How Much $$$ Do You Make? Poll (Pt.2)

[davidccs]

On 11/7/2018 at 11:00 AM, PAHull said:

For those making over $130k help a brother out and tell me what field and what part of the US. I have been a PA for 12 years in both urgent care and ER and seen very few PAs make that much or more. I doing something way wrong.  

What I did before being done with school was look at the contracts forum. It gave me tremendous guidance on what to expect and what to ask for.

As for my personal situation, I graduated in September, set to start working mid December (forget you paperwork-ridden credentialing process) in a FT job (140hr/month in 10 hr shifts) and a 1099 which counted my paramedic experience. I am hoping that by working 20-24 shifts per month between both job ill clear 200k by this time next year, not counting bennies. I do live in a state with tax, and my wife is an empty so we will probably get shafted when tax season comes around in 2020...

[ccc1180]

Any Critical Care PAs out there? Curious what the salary range is as I gear up to talk money with my employer. Making mid-90s with three or so years of experience in the Northeast. 160 hours/mo with one weekend per month and 1/3 nights. 

[Boatswain2PA]

On 11/9/2018 at 2:05 PM, davidccs said:

I am hoping that by working 20-24 shifts per month between both job ill clear 200k by this time next year, not counting bennies. I do live in a state with tax, and my wife is an empty so we will probably get shafted when tax season comes around in 2020...

20-24 10+ hour shifts a month and you are likely to get really shafted in divorce court.

[EMEDPA]

9 hours ago, ccc1180 said:

Any Critical Care PAs out there? Curious what the salary range is as I gear up to talk money with my employer. Making mid-90s with three or so years of experience in the Northeast. 160 hours/mo with one weekend per month and 1/3 nights. 

sounds like you are grossly underpaid. critical care 3 years out you should be north of 125k...check the aapa salary survey. remember starting PAs now right out of school in much less specialized fields are making mid-90s. you should be making $60-75/hr minimum.... 

[ccc1180]

Agreed, though AAPA salary survey doesn't have a whole lot of data on salaries for Crit Care. The data they do have says that my salary is the low side of average for my area. Either way, after doubling my production each year that I've been working, its time to have a discussion.

[EMEDPA]

5 minutes ago, ccc1180 said:

Agreed, though AAPA salary survey doesn't have a whole lot of data on salaries for Crit Care. The data they do have says that my salary is the low side of average for my area. Either way, after doubling my production each year that I've been working, its time to have a discussion.

compare to EM as there is a lot of cross over of skills and providers. Most em pas I know 3 years out make 125-150k, pretty much anywhere except Pennsylvania, which is known for ridiculously low salaries due to the number of PA training programs there. $65/hr with 160 hrs/mo works out to $124,800 without shift differentials or overtime. That is what new grads make doing urgent care in my neck of the woods. 

[CritCareICU]

Thought I would comment about critical care salaries.

I work Medical and surgical ICU night coverage in South Florida. I have been out of school for 2 years, and have worked in the ICU since graduation (I was able to complete 4 rotations with my current ICU group as a student).

12-13; 12-hour shifts monthly, scheduled the way I request

my first year I made 130,000

this second year I will make 140,000

Feel free to ask me any specifics

 

[narcan]

On 11/15/2018 at 12:00 AM, CritCareICU said:

Thought I would comment about critical care salaries.

I work Medical and surgical ICU night coverage in South Florida. I have been out of school for 2 years, and have worked in the ICU since graduation (I was able to complete 4 rotations with my current ICU group as a student). 

12-13; 12-hour shifts monthly, scheduled the way I request 

my first year I made 130,000

this second year I will make 140,000

Feel free to ask me any specifics 

 

How'd you get them to schedule you any way you request?

[CritCareICU]

I was so grateful when I was initially hired and I had to go through orientation (about 2 months) during day shift before going to nights. So during that time and about up to my first year I worked 6-7 shifts in a row then 7-8 days off (that was how they always scheduled new hires for continuity of care, and its generally easier walking into a unit full of patients you're familiar with).  Our lead PA does the scheduling so now its very lenient and I can request my schedule the way I like it.  It's likely so flexible because we have 10 AP's and 7 doc's.

[futurepa588]

On 10/5/2018 at 4:10 PM, sas5814 said:

My base is 154 k and with OT I'm on track to make about 170-180 this year. For my second job I drink a lot of Scotch.

