Why Paki and Indians want to be Doctors?

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Why do you care about pleasing your parents?

Live your own life ... you are borderline crazy pursuing medicine bc your parents want you to (that applies to whatever color you are).

My parents played ZERO role in my career choice.
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Because they are here to steal your jobs......
 
Busdrivin4life said:
Hey all,

I'm an indian, and my parents have allowed me to choose whatever field I wanted. Since day one, they have told me to do whatever I want, as long as I'm an honest person and respectable. We are by no means filthy rich, yet also we certainly are not poor.

Ever since I was younger I had a great interest in biology. Later on through out high school and college volunteering opportunities have allowed me to see the significance of helping others.

Since then, I've wanted to be part of the Medical field. I recently graduated from college and am applying to medical schools...

Not all Indians and Paki folks are getting into this field because of their parents... or the money... or the status...

Just thought I'd share with you guys.
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👍 I hate that people just assume Indians and Pakis want to be doctors because of their parents or the money. Some of us have a mind of our own.
 
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OhioG said:
Because they are here to steal your jobs......
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ohiseewhatyoudidthere.jpg
 
I think Indian Doctors are naturally intelligent. I am a Medical Assistant of 2 Indian Doctor, 1 specializes in Pulmonary and the other handles Infectious disease, I used to get iffy when I do wound care because he basically handles people that have MRSA, staph, scabbies and etc. its actually cool and now i love doing wound care. I have middle eastern friends, we just be kicking it at the hookah lounge, either they want to be a rapper or a doctor lol, i love 'em.
 
some people on this thread need to chill and/or have a sense of humor.
 
indians are usually pretty affluent here. the parents always pay for college and any other higher forms of education. i certainly plan on paying for my kids' expenses. all indian kids have to do is study for a decade without worrying about money, then bam, high paying career.

make sense?
 
Busdrivin4life said:
Hey all,

I'm an indian, and my parents have allowed me to choose whatever field I wanted. Since day one, they have told me to do whatever I want, as long as I'm an honest person and respectable. We are by no means filthy rich, yet also we certainly are not poor.

Ever since I was younger I had a great interest in biology. Later on through out high school and college volunteering opportunities have allowed me to see the significance of helping others.

Since then, I've wanted to be part of the Medical field. I recently graduated from college and am applying to medical schools...

Not all Indians and Paki folks are getting into this field because of their parents... or the money... or the status...

Just thought I'd share with you guys.
Click to expand...

Same. I'm Indian, but my parents didn't have any influence on my decision to go into medicine. They wouldn't have minded if I didn't even go to college to be perfectly honest. They just wanted me to be happy with whatever I chose. Medicine was my own choice.
 
link2swim06 said:
Why do you care about pleasing your parents?

Live your own life ... you are borderline crazy pursuing medicine bc your parents want you to (that applies to whatever color you are).

My parents played ZERO role in my career choice.
Click to expand...

I think the discussion we are having here relies largely upon cultural relativism. As a white American with non-physician parents, my parents did what was culturally acceptable and pushed me to pursue whichever career I thought was best for me. I think the story is different for some families in other cultures. An Indian friend of mine was trying to explain to me how much "prestige" meant to her family and all families back from where she came from (India). My friend was raised with the notion that she should please her parents. American culture =/= other cultures in the world, and makes neither one better than the other. They are simply different.

Medicine is a career. The motivation a person has for entering medicine does not have to be exactly the same as every other premed's. What's important to some does not have to necessarily be important to others... and that's ok!
 
Pisiform said:
Why Pisiform, a Pakistani, wants to be a doctor:

- Because my Parents want me too
- All my sisters are doctor
- If I don't become doctor, my family and relatives look down on me
- Being a doctor is a status symbol
- Good Income
- Well respected profession
- Mom thinks that I could get to marry a good, educated girl when I become a doctor, otherwise she thinks that I will get a ***** 🙁


Note: they are not based on order of importance
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👍 very ture
 
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Personally, my parents did not care what I chose as my career patch. They're paying for my undergrad so far, (though I made it easier by getting 40 credits out of high school and choosing a public state university) We are not poor but we are definitely not very affluent.

