Medicine or Banking? Currently at Wharton in Econ with minor finance
I am a freshman in college who is getting a degree from Wharton in economics with a concentration in finance and a degree in biology from Penn's CAS. I am also very interested in hearing what you guys think the future of banking and med will look like. For the last few years, I was dead set on med. I love the health sciences; I shadowed a doctor (and loved it); I also love the stability that comes with a medical career.
However, many of my wharton peers just kind of laugh when I say I am thinking about med, and they do bring up valid points. With healthcare reform, doctors in good specialities will be paid (significantly?) less. Plus, it sounds like you can make the same money in investment banking that you can in med. The trick is it sounds like banking hours are completely unbearable. Moreover, I hate the lack of stability that comes with finance jobs.
So, is this assessment of these careers valid? How do you think the future these fields will look 15 years from now? I really want to be paid well for my work but I also want a stable field. I know its still early to be asking all these questions, but I need to better understand this stuff earlier rather than later.
Thanks!
The kids who laughed sound like douches
Medicine is NOT better hours for the first 8 years -- 4 years of med school (tough) + 4 years of residency (banking hours). But it probably gives you a sense of satisfaction that a lot of jobs don't, and you'll be comfortably well off. It really depends on what type of work you would like
I think I've met you before.
I've spoken to a few senior people about the future of finance and they all have a very dim view. Most said finance as a profession has reached its peak and is now in slow decline. Too many people for too few jobs, less deal flow. IB layoffs seem to be around the corner. Hedge funds way below highwater marks are shuttering. Its doubtful that funds will be able to charge the ridiculous fees going forward. One could argue that the build up in investing interest, the fund flows into equity markets, was a bubble that is now slowly letting out air.
I can't say choose one field or the other, both have pros and cons, but its doubtful that finance will be as lucrative going forward as it once was. There are no magical career paths anymore. The only way to make it big it seems is to go the entrepreneur route. The good news is you can be an entrepreneur regardless of your your educational focus. I would also add don't chase the money, but thats a personal opinion.
You and I are in the same boat. I am also thinking about a career in medicine. Why not take some time off after undergrad to test the waters. Try finance and if you have enough energy, try to work in a hospital in some substantive capacity on the weekends.
If you are going into medicine for the money, you are wasting your time and resources. I know quite a few people who in their fourth year of medical school decided against becoming doctors.
So what if doctors get paid less? The medical profession needs a massive revamping and a kick in the pants. Over the summer, I had food poisoning and was billed 500 dollars for a 5 minute conversation with a gastroenterologist who just told me not eat anything for the next 2 days. Obviously, my insurance company picked up the tab, but this practice is another reason why America needs some type of healthcare intervention. The high wages of the profession are a direct result of egregious over billing and a dearth in supply. America has the lowest proportion of doctors in the postindustrial/industrial world.
Medicine, especially in the upper echelons, will be just as prestigious and high paying as before. In 15 years, neurosurgeons, plastic surgeons, and other super doctors will still walk the earth like gods.
I am a senior and have a similar background (Finance and Biology major).... and I still have not made the decision.
If you are really a top notch student and think you can pull off doing double duty (esp. through orgo) then go for it. Its a shitload of work but I am sort of glad I did it. I know if I ever don't like finance, I can take a year off, prep, and have another amazing career waiting for me.
If money is a consideration, you should note that you also earn decent money early on in banking/trading whereas in medicine you don't really earn money tell after 8 years. Time value of money.
But you also mentioned stability... medicine has this hands-down over every other career.
Finance will always be there, if you are good, you will always be paid an insane sum of money compared to your peers who work in normal jobs. Period
Medicine is something i am not too familiar with..but i have a couple friends in med school now and they enjoy what they do
Something you might want to think about is why you want to go to either careers. Interest in a certain path is very important instead of merely looking at it from a monetary perspective.
Investment banking generally pays way more than medicine, in the short and long term. Note that there is a huge range in what MD's make depending on specialty.
Medicine requires 4 yrs med school, and 3-8 years of training after that. During this time, if you do not truly enjoy what you do you will be miserable. Hours are long, but unlike banking, you won't be buying sweet loot - you'll be scraping by while paying off loans. You will be interacting with people at their very worst: when they are sick, angry at being sick, and ready to take it out on you. If you don't genuinely get internal satisfaction from helping people, you will find working with patients to be frustrating.
If you want to make big money in medicine you're looking at becoming a surgeon and if you're going to be a surgeon, your hours are going to suck as a resident, as an attending, as whatever. The lifestyle in most surgery services blows
Don't underestimate how much doctors have to work. I don't want to comment on it too much because I don't really know enough about the healthcare reform, but doctors I've talked too aren't too happy about it because, particularly those in specialties, it means lower pay and higher hours due to the increased influx of new patients. People as GPs are relatively OK with it because their pay will even out relative to specialists, but even they will get longer hours just from what I have heard (not saying its fact).
Having been through a similar situation although at a much greater level, I will tell you that your options will basically simplify to this.*
1) If you care about the type of work you do, the perception of the average person and the satisfaction of feeling like you made a genuine difference in the life on an individual, you will go towards medicine
2) If you care about maximizing your earning potential early on in life, don't mind giving up your youth for a little (well, a lot of compensation), and you think that satisfaction of life is gained outside of your day-to-day work, then you will go towards banking.
Go for banking. The lesser the doctors we have in this country who are in it for the money, the better off we'll be.
Every doctor I have ever discussed careers with has said they would never have entered medicine if they were only compensated 80k or so. I think you would be hardpressed to find someone who would go into a career field as rigorous as medicine or banking solely out of passion and with complete disregard toward monetary compensation. With that said, I simply like medicine more than banking. I am passionate about the field. But when push comes to shove, yes, I am in part in it for the money (as is everybody else).
Don't go into medicine for money.
There's more to life than money. Why dont you go into the field that you actually enjoy? The people who are in it for the money, generally never last too long and it is those who truly enjoy it who will beat you out everytime. At some point, you will be in the office at 2am and wonder why you wasted all your youth in a profession you dont enjoy.
I'm not saying I don't enjoy medicine at all. To the contrary, based upon what I have seen from shadowing physicians, I love the field. However, I don't want sacrifice 4 years of college, 4 years of med school, and another 3-7 years of residency to make just an average income. All I am asking on this thread is how do the fields look in the future because money/lifestyle is definately something I will think about when I do choose a job. It is not the only factor nor is it even the most important factor.
To ask how the fields will be in the future, especially now, is pretty fucking difficult to answer. For all we know Doctor's offices will look more like the DMV in 10 years. There is no telling. Just do what you want and know that to make good money, in either field, there will be significant sacrifices.
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