Why do so many Indians want to be doctors?

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lyall111

lyall111

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I see Indians disproportionately want to be doctors. Don't mean to be racist.
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Lol it's not that unfair of a question to be ban-worthy.
 
Interesting enough, I asked some Indian people why they wanted to become doctors. Now granted, these are only the few Indians I've talked to about this in undergrad and medical school and should be taken with a grain of salt, but the reasons they gave were

1. Parental pressure- Either their parents were pushing them to be doctors and anything less was shameful, or their parents were doctors and they were pressured to fill their shoes.
2. Social pressure- Doctors are known as the "God profession" in India, where it carries a great deal of prestige, much more than it does in the united states.
3. Discrimination avoidance- A lot of them feel that other professions like business they'd face much more discrimination in terms of career advancement and in the workplace than in medicine, where for the most part, it's meritocratic in terms of "If you're a good physician and are good at treating patients, patients will keep going back to you"
4. Marriage options- As shallow as it may be, an Indian guy that was a 4 before becoming a doctor becomes an 8 in terms of marriage material, and most parents will want their daughters to marry him since she'll have a secure life.


I hope I didn't just give a serious answer to a troll post.
 
famoussquamous said:
3. Discrimination avoidance- A lot of them feel that other professions like business they'd face much more discrimination in terms of career advancement and in the workplace than in medicine, where for the most part, it's meritocratic in terms of "If you're a good physician and are good at treating patients, patients will keep going back to you"
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I've never thought about that point...I'm sure it's true to some degree, and that's depressing.
 
famoussquamous said:
Interesting enough, I asked some Indian people why they wanted to become doctors. Now granted, these are only the few Indians I've talked to about this in undergrad and medical school and should be taken with a grain of salt, but the reasons they gave were

1. Parental pressure- Either their parents were pushing them to be doctors and anything less was shameful, or their parents were doctors and they were pressured to fill their shoes.
2. Social pressure- Doctors are known as the "God profession" in India, where it carries a great deal of prestige, much more than it does in the united states.
3. Discrimination avoidance- A lot of them feel that other professions like business they'd face much more discrimination in terms of career advancement and in the workplace than in medicine, where for the most part, it's meritocratic in terms of "If you're a good physician and are good at treating patients, patients will keep going back to you"
4. Marriage options- As shallow as it may be, an Indian guy that was a 4 before becoming a doctor becomes an 8 in terms of marriage material, and most parents will want their daughters to marry him since she'll have a secure life.


I hope I didn't just give a serious answer to a troll post.
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Lol there are two other reason you forgot to mention, maybe they want to practice medicine and help people. Also all those options can be for any race of humans in society.You also forgot money as well. Its just a profession , why does OP cares who enters it. Why are there so many white people majoring in business?
Its just a dumb question, and I am not indian but the question does lack understanding.
 
CannedPineapple said:
I've never thought about that point...I'm sure it's true to some degree, and that's depressing.
Click to expand...

I've heard Asians and African/Caribbean Immigrants say the same thing in terms of pushing their kids/wanting to go into medicine. While it's true that most white people can just be awesome at other things and have a successful career without facing any setbacks due to race, the same cannot be said for them. I remember even when I shadowed at a hospital one of the techs said something racist to one of the minority residents, he just laughed it off but I could tell that he didn't appreciate the comment.
 
famoussquamous said:
I've heard Asians and African/Caribbean Immigrants say the same thing in terms of pushing their kids/wanting to go into medicine. While it's true that most white people can just be awesome at other things and have a successful career without facing any setbacks due to race, the same cannot be said for them. I remember even when I shadowed at a hospital one of the techs said something racist to one of the minority residents, he just laughed it off but I could tell that he didn't appreciate the comment.
Click to expand...

It's the same for any profession, I'm a. Immigrant and I want my kids to go to college for whatever they want to, but they need to get an education.
Education is the only feasible way of earning the American dream, my mom told me that and I hope I can teach it to my stubborn kids( 5 and 2 ).
 
Dentase said:
Lol there are two other reason you forgot to mention, maybe they want to practice medicine and help people. Also all those options can be for any race of humans in society.You also forgot money as well. Its just a profession , why does OP cares who enters it. Why are there so many white people majoring in business?
Its just a dumb question, and I am not indian but the question does lack understanding.
Click to expand...

