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A civil engineer informed me that doctors go to a lot of schooling while only making a salary of $95K. Is this true? He told me it's not worth it to some that's why even my doctor told me to go for Respiratory Tech instead. The types of doctors who make the most money are said to be surgical doctors.
A civil engineer informed me that doctors go to a lot of schooling while only making a salary of $95K. Is this true? He told me it's not worth it to some that's why even my doctor told me to go for Respiratory Tech instead. The types of doctors who make the most money are said to be surgical doctors.
Surgeons do make the most money. Several doctors I've seen in recent years have told me things like: they can't afford to retire, doctors don't make that much money, etc. I suppose it's only going to get worse, as insurance and Medicare cut back further on reimbursement levels. I know people who have gone from nursing (a 2-year community college degree can actually get you a pretty nice salary level after a few years) to anesthetist, which is even more money. (More risk/liability for the practitioner, too.)
OP, are you good at science, chemistry? Or engineering (math)? It's not just a matter of identifying what pays well; it's about what areas you have an aptitude for.
Median salary varies by field of practice, but many specialties make over six figures.
There is probably a better ROI on becoming a nurse practitioner because people typically end up with a lot less debt.
MD is still a much better ROI than NP despite the debt load.
The median physician income in the USA is 220k per year. Median NP income is 95k. Even with the higher debt load of med school, the MDs come out way ahead.
Typical "extra" cost of MD compared to NP program is about 100k. So even if the MD uses his first year income to wipe out his "extra" student debt compared to the NP, he still makes 120k which is better than the NP makes.
Another way to go to medical school "for free" is to be married to a University employee and you can possibly have your tuition waved. I know a few people at the University of Arizona Medical School (Tucson) that have their spouse work as staff at the University and they pay virtually nothing to get their MD, of course you still have to be accepted! I'm not sure how many medical schools tied to Universities do this, but it is a great way to graduate debt free, without having to get any merit based scholarships.
Another option is going to state schools. State schools tend to be relatively cheaper than private medical schools, but not always. I think at some state schools the tuition is $25,000 or less a year, of course, that is the price for in-state residents. I know the state medical schools throughout Texas are a real bargain, they definitively don't want their doctors graduating with copious amounts of debt.
As a side note, I used to work at Duke University Medical Center doing HIV research and would notice each year Duke would accept one or even two medical doctors from those for-profit Caribbean medical schools to do their residency at DUMC in Durham. They must have done really well on Step 1 of the licensing exam and had a killer GPA over their 4 years.
are their kids able to get free tuition as well? My stepdad was a doctor and mom a nurse. I believe I could have gone to school "cheap" but I wasn't driven or informed to get to it. Oh well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cjseliga
Another way to go to medical school "for free" is to be married to a University employee and you can possibly have your tuition waved. I know a few people at the University of Arizona Medical School (Tucson) that have their spouse work as staff at the University and they pay virtually nothing to get their MD, of course you still have to be accepted! I'm not sure how many medical schools tied to Universities do this, but it is a great way to graduate debt free, without having to get any merit based scholarships.
Another option is going to state schools. State schools tend to be relatively cheaper than private medical schools, but not always. I think at some state schools the tuition is $25,000 or less a year, of course, that is the price for in-state residents. I know the state medical schools throughout Texas are a real bargain, they definitively don't want their doctors graduating with copious amounts of debt.
As a side note, I used to work at Duke University Medical Center doing HIV research and would notice each year Duke would accept one or even two medical doctors from those for-profit Caribbean medical schools to do their residency at DUMC in Durham. They must have done really well on Step 1 of the licensing exam and had a killer GPA over their 4 years.
are their kids able to get free tuition as well? My stepdad was a doctor and mom a nurse. I believe I could have gone to school "cheap" but I wasn't driven or informed to get to it. Oh well.
I'm not sure about kids, all colleges/universities are different. I think some might offer a 50% or 75% discount for children who get accepted, which is better than nothing. At least at the University of Arizona the spouse or the employ themselves got the greatest discount. I got my Master's there "for free" but was working full-time as a researcher, while going to graduate school part-time for 2 and a half years.
I think the University of Central Florida provided full scholarships to their MD students, but that might have only been for a few years while they kicked off the program.
OP, I heard on the radio this week that the new budget Congress is working on includes cuts to the program that allows tuition forgiveness in exchange for working for a non-profit, or other charitable situations. This will impact people like you, if it passes.
I think the University of Central Florida provided full scholarships to their MD students, but that might have only been for a few years while they kicked off the program.
A lot of new medical schools, trying to entice people to apply before they even get accredited (which usually takes 4 years), like to give out full scholarships to their first class, which might be around 40 or so people. My local medical school where I grew up, now called Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in Scranton, PA did just that, but it was only for the very first graduating class, still a great deal if you were one of the people selected and the school gets accredited, so your MD isn't worthless!
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