[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.