Medicine fascinates me, and I admit that the current economy has also concerned me about job security and income, and I would definitely want to live comfortably.

Also, i don't know what else I would really want to do as a career. :meanie:
 
In India, all 12th graders give a test similar to SAT but way harder. Only the top 5 % are given an opportunity for medical school. If we try to relate this to MCAT, it would mean that only people above 35 can be doctors :scared:. And there are no retakes. And theres no cheating either because everyone will have same time to study. There are exceptions but only if your rich.

Basically in India with an MD behind your name, people will go from treating you like an ass to treating you like god. So who wouldn't want to be a doctor? :soexcited:
 
There are a billion Indians. It shouldn't be a surprise that a few of them make their way over here as physicians.
 
Janieve said:
When does bleargh ever play nice? Every jerk in the world aspires to be as direct and mean as bleargh. Haven't you heard? :laugh:
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ah, janieve, we meet again. i had always suspected this about bleargh, but never got the memo so wasn't sure. thanks for the heads up!

ps bleargh please don't tear us a new one! HAHAHA!
 
The Poet Sings said:
ah, janieve, we meet again. i had always suspected this about bleargh, but never got the memo so wasn't sure. thanks for the heads up!

ps bleargh please don't tear us a new one! HAHAHA!
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Indeed! It seems we have similar posting grounds. Perhaps we'll run into each other again!

And bleargh wouldn't tear us a new one. I imagine we'd be made to tear it ourselves.
 
Not every brown person wants to be a doctor, some want to be engineers.

p.s. Paki is an offensive term.
 
Screw that 200,000 to 400,000 compensation (or in the case of the engineer, much less), I'm going for the big dog: healthcare CEO making 98.6 million in stock options one year or at the very least, a successful small business owner.

Business is the way to go if you want BALLER bucks. I'm talking millions or dollars in annual compensation. Medicine and the health care professions are probably more attainable but while the floor is higher than in the business world, the ceiling sure is a lot lower.


muhali3 said:
Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. My mom does the same thing, wanting my sisters to marry either a doctor, engineer, or lawyer. It's mostly a prestige thing as there are many other financially secure "noble" professions but they are not lauded as highly in the community.
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This is the saddest post I have ever read.

Pisiform said:
Why Pisiform, a Pakistani, wants to be a doctor:

- Because my Parents want me too
- All my sisters are doctor
- If I don't become doctor, my family and relatives look down on me
- Being a doctor is a status symbol
- Good Income
- Well respected profession
- Mom thinks that I could get to marry a good, educated girl when I become a doctor, otherwise she thinks that I will get a ***** 🙁

Note: they are not based on order of importance
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.
 
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manraj76 said:
Not every brown person wants to be a doctor, some want to be engineers.

p.s. Paki is an offensive term.
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I'm Pakistani. I coin myself all the time as a Paki infront of my friends and family. I guess it depends on who you are the most. I could care less.


Back on topic. My parents want all of the kids in our family to be doctors. Except my brother and sister do not want to. My parents don't push them.
For me personally I just wanted to do something where I can help people. I volunteer at a hospital and every now and then me and my mom have discussions about nurses who could care less about patients and are just in it for the money. We both disagree on the reasons they chose the profession and I've been told if I'm only in it for the money and not the people to back out. Of course it's prestigious but it shouldn't really matter.

As far as others they came from a family with nothing and want the most. Not everyone is going to be a pro athlete or lucky to inherit so they choose doctors. I disagree for perusing medicin for money but it's life.
 
