So you like kidneys, huh? And you want kidney-related work to be a central part of your life? While most non-nephrologist-aspiring people might say, "Well, that's creepy," we here at Shmoop just say, "Great, awesome. Kidneys are totally sweet." Hey, somebody has to do it, right? We're here to help.

One huge perk of this job (besides the obvious fun of messing around with people's kidneys, of course) is the cash. Nephrologists take in a drool-inducing median income of $225,372 per year, and the top ten percent of kidney jockeys make over $284,000 annually (source). That's enough cheddar to shut up anyone who calls your job creepy.

Of course, with great cheddar comes great responsibility—not to mention the effort it takes to get into a position of such productive cheese-raking.

 

No matter what the book cover says, it takes much more than thirty days to learn nephrology. (Source)

Most nephrologists attend at least seven years of med school, plus another two years of study as an underling in a kidney clinic, before earning their title. So, after factoring the four years of undergraduate study before any of that extra schooling, that adds up to about the same amount of time you might go away for robbing a bank (unless you get away with it). Not that we're suggesting that crime is an easier career path than this one, though.

It makes paying taxes so tricky.

Get past how fun it is to say "nephrologist," and ask yourself sincerely: "Am I down for that much school?" At the time that you start school, you'll probably be eighteen. After undergrad you'll be four years in, and then you would commit to four more of med school. After that, you'd be heading into a three-year residency in internal medicine followed by a three-year nephrology fellowship (source).

So after eight years of very hard work in undergrad and med school, you'd be committing to at least six more years of training before you get to call yourself a nephrologist. And you'd pretty much have to know it's what you want by the time you get into med school.

 

Finally, celebrations are in order. (Source)

Let's say you do all that, and after fourteen long years you're ready to go ham on some kidney disease. Even once all that schooling is done, you'll need to become certified by the all-powerful board. Fun stuff, eh?

Once you've made it this far, you should feel pretty confident about your doctor skills. You've earned it. After all that toiling, you shouldn't have any trouble getting hired at a clinic or private office, but the smart nephrologist would seek out an experienced doctor to continue to learn from.

In your day-to-day work, you'll be treating patients with a variety of issues and disorders having to do with kidneys. Of course, there aren't many super easy and fun days when you're working with chronically ill or infirm patients. Rewarding―that's the word you're looking for. 

That is, unless you believe in job satisfaction surveys, where nephrology scored a relatively low fifty-five percent when respondents were asked if they were satisfied with their specialty (source).

It just depends how into kidneys you are, we suppose. You can always fall back on other doctoring if you decide you've had enough.

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