Is medical school worth the debt in the long run ?

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by Win
Professions are an art as well as a science. When a machine can get gut feelings and know when to go with the gut and against "facts" that may or may not, likely may not, be well defined, then machines might have some utility.

Having practiced a profession, the idea that a machine can replace me strikes me as uninformed on the part of the machine proponents.

They just opened a new D.O. school here in town, btw. I think they are on their second or third class of students.


It's getting there. Look up Alphazero. It's made some amazing progress in games such as Go and Chess.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted by Win
Professions are an art as well as a science. When a machine can get gut feelings and know when to go with the gut and against "facts" that may or may not, likely may not, be well defined, then machines might have some utility.

Having practiced a profession, the idea that a machine can replace me strikes me as uninformed on the part of the machine proponents.

They just opened a new D.O. school here in town, btw. I think they are on their second or third class of students.


AI is what that "gut feeling" is. It is happening much faster than we understand how it works.

There's a saying that if you let AI look at 1 million cat photos, it will understand what is a cat when it see the 1Mth + 1 photo.

 

[PWMDMD]

Pediatric dentist here who graduated residency 10 years ago - it a similar situation although I can say the pay is better in dentistry. I did the state school system for college and dental school so only racked up $150K. Back in the day there was a non-profit called the Utah Higher Educations Assistance Authority who was refinancing loans for a ridiculous interest rate - after 48 on-time payments my interest rate is 0.65%.

Now it's totally different. Interest rates are 6%+ and the state school that charged me in-state tuition of $8,500 per year in 2001 now charges $34,000 per year. I work with a person who went to private college and dental school and she paid $42K just in interest last year.

I would make the same decision based on my numbers....I would not make the same decision based on her numbers. I'm 40 years old and make six figure several times over but I'm 30 years away from retirement. My brother is 5 years older than me, went to the air force and learned HVAC, owns his own business, owns his house, cars, boat and could retire by 50 if he wants. By the time I started my first position I was already out of the work force 12 years compared to my brother. It was another 8 years before I owned my own business (another $1M loan) and at 40 I'm just settling in. It's not just the cost of education but the time out of the workforce and for those who want to own a business getting that up and going.