Welcome to our brand new career battle Series where we'll compare two different medical career options to help you decide which is the best path for you we'll break down compensation lifestyle length of training and the pros and cons of pursuing each career path Dr Jubal medol insiders.com first up in our career battle arena is Doctor versus surgeon let's clear something up before we get started all surgeons are doctors but not every doctor is a surgeon surgical fields include plastic surgery vascular surgery and orthopedic surgery whereas non-surgical Fields include Family Medicine Psychiatry and Pediatrics of course the terminology around doctors is already confusing as the term doctor can have different meanings in society for example if you earn a PhD in any subject from literature to paleontology you are also called a doctor some medical school admissions Consultants mislead unsuspecting prids by calling themselves doctors while this is technically true because they have a PhD in Clinical Psychology they have no medical training are not Physicians and never went through the process of getting into Medical School themselves yet they claim to be experts on it for this video when we speak about a doctor we mean a physician as in someone who has an MD or a do in the US you can become a physician by completing four years of medical school this typically involves 2 years years of preclinical training which is primarily but not exclusively spent in the classroom followed by 2 years of clinical training which is primarily spent on rotations in the hospital or clinic while you'll become a doctor with an MD or do the day you graduate from medical school you're not a fully trained and board certified physician until you complete residency and pass your board exams residency lasts 3 to 7 years after medical school during residency Physicians train for a specific medical specialty it's this fork in the road decision about your specialty that distinguishes a doctor from a surgeon nonsurgical Specialties include Internal Medicine Family Medicine Pediatrics Psychiatry obain Radiology neurology emergency medicine Dermatology anesthesiology pmnr and pathology surgical Specialties include general surgery neurosurgery plastic surgery Urology orthopedic surgery otorhinolaringology or ENT and vascular surgery you may be wondering what about Cardiology or gastroenterology these are two of the many subsp specializations of internal medicine meaning before you can become a cardiologist or gastroenterologist you must first complete 3 years of Internal Medicine Residency followed by a Cardiology or gastroenterology Fellowship this is also true of many surgical subsp specializations before you can become a coloral surgeon you must complete five 5 years of general surgery residency followed by a coloral surgery Fellowship other surgical subsp specializations after general surgery residency include minimally invasive surgery thoracic surgery pediatric surgery and Surgical Oncology internal medicine is to non-surgical Specialties as general surgery is to surgical Specialties both are Broad and allow for the widest breath of specializations after your initial residency training for a detailed breakdown of each individual physician path check out our so you want to be playlist which takes a deep dive into over 50 Medical Specialties so how is training different between Surgical and non-surgical Specialties residency length varies depending on the specialty you choose in general surgical Specialties require more years of training the fastest way to become a doctor is to go straight from college to medical school without taking any breaks spend four years in medical school without taking a gap year and then match directly into a short 3-year residency like Family Medicine internal medicine or Pediatrics if you want to become a doctor in the shortest amount of time check out our video outlining the fastest path to becoming a doctor Linked In the description to become a surgeon you must initially follow the same steps as someone who wants to pursue a non-surgical specialty by completing four years of medical school however when it comes time to apply for residency you will apply to a Surgical Specialty some surgical Specialties have their own dedicated residency following Medical School whereas others require a 5-year general surgery residency first before further subsp specialization after general surgery there are many surgical paths to further subsp specialize depending on your interests such as Surgical Oncology coloral surgery trauma surgery cardiothoracic surgery and endocrine surgery to name a few we cover all surgical Specialties and subsp Specialties in another video Linked In the description fellowships last anywhere from 1 to 3 years depending on the subsp specialization you are pursuing for example let's consider plastic surgery you can either match directly into a six-year plastic surgery residency which is known as the integrated path or you may take the independent path which requires 5 years of general surgery residency before applying for an additional 3 years of independent plastic surgery training if you like the idea of matching directly into plastic surgery residency keep in mind that plastic surgery consistently ranks in the top three most competitive Specialties to match into download our complete specialty competitiveness index Linked In the description so is it easier to become a doctor or a surgeon that all depends on your interest and whether or not you're dextrous and enjoy working with your hands while surgical Specialties tend to require more training this is not always the case radi ology for example is a 5-year residency if you're interested in Interventional Radiology residency can last 6 to 7 years this means training to become an Interventional radiologist takes longer than becoming a general surgeon but keep in mind surgical residencies tend to require more grueling hours and compromises to one's lifestyle compared to non-surgical residencies plus some Specialties are easier to enter than others generally speaking surgical specialties are more competitive with four surgical Specialties in the top five most competitive the exception being Dermatology all five least competitive Specialties are non-surgical next how does the compensation compare between Surgical and non-surgical career paths since the title of doctor is so broad there's actually quite a range in compensation the lowest paid non-surgical specialty is