[ForHackernews]

> A person smart enough to be a doctor could be many things and earn a lot more money doing one of those things.

Is that really true? Doctors are most of the best-paying jobs in the US [0] It seems to me that if you're bright, and care about making a lot of money, medicine is absolutely the way to go. Yes, there are some people who strike it rich with startups or high finance, but that's essentially buying a lotto ticket.

[0]: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#00-0000 (sort by annual mean wage, Anesthesiologists, Surgeons, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, etc.)

[healthisevil]

If you are really smart enough to be a doctor and still think that money matters, then the best route is -> Ivy -> IB -> PE/HF.

The thirty somethings in my son's firm take home over 3M a year. One of the owners took home over 800M a couple of years ago.

Compared to remunerations like that, doctors get a miserable pittance.

[mariodiana]

I read this years ago. Google is a wonderful thing:

"Gilded Paychecks: Lure of Great Wealth Affects Career Choices." NY Times. November 27, 2006.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/27/business/27richer.html

[ForHackernews]

The first step of that career path is still "Become a doctor"

[mariodiana]

Yes.

  * Get your M.D. 
  * Do anything afterward, except practice medicine 
  * Profit

That's what that article is saying.

I think being a doctor is about more than making money. But it isn't simply about helping people and making a good living. Smart people want to be able to exercise their own judgment and initiative. We need to be careful as a society, or the people we want as doctors are going to be the people we chase away.