[whitenoice]

Please. Being a doctor is boring? It is challenging to be a doctor, and it is almost impossible to cheat through the USMLE (US Medical Licensing Exam) process. It is a 3 step process, which includes four tough exams taken at registered centers, which are actively monitored. I'm saying this as a spouse of a physician who has gone through the journey, and the amount of work they put in through their med school, USMLE, and then residency is unfathomable. Seeing someone put 14 hours of work every day to achieve their goal is not boring, rather a representation of their desire to drive, achieve, and excel. Also, with so many Indian doctors, it says a lot about their grit and hard work.

[gautamcgoel]

Three things: first, I never said it was easy, only that it was fairly conventional. Second, I never said that anyone cheated on the USMLE (I agree that would be quite hard). Third, some of these comments suggest that somehow I have no idea what it takes to be a doctor. As a matter of fact, my mother is a pediatrician and a professor at one of the top 10-15 medical schools in the US, so I have a pretty good idea what it takes. I acknowledge that it is an important and demanding job; nevertheless, I think it is a fairly conventional and unimaginative path to take in life, compared to, say becoming an artist or doing a startup.

[rramadass]

>nevertheless, I think it is a fairly conventional and unimaginative path to take in life, compared to, say becoming an artist or doing a startup.

This is exactly privilege speaking. Starving Artists/Musicians/Humanities/Literature major are practically a meme and have become a cautionary tale on what to avoid until you have established yourself financially. Whether it is fair or not, life does not reward them in today's economic system (ignore outliers). Hence the need for "safe and boring" jobs like Doctor/Engineer/Lawyer/anything else that helps you earn money to lead a "boring" life.

[HeadsUpHigh]

>This is exactly privilege speaking.

I'm not disagreeing with you here, but how is that even relevant in this discussion? This was about the path students from a high-level school took.

[devdas]

Yes, and those students come from a life of lesser privilege.

[ukd1]

From the outside it does seem boring; a lot of rote learning and not a lot of flexibility once you're out, high risk of getting sick and or sued. 99.99% or more Doctors are not House.

[whitenoice]

To be a doctor is as hands-on as you can be unless you speak of radiology, but that too is fascinating. You spend four years of your life doing hands-on work during the residency (rote learning?). There is an infinite amount of learning in medicine! Even after so many years of research, we do not understand the human body completely. I don't know what is you mean by boring; as a layperson, everything will seem boring unless you put in the effort to learn more about a field. But still, liver transplant, heart transplant, lung transplant, surgeries, anesthesia, diagnosing unknown diseases are not interesting? (flexibility? there are so many fields) I suggest you visit a Level 1 Trauma center close to your home and see what goes on in there. Reality is more brutal than TV in this case.

It may be boring to you, and that is ok, but it does not negate the fact that it is a challenging field and demands immense hard work to be one.