Also called: Internist, Hospitalist
Diagnoses and manages complex adult illnesses, often as the main doctor for hospitalized patients.
As a hospitalist, rounds on 15-20 patients admitted overnight: one with pneumonia, one with heart failure, one with a mystery fever. Coordinates specialists, adjusts medications, and talks with families about the plan.
BLS top-codes many physician wages; figures are estimates for attending physicians after residency (residents earn about $65k-$80k while training).
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Professional degree (MD, JD, DVM…), about 11 years after high school. Bachelor's, medical school, then a 3-year internal medicine residency.
Ways in: 4-year college, Professional school. Training cost: Over $150k.
Majors to look at: Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Neuroscience, Pre-Medicine.
Growing about average (about 3% over 10 years).
Low risk for 10 years. Decision-support AI suggests diagnoses and drafts notes; weighing complex sick patients and coordinating care stays with the doctor.
Classes: AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Statistics, Psychology.
Official data: O*NET occupation 29-1216.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.