Right, but you work at McDonald's and still help people. Yes being altruistic is one reason people go into medicine, but to assume the other things don't play into it is just naive. Yes the OP's question shows lack of understanding, which is why I dropped knowledge.
 
famoussquamous said:
I've heard Asians and African/Caribbean Immigrants say the same thing in terms of pushing their kids/wanting to go into medicine. While it's true that most white people can just be awesome at other things and have a successful career without facing any setbacks due to race, the same cannot be said for them. I remember even when I shadowed at a hospital one of the techs said something racist to one of the minority residents, he just laughed it off but I could tell that he didn't appreciate the comment.
Click to expand...

True that race plays a part in some setbacks, but that is most of the time an excuse one sets to justify failures...
I've failed many times and I have not always gotten what I want, but that hasn't stopped me from trying and I've never blamed it on being brown or having an accent.
We need to change that way of thinking.
 
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tartesos said:
It's the same for any profession, I'm a. Immigrant and I want my kids to go to college for whatever they want to, but they need to get an education.
Education is the only feasible way of earning the American dream, my mom told me that and I hope I can teach it to my stubborn kids( 5 and 2 ).
Click to expand...

Right, but since you'll be an attending you'll be able to provide the type of home that is conducive to getting the best possible education for your children. I guess immigrant parents just push their kids extra hard because they don't have the same resources as some of the other families that have kids that "make it"
 
tartesos said:
True that race plays a part in some setbacks, but that is most of the time an excuse one sets to justify failures...
I've failed many times and I have not always gotten what I want, but that hasn't stopped me from trying and I've never blamed it on being brown or having an accent.
We need to change that way of thinking.
Click to expand...

It's an interesting phenom. While it is true that many minorities do face discrimination and will have a tougher time at success than their white counterparts, that shouldn't be enough to deter you if you're truly set on something. On the other hand, many people also have other things in their lives that are roadblocks to their success.
 
famoussquamous said:
It's an interesting phenom. While it is true that many minorities do face discrimination and will have a tougher time at success than their white counterparts, that shouldn't be enough to deter you if you're truly set on something. On the other hand, many people also have other things in their lives that are roadblocks to their success.
Click to expand...

All roadblocks are just another test on the big quiz that is life and are meant to be conquered and overcomed. Anything else are just excuses!
Some have it harder than others and fight harder odds.... But I hate to see some people be defeated by petty things... Don't make me post that video of the guy with no arms that plays guitar with his toes!!
 
famoussquamous said:
Right, but you work at McDonald's and still help people. Yes being altruistic is one reason people go into medicine, but to assume the other things don't play into it is just naive. Yes the OP's question shows lack of understanding, which is why I dropped knowledge.
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It is naive did I say other reasons are not factors? I said there are two other possible reasons. Also its unfortunate in this time how if you want to be a doctor, there are so many stereotypes of becoming one. Someone can honestly just say I love science, helping people, and like the work environment, then someone else will surely say there are other jobs in which you can do that. That logic is flawed and I hate how interviewers use that same logic, "oh you want to help people you can do that elsewhere". Well no I want to be a doctor it is my preference, its like I wanna play call of duty but someone will say you can also play halo or battlefield lol its the same thing, when it isn't, it is what you prefer. The Mcdonalds thing you mentioned, well you can help people in anything, hell you can be a janitor and say I am helping people by keeping the room clean, you can be a cab driver and say I am helping people by getting people to work on time. The fact of the matter is, it does not matter how many different jobs offer the same things being a physician can offer, but in fact of you wanting to become a physician. You can have sex with anyone but I prefer beautiful women. I hate when people use those cliche examples of oh you can help people in a variety of ways, which is true, but I want to help people my own way and that is to become a doctor.
Sorry about the rant but this logic is extremely flawed
 
tartesos said:
All roadblocks are just another test on the big quiz that is life and are meant to be conquered and overcomed. Anything else are just excuses!
Some have it harder than others and fight harder odds.... But I hate to see some people be defeated by petty things... Don't make me post that video of the guy with no arms that plays guitar with his toes!!
Click to expand...

Some people get discouraged at the fact that they have had to overcome so much in life, especially when they look around and see that others didn't have to work as hard to get what they got.
 
