Financing medical school. Age 34, some savings.

[am]

"4. Jobs everywhere
-I don't know of a more portable field. You are not constrained by anything; you can work in any corner of united states."

One more quote I must criticize from our naive resident poster.

The job market is very bad for many specialties right now. The job market for most fields is always glutted in large desirable areas. If you want to live in a desirable/popular area, you will make large sacrifices in the quality of job and pay you take.

Portability? In many states you will have tail insurance weighting you down from going somewhere else. For some specialties this will be 6 figures you must pay to leave your current job. And if you have built up a practice and referral stream, than you are not going anywhere.

[Default User BR]

Burst out laughing. What professions work 8 - 5? Civil servants?

I'm doing about 9-6 these days as a software engineer. Very few folks are working much free overtime.


Brian

[zebrafish]

The job market is very bad for many specialties right now. The job market for most fields is always glutted in large desirable areas. If you want to live in a desirable/popular area, you will make large sacrifices in the quality of job and pay you take.

I don't totally agree with this. It depends on what you mean by "bad", of course. Having worked on both the east coast and west coast in the past 10 years, I have found no difficulty getting a job with a very fair salary as a physician in my particular specialty. Friends in other specialties seem to be doing just fine. I think that the long-term prospects are good for medicine in general. I think issues relating to specialty choice, relative compensation, job market, lifestyle, etc. can be learned during training if your eyes are open and you ask some relevant questions.

[am]

I did not say all specialties. Look at radiology, cardiology, pathology, etc. Try finding a job near a popular area. Not worth being in medicine if you have to live 800 miles from your preferred location just to get a job.

I think the long term prospects are bad in medicine, especially for specialists. All of us have targets on our back by CMS. Radiology has been targeted with cuts for the last 8 years or so without any signs of stopping. Your specialty is next. Now bundled payments are on the horizon which will make many doctors completely reliant on hospitals. No tort reform on the horizon. Decreasing salaries. More patients to take care but who will pay for it? Doctors of course with lower wages and more work.

[DAK]

I think the long term prospects for physicians is poor given the amount of work and time it takes to become one.

[am]

"I think the long term prospects for physicians is poor given the amount of work and time it takes to become one."

And do not forget that in many specialties, life gets even worse after the training is over.

[travellight]

I would be interested to know what fields in medicine those who love what they do are in..... maybe there is a theme.

I agree it is a stable and financial secure profession but you certainly shouldn't go into it for financial reasons. The key is finding the niche where you love what you do; getting paid a reasonable amount for it puts you ahead of most people in the rat race.

[wshang]

I would be interested to know what fields in medicine those who love what they do are in..... maybe there is a theme.

I agree it is a stable and financial secure profession but you certainly shouldn't go into it for financial reasons. The key is finding the niche where you love what you do; getting paid a reasonable amount for it puts you ahead of most people in the rat race.

It is my impression that family practice people like their patients. During local meetings for local medical society though, I am always shocked to hear them use four letter words in discussing reimbursement. I wonder if they enjoy their profession or they are more or less locked in and have come to believe they like it. I think if I were to rephrase your question . . . . if I had the foresight and wisdom, I would try to maximize my satisfaction, while keeping the peripheral irritations to a minimum, finding a profession which paid me commiserate to my intelligence/drive, challenging but not overly taxing, lending some degree of self-respect while providing a predictable income stream.
I have found each generation of successive generation of physicians to have a lower expectation and perhaps are more happy. I'd like very much to know when you are 50, whether you feel you have made the correct decision.

[Hematocrit]

Physician here . New to the boards as of today.
42 years old
Otolaryngologist/Head and Neck Surgeon


If he got into med school, the decision making process has already been made.
He is now asking for financial advice.
My advice would be to save your money and go the military route if you are willing to give up some time.

As others have said, medicine is changing dramatically.
You are entering a time of increasing work load and decreasing reimbursement.
Keep your money and let others (military) pay your tuition.

[tarheal93]

Agree. Decision is made and has to be a germane decision made only by you. Now the question is how to finance.

I returned to school and on to medical school after 2 years in the Peace Corps. For me there were options but I did the state school route. It seems you will be able to fund this a good part out of savings and live cheaply. That is the key. I drove a car that at the end of residency that was 32 years old. In med school my wife and I lived the pauper life. A big night out was a pizza and beer at a local pizzeria once a month. You can live the lifestyle needed and still be happy and functional-though busy.

The job market for physician is changing. I am a Hospitalist and one could go anywhere in the country and work. For many specialties it is not so good. Regardless you have to decide what you want to do in medicine and do it because you love it. Then all will work out fine. Congratulations on your new adventure/endeavor. Please contact with any questions/concerns. You can do this man!!!

[zebrafish]

Username: hematochezia

Occupation: head and neck surgeon

[Zeppcoustic]

Username: hematochezia

Occupation: head and neck surgeon

LOL.

[travellight]

I thought he'd be a GI doc.

[Hematocrit]

It was in med school I first learned the existence of the word Hematochezia.
I thought it was so cool there was a word that meant what it meant.
Stuck with me ever since.


Other funny words that I discovered at the time included: tenesmus, micturition, phantosmia,