People should pursue a job they find rewarding. I didn't go to law school because I wanted to get rich. I went because my job involved a lot of legal stuff and I enjoyed that part of my job. I'll probably end up making more in the long run which is nice, but I'll be working more.
My buddy is an anesthesia guy making $500k with 20 weeks vacation. Obviously he is the exception not the rule. But if you peep doctor salaries by location, you can make a killing if you are fine with living in smaller cities or in more "remote" areas. A doctor in my hometown makes a salary similar (if not more) to a doctor in NYC or LA and can buy a McMansion for $500k instead of buying a tiny apartment for 1-2 million.
I think a lot of the issues millennials have encountered is insisting on being in specific locations. It's not exclusive to cities, the same can be said about people who won't leave their hometown or whatever. My town is sorta a sweet spot where white collar professionals can do very well for themselves, but no one wants to move here.
I'm currently home with my folks while I wait for my next job to start, and a local attorney asked me to come meet with him. I shit you not he spent 6 hours trying to convince me to stay in town because all of our attorneys are at or near retirement age. Had I not had my eyes dead set on a very specific job right now, I would have agreed. It would easily be a $200k/year job in a town where $200k is basically F U money.
Long story short: my question is are doctors being squeezed or are doctors being picky about where they work?
Fair enough. My point about them getting squeezed is 2-pronged, both to illustrate that not only are doctor salaries not necessarily as lucrative as some may assume in comparison to other professions, but that they are trending in a negative direction. This may not dissuade people from becoming doctors now, but if things get worse, it might. As far as I know big law goes up steadily like 5k every year right? There is no clear, looming reduction on your future earnings. Regardless, all doctors that I know feel government intervention will drastically exacerbate the trend in the negative direction.
So not only is it not as great currently as you people assume, it has the potential to get even worse with govt healthcare. I don't think our brightest citizens should be the ones that suffer to solve this situation. You may say the old adadge"do what you love" but that is a bit insulting. So if doctors love medicine they should just accept whatever low price compared to peers?
And yes, you can earn substantially more in you live in the sticks, but that too will be relatively reduced with universal healthcare.
Further, universal healthcare will not affect dentists like doctors. As far as i know, they normally just charge people out of pocket for service, right? So when premed students see their peers struggling in class and then making twice as much when they become dentists, after a while you "love" for a profession becomes less compelling, don't you think?
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