<p>It’s probably not a good idea to become a doctor for the money. But, at the same time, the pay isn’t bad. A lot of the lower paying specialties (internal medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, family med) are largely populated by graduates of foreign medical schools. The smartest US medical students are applying to fields with high pay and less hours: the ROAD specialties (radiology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, dermatology). I’m currently applying to radiology myself. With the expansion of medical imaging (PET scans, MRI’s, CT’s, etc.), radiology has become an integral part of how medicine is practiced today. The pay is great (typically in the 350k range, more if you are in private practice) and the hours are excellent. It’s not hard to see why radiologists are paid more than an internal medicine doc. For a routine 15 minute visit, your internal medicine doc may only be able to bill $50-75. Meanwhile, the cost of a chest x-ray is roughly $150. It takes an experienced attending radiologist roughly 15 seconds (I timed it) to read a chest x-ray. It’s not uncommon for a radiologist to read 75-100 chest x-rays in one morning. Obviously, not all of the $150 charge goes to the radiologist, but you can see why there is a different in income.</p>