just want to add: residency of 3-6 years, then optional fellowship of 1 to 3 years.
Salary varies quite a bit by location and can range from ~33K to ~near 50K, increasing slightly per year, and higher than your last year for fellows.
So: undergraduate 4 yrs, then med school 4 yrs, then residency 3 to 6 yrs, the possibly fellowship 1 to 3 yrs, then: DONE!
Anonymous wrote:You need 4 more years of med school (costs range if private or public school) and then they're a resident making around 50k a year. After residency (3-7 yrs) they'll make more money, depending on their specialty.
Med school is very expensive but it is not something I would ever expect a parent to pay for. The point is that you're kid is going to be making money when they're a doctor and they can afford some debt at the beginning. Personally, I would plan to pay for part/all of undergrad and then let them pay for what comes next. There are loan-forgiveness programs they can apply for that will pay for med school if you give some years of service (military and otherwise). In fact, we're probably going to have kiddos pay for part of college themselves because I think they will value it much more if they're expected to contribute summer earnings/campus job earnings or whatever.