LAM Resident Salaries

[anonmelon]

Hello all!

I have matched for a lab animal medicine residency. When applying for this residency, the salary information indicated that it would be to the NIH pay scale. Come to find out when getting my offer letter, that this is very much not the case and is at least $10,000 less per year. Apparently, there was some copy pasting... Anyways, I'm curious if there's anyway to fight this or if it's even worth doing. I also am curious why the vast majority of programs pay at or above the NIH pay scale whereas a few pay significantly less, even one's that don't include additional degrees. I also seem to be mostly responsible for CE, conference funding and most membership/licensing fees. Just kind of curious what other's might do in this situation. Thank you!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[SkiOtter]

@KCgophervet

 

[noahmishkin]

Sorry to hear about that, melon!

AFAIK, there's not a ton of recourse you have to get your salary adjusted.

In regard to why some places pay more/less, it all comes down to the institution. I can confirm that, for at least one LAM residency, they are beholden to the pay rate for all post-doctoral positions, so a LAM resident gets the same as a post-PhD student working the lab, who gets the same as a post-doctoral intern in the teaching hospital.

The good news is you'll LIKELY have some weekends free to moonlight elsewhere if finances are a significant concern! Happy to chat more about my experiences as needed.

 

[KCgophervet]

Hello all!

I have matched for a lab animal medicine residency. When applying for this residency, the salary information indicated that it would be to the NIH pay scale. Come to find out when getting my offer letter, that this is very much not the case and is at least $10,000 less per year. Apparently, there was some copy pasting... Anyways, I'm curious if there's anyway to fight this or if it's even worth doing. I also am curious why the vast majority of programs pay at or above the NIH pay scale whereas a few pay significantly less, even one's that don't include additional degrees. I also seem to be mostly responsible for CE, conference funding and most membership/licensing fees. Just kind of curious what other's might do in this situation. Thank you!

Hello melon! First off, let me say congrats for matching to a residency program and welcome to lab animal medicine!

Second off, how dare they!? Did you interview with the program before matching with them? Did salary come up at all during the interview process? (no judgement if not, I'm not sure I ever asked in my interviews). Overall I would feel very disheartened by the program to find this information out, especially after the match date.

Funding for residency programs can come from a variety of sources depending on the program, which in part can help determine what the salary will be. If the program is funded through an NIH training grant for instance, then they have to use the NIH pay scale. If it's departmental funding they may have more flexibility. Pay scales at large universities also sometimes have rules for how much positions are paid depending on how its qualified in their system. In general I think places that offer higher salaries tend to be in higher cost of living areas, and I guess I would assume the reverse was also true but honestly can't think of a specific residency program that would offer significantly less $$.

If the pay discrepancy bothers you or makes things unmanageable or gives you distrust about the program in general (which for me I think it would do all 3 depending on how well I knew the people) I will share that there are quite a few quality residency programs that still have openings this year.

Feel free to reach out via PM as well, happy to discuss more. I don't know specifically how much you'd be able to fight it, but I would put up a stink about it. I'm also surprised at the lack of CE, conferences, etc, especially for a residency program.

 

[anonmelon]

Hello melon! First off, let me say congrats for matching to a residency program and welcome to lab animal medicine!

Second off, how dare they!? Did you interview with the program before matching with them? Did salary come up at all during the interview process? (no judgement if not, I'm not sure I ever asked in my interviews). Overall I would feel very disheartened by the program to find this information out, especially after the match date.

Funding for residency programs can come from a variety of sources depending on the program, which in part can help determine what the salary will be. If the program is funded through an NIH training grant for instance, then they have to use the NIH pay scale. If it's departmental funding they may have more flexibility. Pay scales at large universities also sometimes have rules for how much positions are paid depending on how its qualified in their system. In general I think places that offer higher salaries tend to be in higher cost of living areas, and I guess I would assume the reverse was also true but honestly can't think of a specific residency program that would offer significantly less $$.

If the pay discrepancy bothers you or makes things unmanageable or gives you distrust about the program in general (which for me I think it would do all 3 depending on how well I knew the people) I will share that there are quite a few quality residency programs that still have openings this year.

Feel free to reach out via PM as well, happy to discuss more. I don't know specifically how much you'd be able to fight it, but I would put up a stink about it. I'm also surprised at the lack of CE, conferences, etc, especially for a residency program.

Salary unfortunately did not come up. I guess I didn't feel like I had to ask since it was out there for everyone to see on VIRMP.

It's funding by one of the departments and LAM residents get paid the same as other specialty residents here. Post-docs here get paid on the NIH scale @noahmishkin. I've seen a couple other programs offer considerably less than NIH pay too, but at least one of them offers a degree program that appears to be subsidized.

I just think it's dishonest and I got a half hearted apology. I'm gonna PM you @KCgophervet