$176,000.
It’s a number newly-minted physicians or those in the process of becoming a doctor should know.
No, it’s not the average salary of those in the medical field or the cost of an average physician’s home.
It’s also not something fun like the price you can pay for a new Audi R8 when you graduate from medical school (although that would be super nice.)
Memorial Day and Mother’s Day are May’s official holidays, but for millions, graduation day is May’s biggest celebration—as momentous as a wedding or birth. Graduation creates memories of a proud family gathering, celebrations with classmates, and the inspiring message from a charismatic commencement speaker.
I’ve had my share of graduations—high school, college at Cornell University, medical school at GW, grad school at Hopkins. Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) President Jordan Cohen addressed my medical school graduation. I had no idea who he was. A decade later, I went to work for him, and the AAMC has been my professional home ever since.
You’ve already done the hard part, you’ve made it into medical school! But how are you going to pay for it? Understanding how to manage your money is critical for financial success. Follow these eight basic tips to start your medical career off right.
Medical students deal with a lot of scary things: frequent do-or-die exams, looming USMLE or … Read more
Deborah Elaine Linder, DVM, is a board certified veterinary nutritionist and a research assistant professor at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. She received her bachelor’s degree in biological anthropology and anatomy from Duke University (2005), and her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine (2009). Dr. Linder completed a one-year veterinary medicine internship at VCA South Shore Animal Hospital in Weymouth, Mass., followed by a two-year veterinary clinical nutrition residency at Tufts.
Dr. Linder is a member of the Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association, American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition, Boston Nutrition Obesity Research Center, American Association of Human-Animal Bond Veterinarians, and International Society for Anthrozoology, and she is a steering committee member of the Pet Therapy Group Tufts Paws for People. She has been published in the Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, Veterinary Nursing, BMC Veterinary Research, American Journal of Veterinary Research, Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, Veterinary Quarterly, Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, and Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.
When did you first decide to become a veterinarian? Why?
You’ve taken the MCAT exam, applied to medical school, received an acceptance (or two!), and finally decided which school you are going to attend. Now it’s time to prepare to start medical school.
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has a few tips to help make the process of transitioning to medical school a little smoother:
Mouthing Off is the official blog of the American Student Dental Association. ASDA members post three times each week on topics such as dental licensure, personal finance and student debt, dental school life and dentistry in pop culture. Mouthing Off is almost entirely student written with the occasional post by a dentist or financial expert. Whether you’re a predental trying to get into dental school or you’re a dental student looking for some career advice, Mouthing Off is a great resource to visit again and again. Here’s a taste of what you’ll find on Mouthing Off:
For fourth year dental students, graduation is just around the corner. In this post, the dentists who wrote “So You Want to be a Dentist?” offer some advice they wish they’d had before graduating dental school.
Dr. Andrew Read-Fuller is a dentist and resident with the Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Parkland Memorial Hospital/UT Southwestern Medical Center, with a focus on the broad scope of oral and maxillofacial surgery, including dentoalveolar, orthognathic, cleft and craniofacial, and cosmetic surgery, as well as facial trauma and head and neck cancer. Read-Fuller received his bachelor’s degree in politics from Princeton University (2005), and, most recently, he is a graduate of the UCLA School of Dentistry, where he received his doctor of dental surgery (DDS) magna cum laude (2011) and his master’s degree in oral biology (2011). He is currently active in the Resident Organization of the American Association of Oral Maxillofacial Surgeons.
Dr. Read-Fuller was active with the American Student Dental Association during his time at UCLA, serving as vice president, executive committee member and president of the UCLA chapter. He has earned numerous honors and awards, including the Dr. William S. Kramer Award of Excellence –Omicron Kappa Upsilon (2010), Pierre Fauchard Academy Scholarship (2010), California Dental Association Foundation Scholarship (2010), Webb Family Scholarship –Outstanding Leadership (2009 – 2011), UCLA Affiliates Academic & Leadership Scholarship (2008 – 2010), and ADA Foundation Academic Scholarship (2008).
Someday, after years of school (then more school) and residency training, we will start earning doctors’ salaries. In the meantime, finances can be tight, but there are ways to cut costs, optimize the money you do have, and maybe even bring in a little extra on the side.
There’s an old moniker you can’t change what you don’t acknowledge. It’s hard to make a budget if you don’t know what you’re spending currently. Take a few weeks and keep track, ideally a full month. Write down everything, regardless of how you pay for it – cash, check, credit card, bitcoin. . . Even if you have a 0% interest credit card and won’t be paying it off for a while, write it down. Then, consider your monthly income. If you’re ending the month in the black – congratulations! You’re on the right track. You may still want to decrease your expenses to reduce your overall loan burden. If you find your monthly cost of living exceeding your income, it is definitely worth your while to take a hard look at what you’re spending and how to cut back.
For many students interested in a career in medicine, the period after the final year of undergraduate education represents a time of transition to medical school or to furthering their experiences and their education in preparation for applying to medical school. This month’s article from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) focuses on those two pathways.
The National Health Service Corps creates a win-win for doctors and underserved communities by financing medical education and bringing health care to those who need it most.
Attending college and earning a degree is a major accomplishment, but most people don’t have the resources to get their education paid for without help. While there are scholarship and grant programs available to help you out, loans are usually the popular option for students trying to pay their way through school.
The time to pay those loans back comes once you’ve stepped off stage and graduated. If you haven’t kept track of how much you owe, the final figure can be quite intimidating. To ease your stress, it’s important to financially plan and prepare for loan repayment. With that said, here are six smart ways to pay off your student loan.
I first started reading SDN as a medical student, more than a decade ago. In medical education, some of the best advice seems to come from those who are one year ahead of you in the medical education pipeline. SDN allowed me access to more people ahead of me in their training (and the very useful information they would provide) than I could find playing foosball in the lounge at school. As I progressed through the pipeline, I found myself receiving less and less information and dispensing more and more. As residency becomes a more distant memory each year, I can assure you there is light at the end of the tunnel. Residency is survivable. You will eventually feel competent in your specialty. You will make great friends and actually save some lives. Those five-figure paychecks will eventually start rolling in, and if you manage them well, will provide you a comfortable life and retirement.
Is working during school a good idea?