[j2m]

Originally Posted by M3gasmd

I'm an anesthesiologist in the northeast. Don't go into medicine for the money!!! I've been in practice for 7 years and each year my salary has been declining at least 10 percent per year. At this rate I will be looking for a jeep pretty soon. I still make a decent amount of money but you need to be happy with what you do. I just happen to love sticking laboring woman with a 5 inch needle which is what I am doing tonight.

Good for you

[HighandDry]

Originally Posted by DaKillaMafia

How was residency for you if you don't mind me asking? I'm wanting to become an anesthesiologist, although you may not be one.
Thanks

Residency (surgical) was hell, but I think it's better now, because they limit your hours to 80 (?) hrs/week.

My internship year, I was on call every other day for a year. So start at 6 AM, up working all day and night, go back home at 5 PM. Stumble around a couple of hours, go to sleep, and start all over again. It was incredibly hard.

[Thebigbus]

Originally Posted by HighandDry

Residency (surgical) was hell, but I think it's better now, because they limit your hours to 80 (?) hrs/week.

My internship year, I was on call every other day for a year. So start at 6 AM, up working all day and night, go back home at 5 PM. Stumble around a couple of hours, go to sleep, and start all over again. It was incredibly hard.

It's definitely not like that now with all the new rules.

My intern year was last year (first year gen surg) and we did night "call", but it was really just 16 hour shifts at night. This year, the interns aren't really doing that, and are just doing a whole month of night "shifts". Supposedly that gets them into the OR more during the day.

Now in year 2 (Urology), and I average call about every 4th night. It's not too bad. Then again, Urology is not Gen Surg

[LarThaL]

Originally Posted by phecht

I was wondering if there are any current or graduated med students here that could just lend a bit of advice. I'm hopefully going into med school soon and wondering how you paid for insurance, gas, and any other miscellaneous fees. I'm aware that loans are the main crutch. Although seeing as though whoever answers this has already experienced it, I just wanted to know if you had any advice without going too much into dept. Currently I'm about to go into the EMT field for some decent money and preparation for med school. But I doubt I will be able to continue that while I'm studying to be a doctor. I know the M3 is a relatively expensive car to maintain and curious on how you guys got through it. Thanks any replies in advance!

I worked for 2 years between college and med school, so I was able to put away a bit of money. I took some loans, and my parents helped me out a fair bit. I drove a Honda Prelude through med school and residency. My first upscale car was at the age of 33. That was an Audi S4. Medicine is like no other profession in that regard. You can go from earning $50k as a resident to earning like $300-400k literally overnight when you start as an attending, depending on your specialty of course.

[aus]

Can someone explain to me why OP's ONLY POSTS HERE are on this topic in the wrong section?

.

[T3X4S]

I drove a Honda Accord through med school. Parents paid for car insurance, but everything else was on me via student loans. I did residency and fellowship, so it was a long time before I could afford anything decent. I finally bought a 335i 5 years after going into private practice and only just recently traded it in for M3.

I agree with others who say reimbursements keep going down every year. If you throw in having to pay overhead, staff, their health insurance etc, then you make even less. I now work for a healthcare firm and got out of private practice due to burn out and dwindling reimbursements. I tell people who ask me if I'd go into medicine again if I had a choice, and my answer is always no. I am sure a lot of people will still point out that doctors' salaries are still good; however, if you factor in the loans and years to get a return on your investment, then it's a big negative return for years.

On a different note, I love my M3!!!

[firstkill]

Cost of private med school 30K a year not including books/random crap
Loans needed to live for 4 years, 20k a year (if you can live cheap)

50k x 4 yrs + interest when no payments being made. at least 220k afterwards.

It would be tough to have a monthly payment on any nice cars with a 20k a year living budget.

Residency pay is 50k a yr, loans likely still deferred. rack up another 20k of interest.
(you can get a car here but is that the best decision after owing 200K + in loans)

Attending doctor

Total owed 240k in student loans. Not tax deductible.
2nd guessing if it was worth it . Buy fancy car to drown sorrows

fk

[aus]

Originally Posted by HighandDry

Residency (surgical) was hell, but I think it's better now, because they limit your hours to 80 (?) hrs/week.

My internship year, I was on call every other day for a year. So start at 6 AM, up working all day and night, go back home at 5 PM. Stumble around a couple of hours, go to sleep, and start all over again. It was incredibly hard.

Every other is pretty insane, but you must have known that going it.

It's too easy now with all the limited hours. The system (Government) is producing docs that just want to be employees, so the new docs are easier to control. What the Gov doesn't realize is, productivity of the docs will go down DRAMATICALLY. Even with increasing medschool class size, they won't make up the doctor shortage. Then throw in the decreased productivity of each doc, and it's going to be a mess they created.

Some day these kids applying to med school will realize, it's not worth the money after all the loans and then the cuts to physician pay that Medicare has already enacted. Then throw in Obamacare, which is taking billions out of Medicare (which is broke already), and there won't be any money to pay the docs. The insurance companies will follow what ever Medicare pays, which will be shit in a few years.