Now that's clutch

[ArmyPA]

Addendum...I picked up a per diem gig at an urgent care in the SEATAC area of Washington State a few month prior to my retirement from the Army. I make $68.99 and hour (during the interview the recruiter giggled when asked what I would like to make I said $60...then she said don't tell anyone else at the organization that.) Full timers work 14x 12 hour shifts per month but are salaried so do not get paid extra for late days or home charting...about $143k. All shifts over 14 in a month are at 1.5 pay per shift ($68.99 x 12 x 1.5) and you can work as much as you want if you're willing to drive a little and they don't care about OT for provides as there are over 10 clinics in the area. One NP buddy of mine (NPs and PAs get paid the same even tho NPs have full practice in WA) showed me his pay stub with one pay period left in the year and was over $300k (he works 5.5 shifts a week on average...he's single ). another NP told me she averages 17-18 shifts a month and averages $200k ish a year.   The bonus structure is daily: 31 patients in a day = $60, 41 = $120, 51 = $180.  I wish my wife didn't like Texas so much because they already offered me a full time job twice.  Was offered a job in Central Texas for $55 and hour...decent for the area, but I'm a bit spoiled (the cost of living is higher in WA...but not that much higher.) More applications have been sent as my last day of active duty is less than 2 weeks away...

Edited January 1, 2019 by ArmyPA
i do no good werds

[ArmyPA]

4 minutes ago, ArmyPA said:

Addendum...I picked up a per diem gig at an urgent care in the SEATAC area of Washington State a few month prior to my retirement from the Army. I may $68.99 and hour (during the interview the recruiter giggled when asked what I would like to make I said $60...then she said don't tell anyone else at the organization that.) Full timers work 14x 12 hour shifts per month but are salaried so do not get paid extra for late days or home charting. all shifts over 14 in a month are at 1.5 pay per shift ($68.99 x 12 x 1.5) and you can work as much as you want if you're willing to drive a little and they don't care about OT for provides as there are over 10 clinics in the area. One NP buddy of mine (NPs and PAs get paid the same even tho NPs have full practice in WA) showed me his pay stub with one pay period left in the year and was over $300k (he works 5.5 shifts a week on average...he's single ). another NP told me she averages 17-18 shifts a month and averages $200k ish a year.   The bonus structure is daily: 31 patients in a day = $60, 41 = $120, 51 = $180.  I wish my wife didn't like Texas so much because they already offered me a full time job twice.  Was offered a job in Central Texas for $55 and hour...decent for the area, but I'm a bit spoiled (the cost of living is higher in WA...but not that much higher.) More applications have been sent as my last day of active duty is less than 2 weeks away...

...and its Urgent care minus (we don't do fluids or monitor patients) or maybe retail medicine plus...so I can tell anyone who I am uncomfortable with to go to an ER, or stabilize any unstable patients and call an ambulance to take them to said ER.

[BayPAC]

Unless you work part time I don't see how you could make less than 90K. I started as a new grad making 6 figs, working 40h per week... life is good! 

[HLL2017]

On 11/14/2018 at 9:00 PM, CritCareICU said:

Thought I would comment about critical care salaries.

I work Medical and surgical ICU night coverage in South Florida. I have been out of school for 2 years, and have worked in the ICU since graduation (I was able to complete 4 rotations with my current ICU group as a student).

12-13; 12-hour shifts monthly, scheduled the way I request

my first year I made 130,000

this second year I will make 140,000

Feel free to ask me any specifics

 

Looking for advises...

I am in the process of learning about jobs and employment after graduated a PA program (I will be starting school this May). Reading these insights has been very helpful for me. Yet, I still wonder WHAT are critical factors that employers looking at when hiring new graduates, and WHAT in the resumes determines the pay? How much does the names of PA schools weight on this math? 

I have been accepted in a few programs and just dont know what I should be going for as each of them has pros and cons. 

PS: my goal here is that I work for my passion in medicine for life, but wanting to put family (having kids) and life very soon after gradated as priority (Is it possible to plan a period of time for maximum 2 years full time employment to pay most loans). Right now, I narrow down for 2 schools: 1 new program at Ohio University (since 2012 i think), 60K tuition fee, good training design with 100% PANCE passing rate. The other is UC Davis with years of experiences but pricey, 130K, 95% PANCE passing rate. My heart goes for OU, but people keep telling me go for Davis.

I am looking for advises. Any insights is much appreciated!

Thank you you all !

~HLL.

