Surgeons bring home the loot. They also tend to not really have too much time outside of work, *generally speaking*.


It's not unusual for your pay to quadruple over night when you finish your residency and become a fully licensed MD/DO. In the case of your brother in law, he probably multiplied his residency pay 6x or more.

When people look at the pay physicians make they're blown away. And yeah, I get it, it's an absolute shitload of money. There's no question. What people don't realize is how much we pay (both in time and money) to get there. I won't be a licensed doc until I'm 32 at the earliest. And I started young. My wife is in school with me, and our medical degrees will cost us $300k each. That puts a lot of pressure on you to specialize so you make more money.


Either way, I'll be happy with whatever field I end up going into. It's very easy to get beat up in this process and forget why you're here. I've been studying 14 hours a day for the past 2 weeks (and will for the next 5 weeks) to sit for one 8 hour exam that fully dictates what residencies will be an option for me. These first two years of medical school have taken 5 years off my life in stress and sleep deprivation. I really didn't know what I was getting myself into as a 22 year old applying to school. Most don't. It really beats you up. I'm glad I am where I am, and I'd do it again if given the option, I think. But maybe not.