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Years to reach median salary


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I am a PA student who graduates in March of 2017. I am going to have, between undergrad and PA school, $200,000 in student loans. Based on the AAPA salary report, cardiothoracic surgery and orthopedic surgery have the highest median salary. This was a great surprise to me because surgery (especially cardiothoracic surgery) has been my passion all along. The reality of the student loan repayment is overwhelming and I am trying to plan my life upon graduation. I noticed in the AAPA report that the starting salary for ortho and CT surgery was around $100,000. If the median salary according to AAPA for these surgical specialties is $145,000, approximately how many years after my first year working can I expect to reach that? I am asking because this will determine a lot of factors after I graduate in regards to the financial decisions that I make. Thank you for any and all responses. 

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I appreciate your reply. I plan on applying for ortho and CT surgery jobs in Greenville, SC. I would like to get an idea of what to expect as my initial starting salary and then how quickly, on average, I will advance to the listed median salary (~$150,000 per AAPA salary report). Thanks again for any and all input.

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You are more likely to have better luck making a higher income first few years on an hourly type position vs salary (as I would expect Ct surgery and most ortho positions are). Why not go into something hourly (urgent care or ER). Make $150/yr working 50 PAID hours a week and then specialize. Most ortho and surgery jobs I know of you are not getting paid past 40 hrs of work despite working A LOT more than 40 hrs.

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Salary reports are often self reported and therefore highly variable.  $145k may very well be the median/average but that could also only apply to high COL areas - of which I don't believe SC is - so you need to factor that in, as well.  If the starting salary includes places with astronomical COL where they HAVE to pay people 6 figures just to live, places where that isn't the case likely pay less.  

 

Depending on bonus/collections, which are never guarantees and are highly variable as well, and assuming a modest raise each year (also not guarantees), it could easily take you many years to reach the 'median'.   It's not likely that anyone can give you a number of years.  Consider that if you assume you start at $100k and are hoping to get to $150k you are essentially looking to increase your salary by 50% - a pretty significant jump.

 

I highly recommend you see what jobs are paying in the area you plan to live before you make any financial decisions - that will give you a much better idea of where you're starting and what you may expect to make in the near future (think 3ish years).  Manage expectations.  I can't imagine that any decisions are so imminent that you can't wait until you have a job and offer lined up to assess the situation more appropriately.

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You are more likely to have better luck making a higher income first few years on an hourly type position vs salary (as I would expect Ct surgery and most ortho positions are). Why not go into something hourly (urgent care or ER). Make $150/yr working 50 PAID hours a week and then specialize. Most ortho and surgery jobs I know of you are not getting paid past 40 hrs of work despite working A LOT more than 40 hrs.

Second the above

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Do you you want to do. Fortunately, you will also be doing something that tends to pay well. Even in rural areas with loan repayment options, which you probably won't get in an ER or surg specialty job, you would be unlikely to financially eclipse or vastly exceed what you could make doing surg where you want. I'm sure you've seen this before, but one of my biggest recommendations is to always calculate an hourly rate. In a sea of salaried careers, it is a decent way to compare apples to apples.

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Just to give some comparison based on what printer2100 stated regarding rural vs. ER/Surg specialty salaries.  I will soon be a new graduate like yourself and am looking for jobs.

 

I had a family medicine offer in a rural area of Michigan that would have paid around $88-$90k including bonuses.  They were going to include $40k of loan repayment split over 4 years, which covered roughly half of my loans.  Unfortunately it was unlikely that I would receive federal or state loan forgiveness for reasons unknown to me (just know that 4 other PAs who worked there failed to get it).

 

I am in the process of interviewing for multiple orthopedic positions and the lowest salary is probably AT LEAST $90k, but I don't know all of the specifics yet.  The highest paid position starts at $120k with a minor bonus on top - unfortunately the cost of living is a bit higher in this area.

 

So, if we compare the family medicine job vs. the $90k ortho position, they don't seem too different.  Except, the ortho position is in a state that does not have income tax, and real estate/property taxes are way less than they would be in MI.  Even if I don't get loan repayment from the ortho position, if you break it down to compare "apples to apples" I will do WAY better in the long run working in ortho than if I was to take the FM job.

 

Even if the ortho position didn't pay better, I still would pursue it because it's the specialty I want to be in.  I recently read an article that basically stated: those who wish they had more time are happier than those who wish they had more money.  I understand how tough and frustrating student loans can be, as I have WAY more than I expected and my wife and I would like to start growing our family about 2 years ago...but pursue the area of medicine you want to be practicing in and focus on providing the best care for your patients.  As you gain experience and become an expert in your field then review your collections and discuss with your supervising physician (or whoever the correct individual is) and negotiate a better income based on your body of work.

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