Pediatric Endocrinology at $218,000 in fact most pediatric subsp Specialties make considerably less than adult Specialties because children are more resilient than adults and require fewer procedures the lowest paid non-pediatric specialty is medical genetics and genomics at $245,000 the highest paid non-surgical specialty is radiation oncology at $569,000 comparatively the lowest paid Surgical Specialty is chorl surgery at $455,000 and the highest paid Surgical Specialty is neurosurgery at $764,000 the difference between the lowest paid non-surgical specialty and the highest paid Surgical Specialty is nearly $550,000 while the difference between the lowest paid Surgical Specialty and the highest is just over $300,000 as you can see surgeons tend to make more money than non-surgical physicians in fact the five highest paying Medical Specialties are all surgical Specialties oral and maxilla Facial Surgery plastic surgery orthopedic surgery thoracic surgery and neurosurgery because there are so many different Surgical and non-surgical paths we'll need to make some generalizations here typically non-surgical Medical Careers are less demanding and offer a better work life balance non-surgical Specialists usually work fewer hours and are less likely to be on call dermatologists for example work about 40 to 50 hours a week whereas neurosurgeons can work upwards of 70 hours per week surgical Physicians tend to work longer more stressful hours and are more commonly on call this means they can be called in to perform emergency surgery at a moment's notice including nights and weekends but this is only when you're on call if a doctor has Christmas off that time is still protected surgical procedures are also mentally and physically taxing with some complex surgeries lasting over 10 hours next what are the pros and cons of becoming a doctor as a pro non-surgical Specialties tend to have more reasonable work life balance again this is in general and there are exceptions nearly all non-surgical Specialties require fewer years of training and are often less competitive for residency programs for example out of the 22 Specialties listed in our competitiveness index the bottom half are all non-surgical fewer years of residency also means you'll be able to start earning a six-figure salary sooner which means you can begin to pay off any medical school debt which currently averages over $250,000 by the end of medical school this brings us to a notable con the trade-off of better work life balance and fewer years of training is that most non-surgical Physicians make less money than surgeons the exceptions are radiation oncology Cardiology and Radiology which are the only non surgical Specialties that rank in the top 10 highest paid doctors another con is that the work may not be fast-paced enough especially for those who want to work with their hands for those who enjoy procedures non-surgical Specialties won't be nearly as technically stimulating or challenging as a surgical career however many non-surgical Specialties tend to be more intellectually engaging for example neurology Psychiatry and Allergy Immunology where diagnosis and treatments are not always clear-cut and it's up to the physician to solve the puzzle consider the show House while exaggerated and dramatized Dr house is an internal medicine hospitalist who solves unique and complex cases now let's consider the pros and cons of becoming a surgeon a notable Pro is the higher pay with the lowest paid Surgical Specialty coloral surgery still making over $55,000 a year depending on your specialty and whether or not you further specialize as a surgeon you can make over $700,000 as a thoracic surgeon or neurosurgeon but beyond the money it comes down to your personal preference and interest in medicine if you're meticulous dextrous Thrive under pressure and enjoy working with your hands surgery is an ideal fit you'll be stimulated from a technical perspective while other less procedure focused Specialties may leave you wanting more the most notable drawback of becoming a surgeon is the longer training that's required the shortest residency such as general surgery still requires 5 years of training after 4 years of medical school for higher paying surgical Specialties like neurosurgery residency lasts 7 years and while you'll be taking home a larger pay check when you come out the other side you won't be making anywhere near six figures during residency on average a resident starting salary is around $60,000 and compensation only increases by a couple of th000 per year year the further you get into your training there's also your lifestyle to consider most surgical career paths have longer more demanding hours but there are some exceptions like certain types of plastic surgery ENT and Urology which tend to have a more laid-back lifestyle with fewer emergencies however during residency which lasts at least 5 years all surgical Specialties have terrible hours lastly there's more risk involved as many surgeons have the life of a human being quite literally in their hands surgeons typically pay much more for liability insurance because of the higher risk of complications and increased potential for malpractice claims bottom line which career path is best for you the advice I heard when I was in medical school is that if you see yourself doing anything other than surgery do that instead and only opt for surgery if you can't imagine doing anything else as the cost to your lifestyle and personal life are substantial when Cho choosing between a surgical and non-surgical specialty consider your strengths and weaknesses if you enjoy procedures and want to work with your hands The increased competitiveness and longer years of training may be worth it in the end while surgeons are typically paid more money should not be a primary secondary or even tertiary deciding factor when choosing a medical specialty once you're already making $300,000 a year another 100 or 200k is not worth the trade-off of pursuing doing a career that doesn't align with your interests and passions many people focus far too much on compensation competitiveness and Prestige rather than taking the time to find a medical career they're truly passionate about our so you want to be series is designed to help you make educated career decisions what medical career paths would you like us to cover next Psychiatry versus neurology doctor versus nurse practitioner or diagnostic versus Interventional Radiology let us know in the comments