Why does anyone become a doctor?

How'd that go for you?

I'm on track

For the money and prestige. Becoming a doctor is the most sure fire way for someone who is smart and wants to work hard to earn a high income. Yes, there are people who make more money, but in general those all come with a much higher level of risk.

Koko doesn't believe in medicine, so it may be hard for them to see the value in seeking a career in that field

Easy money leveraging the state bestowed monopoly on overcharging people for looking up their ailments on the internet.

In what country is med school 8 years? And what residency is 2 years?

assumably Koko the Gorilla is American because no other country refers to university as "college"

The USA?

And apparently residency is even longer than that?

But back to the question

I must be some kind of genius, then, because I finished med school in 4 years.

Congrats, so what's the correct timeline to become a full-time doctor then and can you share why you choose that path if you don't mind?

Koko is quite slow.

Go ask everyone who hates their job at 40 if they rather have a meaningful job earning themselves $$$$, lots of status with a 100% job guarantee anywhere in the world.

When you're in high school medicine and law are pushed as the two options for anyone who gets decent exam results. Rightly or wrongly medicine is seen as prestigious. I think a lot of people don't have an accurate idea of what the profession is like and they go for it for the wrong reasons. Maybe they've watched too much ER.

You get to see a lot of people naked.

Med school is 4 years. You're a doctor once you graduate from med school. Then you do residency to train for your specialty. That can be anywhere from 3 to 7 years (most being 3-5). Then you can (but don't have to) do a fellowship to subspecialize. Fellowships vary in length.

So for example to become a cardiologist, you'd do 4 years of med school, 3 years of internal med residency, and then a 3 year cardiology fellowship with the option of doing another fellowship in interventional cardiology (doing stents for heart attacks), electrophys (treating arrhythmias), etc. If you want to do primary care, you just do med school then a 3 year residency in family med, internal med, or pediatrics.

To get rich by making people sick and killing them.

A guy down the street from me is an ortho. He threw shot put in college and did all his medical training in Chicago. He got a mid six figure signing bonus to join his current orthopedic group when he finished his residency. He was able to buy a $1 mil+ house with cash after working for 5 years as a surgeon. He rarely works more than 40 hours a week and gets 4 weeks paid vacation.

To rake in sweet views on TikTok during a global pandemic

So you’re like what 15? That explains a lot.