Dear Angel:

One of the first things I learned in graduate school is to never make assumptions when someone says something like, "I want to make enough money to live abundantly." That could mean $40,000 to one person and $400,000 to another. But given that caveat, I have a suggestion:

Since you wanted to be a physician, how about considering being a physician's assistant? Physician's assistants are formally trained to work under the supervision of MD's to do things like take histories, examine and treat patients, order and interpret lab tests and make diagnoses. In other words, they do many of the things that physicians do, but they don't have all the worries and responsibilities. Better yet, they have to put in far fewer years in school. Physician assistant programs usually last two years and often only require two prior years of college!

Here's the big question: Can you live abundantly on a starting salary of $65,000? That was the median income for first year grads in 2004 (the last year for which I could find data.) If so, contact the American Academy of Physician Assistants Information Center for more information and a list of accredited programs at www.aapa.org.

The Career Doctor