Dentase said:
It is naive did I say other reasons are not factors? I said there are two other possible reasons. Also its unfortunate in this time how if you want to be a doctor, there are so many stereotypes of becoming one. Someone can honestly just say I love science, helping people, and like the work environment, then someone else will surely say there are other jobs in which you can do that. That logic is flawed and I hate how interviewers use that same logic, "oh you want to help people you can do that elsewhere". Well no I want to be a doctor it is my preference, its like I wanna play call of duty but someone will say you can also play halo or battlefield lol its the same thing, when it isn't, it is what you prefer. The Mcdonalds thing you mentioned, well you can help people in anything, hell you can be a janitor and say I am helping people by keeping the room clean, you can be a cab driver and say I am helping people by getting people to work on time. The fact of the matter is, it does not matter how many different jobs offer the same things being a physician can offer, but in fact of you wanting to become a physician. You can have sex with anyone but I prefer beautiful women. I hate when people use those cliche examples of oh you can help people in a variety of ways, which is true, but I want to help people my own way and that is to become a doctor.
Sorry about the rant but this logic is extremely flawed
Click to expand...


It's not flawed, you just need to specify WHY it's exactly you want to become a doctor to help people. That's what interviewers are getting at when asking that question m8. If I'm being honest, one reason I chose medicine is because I realized what my strengths were (taking lots of tests and doing well in school) and realized medicine would be a good fit.
 
famoussquamous said:
Some people get discouraged at the fact that they have had to overcome so much in life, especially when they look around and see that others didn't have to work as hard to get what they got.
Click to expand...

I agree that is not fair,but it's also a cheap excuse.
I've seen it happen to me, and it's bothered me, but it shouldn't stop anyone.
If your life is always easy and smooth you won't appreciate the things you have...
You need rough waters and rapids to really appreciate a cruising on a calm stream.

But again agree with you, it's not fair...
 
famoussquamous said:
It's not flawed, you just need to specify WHY it's exactly you want to become a doctor to help people. That's what interviewers are getting at when asking that question m8. If I'm being honest, one reason I chose medicine is because I realized what my strengths were (taking lots of tests and doing well in school) and realized medicine would be a good fit.
Click to expand...
I understand and realize this, but lets say, I say in an interview. Never mind I am way to tired. I understand your point but I do find it annoying, albeit it is a good thing to ask for an interview because you and I both know a lot of pre meds have other deep deluded desires of becoming a doctor, so I agree to an extent . However, the stereotypes are higher than ever and it just annoying having to explain everything and if you mess up once saying oh it provides a secure job as well, then people might think your in it for the money.
 
Dentase said:
I understand and realize this, but lets say, I say in an interview. Never mind I am way to tired. I understand your point but I do find it annoying, albeit it is a good thing to ask for an interview because you and I both know a lot of pre meds have other deep deluded desires of becoming a doctor, so I agree to an extent . However, the stereotypes are higher than ever and it just annoying having to explain everything and if you mess up once saying oh it provides a secure job as well, then people might think your in it for the money.
Click to expand...


Who cares? Stop giving a crap about what other people think and do you! Those people have real world experience and realize how most physicians basically have to kill someone to lose their jobs (and even then). They envy physicians since it's one of those jobs people go and say "if I tried harder in school, I could have been that"
 
Troll post or not, interesting topic from a sociological perspective
 
exmoderpina said:
Only an 8? Sheesh....
Click to expand...
Wow, 1/2 Indian gal checking in. It is a documented Asian cultural dictate to do well in school. Once you do well, you have choices to go into business, medicine, engineering. For parents, its all about bragging rights, and in Asian cultures, it is all about moving the family up in the pecking order. My Dad was told to go to med school. He actively discouraged me and my brother from pursuing medicine, but we gravitated to it anyway, as once you do well in science, that is sort of the top of the pecking order. PhDs is just too long a road, with very little payback or guaranteed grant funding, or opportunities in industry.

Be it right or wrong, medicine is a monopoly that controls the supply side of the equation, keeping the number of physicians artificially low, so there is almost guaranteed employment. Only recently do smart students have an option of "earning" more in the business or startup entrepreneurial fields.
 
Last edited:
hoihaie said:
because. Atul Gawande.

Who doesn't want to be like him?
Click to expand...