Pisiform said:
Why Pisiform, a Pakistani, wants to be a doctor:

- Because my Parents want me too
- All my sisters are doctor
- If I don't become doctor, my family and relatives look down on me
- Being a doctor is a status symbol
- Good Income
- Well respected profession
- Mom thinks that I could get to marry a good, educated girl when I become a doctor, otherwise she thinks that I will get a ***** 🙁


Note: they are not based on order of importance
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Don't worry bro you're not alone. Most pre-meds are just like you. Well, not me. Hopefully you won't end up being miserable at 40. But then again you made a sad face. Are you already miserable?
 
apumic said:
Due to differences in samples, your MCAT example simply does not work. The top 5% of Indians (in the general test taking population) is VERY different from that of medical school applicants. As a result, the best approximation would be that the top 5% of Indians equates to the top 6th of U.S. college graduates.
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No way! I completely disagree here. The education system in Asian countries is completely different from what it is in the US. There's a huge emphasis on the importance of education, the importance of learning material (unlike the exam-oriented mindset that's prevalent in the US), etc. There's a very strong emphasis on math, engineering, and science in India (one reason why you see so many Indian computer science guys, doctors, etc). They learn material at a younger age and a faster pace; I know this from personal experience. And more importantly, as I already mentioned, the emphasis is on learning the material rather than doing well on the exam. Analytic thinking is highly pushed for in Indian education. I would say that the top 5% of US college graduates would maybe equate to the top 6th of Indian college graduates, not the other way around like you have it. Can't really say anything without actual numbers though.

Doing well as a premed doesn't really require much intelligence. It requires you to work hard. Your work ethic easily makes up 90% of the recipe for success as a premed. I think you're overestimating how hard being a premed is. Time consuming doesn't necessarily mean hard.
 
Kaushik said:
No way! I completely disagree here. The education system in Asian countries is completely different from what it is in the US. There's a huge emphasis on the importance of education, the importance of learning material (unlike the exam-oriented mindset that's prevalent in the US), etc. There's a very strong emphasis on math, engineering, and science in India (one reason why you see so many Indian computer science guys, doctors, etc). They learn material at a younger age and a faster pace; I know this from personal experience. And more importantly, as I already mentioned, the emphasis is on learning the material rather than doing well on the exam. Analytic thinking is highly pushed for in Indian education. I would say that the top 5% of US college graduates would maybe equate to the top 6th of Indian college graduates, not the other way around like you have it.

Doing well as a premed doesn't really require much intelligence. It requires you to work hard. Your work ethic easily makes up 90% of the recipe for success as a premed. I think you're overestimating how hard being a premed is. Time consuming doesn't necessarily mean hard.
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You completely missed the point.

Regardless of the education system, human beings are distributed in a roughly normal distribution in terms of intelligence and other academic and professional talents/strengths. Research has shown that college grads are approx. at the 85th percentile on avg. Extrapolating from there, we get that the avg US college grad is at the 85th percentile of the population,, which also means that if premeds are "average" then they would sit at about the 85th percentile. Recenter the mean... you get that the top 5% of the population is the top 17% of college grads. Research has shown that any difference between races in intelligence is most likely to be due to disease, not genetics. An education system can only build upon the raw material base. Students of any race can only be competent in so many things. By pushing them to be top of the class in X, Y and Z must give. Likewise, for Z to be outstanding, X and Y must give.

It's a basic stats game. You need to read through the post and do a little research on different populations. (If we really wanted to play hardball, we could actually take a look at the average IQs between countries. For the US it's 98, whereas for India, it's 81 -- almost 2 full SDs below -- which is an absolutely HUGE difference. That would place the average American in the top 5% of Indians and the average Indian in the bottom 5% of Americans.)
 
apumic said:
Honestly, if any of these are your primary motivations for going into medicine, you're not going to enjoy it and you probably won't get very far or succeed in fulfilling most of those goals. Honestly, your parents don't have to live your life but you do.
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Some of your bolded responses are just as hilarious as Pisi's reasons for going into medicine, not in a good way.
 
