Why do so many people want to study medicine?

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Unique and challenging career, almost 100% employment I think, good money eventually, prestigious field and you gain lifelong skills and abilities which no other jobs can offer. But most probably just follow their parents :smile:

Reply 21

Serine Soul

Original post by PrincessBO$$

Sad, but true. I thought Asian girls were equally clever tho :redface:

Of course they are, but from what I've observed, traditional Asian families have a dislike for highly educated women (gender roles etc), and often male doctors raised in these families don't want an equally educated wife.

Reply 22

Serine Soul

Original post by HopelessMedic

There are plenty of jobs out there that also offer lifelong skills and abilities :smile:

Reply 23

PrincessBO$$

Original post by Serine Soul

So Asian Male doctors find themselves a hot housewife? :tongue:

Reply 24

HopelessMedic

Original post by Serine Soul

There are plenty of jobs out there that also offer lifelong skills and abilities :smile:

My bad I meant specifically the skills gained from being a doctor

Reply 25

username1533709

Rishtas obviously :tongue:

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 26

username1533709

Original post by HopelessMedic

My bad I meant specifically the skills gained from being a doctor

And what are these skills specific only to doctors ?

Reply 27

Serine Soul

Original post by PrincessBO$$

So Asian Male doctors find themselves a hot housewife? :tongue:

Yup

You're not planning on becoming a hot housewife now are you? :colonhash:

It was my plan when I was 15 :biggrin:

Then feminism happened :awesome:

Reply 28

PrincessBO$$

Original post by Serine Soul

Yup

You're not planning on becoming a hot housewife now are you? :colonhash:

Spoiler

I'm aspiring to be one.

Spoiler

Reply 29

HopelessMedic

Original post by Kadak

And what are these skills specific only to doctors ?

Ability to save someone's life......

Reply 30

Serine Soul

Original post by PrincessBO$$

I'm aspiring to be one.

Spoiler

You don't have to die alone :hugs:

Reply 31

PrincessBO$$

Original post by Serine Soul

You don't have to die alone :hugs:

i know. Getting married

is my top prioty after getting a job :smug:

Reply 32

username1533709

Original post by HopelessMedic

Ability to save someone's life......

So the scientists responsible for creating drugs and making medical discoveries arent saving lives ?
The scientists and engineers responsible for medical technologies such as PET scans and electron microscopes arent saving lives ?
The mathmaticians who work help doctors interpret data arent saving lives ?

My teacher told me,be a doctor and you can help maybe a couple of thousand people in your lifetime,go into science and you can help many more.

Reply 33

Serine Soul

Original post by PrincessBO$$

i know. Getting married

is my top prioty after getting a job :smug:

Mine too! What am I gonna do with the money I earn? Need to have a family, buy a house, spend on my kids so they get the opportunities I never had... :cry2:

Reply 34

username738914

Original post by HopelessMedic

Ability to save someone's life......

there are other jobs which achieve this

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Reply 35

username738914

Original post by Kadak

Go into business and you can help millions

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 36

tazarooni89

Original post by alanaro

Overworked, underpaid, diminishing respect. Yet there are 10 applicants for every university place. What's the appeal?

I think the main appeal of Medicine it's seen as being financially "low risk", in that you're pretty much guaranteed a job once you graduate, and you're unlikely to ever be made redundant or end up earning so little that you can't afford to pay your rent and feed your family. You'll always have enough money to be "comfortable".

This risk-aversion might be especially prevalent amongst those who come from modest backgrounds or less economically developed countries. They're probably less likely to have ambitions for a seven-figure salary and a Hollywood lifestyle, more content (even counting themselves very lucky) to be able to live to an ordinary, middle-class standard, possibly highly afraid of the realities of poverty that they may have witnessed first-hand, and less likely to have vast amounts of family money or other wealth to fall back on if their career doesn't work out.

It's true that there are other careers out there where can have more prestige and earn more money for doing less hard, laborious work. But these are normally careers in which mediocrity won't get you far at all. You'd normally have to be outstanding in your field and perhaps have a bit of luck as well. For some people, these greater rewards are not worth the risk.

Other reasons why I think medicine is so popular are:

- It still carries the respect of a competitive profession that is difficult to get into, requires extensive education and personal qualities, and involves helping people

(Again, especially for those with backgrounds in less developed countries where there is less wealth, diseases and mortality are widespread, healthcare is limited and seen as a privilege rather than a right, and education levels are low, doctors may carry a level of respect akin to miracle-workers, geniuses, celebrities or millionaires)

- It offers flexibility (e.g. overtime/locum pay for those who need extra money, reduced sessions for those who want to balance a family life with their career)

- Jobs for doctors are available pretty much everywhere, be it in a major city, in the countryside, or on a remote island. This provides flexibility over where to live

- Since doctors almost always deal directly with the public, it's a profession that everybody has heard of and understands, regardless of their background

- The entry routes into the profession are simple and well understood, with very standard application processes (rather than being more about "who you know")

- There is still the potential to earn extremely high salaries for those who really want to and are business-minded (e.g. private practitioners, certain GPs)