To not understand the obsession with doing medicine

[SharpHazelDeer]

My dd is 17 in the second last year of high school. She goes to an all girls' private school so I don't know if this is part of the reason why, but at least a quarter of her grade wants to study medicine when they graduate.

dd gets decent grades so she often gets asked if she wants to do medicine. When she says no she usually gets a shocked expression and sometimes people even ask her if she has given up. This really shouldn't be about race, but people are somehow under the assumption her dad (who is asian, so she is half asian) wants her to do medicine. In reality her dad doesn't care what she does as long as she does something constructive to whatever life she wants for herself.

I genuinely don't understand where these comments are coming from and they are making dd question if she should try for medicine but she knows she's not interested in being a physician.

Agree, as it would be silly to claim that ALL Asians have identical career aspirations for their children, wouldn't it?

There are a fair few excellent south Asian comedians getting a lot of mileage out of the perceived family pressures to become doctors, lawyers and engineers.

Its because people can't imagine girls doing any other form of science. They can't imagine them as engineers or palaeontologist or astrophysicists

My dc is an academic high achiever and similar pressure was put on him to consider medicine. It’s a solid career and prestigious and I wonder sometimes if he just should have gritted his teeth and done it. There were plenty of kids who were less academic that did do it. He would have gone into a research role likely. However, his heart wasn’t in it although he had good experience. He’s doing a single science (maths heavy) degree so not sure of his prospects now.

A family member is struggling to find a job after completing his junior doctor training. He and his partner can’t settle as they’re not sure where he’ll end up. It’s very frustrating for them and a kick in the teeth after studying for 5 years and then foundation training for another 2 years.

I think this is very true. Both DDs did science degrees. DD2 did a physics degree and was the only woman on her specific course and one of very few women in the school as a whole. Plus almost no female teaching staff.

Guiding towards becoming a doctor is at least a step up on my careers guidance from school (early 80s) where girls were guided towards becoming nursery staff whether they were interested/had an aptitude or not. Becoming a nursery nurse was 'respectable'. A few decades earlier we would have been pushed towards becoming governesses.

Yes but it’s a career that you could very, very easily transfer over to any country. Not every profession is like that.

Professional Services – Big Pay if You Reach the Top or Get Equity

• Law – Equity partner route (hard slog but huge upside)
• Accountancy (Big 4) – Partner level
• Recruitment – Senior headhunting, own firm, or move to Dubai for tax perks
• Specialist Consulting – Build a niche practice (regulatory, cyber, ESG) then sell
• Move from Law/Accountancy into In-House (ideally PE-backed) – Big payday on exit

Ownership / Entrepreneurship via Scale

• Dentistry – Own multiple practices rather than work chairside
• Medicine – Only if you can tap private market
• Engineering – Invent something, get investment, grow, sell
• Franchising – Acquire and scale profitable franchises
• High-End Construction Trades – Premium design/build businesses that can be sold
• Luxury / Specialist Services – Serve UHNW clients in niche industries (aviation, yachts, concierge)

Finance & Investment

• Investment Banking / Private Equity / Hedge Funds – Progress to MD or start own fund
• M&A Entrepreneurship (Search Fund) – Buy a profitable business, run, grow, exit
• Property Development – Development, conversions, or portfolio assembly for funds

Scalable, Asset-Based Plays

• Tech (Product / SaaS) – Especially niche B2B with strong recurring revenue
• Media / Content Licensing – Create evergreen IP and license it (courses, books, brand)

Not easy to transfer you need to do local quals