Why does anyone become a doctor?

umm.....to heal people? Is that a good answer?

The cohort of people who become doctors would make more money doing something else (business or finance) if doctoring were not available to them. The late Uwe Reinhardt of Princeton published extensively on this. Medicine is a vocation, not a job. If you are going into it for the money, you will likely be disappointed.

While this is technically true, the time from secondary school graduation to becoming a fully qualified physician is about the same (10 years or so).

Have you seen most people?? This is not a plus.

Maybe, but I'm skeptical. Becoming a doctor is essentially a guaranteed path to a high-income job. There's no other field that pays that well with that level of job security. Business - sure you can make a ton more money, but the risk of failure is considerable. Finance - I'm not as familiar with this career path but I would think that the failure rate is pretty high and a lot of people are weeded out before they make it.

If you're smart and hard working becoming a doctor is the safest bet. If you're off the charts intelligent then by all means go for one of those higher risk professions.

I have a direct relative going through the process. It does vary some by specialty.

4 years undergrad

4 years med school

3 years residency

1 year fellowship (optional)

Reinhardt's research dealt with the group of people who applied but did not get admitted to medical school. Over time, they made more money than the group of people who did get admitted and became doctors. The group that applies to medical school is a very highly motivated, high achieving, highly competitive group. Reinhardt's conclusion was that they are generally more successful financially than the general population regardless of what endeavor they choose. With regard to business and finance, there is a much broader range of incomes, but the potential to earn a much higher income than one will earn in medicine.

Yes but post graduate training is now compulsory. You ca remain a house officer for your entire career if you choose. Of course most people are desirous of post graduate training and specialization but it is not compulsory. So yes you can become a working doctor in 6 years.

So does an undertaker.

And there's less study