<p>i actually think medicine is the perfect field for getting rich and also being satisfied with what i’m doing. i DO like helping people, but i sure as hell wouldn’t do it for less than 175k a year with all the training i have to go through. i also like the life-long learning aspect of medicine, but again, if i’m not making enough money to make me happy then i’d rather do something else and spend my time on wikipedia learning on my own. i’m the type that jasoninny basically described - i want my fancy german cars, i want a pretty big house (not necessarily a mansion, but i have an idea of what i want and it would be pricey enough to need a high salary to get), i want my vacations, i want my kids to go to private schools and not have to worry about loans. these are things that i grew up with and i want to continue to have them and possibly some more. i’m not asking to be handed any of it; i’m willing to do all the work that it requires, but i also know what i want to get out of it. money makes me happy, that’s all there is to it. you can have a satisfying and fulfilling career and still make money. everyone gets touchy about it when it comes to medicine and dentistry because of the nature of both, but honestly, it’s fairly safe to say that i will not be unemployed and i can (or could have -_-) expected a very nice salary to go along with it.</p>
<p>What I think People take for granted is the yearly salary. 250k a year sounds great… Until you factor in the oppertunity cost and that you only star earning that much when you are 31.
For doctors to earn less than 175k a year would mean they are making an economic loss.</p>
<p>^^ exactly. plus most people have lots of loans to pay back and then starting up your own practice and malpractice insurance and all the other costs associated with having your own practice add up. i’m shadowing a lot this summer; i’m going to ask those docs what they think</p>
<p>Which is why you shouldn’t do medicine unless salary is a secondary factor.</p>
<p>i think we’re also forgetting the people who become doctors because their parents pushed them to and that they think the medical field is “prestigious” and “high-class”</p>
<p>I did say at a certain point there is a cut off for economic profit right?
At that point, medicine would be my first choice because it, despite the loans, long training time, whatever, pays the most among my options.</p>
<p>I wanted to be a dermatologist or oncologist because they bank $$$$. This is an economic profit, meaning nothing else i do will make me more money in the long run.</p>
<p>Money is the ultimate motivator. This desire to help people is, while present, secondary. Again, people’s monetary interest is unbelievably strong. To underestimate that is to underestimate the average American: he goes where his paycheck will me MAXIMIZED.</p>
<p>wish there was a “like” button on jasoninny’s posts</p>
<p>Ironic, what are you doing around these parts? GET OUT OF HERE!</p>
<p>In defense of the OP, we are not all Mother Theresea’s. We have not always wanted to just “help” people. Of course, I want to be satisfied by my line of work, to have the feeling that I’m bettering society. However, I am not ready to do that if I cannot take care of myself and my family. I won’t slave away for 15+ years in a speciality if I make less than a college graduate working in an accounting firm. It’s ludacris for anyone to say that they would be happy doing that, or basically naive. I have wanted to a cardiologist since the age of 9, but that hasn’t stopped me from thinking about the monetary gains. Money was, is, and always be a major draw in the medicinal field, and what’s wrong with that?</p>
<p>Why is this post here? Well, doesn’t it affect potential doctors everywhere?</p>