[mgriffiths]

4 hours ago, HLL2017 said:

Looking for advises...

I am in the process of learning about jobs and employment after graduated a PA program (I will be starting school this May). Reading these insights has been very helpful for me. Yet, I still wonder WHAT are critical factors that employers looking at when hiring new graduates, and WHAT in the resumes determines the pay? How much does the names of PA schools weight on this math? 

I have been accepted in a few programs and just dont know what I should be going for as each of them has pros and cons. 

PS: my goal here is that I work for my passion in medicine for life, but wanting to put family (having kids) and life very soon after gradated as priority (Is it possible to plan a period of time for maximum 2 years full time employment to pay most loans). Right now, I narrow down for 2 schools: 1 new program at Ohio University (since 2012 i think), 60K tuition fee, good training design with 100% PANCE passing rate. The other is UC Davis with years of experiences but pricey, 130K, 95% PANCE passing rate. My heart goes for OU, but people keep telling me go for Davis.

I am looking for advises. Any insights is much appreciated!

Thank you you all !

~HLL.

Wow the grammar, but I'll over look that.

As for choosing a school, unless you go to a big name school that people are going to recognize it is not going to matter - and honestly OU is probably more of a household name than UC Davis (no matter how good or bad of a school UC Davis is).  Therefore, without hesitation GO TO OU!!!!!  That extra $70k of student loans alone makes that decision a simple one, without question!!!!!  That is approximately an entire year's take-home salary difference!!!

As for paying back loans, it is entirely possible to pay back within two years.  I would have paid back 100% of my loans within 18 months (~$75k) if I had not changed jobs and my current employer is paying my loans for me.  Granted my wife was working at the time, so we were basically living off her salary and putting 100% of mine onto the loans.  It just depends on the financial requirements you can't change (family, debt, house, etc.) and the financial choices you can (vacation, new vehicle, new house, etc.).  From my experience it is 100% worth it to live frugally for a short period to keep from having student loans continuously waterboarding you - you may never actually drown, but it still sucks during the process.

As for employers - don't even get that far.  Focus on PA school, learn everything you can and as you get into your rotations begin looking.  The best piece of advice I've heard regarding finding a job: location, specialty, salary - pick two!  If you are too narrow in location or specialty you may only get to pick one. 

Edited January 9, 2019 by mgriffiths

[ohiovolffemtp]

From my job hunt right after graduation a number of years ago, here's what I saw matter:

1. Being licensed, or at least passing PANCE so licensing is just a bureaucratic process away.
2. Finding a place that's hiring.
3. Contacts/references from rotations.

So, the school only helps indirectly by being a source of rotations in the geographic region in which you wish to work.  So, unless you're planning to work in California, don't spend the extra money to go to school there.  I work in Ohio and the few OU students I've encountered seem well prepared.  If you're planning to work in Ohio, going to OU, or most of the other Ohio schools would be fine.

 

[ventana]

I can not say that I have ever felt "ranked" or paid based on what school I attended.  Having an MBA might have helped, top 5% with honors in PA school might have helped. But not the school

 

Think about it - what matters is your license, not the diploma/degree (beyond being able to sit for boards)

 

So as long as one of them is not a HORRIBLE educational program (highly doubtful) go for the cheapest alternative

 

 

 

[HLL2017]

 

On 1/8/2019 at 9:00 PM, mgriffiths said:

Wow the grammar, but I'll over look that.

As for choosing a school, unless you go to a big name school that people are going to recognize it is not going to matter - and honestly OU is probably more of a household name than UC Davis (no matter how good or bad of a school UC Davis is).  Therefore, without hesitation GO TO OU!!!!!  That extra $70k of student loans alone makes that decision a simple one, without question!!!!!  That is approximately an entire year's take-home salary difference!!!

As for paying back loans, it is entirely possible to pay back within two years.  I would have paid back 100% of my loans within 18 months (~$75k) if I had not changed jobs and my current employer is paying my loans for me.  Granted my wife was working at the time, so we were basically living off her salary and putting 100% of mine onto the loans.  It just depends on the financial requirements you can't change (family, debt, house, etc.) and the financial choices you can (vacation, new vehicle, new house, etc.).  From my experience it is 100% worth it to live frugally for a short period to keep from having student loans continuously waterboarding you - you may never actually drown, but it still sucks during the process.