An Indian friend of mine called him a efing sell out more than once, when I asked he said its because he didn't marry an Indian woman and I was appalled.
Not everyone wants to be like him it seems...
 
same reason there's 45k applicants for 20k seats
cream.jpg
 
Rainbow Zebra said:
Wow, 1/
2 Indian gal checking in. It is a documented Asian cultural dictate to do well in school. Once you do well, you have choices to go into business, medicine, engineering. For parents, its all about bragging rights, and in Asian cultures, it is all about moving the family up in the pecking order. My Dad was told to go to med school. He actively discouraged me and my brother from pursuing medicine, but we gravitated to it anyway, as once you do well in science, that is sort of the top of the pecking order. PhDs is just too long a road, with very little payback or guaranteed grant funding, or opportunities in industry.

Be it right or wrong, medicine is a monopoly that controls the supply side of the equation, keeping the number of physicians artificially low, so there is almost guaranteed employment. Only recently do smart students have an option of "earning" more in the business or startup entrepreneurial fields.
Click to expand...

As an Indian, I can basically say that this is accurate: business, medicine, and engineering are definitely the big three. While I came up with my want to be a doctor on my own as a kid, I can't completely deny that it wasn't subconsciously (not on purpose) drilled into my brain as well. You'd just hear so much about all those smart kids in your extended family going into nuclear engineering or starting medical school, and being compared to your cousins or others like that to motivate you (it did not motivate me at all, though!) was pretty common place. Indian parents just have high expectations, and I can't say I completely agree with their mentality, but it's there.

Also being a doctor looks good on arranged marriages, but I'm going to stay faaaaar away from those things, hah.

tartesos said:
An Indian friend of mine called him a efing sell out more than once, when I asked he said its because he didn't marry an Indian woman and I was appalled.
Not everyone wants to be like him it seems...
Click to expand...
Also I know that mentality is pretty pervasive, which I just find so strange. Who cares if they didn't marry an Indian woman...
 
We all want to be doctors because like, how else are we supposed to up our worth to our future prospective spouses? And we also need to give our parents something to talk about at parties when theyre comparing whose kid is more successful in life and lets face it, without that coveted MD DO DDS DMD title, youre basically worthless.

:soexcited::soexcited::soexcited::soexcited::soexcited:
 
tartesos said:
I agree that is not fair,but it's also a cheap excuse.
I've seen it happen to me, and it's bothered me, but it shouldn't stop anyone.
If your life is always easy and smooth you won't appreciate the things you have...
You need rough waters and rapids to really appreciate a cruising on a calm stream.

But again agree with you, it's not fair...
Click to expand...
What's an expensive excuse?
 
as far as I know, I have never heard of indians (specificially coworkers) speak about money but focus more on family life and being genuinely work oriented. I guess I have better friends and people surrounding me to know that.
 
cyclopes93 said:
as far as I know, I have never heard of indians (specificially coworkers) speak about money but focus more on family life and being genuinely work oriented. I guess I have better friends and people surrounding me to know that.
Click to expand...

Have you considered that they don't talk about money around you as to not seem shallow and greedy? Having money isn't everything, not having it is.
 
famoussquamous said:
Have you considered that they don't talk about money around you as to not seem shallow and greedy? Having money isn't everything, not having it is.
Click to expand...
um wasn't I implying that already? It's very unattractive of a practice and I don't think that most people in any particular group ever openly talks about it. This is a troll thread and is discriminatory, that's all my point.
 
cyclopes93 said:
um wasn't I implying that already? It's very unattractive of a practice and I don't think that most people in any particular group ever openly talks about it. This is a troll thread and is discriminatory, that's all my point.
Click to expand...

Oh okay, I thought you were implying that they just don't care about money is all.
 
Is it really just Indian people? How many swarms of ambitious premeds are there in any given college? A lot of people want to become doctors until they can't. I'm literally the only guy out of my group of college friends who stuck with the premed route past Junior year.
 
I'm Pakistani, but I think the parental pressures apply to any race, especially when one or both of the parents are also doctors. I know a lot of pre-med students that are going into it and have shown no love for science and generally don't care to treat people. It's kind of unfortunate that parents put so much pressure on their children to do something that they really don't want to do!

