The MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) is a standardized exam one takes to enter medical school. The SAT is to college what the MCAT is to medical school. Cost: $210. (If one takes a prep course, such as from Kaplan, which unscrupulously advertises, “Your doctor took the Kaplan course,” include those exorbitant fees as well. I can’t bear to link to it.)
The AMCAS (American Medical College Application Service) application is used to apply to medical school. Cost: One school costs $160; each school thereafter costs $30. (Most of my peers applied between ten and twenty medical schools. Also include the costs of purchasing a suit, travel expenses, and the alcohol consumed to quell the nerves. Just kidding about that last part.)
Enter medical school and pay for tuition (hooray for state schools with lower tuition!), books, caffeinated beverages, road trips, and class parties.
The USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Exam) has three parts. Part I is taken between the second (“pre-clinical”) and third years of medical school. Cost: $480.
USMLE Part II is taken during the beginning part of the fourth year of medical school to accompany residency applications. There are two sections to part II: a written exam and a clinical skills exam. (I did not have to take the clinical skills exam.) Cost of the written exam: $480. Cost of the clinical skills exam: $1025. (Also include travel and hotel expenses for the clinical skills exam, as it is held in a few select cities in the country.)
The ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service) is used to apply to residencies. Cost: To apply to ten residencies or less, $60. Between 11 and 20 residencies, add $8 for each program (on top of the base rate of $60). Between 21 and 30 residencies, add $15 for each program (on top of the base rate of $60.) For over 31 residencies, add $25 for each program on top of the base rate.
You must transmit your USMLE scores along with your ERAS application. Cost: $50.
Congratulations! You’ve matched into a residency and have graduated from medical school (after consolidating your loans, of course). Include costs of relocating for residency.
One must have a medical license for the state to practice medicine. Cost: $335 (in the state of Washington—this is less expensive if one obtains a limited license, which permits the license holder to only practice within the purview of a residency training program.)
One must have a DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) license to prescribe controlled substances. If one only practices within a residency training program, the fee is waived. I have no idea what the fee is if you apply for a license independently (though I will find out soon enough).
After completing an internship, one is eligible to take USMLE Step 3. Cost: $655.
One must renew the medical license to maintain the privilege of practicing medicine in the state. Cost: $470 (which covers two years in the state of Washington). (Again, renewal is less expensive if one has a limited license.)
To become a board certified psychiatrist, one must take exams for initial certification in the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. The exam has two parts. Cost for Part I: $700 application fee, $950 examination fee (!!!).
Holy cow!
18 Jul 2007 |
frick. somebody somewhere is getting very rich.
Comment by fathima | 18 Jul 2007 @ 5:46pm
No. A lot of people everywhere are just doing their part to rake in some money. On the backs of future and present doctors.
Comment by Dr. Mary Johnson | 18 Jul 2007 @ 6:30pm
Oh, you forgot those wonderful secondary applications. The ones that every school you apply to sends out asking for the same information on the AMCAS and of course a check for 50-100 dollars. I think those tacked on an extra $1500 to my application costs.
Comment by Petri | 18 Jul 2007 @ 7:52pm
I am a Foreign Medical Graduate and took and pass USMLE and Flex, took even an step more, which was not needed. I took ARC VENTURE courses for USMLE step 2, it was expensive; but usefull. I was never able to get into a Residency Program (after 300 applications for 3 years), my advise is GET Grades!. I was fortunate, because we were able to get a Licensure; but ALL my applicationns were REJECTED, I was told: YOU HAVE TOO MUCH EXPERIENCE (certified Surgeon in my country for 20 years) or you are too old (I was 39) or you are FOREIGN, so GET GRADES!!!. Good luck!!!.
Comment by Juan Camayd | 18 Jul 2007 @ 9:31pm
Mary — not solely on the backs of future and present doctors, unless those doctors are without customers, clients, or patients.
Comment by bill | 19 Jul 2007 @ 4:50am
Wow. That is outrageous. The cost of education alone is going to price itself out of the reach of most people. Then you tack on all those fees. Unbelievable.
Comment by donnalee | 19 Jul 2007 @ 5:25am
You forgot the $1000-$2000 for board review courses (optional for part 1, necessary for part 2 of the psychiatry boards).
Comment by Michael Rack | 19 Jul 2007 @ 6:32am
They’re just trying to get you ready for the racket of “Continuing Medical Education”, typically held at some expensive resort, with room prices hovering around $200/night, the course price in excess of $1000, after which you are rewarded with a very attractive sheet of paper verifying your presence at said meeting.
Comment by Greg P | 19 Jul 2007 @ 4:28pm
Lets be honest. It is a pricey guild we belong to, and it is in the interests of the Guild to keep the cost of doing business high. They don’t want to confuse the Great MD Guild with any marginal players/ alternative shoestring kind of folks…
I apologize for the cynicism. But link this to your next days post about a simple contact preventing suicides,,,but there is no way to bill for this kind of “care”…The systems we build can drive the decisions we make.
http://poemd.blogspot.com/2007/03/guild.html
Maria, you are struggling with the costs on that beginning of the career, let me outline the issues on the other/ leaving end. Consider the cost of buying a tail in malpractice…usually 150% of the annual fee, due now. And the cost of State licensing if you want to work in a free/ volunteer clinic. Plus the cost of DEA #, State Pharm registration… No there are lots of pressures to drive the production machine. Hard to stay small, simple.
Comment by Dan J Schmidt | 20 Jul 2007 @ 1:04pm
For many of us on the D.O. side, Step 1 cost is doubled because we choose to take the USMLE and the (D.O.-specific) COMLEX. Only COMLEX is required, but it’s a way to make yourself more cometitive. Also, for anyone who took more than one try to get into medical school, multiply all those application fees by two (or more, for those really unlucky but determined souls who had to apply 3+ times).
Comment by LadyGrey | 20 Jul 2007 @ 8:01pm
[…] continued to pay a lot of money for medical […]
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