BedHead

http://www.hbs.edu/mba/academics/mdmba.html

http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/...dualdegree.htm

go to google and type in md mba program and see how many listings come up; above are just two.

A friend decided he wanted to do hedge fund work after finishing a top 10 md/mba track and he now makes an astonishing amount of money....

I think money is a stupid reason to study medicine, but for those who have the brains and who want to and who don't agree, there are options.

bluedevilmike

1.) I certainly concede that my language was too strong. Hopefully you noticed that I backed off of it somewhat in post #29. ("It will reduce your chances.")

2.) However, I remain firmly convinced that if the question-asker explains that he has no intention of practicing medicine, medical schools will be disinclined towards his application. The MD/MBA programs you mentioned (there are similar programs at Duke, Penn, etc.) are not designed for people who never want to utilize their MD, they're meant for people who want to use the degrees in a hybridized fashion to achieve a broader good.

BedHead

BDM: I completely agree, but I am sure that the people going down this path will have figured this out and lie about their intentions. In other cases, no lying occurs, but minds change.

intel23

Medicine - you will always have a job, consistent salary.
Corporate finance- based on bonuses, you may or may not make $300k in a year

bluedevilmike

Genius me forgot completely about taxes. Taxes in our society are targeted towards those who make a lot of money all at once.

In other words, those who make more money later on (i.e. physicians and lawyers, but especially physicians) get penalized relative to those who make their money in a more spread-out fashion (i.e. other professions listed).

So you should correct my figures above by some unknown amount -- but probably a lot -- to adjust for the progressive income tax. Physicians get penalized a lot; lawyers get penalized some, etc.

KaiserMonkey

BDM: What made you choose corporate finance specifically? I should've said in my other post: I am going into medicine because I like science and academia, because I like the comfortable lifestyle it provides, because I'll get to help people, because I can work for myself, and a number of reasons besides just the money.

You say you're going to become a surgeon. Is it simply for the love, or are you considering finances as well? Would you do it again?

^Not trying to be confrontational; just curious.

bluedevilmike

1.) "Choose" in what sense? Why did I include it on this list? Because I was including lots of things and thought a listing would be incomplete without Wall Street.

2.) Yup. I could easily have gone to Wall Street and made vastly more money than I'll ever touch as a physician. I'm paying a lot of money* to become a doctor.

But that's what you do when you know where you're called.


*Yes, my tuition is high. No, that's not what I'm talking about.

bluedevilmike

A quick update. I ran some quick tax calculations. They're very conservative, because they only use half of payroll taxes and only federal taxes, since salary.com doesn't always specify whether it's salary or self-employed income and we don't know what state our person is living in.

Auto Mechanic: $563K
Chemical Engineer: $539K
Family Practitioner: $641K
Corporate Attorney: $707K
Interventional Cardiologist: $771K
Neurosurgeon: $862K
Corporate Finance: $1.8M

* * * *

Without taxes:
Auto Mechanic: +0 relative to Auto mechanic
Chemical Engineer: +20
Family Practitioner: +190
Corporate Attorney: +280
Interventional Cardiologist: +400
Neurosurgeon: +560
Corporate Finance: +1880

Now:
Auto Mechanic: +0
Chemical Engineer: -24
Family Practitioner: +78
Corporate Attorney: +144
Interventional Cardiologist: +208
Neurosurgeon: +299
Corporate Finance: +1237

* * * *

A professional economist -- as opposed to a medical student just toying around with Excel -- has actually figured that come time for retirement, plumbers are in better shape than family practitioners.

kkei08

If you're only looking at the medical field for the money, it's evident that you're strongly mistaken. Go spend your career in business or finance being well compensated for making the "higher ups" a bunch of money. Personally, when I'm 85 and on my death bed I'd prefer to say "I saved lives" as opposed to "I'm rich". You've got to ask yourself what's most important in life to you.

JennieAS

Does anyone know how much a PA makes starting out on average? And how much they can eventually earn?

bluedevilmike

Median appears to be approximately $78,000 for North Carolina. (Salary.com)

http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layoutscripts/swzl_salaryresults.asp?hdOmniNarrowDesc=Healthcare %20--%20Practitioners&hdZipCode=27708&hdStateMetro=141& hdSortBy=0&hdJobCode=HC07000009&hdKeyword=physicia n's%20assistant&rdbSearchByOption=0&hdJobCategory= HC03&hdGeoLocation=Durham,%20NC%2027708&hdLocation Option=0&hdViewAllRecords=0&hdJobTitle=Physician%2 0Assistant%20-%20Medical&hdAjaxDisplaySection1=1&hdAjaxDisplaySe ction2=1&hdOmniTotalJobsFound=150&op=salswz_psr&tx tKeyword=physician's%20assistant&hdSearchByOption= 0&hdCurrentPage=1&hdNarrowDesc=Healthcare%20--%20Practitioners&hdJSBoolDisplayAdvertisement=true &hdAjaxKeyword=physician's%20assistant&hdAjaxKeywo rdWithOR=#physician's#%20OR%20#assistant#

JennieAS

Thanks BDM! I checked out the AAPA website, as well, and their median income for 2007 was 86,000+. Although, what you gave me is what's relative to my area, so I appreciate that!

bluedevilmike

Haha -- a total coincidence. But glad it helps.

Sam Lee

engineers = auto mechanics. that's so sad. thanks for validating my plan to leave engineering.

bluedevilmike

Well, don't forget that I'm assuming our auto mechanic skipped college. If you change that calculation -- that our auto mechanic got a degree and decided not to use it, or whatever -- the math will work out differently.