Coming from an Asian family, neither my parents are doctors and maybe a couple of uncles are. Growing up my parents never mentioned anything about med school or tried to push me into medicine. I have three brothers and one is getting his masters in criminal justice, another is going into physical therapy, and my younger one has no idea what he wants to do, maybe computer science. Perhaps I don't come from the "typical" Asian family, but they are very traditional and strict in a lot of other aspects. It's different for everyone. (Although I do have a younger sister who is going to turn 5 soon and I bought her a Doc McStuffins art kit, so I might be sending her some subliminal messages, lol. 😛)

I don't like that people will assume why someone is going into a profession based on their race/ethnicity, everybody has their story/reasons. And perhaps they're not doing it for the right reasons, but you can always find someone doing something for the wrong reasons, regardless of what they may be.
 
Jews, Chinese, Italians, Poles, Danes, Koreans, Russians [insert nationality or ethnic group here] as well.

famoussquamous said:
I've heard Asians and African/Caribbean Immigrants say the same thing in terms of pushing their kids/wanting to go into medicine. While it's true that most white people can just be awesome at other things and have a successful career without facing any setbacks due to race, the same cannot be said for them. I remember even when I shadowed at a hospital one of the techs said something racist to one of the minority residents, he just laughed it off but I could tell that he didn't appreciate the comment.
Click to expand...
 
Goro said:
Jews, Chinese, Italians, Poles, Danes, Koreans, Russians [insert nationality or ethnic group here] as well.
Click to expand...

Oh of course, I didn't mean to imply that discrimination is something that only a few ethnic groups experience. Basically if you're noticeably different from the majority in either appearance, customs, or accent, you'll catch grief.
 
I didn't read the whole thread but I want to add that I find it amusing that the OP was banned (I assume for this thread) yet the thread itself was not locked and it seems discussion on the OP has been flourishing with no discernable backlash.
If you're going to ban people for that kind of OP, shouldn't you go the whole mile and lock the thread too?

my 2c
 
Goro said:
Jews, Chinese, Italians, Poles, Danes, Koreans, Russians [insert nationality or ethnic group here] as well.
Click to expand...
Maybe the common factor is being an immigrant rather than being an immigrant from a specific ethnic group/region/culture.
Seems reasonable that immigrant families latch on to medicine as a career for their kids because of the social status, guaranteed income and correlation with academic success.
 
karayaa said:
Maybe the common factor is being an immigrant rather than being an immigrant from a specific ethnic group/region/culture.
Seems reasonable that immigrant families latch on to medicine as a career for their kids because of the social status, guaranteed income and correlation with academic success.
Click to expand...
I think there is some cultural aspects as well. I'm 3rd generation Italian American and was pushed very hard academically, same as my cousins.
 
URMD said:
If you're going to ban people for that kind of OP, shouldn't you go the whole mile and lock the thread too?

my 2c
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. The tone of the thread was civil and inviting good discourse, so I chose to leave it open. OTOH, if it were to dissolve into the usual ugly racial arguments, then it will be closed. Even trolls sometimes spark good conversation.
 
Winged Scapula said:
Not necessarily. The tone of the thread was civil and inviting good discourse, so I chose to leave it open. OTOH, if it were to dissolve into the usual ugly racial arguments, then it will be closed. Even trolls sometimes spark good conversation.
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lol sorry if I'm missing something here, but if the OP started a good conversation with an interesting question, then how is he/she a troll, and why did he/she deserve to get banned? b/c the question just so happened to be his/her first post? just curious.
 
palatopharyngeus said:
lol sorry if I'm missing something here, but if the OP started a good conversation with an interesting question, then how is he/she a troll, and why did he/she deserve to get banned? b/c the question just so happened to be his/her first post? just curious.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry but we don't comment on the specifics of administrative actions against other users.
 
palatopharyngeus said:
lol sorry if I'm missing something here, but if the OP started a good conversation with an interesting question, then how is he/she a troll, and why did he/she deserve to get banned? b/c the question just so happened to be his/her first post? just curious.
Click to expand...
The question that the OP asked was superficial and I was taught in middle school (leave college) to think about my questions before I ask them. It could have been framed better. If OP doesn't have the guts to ask the question from actual 'said' people in person he so claimed to have met, then I don't think it should be asked on here either. What substance do you have to say "most 'so-and-so' people want to be doctors?" Do you have stats to be assuming so? Have you gone to their house and been a buddy their whole life or was this a chance encounter that you so happen to assume true?
 
Winged Scapula said:
I'm sorry but we don't comment on the specifics of administrative actions against other users.
Click to expand...
I guess that is fair - seems that if the OP was worded in a more conscientious manner he wouldn't have gotten banned.
 
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