As for employers - don't even get that far.  Focus on PA school, learn everything you can and as you get into your rotations begin looking.  The best piece of advice I've heard regarding finding a job: location, specialty, salary - pick two!  If you are too narrow in location or specialty you may only get to pick one. 

Hello mgriffiths!

I cant not begin to tell you how thankful I am to have your advises. What you shared with me is truly helpful for me not only to choose a school, but also to navigate my choices into practice later from the start, and relieve lots of stress about $$$ and such.  Thank you for taking time to write back to me, and also very sorry for my bad grammar lol. I sure will work harder on that lol!

Thank you very much!

HLL

[HLL2017]

On 1/8/2019 at 9:54 PM, ohiovolffemtp said:

From my job hunt right after graduation a number of years ago, here's what I saw matter:

1. Being licensed, or at least passing PANCE so licensing is just a bureaucratic process away.
2. Finding a place that's hiring.
3. Contacts/references from rotations.

So, the school only helps indirectly by being a source of rotations in the geographic region in which you wish to work.  So, unless you're planning to work in California, don't spend the extra money to go to school there.  I work in Ohio and the few OU students I've encountered seem well prepared.  If you're planning to work in Ohio, going to OU, or most of the other Ohio schools would be fine.

 

Truly appreciated your response. Home is CA, and I live in SD, but I like OU the moment I saw their classrooms and labs, so OU it is for me. I wouldnt mind to move  for the program I like. Because of my relationship, I may have to work with school to do rotations in CA the second year. As of for now, my homework is to choose a program to go for. With all the comments, it is very clear that OU is the one.

Thank you very much!

HLL

[HLL2017]

On 1/9/2019 at 2:57 AM, ventana said:

I can not say that I have ever felt "ranked" or paid based on what school I attended.  Having an MBA might have helped, top 5% with honors in PA school might have helped. But not the school

 

Think about it - what matters is your license, not the diploma/degree (beyond being able to sit for boards)

 

So as long as one of them is not a HORRIBLE educational program (highly doubtful) go for the cheapest alternative

 

 

 

Thank you very much for writing back! 5% top sounds too smart for me, but it would be the motivation to study hard in school, again...lol. And Yes, I am going for OU.

 

[delco714]

Wow the grammar, but I'll over look that.
As for choosing a school, unless you go to a big name school that people are going to recognize it is not going to matter - and honestly OU is probably more of a household name than UC Davis (no matter how good or bad of a school UC Davis is).  Therefore, without hesitation GO TO OU!!!!!  That extra $70k of student loans alone makes that decision a simple one, without question!!!!!  That is approximately an entire year's take-home salary difference!!!
As for paying back loans, it is entirely possible to pay back within two years.  I would have paid back 100% of my loans within 18 months (~$75k) if I had not changed jobs and my current employer is paying my loans for me.  Granted my wife was working at the time, so we were basically living off her salary and putting 100% of mine onto the loans.  It just depends on the financial requirements you can't change (family, debt, house, etc.) and the financial choices you can (vacation, new vehicle, new house, etc.).  From my experience it is 100% worth it to live frugally for a short period to keep from having student loans continuously waterboarding you - you may never actually drown, but it still sucks during the process.
As for employers - don't even get that far.  Focus on PA school, learn everything you can and as you get into your rotations begin looking.  The best piece of advice I've heard regarding finding a job: location, specialty, salary - pick two!  If you are too narrow in location or specialty you may only get to pick one. 

I disagree with dropping 70k more for a better name. Interest? With someone paying back loans from the second most expensive school in NY, I'll tell you.. As great as the program is, that's a lot of dough. Unless your going to pay your loan back and have another person's salary to live off for a few years.. think about it

[SoCal_PA]

Now that most people have received their W2s, here's a bump

[UpperLeftPAC]

Can't change my answer to the poll, at least that I can see on my phone, but made more this year than last year.

$139k, most of the year spent working nights, on average 12 12-hour shifts a month. First three months were days at a diff hospital, 14-16 ten hour shifts a month.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[PA-C]

New grad practicing in the Midwest. I just ended my second year in practice and made 180k. I work 36 hr/week 3 weeks per month; 42 hr/week 1 week per month. Average benefits (health insurance, CME, etc).

[ventana]

1 hour ago, PA-C said:

New grad practicing in the Midwest. I just ended my second year in practice and made 180k. I work 36 hr/week 3 weeks per month; 42 hr/week 1 week per month. Average benefits (health insurance, CME, etc).

in what field??