about the Midwest market. </p>

<p>Where I live, basically the entire state qualifies as a federal “medically underserved area”-- and primary care docs are in very high demand. </p>

<p>If you think you want to work as a PCP and are willing to work in a more rural area (or conversely in an inner city area), you might want to look into the NHSC. The NHSC is a scholarship program which will pay your tuition and a living expenses stipend during med school in return for 4 years of full time service in a qualifying health care facility. (You’re paid at or near to the going salary rate during your service obligation. And your malpractice costs are covered by the federal government during your service period.)</p>

<p><a href=“http://nhsc.hrsa.gov/”>http://nhsc.hrsa.gov/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Thanks, that actually seems like a great idea, and something I might do.</p>

<p>I love the current answers, and any more answers or opinions are appreciated.</p>