4 ms·

Maybe, but they also have a stable guarantee of income. They certainly don't live in poverty and fear.

• ameister14 14y ago
  What about the people that drop out of school or residency? Not everyone is going to make it through.
  • haldujai 14y ago
    Very very few people drop out or fail out of medical schools. Whether the huge debt load is the reason is another issue.
• mbreese 14y ago
  You'd be surprised how many doctors struggle to get by while paying their debts off. Starting doctors don't get paid very much (considering their debt load). It's even worse when you factor in their opportunity losses by spending 4 years more in school and 3-5 years more in residency (where you don't get paid much). And if you add in a specialized fellowship? That's 3-4 more years. It's 7-13 years before you actually get to start making real money. And if you're a GP, you're still only making a fraction of what you could be making elsewhere.
  • tsotha 14y ago
    This. Becoming a GP in the US by any route other than the military is going to put you way behind just about any of your undergrad classmates with a marketable degree if you consider lost opportunity. There's also something else to consider. 7-13 years is a long time, and lots of things in your life will change. You may not be able to or want to practice medicine (I know one of each), but that debt isn't going anywhere.
  • rdouble 14y ago
    A couple advantages to medicine are that you can keep working consistently until retirement age, and you can essentially work anywhere in the country for a the same salary. A GP may "only" make $150K in Westchester but they can also make $150K in rural Maine.
  • haldujai 14y ago
    I disagree, many physician jobs offer loan repayment (of up to $200k) while offering salaries in the upper 300-400s (for many specialties). Surgeons can easily make seven figures depending on what they are doing. You also have to factor in the job security, the fact that transitions to other roles does not entail a pay cut (as in law or finance) and the potential to be your own boss (run your own practice). Doctors who make little money (the reason the average is so low) is because they choose to work less hours and spend time with family and friends. It's not as bleak as you think.
    • nilkn 14y ago
      > Surgeons can easily make seven figures depending on what they are doing. That seems like quite an exaggeration to me. Surgeons are highly paid, but in the grand scheme of things very few of them make $1m+/year. And the ones who do so generally do not do so easily. Neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons are generally the highest paid of all doctors, but both rarely crack seven figures, and they work horrendous hours in many cases. And becoming a neurosurgeon is simply beyond the ability of most medical students anyway. Perhaps if you set up a plastic surgery shop in Beverly Hills and hired other doctors under you.
  • frozenport 14y ago
    I knew two people in their residency, their problems were a lack of sleep not lack of money. They lived off loans, but they had enough money to eat out everyday. I am not sure about the weight of their loans. The only thing thing I recall it stopping them from doing was buying a fancier house. This isn't poverty!
    • mbreese 14y ago
      They didn't eat out because they could afford it. They ate out because they didn't have time to cook or because that's the only real meal they have time to eat.