Do you Want to be a Medical Doctor to Make a Six-Figure Income?

Did you go to Saint James School of Medicine because you want to make money? I hope the answer to that question is a big NO, but not just at SJSM it applies to any medical school. When I was doing my undergrad I was with about 140 students in the pre-medicine program in my class. Half of the students were Chemistry majors and the other half were Biology majors, the group that I was with. And about 7 out of 60 that I know of in the class have gone through to finish pre-medicine. For a good majority of the 7 people I know of, most of them went through to dental school and pharmacy school, while another student and I went along with regular medicine.

After coming back from Bonaire I caught up with those students and I asked those students why didn’t they go medical school like they originally planned, their answer was that it was too hard or they were not willing to go through “all that”. They explained to me what they have to do to get a PharmD or a DMD (doctor of dental medicine). When they explained to me their path to getting their degree and what awaits them at the other end of the light, I was stunned that they don’t have to go through what MDs have to go through plus they are paid more. Yes you read it right, they are paid more in the long run than MDs. A pharmacists and a dentists gets paid very well but not as well as an MD, however, they have less liability and therefore they get to keep more money at the end of the day than a regular medical doctor. Some doctors, depending on their insurance or whichever hospital they work for, have to give up 45% of their hard worked money. It includes government overhead fees, insurance, and income tax.

It’s funny and ironic how the system works in America. Sports players get paid millions of dollars just for entertaining us and they get to live lavish lives and have fun. However, doctors have to sacrifice at least 7 years of their lives to learn to save people. On top of that they are overworked and underpaid and at the end, half of their paycheck gets taken away. That’s one of the reasons I get ticked off when someone, non-medical person, starts the argument “doctors get paid too much”.

So if you think you can make big money becoming a doctor, think again. You’re better off as a financial analyst at a consulting firm on Wall Street, but then again Wall Street has problems now for corporate greed.