As for the OP. You should really be driving a Civic or Accord- if you want to splurge. And E46 M3 is still an expensive care to maintain and insure.
.

[Rk-d]

Originally Posted by phecht

I was wondering if there are any current or graduated med students here that could just lend a bit of advice. I'm hopefully going into med school soon and wondering how you paid for insurance, gas, and any other miscellaneous fees. I'm aware that loans are the main crutch. Although seeing as though whoever answers this has already experienced it, I just wanted to know if you had any advice without going too much into dept. Currently I'm about to go into the EMT field for some decent money and preparation for med school. But I doubt I will be able to continue that while I'm studying to be a doctor. I know the M3 is a relatively expensive car to maintain and curious on how you guys got through it. Thanks any replies in advance!

A high mileage e46 is ~$13k. That's not the issue though - repairs are not cheap on these cars. I would be leery.

Between student loans and deferred income, getting an m3 now is a poor decision. Get a fun car with a warranty. I actually bought an s2k when I started residency and I absolutely loved the thing.

I would consider something similar. Maybe a Scion FRS or the Subaru version? Just a thought.

[HighandDry]

Originally Posted by aus

Every other is pretty insane, but you must have known that going it.

Yeah, you know that going into it, but you REALLY don't know until you're there. At that time, if you wanted to be a surgeon, almost all the good programs were like that. It was so ridiculous though. In order to have a weekend off, you would switch weekends with your fellow intern. So when it was your weekend, you would start work on Friday and not leave the hospital until Monday night. Absolutely insane. Plus most of the attendings were Nazis in their former lives.

I told my wife I should write a book about residency and her reply was, "The general public is not ready for something like that."

In terms of going into medicine again? Sure why not. There's still nothing like taking the knife to the skin. I love being able to help people with a skill that took years and thousands of hours to hone Currently, my hours are pretty good and my pay is still very good. Not to sound too materialistic, but it's nice having a Ferrari (you car guys understand). Kind of like a pat on the back.

[freeman727]

I have agree with the statement be conservative. Unless you come from a wealthy family, DON'T DO IT! Especially with ObamaCare. Plus you never know what specialty you'll be in. You may end up doing primary care. I know folks in primary care who make less than 100K per year and have > 100K debt. I bought my M3 before my fellowship was over and almost didn't start my attending job (long story). I was scared I wouldn't being to make payments on the car. Focus on you studies. All things come in good time. You won't be sorry.

[freeman727]

Originally Posted by DaKillaMafia

How was residency for you if you don't mind me asking? I'm wanting to become an anesthesiologist, although you may not be one.
Thanks

Dermatology or bust. Everything else has very crappy future. Plastic surgery is good too, but takes too much time to finish. I'm in radiology by the way.

[Wendall]

Originally Posted by M3gasmd

I'm an anesthesiologist in the northeast. Don't go into medicine for the money!!! I've been in practice for 7 years and each year my salary has been declining at least 10 percent per year. At this rate I will be looking for a jeep pretty soon. I still make a decent amount of money but you need to be happy with what you do. I just happen to love sticking laboring woman with a 5 inch needle which is what I am doing tonight.

Best response, hands down!

[freeman727]

Originally Posted by DaKillaMafia

I'll wait and see what gains my interest in medical school.

There you go. Doing it for the love of medicine. The truth is that most of us just go through the motions after while. An elite/select few have true passion for medicine. They usually go into academics. I admire those folks. That just ain't me. That doesn't mean I don't care about my work, though.

[HighandDry]

There are excellent physicians in academics, but many there are just going through the motions. I was offered a spot at the University here when I finished fellowship, but there is no way I could have dealt with all the politics.

Being in private practice for 13 years, I would say there are as many physicians in the community that have passion for their work as there are in academics.

[jpan08]

UConn Dental!

[firstkill]

surprised there are that many doctors on this forum.
sad thing is 50% of us wouldn't do it again.


fk

[Sandman99]

Anesthesiologist here...love what I do...but wouldn't do it again with current and future situation not boding well for physicians...

[bspears]

Originally Posted by DaKillaMafia

How was residency for you if you don't mind me asking? I'm wanting to become an anesthesiologist, although you may not be one.
Thanks

I am. I trained at UCSF. Residency was the best three years of my life. I never worked so hard but it was soooo rewarding.

[Rk-d]

Originally Posted by firstkill

surprised there are that many doctors on this forum.
sad thing is 50% of us wouldn't do it again.


fk

Doctors always bitch about being doctors. It's always been that way. The current climate sucks and future is scary - but it's like that for most people, regardless of profession.

[freeman727]

Originally Posted by robotk

Doctors always bitch about being doctors. It's always been that way. The current climate sucks and future is scary - but it's like that for most people, regardless of profession.

What about engineering?

[HighandDry]

50% not liking what they are doing isn't bad. I bet the percentages are a lot higher in other professions.

I can't see how being a politician or lawyer gives any kind of satisfaction