I have friends in nursing school and I have only talked to a few med students don't personally know anyone. I know the nursing students are worried about finding jobs and my one friend is in a program where they have failed out 80% of the students that started, the remaining 20% are still worried about finding jobs at graduation.
The market for nurses is softer than in previous years, meaning that instead of 100% of nursing students having a job before graduation, maybe it's 50%. The remainder have to look for a few months. In some parts of the country, there are no nursing jobs, but overall, there's still a severe shortage. So, yeah, they may have to relocate to get a job.
However, when was the last time you saw a news article like this about attorneys?
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/blog/breaking_ground/2011/03/registered-nurses-most-sought-workers.htmlhttp://www.timesheraldonline.com/news/ci_17705986Yeah, those are in California, but keep in mind, the unemployment rate in California is about 10%.
Registered Nurses are still getting jobs. Anybody saying otherwise is flat-out lying or just plain stupid. Don't confuse RNs with LPNs or NAs. They're not even remotely the same thing.
For med students as I understand it from a few brief conversations is you go to med school then you do your residency, which locks you in for 4-5 years at 50,000 a year after having paid 100K+ for med school. All the med students I talked to were saying how much easier it would be to be a lawyer and I thought the exact opposite, but it turns out neither one is all that great. You can succeed in either one, but it is not a guarantee. I also think when your residency ends you are not guaranteed a job it is a competitive profession just like everything else. Again, this is based on two very brief conversations regarding M.D.'s.
Those med students are whiney and delusional. What you describe is common to hear them say but absolutely none of it is borne out in the numbers. Even after residency, primary, family and pediatric physicians earn an average of 180K per year. Those are the lowest paid category of doctors in the country. Yes, their earnings are delayed, but you can become an MD with 4 years of grad school and I believe the residency unless you specialize is only 1 year. So, you can have a career that spans 4 decades. Not hard to pay back student loans when you make $180K a year.
If you specialize, the pay goes up, though the residency requirement does, too.
I do know nursing students are not guaranteed anything and it is extremely difficult to even get accepted into any nursing program.
fair enough. However, that's my point: their job security is secure in part because they're not getting a degree that just anybody can get.
If I am correct about the M.D. process, then I think my point still stands there is no guaranteed way to financial success.
So long as you define financial success as being something more than $180,000 for your career, then yes, you're right. Getting an MD is no guarantee of financial success.
If there was most people would probably be doing it.
We must be talking about different things, here. One of the reasons most people can't do it is that they can't qualify for medical school. Right now, the average GPA for ANY medical school is about 3.7. The only difference is the HBCUs, but frankly, that only applies to a certain segment of the population.
So, yeah, getting into medical school is not guaranteed. Not everybody can take the pre-med core classes and still leave school with a 3.7.
Your success after getting your MD or DO is pretty much assured, though.
Likewise, being a major league ballplayer for a decade is a guaranteed path to financial success. Even so, most people are not doing it. It requires ability that most people do not have.
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos074.htm"In 2008, physicians practicing primary care had total median annual compensation of $186,044, and physicians practicing in medical specialties earned total median annual compensation of $339,738."
"Job prospects. Opportunities for individuals interested in becoming physicians and surgeons are expected to be very good. In addition to job openings from employment growth, openings will result from the need to replace the relatively high number of physicians and surgeons expected to retire over the 2008-18 decade."
Contrast to attorneys:
"Competition for job openings should continue to be keen because of the large number of students graduating from law school each year. Graduates with superior academic records from highly regarded law schools will have the best job opportunities. Perhaps as a result of competition for attorney positions, lawyers are increasingly finding work in less traditional areas for which legal training is an asset, but not normally a requirement—for example, administrative, managerial, and business positions in banks, insurance firms, real estate companies, government agencies, and other organizations. Employment opportunities are expected to continue to arise in these organizations at a growing rate."
"As in the past, some graduates may have to accept positions outside of their field of interest or for which they feel overqualified. Some recent law school graduates who have been unable to find permanent positions are turning to the growing number of temporary staffing firms that place attorneys in short-term jobs. This service allows companies to hire lawyers on an “as-needed” basis and permits beginning lawyers to develop practical skills."
"In May 2008, the median annual wages of all wage-and-salaried lawyers were $110,590. The middle half of the occupation earned between $74,980 and $163,320."
Education is a risk and when you graduate the annoying process of job hunting begins no matter what you are doing.
Ummm... yeah, we live in different realities. I would say that graduating with an MD, where 100% of the members of your class who want jobs will have jobs, and graduating with a JD from a 4T where maybe half of your class who want jobs may not be able to find one is a completely different thing.
If you think they're analogous, then more power to you.