I am a fellowship-trained surgeon.
Besides the financial aspect, the following 7 points will make your decision of PA vs. MD easy:
1. It takes on an average at least 15 years (after high school) of head in the sand (books) to complete fellowship and reach the $200,000 debt figure that you are quoting.
2. A 40-50 hour work week is a dream for most MDs. Most of my colleagues work 60 hrs and some up to 80 hours a week.
3. Not counting the hours after you go home and come back for ’emergencies’.
4. Family life is a ‘possibility’ for PAs. Look around and see how many MDs have kids before 30. You will be surprised by the small number.
5. Most of my PA friends work two jobs (totaling 60-80hrs/week), so their salaries go up accordingly. Ever heard of an MD working two jobs. I guess 120-160 hrs/week is kinda difficult. Huh..
6. PAs work just as well and earn just as much respect by their patients and colleagues.
7. The only trajectory this trend is going is upwards. Mid-level providers’ need and utilization has been increasing exponentially.
I am totally happy with what I am doing. But if I were to advise an aspiring student for MD vs. PA, I would totally refer him/her to this post. I think the round 1 showdown is won by PAs, not MDs.
- Dr. S
What do you think? Is Dr. S spot on or dead wrong? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section. You probably know where I stand on this debate. 🙂
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I am a PA married for 34 years to a physician (Otolaryngologist). We met in the Air Force soon after I finished PA school and she finished her residency. She talked me out of applying for medical school saying more than a hundred times “I wish I were a PA instead of a doctor”. Our son, who we always thought would go to med school, saw the differences in our lifestyle – me going to all his soccer games; her being on call and going to the hospital/surgery instead. He is now a PA. Enough said.
This was an extremely helpful post, and I sincerely appreciate this surgeon’s integrity and honesty in posting these thoughts. There are a few out there who absolutely LIVE for the study of science and medicine; they eat, sleep, and breath it. However, those that I’ve known who are this way (not to sound mean at all) are NOT very well rounded in their interests. This is okay with them. They like it that way. For most people though, there is a desire to see and do a multitude of places and activities, respectively. I, for one, love to travel, read, daydream, exercise, be involved at my church, support my wife and family, and so on. My wife always tells me “You likely could be a neurosurgeon, a dad, a husband, a _______, etc. but you’re NOT going to have time to be GREAT at all of them. Something has to give. You have to decide what YOUR priorities are going to be in life.”
My wife is super wise. I chose to go to PA school because I want to be more than a healthcare provider. I want to be a good dad, a good husband, a good friend, a good musician, a good brother, etc. and I knew that being a PA was going to give me more TIME to attempt to be those things in life, while still allowing me to touch peoples lives with the help of others, doctors, nurses, and PA’s alike.
Bottom-line: I think it’s okay to be honest about it, in the right way. Telling someone you want to benefit others outside of medicine isn’t a bad thing.
Right on Luke!
I work for radiologists that work 40 hrs a week. They make 350 to 400 thousand a year. I think you need to look at more than internal medicine. The surgeon who states she works 60 hrs per week makes overer 500 k a year. I worked for neurosurgeons making 700k plus. Yes they work extreme hours. I think the numbers you obtained are from inaccurate sources or just internal medicine data. Most of it is extremely off. My mds pay cash for 70k cars and cash for 500 k homes, some literally drive a new 200k porsche to work. THEY SEND THERE KIDS TO PRIVATE GRADE SCHOOLS COSTING 25 K A YEAR. They are not making 32 per hour. I think we need to stop assuming being an md is a bad thing and stop THE NONSENSE PITY I FEEL sorry for them.
Most pas saying this have regrets about their decision to become a pa and I believe are trying to somehow justify there chosen life. FYI I know those docs who drive a 200k porsche paid for in cash and live in $1.3 million homes. Where do you get your numbers they are nonsense. Don’t falsify the financial ability of all mds and don’t generalize. It make it seem like it was a great financial decision to become a pa vs md. I have been a pa a long time and make 110 000 a year pretty good for pas in general. But …..i sincerely do at least 60 percent of the work of my radiologists, work similar hours, and make 25 precent of what they make. I have been asking for a raise for 3 years and have not been given one. I have an extremely high level of responsibilities and do high risk procedures daily. I would rather be the radiologist and get paid adequately. FYI If you look at my PROCEDURE numbers I should be making over 150 k plus a year.
I totally agree with all of these aspects, in fact they are why I changed my mind about becoming an MD after wanting to be a doctor my entire life (and your post about why your wife is happy you’re a PA and not an MD). But how do I explain this to an admissions committee without sounding lazy or selfish? I know that being a PA is tough work and will require long hours and lots of sacrifices, but spending 11 more years in school to work 60-80 hours a week and maybe have a family doesn’t sound like the life I want for myself. Is it really ok to be that honest about it?
Megan,
I completely feel the same about this. It’s one of the main reasons as to why I am leaning towards PA school as well. I know at least 3 MDs on a personal level and they all seem to have either raised a lovely family without any issues or have been able to enjoy their personal life just as much as their work life. However, I know myself best, and I know that I’d prefer to have more time to doing other things that I am passionate about. I’m just afraid that the admissions committee would see it as, “You don’t seem to be dedicated to the field of medicine.” So I’m in the same boat as you and I’d like to know whether it would be OK to inform the committee of these things.
Yes! You can absolutely be honest about that in your interview! They will most likely ask you why you chose PA instead of MD or NP, so you should be prepared with an answer. You can definitely say you want a life, or you like the aspect of changing specialties, or you don’t want to spend 10 years in school, you could even say you want to get out and start helping people as soon as you can (though that may sound cheesy? Not sure…). They know all the perks of choosing PA, and it shows you understand the difference.
Hi Jessica!
I’m not exactly sure what I all said during my interview…it was such a blur! But whatever I said worked because I start WesternU’s MSPA Program in August!! Woohoo!!
Congratulations!!! I wish you the best, you will have a great time!
Stephen
Great advice Jessica!