Why are fewer and fewer young people choosing to become doctors?

Look, no degree is easy. The whole point of higher ed is that you have to grind and put in the actual work yourself. I personally blew through my first two years—partly because of the war, partly because I just couldn't navigate the bureaucracy... but I didn't quit. Like this wise old colleague of mine, a psychiatrist who’s actually respected these days, once told me: "The most important thing is always knowing how to brush the dust off your knees and get back up."
If you really want this, then just go for it. Don't let some tired, recycled excuses hold you back. 👍

Benjamin Murphy2 said:No college degree is easy—the whole concept of studying requires you to pour massive amounts of energy into it. I actually failed my first and second years—partly due to the war and partly because of some systemic screw-ups. But I didn't quit. Like a wise old colleague of mine—he’s a highly respected psychiatrist now—once told me: "The most important thing is always getting back up after you hit the dirt."
If you really want this, go for it. Don't let anyone's half-baked excuses stop you. 👍

Benjamin Murphy2, seriously, hats off to you! It’s brutal when you lose a year—especially when it’s because of certain people in administration who can be incredibly unhelpful, rude, or just plain difficult... A friend of mine—who used to pull 7 or 8-hour study sessions every single day—ended up failing her freshman and sophomore years for the exact same reasons I mentioned. I felt so bad for her, honestly, because she sacrificed everything, while I—well, I'm out here living a totally normal life. It really comes down to luck and whether or not someone decides to be an absolute jerk when they should be helping you out!

Why is this thread such a hot topic if everyone’s being so stingy with the replies?

Exactly. I didn't even realize this was such a hot topic—though, honestly, I can probably guess who started it...

Unlocked.

Sure, maybe they're losing their edge, but in our healthcare system, this is still a massive, burning issue. 🤣

well, looks like it isn't 😬
anymore...

looks like it isn't 😁

It'll happen, it'll happen

It feels like I called it. I said healthcare would be the biggest mess in America all over again, and here we go... just look at the earlier posts...
Maybe I’m the next Nostradamus...? Or maybe I’m just full of myself?...............

Should we pick up this forgotten conversation? Maybe we can actually find an answer to the question in the title.

Look, today they arrested yet another doctor for taking bribes, but hey, it was "only" $600.
And meanwhile, some kid lost his arm because doctors were out on strike...

That makes perfect sense. When people are sick, they become incredibly sensitive to how they are treated. Sometimes doctors treat them poorly, mostly just out of sheer convenience or laziness. I’m not saying being a doctor isn't difficult, but life certainly isn't easy for the patients either. That’s why people end up hating doctors. Those who harbor resentment toward the medical profession love to quote stories about how corrupt physicians are, simply because they truly believe they are.

And that is exactly how the reputation of the medical profession in America has been tarnished. They are viewed as lazy, unmotivated, corrupt, greedy, heartless, and unprofessional—the complete antithesis of the Hippocratic Oath, which these hypocrites choose to ignore. Now, every single incident gets dragged into the public eye, and doctors are essentially crucified in the court of public opinion, regardless of who was actually in the right in a specific case. Even social attitudes are shifting: "So, what do you do? A doctor? Ugh, you're just one of those corrupt types. How many people did you fleece today, and how much kickback did you pocket? Sorry, Mrs. Jones from the office, I don't associate with doctors or drug dealers..." Or even, "A nurse? You're one of those who shrugs off patients and drinks coffee instead of helping people in pain? Get lost before I lose my temper..."

This "genius" with only $600 was demanding money just to remove someone's skin tag. It was a minor procedure that should have been fully covered by Medicare, yet this self-proclaimed "humanitarian" decided to charge the guy 300 dollars, eventually settling on 250. It’s a good thing the patient called the police. What a pathetic excuse for a human being. He works at a hospital, receives a salary, yet he tries to extort extra cash for work that is already being paid for by taxpayers through government funds. A total crook. We really need to implement much harsher penalties for corruption in healthcare, as well as for negligence and malpractice.

They’re probably just terrified of getting caught up in some corruption scandal...

We’re heading toward a massive doctor shortage, and then what? People love to whine about how doctors don't make enough money...
Well, newsflash: they won't be complaining about that very soon.

You're dreaming if you think otherwise—they're going to flood the US with cheap labor from the mountainous parts of the North America, and those of us graduating in a few years? We're basically screwed if we stay here. 🙂

Do you have any idea what percentage of young doctors actually get paid during their residency after graduation?