AllOptionsOpen said:
Some of your bolded responses are just as hilarious as Pisi's reasons for going into medicine, not in a good way.
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They're all pretty true. There was plenty of sarcasm in that post as well, though.... Doctors' salaries are falling. Physicians work way too hard to go into it for something as fleeting as prestige or a family's fleeting praise. The OP should learn to think/act for himself instead of depending on his parents. Yes, it's a case of cultural relativism, but from my own experience, the OP's approach seems very counterproductive and I suspect it will bring quite a bit of frustration and disappointment down the road if the OP does not truly have the heart for medicine.
 
muhali3 said:
Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. My mom does the same thing, wanting my sisters to marry either a doctor, engineer, or lawyer. It's mostly a prestige thing as there are many other financially secure "noble" professions but they are not lauded as highly in the community.
Click to expand...

my indian friend told me his uncle had to "rebel" to be a business man...
I don't care, I think a lot of the Indian doctors are my hospital are aesthetically pleasant.
 
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apumic said:
You completely missed the point.

Regardless of the education system, human beings are distributed in a roughly normal distribution in terms of intelligence and other academic and professional talents/strengths. Research has shown that college grads are approx. at the 85th percentile on avg. Extrapolating from there, we get that the avg US college grad is at the 85th percentile of the population,, which also means that if premeds are "average" then they would sit at about the 85th percentile. Recenter the mean... you get that the top 5% of the population is the top 17% of college grads. Research has shown that any difference between races in intelligence is most likely to be due to disease, not genetics. An education system can only build upon the raw material base. Students of any race can only be competent in so many things. By pushing them to be top of the class in X, Y and Z must give. Likewise, for Z to be outstanding, X and Y must give.

It's a basic stats game. You need to read through the post and do a little research on different populations. (If we really wanted to play hardball, we could actually take a look at the average IQs between countries. For the US it's 98, whereas for India, it's 81 -- almost 2 full SDs below -- which is an absolutely HUGE difference. That would place the average American in the top 5% of Indians and the average Indian in the bottom 5% of Americans.)
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I didn't realize there was a point. You are right though that I haven't read the studies comparing intelligence across nations. So I apologize for posting a knee-jerk response without any numbers. Honestly, I don't care enough to read those studies either so, for now, I'll trust your numbers.

I do question the method of the study measuring IQs though. For one, the population of India is much, much greater than the US and additionally, a significant portion of Indians are below the poverty line, which would affect opportunities at education, etc. I would think these confounders would affect the results. Perhaps you can clarify?
 
Pisiform said:
Thanks for wishing me good luck 😍
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Yes, Chinese people do the same "gentle persuasion"

Also Pisiform, I know everyone has this "gosh, you GOTTA LUV IT!" thing..
Yeah, whatever. My mom didn't want to go to med school, my grandma made her.
She's happy she did now, and thinks it's a great job, and loves doing it.. all over satisfied.
Wins awards too for being an excellent doctor and super nice to patients --
Meh, American personal choice crap is overrated sometimes.
I'm glad you are honest.

I WISH my mom tried to make me become a doctor earlier, so I wouldn't have spent so many goddamn years, loitering the globe.
 
There is nothing wrong for being tapped for our natural ability in medicine. 🙂



Honestly can this thread be locked, its embarrassing because it stereotypes a group of people.


I will admit that I do see A LOT of Indians going into medicine for ALL THE WRONG REASONS.


Most of the kids who go into medicine for the wrong reasons won't make it (cough Pisiform)
 
TheThirdLevel said:
Personally, my parents did not care what I chose as my career patch. They're paying for my undergrad so far, (though I made it easier by getting 40 credits out of high school and choosing a public state university) We are not poor but we are definitely not very affluent.

Medicine fascinates me, and I admit that the current economy has also concerned me about job security and income, and I would definitely want to live comfortably.

Also, i don't know what else I would really want to do as a career. :meanie:
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do you even know what medicine is? "Medicine fascinates me" people dont know squat about it and just blur out oh i am fascinated by the deep hidden workings of a field called medicine
 
bleargh said:
i said your english sucks. and that it's none of your business what other people's motivations are
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yeah it wasnt me who wrote this "why you no speak like the rest of us?" wtf is that supposed to mean? why you no speak like rest of us? yeah now that's real great way of putting your sentences, if that is good English then i feel sorry for your parents who gave birth to Mr. Shakespeare.
 
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