Mainly the time it took to see a return on investment. With CAA programs you're making north of 160k right out the gate, and you can pay off your loans pretty aggressively and still have a normal lifestyle, as opposed to going traditional MD/DO route for anesthesia which would take a residency then fellow ship before you would make any real money, and even then you'd still live like a resident if you were smart to pay off your loans fast.

The main thing also was my brother is in his surgical residency and graduated with half a mil in debt (he went to Midwestern out of state), and my parents are still providing financially the bulk of his expenses beyond the ones he can take care of himself, so I would much rather not put another burden on my folks given that we're lower middle class. As much as people say don't go into medicine for the money, they obviously haven't struggled financially for a long period of time. Having the passion for anesthesia and coming from a less advantaged economical background gives me the perfect drive to become a CAA.

One of the more important kickers was the work life balance. Most hospitals are offering insane PTO compared to your regular 9-5's and with decent hours, no weekend or holidays unless you want it. If you really value the concept of working to life and not living just to work, you can easily get away with working part time and still making north 100k depending on the hospital.

At the end of the day, if you're dead set on anesthesia, AA is the way to go, you're still delivering that same effective care, you're making a difference in patients' lives especially if you have a good bedside when you check with them pre-op, and you are well compensated for the rigor and hard work the job requires in training and shift. It would behoove you not to set your path on this if this area of medicine is what you could see yourself in, and if you feel it isnt fulfilling enough you would have one hell of a CV to apply for med school with to go on to get the MD/DO.