Status is in Your Own Mind.

Being a M.D. is not the most difficult profession in the entire world. If a challenge is what you are after, try physics or math or engineering($). I guess that dabbling in each of these as an undergrad somehow compensates? Similarly DPM isn't the most rigorous training either.

Medicine, in general, is not what it use to be.

1.Patients who will sue you for A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G and everything that you have worked for.
When have you ever heard of an engineer loosing his ability to practice engineering? Has one ever been brought before his or her own peers and subjected to a review of his or her ethical engineering?

If you prescribe a drug they sue because the pill made them feel funny. If you don't give them the pills, they sue because you should have given them the darn pill.

2. Entrance into medical school is somewhat competitive and most likely expensive. You spend four years in a degree that is useless($), like biology. You graduate without any real prospective jobs if you don't matriculate into a school. You will only be left with debt.

3. Four years of undergrad, four years of med school, and at least three years of residency leaves you feeling O-L-D when you are finished. Only the last three are you generating an income (if it can be called that). This is true with Podiatry too.

4. Then the boards come. "I want to be a surgeon," "I want to be a urologist," "I want to be a blah, blah, blahogist," sigh but fate has something different for you... your grades and your scores or even your lack of connections in the "good 'ol boy club" instead say "you're going family practice or gasp, please NOOOOOOO, not psych."
Hmmm, kinda similar to podiatry, although not lately, you can get a real good residency right now b/c of student numbers. (some have bought hook, line, and sinker the propaganda spewed here, although not all has been false.)
You'll have to personally explore this yourself.

5. You become a family practice physician (or one of the other "generalists" (statistically true) disguised as something fancy. But wait, you are being replaced by nurse practitioners, physician assistants, they do the same dang thing that you do except they have a boss. These guys/gals are cheaper to hire and handle the cases well enough for the insurance company to question your own M.D. existence.
Podiatry has this problem too. The M.D. surgeon, whom you are listed with in the telephone book, want your jobs. They don't like getting a smaller salary because a DPM has moved downtown. But that is what is great about capitalism.

6. Better face up, it is the insurance companies that pay the bills.
If they want cheaper rates, they WILL get CHEAPER rates.
Watch out future DPM.

7. Check out the salaries that the US government (www.usajobs.opm.gov) pays for physicians... they have quite a range. Look where they top out at. I found one starting around 76,000 a year for a generalist. Another was paying around 130,000 for a surgeon. Hmmmm that's funny, because the podiatrist starts at the same salary.
I even see physician assistants with potentially higher salaries! Please Mr. fancy M.D., explain to me where the sense in that is.

8. Now check out management and lawyers. Hmmm, it looks like the fancy M.D. is loosing clout and pay. I don't remember hearing the loud screaming from the population about public law care or how expensive a lawyer is and it should be free.

9. As an M.D. you deal with all types. the friendly, the concerned, the shy and modest and yes the fruit cake.
You'll spend your time working for the salary that you get. You'll most likely find some nice niche where you'll be working the ER dealing with a large amount of anxiety ranging from generalized to the all present amphetamine crazed lunatic who is going to came after you to kill you because he thinks you are an alien who is attempting to abduct his sister's gold fish's food.
As a DPM, you'll get a few odd balls, but as extreme, probably not, unless you are working next to an urgent care facility and they stumble into your office first.

Every election you will experience your own anxiety attacks. After all, get the right congress and the right president, mix in a few sad stories that wretch the cackles of the heart, put 'em before a congressional TV committee and the M.D. will fall even further than he/she already has.

You won't have to come to this forum anymore and discourage the mere 18,000 podiatrists in America. Instead you will lurk in the RN forums and the PA forums (if you already don't). I hope the DPMs never get so self righteous.
By then you will have mastered your own insecurities (gaining experience in this forum). You will be the master of the one liners such as:

A. "Nurses aren't physicians"
B. "Nurse physician is just a way to attract the M.D./D.O.(since when have MD and DO have the same status?) dropouts.
C. "You are a Nurse nothing more or nothing less. (But they forget that these hated nurses and PAs are doing the same work they do).
D. Something about beefing up degrees. (I always thought that the doctor title was historically a non physician title, maybe some doctor along the way figured that they wanted to beef up the lowly M.D.) I guess that somewhere along the line some M.D. wasn't happy with the physician title? It could have to do with the very unscientific nature of the occupation up until WW1?

Maybe an astute M.D. with some history knowledge could tell me who peddled the most snake oils and arsenic compounds.
Which profession killed President Garfield? Hint it ain’t a dpm.
Which profession is the most responsible for antibiotic resistant bacteria AKA superbugs?

It is no wonder that physicians wanted to morph into doctors.

So for all of those who don't know if they want to be an M.D. or a D.O, or a DPM, or a nurse, or a chiropractor, biologist, dentist, veterinarian, lawyer or just someone who drives the biggest SUV or truck on the block, please don't take the discouragement of a few premeds thinking that they have the best career ever, instead, go visit a number of podiatrists and get a feel for the occupation.

If you are really that insecure about yourself based upon your profession, the psychologist and psychiatrists would be more than willing to help you with that problem.

In conclusion, podiatry isn't the best paid (or the worst paid) profession, but neither is the M.D.
It isn't a profession everyone recognizes, but with the reputation that doctors are getting, would you want to be recognized as one of "them?" Instead, you can set your own image. You won't be tied to one of a money hoarding drug pushing snoot who has his or her own office hours for drug reps. to intoxicate their patients with strange brews.

I don't think that podiatrists are seen this way by the general public. Are they?

Warning, don't pursue any career based upon, salary, perceived social status (try telling someone at the local burger joint that you're a BIG physician or DPM, and expect some extra fries. Talk about tacky! Most likely (99%) you'll be someone they'll laugh at behind your silly back;) Or any other superficial aspect.

Instead, be original, think for yourself and make your mind up. You don't want to be fifty looking back and saying, I wish I would have become a DPM or an MD. Both are easily attainable.

Remember, Status and success are in your own mind, SOM.