Medical School Statistics: MCAT scores, GPA, tuition, income...and more

Contents:

MCAT Scores

 

The Money Trail in Medicine:

Being a good doctor, you will do plenty of good. "Money" is often considered to be a dirty word. I think this connotation is due to the supposedly "outrageously" high incomes that doctors earn. It could be argued either way--but I argue that relatively to other professionals, doctors are far behind in pay.

Regardless money are VERY important, if for no other reason that you will NOT make any in the next 4 years of medical school and will be underpaid during the residency compared to your college friends who took positions on Wall Street and elsewhere or who went to law school.

Yet, you NEED money to go to medical school: at least 40K per year, which you will most likely either take as loans or whooze from under the wings of those very useful and unsuspectful lenders---your parents.

When applying to medical schools, I would suggest that you take a good look at your home state's public medical colleges, which tend to be half as expensive as private/non-profit schools. Over the course of medical school, public schools could be as much as $60,000 cheaper which is some serious money.

If you are resigned to loans, as I am, and hoping to pay them off really fast after medical school--I suggest that you try to slow down your respiration rate. It may surprise you, but residents on average earn $35,000 a year--as much as my college friends do their first or second year out of college.

Tuition charged by Private Medical Schools

Tuition charged by Public Medical Schools

Here's the "Official Statistics:" Resident Salaries 1998-1999

Salary information for practicing doctors by specialty can be found here: http://www.acponline.org/journals/news/nov98/stagnant.php

Physician Search: Salaries by specialty and length of practice