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Kraena Pre-Health
Career Library

Diagnose & Treat

Physician (MD or DO)

Diagnoses and treats illness, leads the care team, and carries final responsibility for the plan.

Years after high school

11–17

Degree

MD (allopathic) or DO (osteopathic)

Entrance exam

MCAT

Median pay

$275,930 national median (BLS, May 2025). Specialty medians range from $210,040 for general pediatricians to $559,030 for pediatric surgeons. Residents earn substantially less while training.

What the job is actually like

Varies enormously. A family medicine doctor may see 20+ patients a day in 15-minute visits. An emergency physician juggles several critical patients at once across a chaotic shift. A surgeon may spend most of the day in an operating room. What unites them: you are the person who decides what is wrong and what to do about it.

The path

  1. 014 years undergraduate (any major, but you must finish the pre-med prerequisite courses)
  2. 02MCAT exam
  3. 034 years medical school
  4. 043–9 years residency, paid but demanding
  5. 05Optional 1–3 year fellowship for subspecialties

Good fit if

  • You want maximum depth of medical knowledge and final decision-making authority
  • You are genuinely comfortable with a decade-plus of training
  • High-stakes responsibility energizes you rather than crushing you

Think twice if

  • You want to start earning and living an independent adult life in your early twenties
  • You want strictly predictable hours from day one
  • You are drawn to the idea of being a doctor more than the actual daily work

MD vs DO

MD and DO are both fully licensed physicians with the same practice rights in all 50 states. DO programs add training in osteopathic manipulative medicine and have historically emphasized primary care, but DOs practice in every specialty. Applicants often apply to both.

Similar paths worth comparing

Physician Assistant (PA)

Diagnoses, treats, and prescribes in collaboration with a physician — much of a doctor's scope, in a fraction of the training time.

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Pharmacist (PharmD)

The medication expert — catches dangerous interactions and dosing errors that would otherwise reach patients.

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Dentist (DDS or DMD)

Diagnoses and treats oral disease, with a heavy emphasis on procedural skill.

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All salary figures here are median annual wages from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 — the most recent full national dataset. 'Median' means half of workers earn more and half earn less. Three things to keep in mind: (1) pay varies enormously by state, city, setting, and experience — a nurse in California and a nurse in rural Alabama earn very different salaries; (2) training lengths are typical, not guaranteed, and programs differ; (3) these numbers change every year. Always verify current figures at bls.gov/ooh before making a decision. For context, the BLS median wage for all U.S. occupations was $50,980, while healthcare practitioner and technical occupations had a median of $86,530 — one of the reasons health care is such a stable field.