In a city like New York, you could count them on one hand because everyone else is basically working for free.

It’s pathetic.

Kevin White5 said:do you have any idea what percentage of young doctors actually get a paid residency after graduation????

Well, if you're looking in a place like New York City, you could probably count them on one hand, because everyone else is essentially working for free as volunteers.

It’s honestly quite depressing.

Unfortunately, even outside of the major metropolitan areas, the situation isn't much better.🙄

Kevin White5 is absolutely right—medical school is an absolute grind, and even after you finally cross that finish line, you’re immediately thrown into a shark tank where the children of established doctors tend to have their paths cleared for them. If you don't have someone sitting in a high-level administrative role or acting as a hospital director to pull strings, landing a solid position is an uphill battle. Securing a residency is often even more cutthroat. One practical way to navigate this is to head out to a smaller town or a rural area; there is usually plenty of work available, the stipends are decent enough, and it can actually serve as a stepping stone toward getting your specialization.

The current system isn't just broken and unfair to the patients and those relying on insurance; it's fundamentally dishonest toward the medical professionals who refuse to play along with the corruption.

The fundamental issue with medicine is a matter of national policy.
First off, we aren't allocating nearly enough to healthcare, yet the waste is staggering.
This is essentially a hangover from the old socialist era—back when the idea was that healthcare should be cheap, universal, and free for everyone. Once those systems collapsed, things changed elsewhere, but here, we’ve stubbornly clung to the old ways.
We need to face reality: healthcare is a business. You can't just take your health for granted—meaning you can't assume that simply being alive today guarantees you'll stay healthy tomorrow without making any actual investments in yourself.
What we really need is a privatized system that retains a social safety net; a model where individuals select the specific level of coverage they feel they actually need. This would force a much higher degree of personal responsibility regarding one's own well-being.
By doing this, overall healthcare spending would actually increase in quality—leading to better facilities and up-to-date technology—while also increasing the accountability of our doctors. Healthcare must be managed according to economic principles; ignoring that reality is a direct path toward bankruptcy, bribery, corruption, and total systemic collapse.

Eric Robinson81 said:Kevin White5 is right. Medical school is brutal, and once you graduate, you’re fighting a system where doctors' kids have their paths cleared by nepotism. If you don't have someone in a director-level position pulling strings, landing a spot is an uphill battle. Getting a residency is even harder. One way out is moving to some small rural town where there's actual work available—they'll pay you a decent wage and sometimes you can even snag a residency there.

The current system isn't just broken and unfair to patients and insurance holders; it’s a slap in the face to any medical professional who refuses to play the corruption game.

Unfortunately, the struggle to get a residency isn't quite how you described it. I have plenty of friends who are children of professors, yet they didn't get a residency; meanwhile, those who did get them through honest means are now stuck working shifts as residents for peanuts $1567 and facing massive struggles because they already have kids and no house.

Everyone knows how residencies are actually handed out today. One way is obvious, and the other is pure POLITICS.

In my opinion, politics has no business in healthcare. We all know how things work: when the administration changes, hospital directors change too. Politics isn't isolated; it's embedded in every sector of society. Back in the old days under the previous regime, you couldn't land a management role unless you were part of the dominant ethnic group, and today, if you aren't in the ruling political party, you're stuck.

Anyway, back to the point. I think our doctors will just head West because they actually speak the languages—English, German, French—leaving us to be treated by people from overseas.

I'm currently at a hospital in France, and if I list the nationalities of the doctors I work with—Greek, Syrian, Tunisian, Greek, Sudanese, and French—that’s the makeup of my ward.

I’d much rather see us support our own, whether in medicine or any other field. We fought so hard to establish this country, and now that we have it, we’ve started taking it for granted.

Salaries need to be a bit higher, too. We need to root out the corruption and the "who-you-know" culture so individual merit finally matters—but that merit needs to actually be paid for! We also need to collaborate more; no single person is the smartest guy in the room.

Sorry if I drifted a bit off-topic.

killer post! 👍

It’s fine.
But what I really want to know is why nobody seems to care about our healthcare system, when everyone in America knows it's absolutely circling the drain.
Sure, they’ve started cracking down on doctors for taking bribes, but let’s be real: if they actually go after every single physician who isn't 100% squeaky clean, we’ll run out of them faster than you can blink.
And honestly, we’re already short-staffed as it is.