<p>your saying doctors (thats what i mean by premed) will soon be "gubmint employees)?? you must be delusional.</p>
<p>My mother is a physician and works at at a “gubmint” hospital as a contractor, makes six- figures and does actually practice medicine (I know this as every day I must hear about many asses she’s looked up to pay for x-product.)</p>
<p>Where do you major in nursing? (like what school?) That would give you a better indication of whether you will have a job. Of course, you still need to succeed, but succeeding at a recognized school for nursing gives you a better chance.</p>
<p>I’m not worried about it at all because I have a fall back on a nicely, under-tapped medium - the Internet. Of course, it takes some knowledge about SEO (search engine optimization) and how a website goes together, but the Internet is the most risk-free startup business you can make. All it costs is $10 for a domain name and (I pay) $2 a month for good hosting (thanks to google, I found a 50% off for life coupon to a host) and voila - you have your piece of “web property”.</p>
<p>When American health care is fully socialized and doctors’ pay checks come directly or indirectly from the government, yes, they will be de facto government employees. Speaking as a de facto government employee, I know that bureaucracy, politics, and rampant waste rule the day, and one’s nominal job does not occupy as much of their time as they might like.</p>
<p>There are always exceptions to the tendency, of course, but the fact remains that many doctors, even now, are so hamstrung by liability, regulations, etc., that they are not able to practice medicine freely. Having to run tests just to CYA, or having to forgo certain medications or tests because they are not covered by Medicaid, etc.</p>
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<p>People with high school diplomas and no bachelor’s degree on average make $30,000 a year ([Source](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=77]Source[/url]”>Fast Facts: Income of young adults (77))</a>). Adjust that figure for inflation, and we’re talking $32,441.82 ([Source](<a href=“http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl]Source[/url]”>http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl)</a>).</p>
<p>I don’t know if it’s because I graduated from a school with a strong engineering focus (Georgia Tech), but $20-$30K seems awfully, awfully low to me, even if you live in an area with a very low cost-of-living.</p>
<p>It really depends on where you live. Around here, a typical room in a 3-4 bedroom apartment is only about $500-600.</p>
<p>1) Yes, yes, oh god yes.</p>
<p>2) Yes, Fabrizio, 20-30k is awfully low. On the other hand, the job market for entry level grads is still terrible.</p>
<p>I know where I live, $30k would have you living in the projects of the projects–with about four roommates.</p>
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<p>As I mentioned, I consider a 25k - 30k to be a fairly pessimistic (yet definitely possible) estimate. I’d rather plan for a potentially low/low-middle income life than dream about what I’d do if I earned a very good living.</p>
<p>My fiance is in a health profession and is anticipating between 30k and 40k, but he’s not premed.</p>
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<p>As would I, but if you’re an “accounting / comp sci major,” do you have to be that pessimistic? Neither accounting nor CS is typically associated with such a low salary range, even in a bad year. I don’t see staff accountants making as low as $30K a year, regardless of location.</p>
<p>Honestly. If you’re planning on making 30k after college, why are you even going to college? Newsflash: college isn’t necessary to be successful. You are allowed to pass Go without a degree.</p>
<p>Out of all the possible jobs I could get, I certainly don’t believe the 25-30k range is most likely. And there’s no need to give me newsflashes, I’ve thought carefully about my decision to go to college. I’m happy with my majors and they’re fairly marketable. If all goes well, I could do very well money-wise and be happy with the job I perform to get that money.</p>
<p>I am simply planning for the lower end of the distribution. For instance, I might have to start out in A/R or A/P and work my way up in the accounting world. A/R, at least here in Madison WI, typically make right around 30k to start. It clearly isn’t a best-case scenario, but I’ll deal with it if it happens.</p>
<p>I don’t understand your concern about my cautious outlook at future employment? I’m not naively assuming I WILL get a 25k/yr job. I’m just looking at the entire distribution of potential salaries and making sure I’m comfortable with any possible outcome–Unemployment excluded.</p>
<p>It’s okay to be cautious. </p>
<p>Settling for a salary that you could get w/o a degree is foolish, however.</p>
<p>Not exactly. Different jobs might pay similar salaries, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a higher satisfaction from one than the other.</p>
<p>If I need a degree to get the job I enjoy, then it’s a subjective choice to pursue that degree. You might not think that’s worth it, but it’s certainly not foolish by all standards.</p>
<p>That said, the job prospects in accounting and CS is quite simply better than for the typical highschool grad, so even money-wise I’m not being foolish. Again, I’m simply considering all possibilities. Sometimes “settling” isn’t a choice. If I have to take a bookkeeping job, I will. And I won’t feel like I never saw it coming–it’s a job that I’d be satisfied doing, even thought the salary isn’t fantastic.</p>
<p>I’m expecting somewhere around $40k upon graduation…but again, I’m a nursing major. Average for entry-level RNs in New York is $50k. My nursing school is highly respected in Upstate NY, so I’m sure I’ll have no problems getting a job in the area. But what will most likely happen is that I work for the hospital that my college of nursing is through since it’ll be an easy way to get a job in an extremely good hospital and from there, other jobs will be a breeze.</p>
<p>Since I got declined a lot on my internship applications and will be graduating with a high debt it does make me worried/scared.</p>
<p>I think that Assistant Store Leaders at Whole Foods make something like 55K/year which isn’t bad. So like I said earlier, if all else fails at least I’ve got something to fall back on. Plus I can always apply for a corporate position.</p>
<p>It sounds like you can do fairly well in retail management jobs where companies make a lot of money per square foot.</p>
<p>I’m not being pessimistic thinking I’m not going to be making 50 or 60K right out of college, I’m being realistic. Sometimes you have to start from the bottom up, but that’s okay. Sure I could settle with being a retail manager, but quite frankly I’d probably end up in a mental institution within a year. Between the cold-hearted, unsympathetic customers and the equally cold-hearted corporate executives that job would just be absolute hell to me. So instead I’m in college, studying what I love, but knowing I’m not just going to be able to step out onto the street and earn $60,000 the summer after graduation. Some of us have to make sacrifices in order to do the things we love, and that’s perfectly fine if you have that determination and you don’t need $60,000 to show that you’ve reached success.</p>