The 2017 US medical school graduates: An in-depth look

According to a survey published by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the 2017 graduating class has a median medical school debt of $180,000. The figure has remained stable for the last three years. Nearly 27% of students say they had no debt at all.

When the cost of pre-medical education is included the total debt climbed to a median of $195,000.

Despite those numbers, 54.5% said their choice of a career specialty was not based on the level of educational debt. Instead, over 98% said they chose their specialty based on its fit with their personality, interests, and skills.

The survey was offered to all 19,242 graduates of the 140 US medical schools with 15,609 (81%) responding. Some did not answer every question.

Most of the respondents (90%) were satisfied with the quality of their medical education. Only 7.6% said that if they could do it over they would not or probably would not enroll in medical school again; 9.1% gave a neutral response; 7.7% did not answer. Over the last five years, responses to this question have not varied much.