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Can someone do a PA and MD salary comparison including time and debt?


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sure, but teaching typically pays less than clinical medicine. I was offered an associate program director position recently that pays 50k/yr less than my current salary....and this was a competitive offer...

 

 

 

hmm.. so there's no such thing as clinical faculty? i.e.: my father is a surgeon, he teaches residents as well as has his own patients.

 

also, does PA income cap or no? my understanding is it caps around $110k?

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precepting typically doesn't pay anything....I have students all the time. lots of full time faculty work 1 day/week clinically, but no one gets rich in teaching. a good friend of mine is a program director with a doctorate and working on doctorate #2 and he makes 15k/yr less than I do. he works 20 days/month aand some weekends for interviews. I work 16-18 days/month. his typical day, however is a lot easier than mine, along the lines of m-f 9-4 or so and can take off  time whenever he wants. his life/work balance is certainly better than mine because a lot of my time off is recovery time...

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Hey tmac,

As a disclaimer you shouldn't let a a financial comparison affect your decision to enter a field. Ever.

However, here is a really in depth comparison of a family practice doctor and a PA. It has an infographic that compares salaries after investing, taxes, and debt payment at every age.

https://financingmedicine.com/2017/08/22/pa-vs-family-practice-doctor-financial-perspective/

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People are right that MD/DOs make more money salary wise in the long run but they aren't accounting for having capital at an earlier age. At age 25 with 100k+ salary, you can start making some decent investments such as real estate. I think if you were truly serious about making money then you would be better off gaining capital at an earlier age and investing said capital than going through 8-11 years of schooling + debt. 

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On 10/17/2017 at 9:17 PM, jamesragger said:

Hey tmac,

As a disclaimer you shouldn't let a a financial comparison affect your decision to enter a field. Ever.

However, here is a really in depth comparison of a family practice doctor and a PA. It has an infographic that compares salaries after investing, taxes, and debt payment at every age.

https://financingmedicine.com/2017/08/22/pa-vs-family-practice-doctor-financial-perspective/

I ran all of the numbers before I went back to med school. PA vs MD/DO lifetime earnings, based on my calculations, the physician always won, by >$1.5 million up to $7 million more in lifetime earnings based on specialty. Keep in mind, this was specific to my situation. If the OP really wanted to do this, they need to do their own calculation because there's just way too many variables that are person dependent, including:

a. PA school cost (different for each one)

b. Med school cost (different for each one)

c. Living at home or taking loans out for living expenses

d. Residency length

e. Specialty

etc etc etc.....The study referenced above is actually broken down pretty well. They are comparing PA to the lowest paid physicians, and physicians still win by a long shot. IMO, people who choose PA school vs med school simply because "its shorter, less schooling, less debt, making income faster, etc" and somehow feel that it's a smarter financial investment are making a horrible decision. Simple math proves this.

Not needed, but I'll add a personal anecdote since I  was talking about it earlier today. A friend of mine just graduated EM residency, he has about $250,000 in loans. As you know, EM residency is 3 years. He just signed for $350,000/yr, plus $50,000 sign on bonus. His monthly shift requirements are far less than a PA in the ER. How long do you think he'll take to pay off those loans and surpass a PA who chose to go to PA school and work in the ER? 

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On 10/21/2017 at 9:01 PM, Hckyplyr said:

I ran all of the numbers before I went back to med school. PA vs MD/DO lifetime earnings, based on my calculations, the physician always won, by >$1.5 million up to $7 million more in lifetime earnings based on specialty. Keep in mind, this was specific to my situation. If the OP really wanted to do this, they need to do their own calculation because there's just way too many variables that are person dependent, including:

a. PA school cost (different for each one)

b. Med school cost (different for each one)

c. Living at home or taking loans out for living expenses

d. Residency length

e. Specialty

etc etc etc.....The study referenced above is actually broken down pretty well. They are comparing PA to the lowest paid physicians, and physicians still win by a long shot. IMO, people who choose PA school vs med school simply because "its shorter, less schooling, less debt, making income faster, etc" and somehow feel that it's a smarter financial investment are making a horrible decision. Simple math proves this.

Not needed, but I'll add a personal anecdote since I  was talking about it earlier today. A friend of mine just graduated EM residency, he has about $250,000 in loans. As you know, EM residency is 3 years. He just signed for $350,000/yr, plus $50,000 sign on bonus. His monthly shift requirements are far less than a PA in the ER. How long do you think he'll take to pay off those loans and surpass a PA who chose to go to PA school and work in the ER? 

These are such cookie cutter examples though. I'd be interested to compare a primary care physician that went to an expensive school versus a PA that went to a cheap school. That's when the lines get blurred a little bit. I'm sure the physician still wins out, but I can't imagine the gap is as large as those cookie cutter examples.

I myself had a chance to go to dental school for 400-500K, or pursue an in-state PA school for 50-65K. The cookie cutter examples aren't always the best to stack against one another for that reason.

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