Do Med Students Get Paid

But they won’t be paid for this work as long as they’re there in the capacity of a “medical student”.

Do Med Students Get Paid? (No, Here’s Why)

You’re thinking about med school but you know it’s expensive. But med students do work right? You’ve seen them in teaching hospitals or clinics interacting with the public. Sometimes it’s even easy to mistake them with real doctors!

So do med students get paid?

Med students don’t get paid until after they’ve completed their studies. There’s no pay for clinical-based learning (rotations). They don’t get paid for any help they give in hospital while there as students. This is pretty unanimous worldwide!

But there are a couple of exceptions to this. We’ll go into that in this article.

Here’s what else you’ll learn:

• Why med students don’t get paid
• If residents or interns get paid (and how much)
• If med students are rich (helping them study without being paid)
• How they survive financially

As a med student who knows (all too well!) the expense involved becoming a doctor, I’m pretty well placed to explain it!

Interested in finding out more? Let’s go!

Why don’t med students get paid?

Some people (especially med students) might think it’s unfair med students don’t get paid. But here are some good reasons why:

• Med students are still “learning”: even when shadowing or assisting physicians in clinic/hospital
• They are not adequately trained to adopt the work of physicians, nurses or any other medical assistant
• The minor procedures they may do are (usually) menial/basic at best (bloods, cannulas etc.)
• Their schedule isn’t as intense as any junior doctor (interns, residents etc.)
• Their responsibilities are minimal

Obviously there are some med students who go above and beyond what’s expected of them during their studies. Some might stay longer, take up more responsibility or help and assist patients etc.

But they won’t be paid for this work as long as they’re there in the capacity of a “medical student”.

So is there any place med students do get paid?

There are no countries that actively pay med students.

U.S., UK, Australian, Ireland and South Africa-based students receive no money while studying. The closest some get are bursaries or scholarships (more on this later), that help cover tuition and living costs.

And that’s despite some students doing active, hospital-based work that other hospital or clinical employees, in the same position, might be getting paid for.

Do med students get paid for rotations?

“Rotations” describe med students moving from pre-clinical study (where they take classes out of a hospital setting) to learning they do directly on hospital wards. They are not paid for this.

This can be confusing because:

• Med students have a “work schedule” during their rotations
• They stay until dismissed by residents (or senior staff)
• There’s an expectation for med students to treat rotations like “a job” (professionalism, etiquette etc.)
• They have direct contact with patients and physicians (sometimes even doing minor procedures)

The idea is students apply what they’ve learned theoretically (typically years 1-2) and “observe” it in real-world practice.

Because they’re not technically employed, or qualified, they don’t make money doing this.

Do medical residents get paid?

Medical residents are graduates of med school and therefore do get paid.

Typically residency pay increases with each year, until the individual becomes an attending physician. Pay after that then depends on varying factors; including business ownership, consultation fees etc.

The average medical resident salary in the U.S. is $63,400 per year, according to 2020’s figures. That’s up from $61,200 reported in 2019 (Source).

Residents at a higher level of training (as well as those in different specialties) can make even more.

In countries like the United Kingdom, where residency is the equivalent to Senior House Officer (SHO) or “specialty doctors”, the story is the same. They make between £41,148 to £76,751 annually according to NHS Careers.

Ireland’s same-level doctors make between €35,000 to €55,000 per year. Australia’s RMO’s make between $68,00 and $79,000 AUD.

Do medical interns get paid?

Medical interns are first year post graduate (PGY1) doctors in the U.S., they are paid.

Compared to residents (which they go on to become after a year), the amount they earn is obviously lower.

The mean medical intern salary was $54,107 according to 2016 data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

PGY1’s in other countries are also paid. Again their salary is lower than residency level (or equivalent) because they are more junior on the doctor career ladder.

In the UK a PGY1’s pay is about £33,340. While in Australia it’s about $72,837 to $86,328 AUD.

Med school has to be completed before reaching any of these levels.

Are medical students rich?

So if med students don’t get paid, you might be wondering; how do they pay for things like their tuition (not cheap!) or their living expenses?

While these costs definitely vary (depending where you go to med school), the pressures are the same. Med students don’t have a lot of free time to work or earn money. Because of that, they’re not (independently) rich.

Not getting paid obviously doesn’t help with that!

The reason I caveat the above with the adjective “independently” however is because a large proportion of med students, at least in the UK (source) and the U.S. (source), come from wealthy backgrounds.

And this is a continuing trend in most other countries too. The idea being that wealth encourages higher-performing students who can also afford the expensive application costs involved getting into medicine.

So while those med students themselves might not directly be “rich”, many have their families wealth to fall back on.

That can certainly help overcome the idea of not getting paid while in med school!

Scholarships, bursaries and full rides in medical school

A couple of ways med school’s become more accessible for people from low income backgrounds is through scholarships or bursaries.

“Full rides”, where tuition is waived entirely (as it is at schools like NYU), also exist (despite not usually covering living costs).

