Your Online Guide to the Top Medical Degree Programs.

Many of our best, brightest, and most ambitious students consider becoming doctors. Not too long ago, it would be crazy to question the choice. Yet a rising number of issues such as malpractice lawsuits, massive student debt, opportunity costs, and a changing medical landscape have made some question the worth of attending medical school. While the cost of medical school in and of itself is certainly high, the true cost of becoming a doctor is in years and years of your life.

In other words, comparing doctors to average college graduates, doctors are half a million dollars behind in real and potential losses, all by their early thirties. This often increases opportunity costs even more than our previously stated numbers.

With no fellowship and the shortest possible residency of three years, medical school graduates have already spent approximately 27, hours on their medical training.

A Novel Look at Physician Income: Why a medical career is the wrong career if money is one of your primary motives

This is assuming 80 hours a week of studying and training, for 48 weeks a year in medical school, and 80 hours a week of studying and work, for 50 weeks a year during residencies.

This may seem like a lot, but Medical school is hard and requires many more hours than most people work, particularly once long residency shifts are included.

To put the amount of time many students are spending on medical school in perspective, working 40 hour work weeks, it would take another worker almost 13 years of work to equal the number of hours med students are putting in in 7. For example, to be certified in internal medicine, a doctor needs to graduate from medical school, complete a 3-year internal medicine residency, and pass board exams. To become a thoracic surgeon, one must graduate from medical school, complete a 5-year general surgery residency, complete a 2-year thoracic surgery fellowship, and then pass thoracic surgery boards.

A difference of 4 more years in school 7 years vs.

New Missouri Law: Practicing Without Residency Training | Physician's Weekly for Medical News, Journals & Articles

This difference is reflected in the eventual salaries of our example specializations. Speaking only in terms of finances not focusing on individual passions, importance of work environment, and so on , very few specialization choices for those in med school face a meaningful financial loss due to additional years in school. Pediatric thoracic surgeons are a rather extreme example, however, as they are one of the highest paid and most specialized medical disciplines.

Taking another discipline that requires a great deal of school yet is more common, the financial benefits of becoming a geriatrician are somewhat less clear.

School debt adds to the deficit, but generally it should take over a decade to catch up to what a geriatrician would have potentially earned. While the relatively high salaries of doctors invariably pay for opportunity and real costs of a long training period, the stresses of large debt loads, long hours of studying and residency, and sometimes extremely stressful work conditions take their toll.

The Medical Cartel: Why are MD Salaries So High?

For younger doctors in training, the burden of escalating debt and intense stress in training is often too much. Unless you truly feel a calling for medicine, can cope well with the stress, or are highly motivated by the future pay off, medical school is often not worth it.

Though the amount varies according to cost of living, salaries for most professional careers increase corresponding to higher costs of living.

If one of your goals as a potential medical student is to make enough money for stability and day-to-day happiness, there are a number of careers with many fewer opportunity costs and stress. There are certainly reasons to not want to be a software developer, or to want to be a pediatrician more than any other career, but these are financial considerations that should be weighed. Is medical school worth it financially?

Skip to primary navigation Skip to content Skip to primary sidebar Main navigation Home About Contact. Find Your Degree Now!

Degree Finder Select a degree level:. Sponsored Schools This search will connect you with accredited schools offering the type of degree you are looking for. We receive a small marketing fee from these schools, which helps make the work that we do possible.

We do not accept paid placements for any of our rankings. Doctors are half a million dollars behind in real and potential losses, all by their early 30s.

Medical school is often not worth it. Featured Infographics Doctors Vs. Medical School Rankings FindTheBest StudentDoc TopTestPrep U.