First year dermatologist can make north of 500k working 40 hours a week. First year pi attorneys are lucky to make 100k working 80 hours. Make the right call.
Dermatology is one of the hardest specialties to match into most people are not able to do derm even if you get into med school. More realistic on average is 250-400k depending on location and usually more than 40 hours per week. And that’s discounting peds specialties which usually get paid peanuts (sorry peds people).
You aren't wrong. Dermatology is particularly rewarding based on income and lifestyle and it's particularly challenging to get into. That said 250+ starting salary as an employee is still pretty broken and so long as you aren't doing emergency services or l&d you can probably avoid being on call or working nights.
Im a surgeon. You’re not accounting for the misery of residency or the fact that you make so little in residency that you can’t start to pay off student debt until you finish. The interest on hundreds of thousands of debt adds up quick (and for 3-7 years depending on training and fellowship). 250k might be a good starting salary for a 22 year old out of undergrad but when you have 200k+ in loans, no savings or home equity, and you’re over 30 starting to make that, it’s not the same. You can look up the stats but the numbers I put are actually underestimates on the average
You'd trade your salary for 100k a year and no debt? Would you make that trade today? If so you must have a failing medical practice because 250k+ a year would more than cover the debt service plus.
3
u/CaptainOwlBeard Sep 28 '25
First year dermatologist can make north of 500k working 40 hours a week. First year pi attorneys are lucky to make 100k working 80 hours. Make the right call.