<p>would you rather have a educated AND compassionate doctor, or just educated?</p>
<p>I would rather have a compassionate doctor than one who is in it for the money.</p>
<p>The compassionate one would be more careful and would do anything he/she could if I was in a life threatening situation. On the contrary, the money-greedy doctor probably would not care if I live as long as he/she gets the money.</p>
<p>No one should be going into a certain field just for the money.</p>
<p>It's a poor idea to become a doctor for just the money anyway. With malpractice insurance and other costs, doctors (with the exception of a few specialists) don't make a great deal anyway. Having to go into 200k in debt, residency for 4 years, and work 60 hour weeks just so you can make 150,000 a year? No thanks.</p>
<p>"would you rather have a educated AND compassionate doctor, or just educated?"</p>
<p>Clearly the one that is both but that was not the question presented.</p>
<p>"Having to go into 200k in debt, residency for 4 years, and work 60 hour weeks just so you can make 150,000 a year? No thanks."</p>
<p>Not everyone goes into primary care, and very few other jobs can offer you the job security and gauranteed six figures that becoming a doctor can.</p>
<p>become a professional athletes... Most make seven figures or more, much more than poor doctors!</p>
<p>If there is some sarcasm in there it is surely over my head.</p>
<p>You will discover that only a few small % of the population is bright enough to go into competitive specialties like derm.</p>
<p>Roughly 1000 kids start out premed every year at my school. Only 200 even make it to applying. The other 80% discover that being a doctor is just not worth it. Out of the 200 who do apply, 25% get rejected from every med school they apply to (this figure is 55% nationwide). To get into top residencies, you need to be at the top of your med school class (which is already composed of bright kids) and have top USMLE scores. To become a specialist, you will need to complete a fellowship after residency which is essentially an extended residency. Your salary may be six-figures but so is your malpractice insurance. I think you will find premed extremely tough and medicine extremely unrewarding if you are in it solely for the money.</p>
<p>There was a time when my parents insisted that I become a doctor of some kind. But then when I looked at the salaries in investment banking vs. medicine, I was like "**** MEDICINE. I'm going into ibanking." Besides, the securities industry is SOO much more interesting anyway. And I have a passion for science. I have a passionate hatred toward science lol :D</p>
<p>Yeah seriously, 4 years of having no life in college, then 4 years of having no life in med school, and then another 4 years of having no life in residency, $200k debt, and close to a million in lost wages (by not working) and any potential salary increases that you gave up by not working for another 8 years, and all of that BS so that I can make less than what I would have made as a 25yo 3rd year investment banking analyst, AT AGE 31? NO THANKS, I'M GOOD.</p>
<p>Yep. My roommate who is an econ major already has multiple offers from various investment firms in NYC for salaries of approx. $70,000 not including the signing bonus. Meanwhile I will be paying $50,000 a year to go to med school and earning roughly $30,000 a year coming out of med school while working 80+ hour weeks.</p>
<p>Its not like doctors are the richest people in the world, even less counting the malpractice insurance...</p>
<p>It's not so much the gaurantee of richness but the guarantee of not being poor. No matter how you slice it 100k+ is 100k+. And that's really at a bare minimum. I mean if you're happy with 100k you can go to a DO school in the Carribean. And even with that education you can get to the mid 100s.</p>
<p>but 100k+ a year isn't worth it working 60+ hours a week, often getting called in for overtime, malpractice insurance, etc...</p>
<p>That's not the way it is here in NYC at all. If you work primary care in the hospital you can expect to make ~150k working 70 hours no overtime no nothing. And if you work in a hopsital it is likely that your malpractice insurance is covered. Purely anecdotal evidence here though.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you work primary care in the hospital you can expect to make ~150k working 70 hours no overtime no nothing. And if you work in a hopsital it is likely that your malpractice insurance is covered. Purely anecdotal evidence here though.
[/quote]
working 70 hours a week still sucks though... There are many jobs that offer a high dollar per hour rate than physicians...</p>
<p>Yeah 70 hours a week sucks. But if you've got any kind of speacilization you can do some trickery and work part-time at several hospitals, have a private practice, work in a specific area as designated by your speacilty. etc.</p>
<p>Investment bankers and investment managers typically work about 70 hours per week about 3-5 years into their careers and make over $600k+. Top hedge fund managers work market hours and make $360MM+.</p>
<p>There are more "hassle-free" jobs out there that can have higher pay than being a doctor. Why go through so much schooling and have to deal with all the other crap once you are a doctor when you could more easily work your way up to be a high-paid engineer or lawyer or something else like that.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Investment bankers and investment managers typically work about 70 hours per week about 3-5 years into their careers and make over $600k+. Top hedge fund managers work market hours and make $360MM+.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I would love to see your sources on these figures. No way the average salaries are this high.</p>
<p>It doesn't matter what the salaries are. On wall street, bonuses make up a majority of your compensation anyway, and you have a greater than 50% chance of getting a bonus. What matters is your total compensation.</p>
<p>Ok, well then where did you get that compensation figure. I know a number of people doing ibanking. They make really good money, but not 600k good. I'm not saying no one makes that much, but I highly doubt that those are "typical" figures for someone 3 years into their career.</p>