Relationship between indebtedness and the specialty choices of graduating medical students

Abstract

The authors compared data from the 1993 AAMC Medical School Graduation Questionnaire (GQ) with data from earlier GQs to examine the relationship of debt to specialty choices among graduates of U.S. medical schools. The authors report the continuing increase of educational indebtedness among medical students graduating in 1993 compared with the debt of those graduating in earlier years, the greater increase in higher-level indebtedness of graduates of private medical schools, and the rising influence of debt on graduates who choose surgical specialties and support specialties. Despite the rising debt of 1993 graduates, however, they favored the generalist specialties more and the medical and support specialties less than did their 1992 predecessors.