Re: Re: ND vs. DO
Re: ND vs. DO
I can't really say that I think it's all that much extra work to be a DO. Yes, with a DO degree you will have to do a residency for about 3-7 years (including internship). However, the residencies pay you $30-40k per year while you are a resident. This can be as much as many NDs make during their first few years of practice anyways. However, after you are done with residency, then as a DO you can make $150k+ just like any other physician. Yes, you work many hours in residency (50-70/week), but this is on the job training and different than being in school.
My thoughts. Do whatever you feel is best for you, but I just wanted to clarify that I don't think it's necessarily more work. For me personally, I would be more comfortable making $30-40k in residency knowing that I could easily make over a $100k as soon as I'm done--- versus the stress of trying to start off my naturopathic business and have to work a few different jobs just to make ends meet! When I was trying to decide upon ND school, I looked through naturopathic school alumni classifieds-- and I was uncomfortable. I found many jobs offering graduates a pay of $150/day (i.e. $3,000/month full-time), and I was like "You gotta be kidding. I can't survive on that, especially when I'll have $100k in educational loans!!" There was the occasional position that offered $60-80k salary (mostly in med spas). But as a whole I was uncomfortable. There are a lot of naturopathic jobs coming up, especially if you look on naturopathic school websites-- so I wouldn't say jobs are in low demand. But rather it seems those jobs don't pay all that well. That was my viewpoint at least.