Typically, to take advantage of each of these options, you have to hit several criteria:

• Be an exceptional or high-performing student (high GPA/A-levels etc.)
• Show proof of eligibility (means tested “low income” status)
• Have permanent residency status (and sometimes state residency)

So these are others ways to counteract the difficulties of not getting paid while in med school.

How do medical students earn money?

So if med students don’t get paid and can’t get a scholarship, how do they make it through?

Many think of other (some quite creative) ways to solve the issue.

• Starting a small business in medical school (here’s a bunch of ideas)
• Creating a blog or starting YouTube (check out Ali Abdaal’s story)
• Getting a part-time job (best in the pre-clinical years)
• Tutoring or teaching on the side

Follow the links above to discover more!

How do med students pay for living expenses?

There are a couple of ways, aside from bursaries, scholarships etc., that med students can help pay their living expenses.

I go into these in more detail here…

For the most part though, the easiest thing to do is try and reduce (or cut) expenses as much as you can.

That’s a lot easier than going out and trading time for money (like you would with a job) while your USMLE score (or equivalent) takes a hit!

Summary

Not getting paid as a med student may seem a little unfair (especially in the case of sky-high fees) but it’s the norm for most of the world.

Unfortunately your educational status as a “student” dictates you haven’t quite earned the right to get paid yet.

That’s good news for tax payers but probably not if you’re anything like me (an actual med student)!

If you enjoyed this post, you might find the following articles useful:

6 things medical students should know about physician compensation

Even before the completion of medical school, future physicians have a number hovering over their heads that may shape their future—the balance owed on their medical student loans.

Get residency-ready with AMA benefits

• Find your perfect match with FREIDA™, the AMA Residency and Fellowship Database®
• Distinguish yourself with AMA leadership opportunities

Supporting you today as a medical student. Protecting your future as a physician.

According to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the typical medical student graduates with about $200,000 in medical education debt. Those medical student-loan debt figures may inspire some trainees to factor earning potential into their career plans.

For medical students looking to understand the role compensation may play in a career path, here are a few things to keep in mind.

It takes years to realize your earning potential. As a physician, you will not maximize your earnings until the completion of your graduate medical education. The average first-year resident physician makes about $60,000, and there’s not much wiggle room.

Resident salaries are determined by an institution and correlate with training year rather than specialty. So, in a given training institution, all residents who are in their third year of training typically get the same salary, and all in their sixth year are paid the same as well.

Surgical specialties typically pay more. The highest-paying medical specialties are generally procedure-based. According to a 2022 online survey of more than 13,000 physicians across 29 specialties by Medscape, the highest-paying medical specialties are:

• Plastic surgery—$576,000 per year.
• Orthopedics—$557,000.
• Cardiology—$490,000.
• Otolaryngology—$469,000.
• Urology—$461,000.

The report found that physicians working in primary care fields earn an average of $260,000, while specialists make $368,000 on average. It’s not surprising, then, that some of the lowest-paying specialties are in the fields associated with primary care, with internal medicine ($264,00), family medicine ($255,000) and pediatrics ($244,000) being listed among the bottom six specialties in annual compensation.

Consult FREIDA’s Specialty Guide for highlights on specialties, Match data and career statistics.

Lucrative specialties require more training. Trainees who do pursue a career in a higher-paying specialty may have a smaller window for optimal earning. Those specialties tend to require the most training between residency and a subspecialty-focused fellowship.

The primary care specialties earn less by comparison but require less time in training. With some primary care programs offering pathways for physicians to go through medical school and residency in as little as six years, students in these programs can reduce med school debt and earn more money quicker by spending less time in residency.

Compensation is rebounding. The 2022 survey marked the first time in the 11-year history of the Medscape report that every specialty saw an increase in salary from the prior year’s version. That can, at least partially be attributed pandemic-related declines that took place during the prior year.

With a 13% increase year over year, otolaryngology saw the biggest specialty salary increase. Five other specialties—gastroenterology (12%); dermatology (11%); pediatrics (10%); ophthalmology (10%); and plastic surgery (10%)—also saw double-digit increases in average salary figures.

More bang for your buck in the South. Survey respondents indicated that Kentucky and Tennessee, at $364,000, were the top paying states for physicians. Other states in the top five include Alabama ($358,000) and Missouri ($357,000). The report indicates that Southern states have made an extra effort to recruit physicians.

Those four states all rank in the top 20 states in the country in terms of the lowest cost of living. So, if you practice in one of those states you have the opportunity to make more money and it will get you further.

Ownership can pay off. The data indicated that self-employed physicians, those who owned a stake of the practice in which they worked, regardless of specialty choice, earned about $385,000. That compares with average earnings closer to $320,000 for employed physicians. One somewhat unexpected nugget in that data is that, although a relatively small share of the group, physicians under the age of 45 ($404,000) were making more than those over 45 ($381,000) in ownership settings.

The AMA offers a number of resources that offer guidance on the pros and cons of practice settings and general career guidance.

• Choosing a Specialty
• Medical School Debt Management
• Resident Personal Finance
• Choosing a Practice Setting
• The Road to Residency
• Catalog of Topics