Keep in mind the article was written for a U.K. pre-medical audience. The health care system in the U.K. is very different from the one here in the U.S. I certainly believe that this has an effect on the authors perspective.
With that being said, it is not a great article and I disagree with just about everything, especially their cons:
The direct impact of being a doctor is modest, and smaller than ‘conventional wisdom' may suggest.
Depends but I highly disagree. When a surgeon told me my grandpa would survive it was one of the most impactful things for me to hear, and it motivated me to get into medicine.
Although medicine is a respected qualification, it has modest career capital for transitioning into other jobs relative to the amount of time and money it demands. It is also very hard to change careers in medicine after entering a training program for a given specialty.
There are many opportunities that exist for MDs in research, pharmaceutical companies, government, etc. An MD carries training, prestige, and knowledge. The U.K. being smaller and different won't have the same opportunities here in the U.S. but I can see where they are coming from.
Similarly, although doctors enjoy widespread public esteem, they do not have a great platform for advocacy given the costs involved.
Sure, maybe in the U.K. but here in the U.S. physicians have successfully lobbied for important changes in medicine policy (tort reform, etc.). I do believe physicians should advocate harder against the encroachment of mid-levels into every facet of medicine. Yes, they are important, but there does need to be limitations.
@mangoangel Those are some good points, but what about the site's argument that because med school is oversubscribed, if you didn't become a doctor someone else would have? Sure you might be a bit of a better doctor than this other person would have, so your patients might be slightly better treated. But that seems like a very small potential impact compared to careers in public health and politics according to the website.
Of course, medicine is oversubscribed, it is a competitive field in general. So is any other field in medicine. Not everyone becomes a nurse or dentist. The "oversubscription" is what creates medical students who are capable of excelling in medical school. They take only the best applicants with intent not some randoms applying just because.
The article was written by some random dude who looked up some things and has an opinion, with little to no credentials on the matter. He is probably just mad because he didn't get into medical school so this is what he does now.
EDIT: One more point: He mentions giving 10% of your pre-tax salary to AMF to have an impact in another article, but in 2012 U.K. physicians had an average salary of around 70,000 GBP which is 110,600 USD. In the U.S. average salary was much higher, so even with the exchange rate, a U.S. physician donating 10% pre-tax would have a much larger impact than a U.K physician doing the same.
It is apparent the intent of the article is to turn people away from medicine while they are young and get them working earlier instead of wasting their time applying into medicine. Again, not a great article.
