Anonymous wrote:common amongst my peers with phds... this wasn't about not knowing. I didn't finish school until I was 30 and unfortunately didn't meet my partner until 34.

+1

I did the phd until 30, then started the post grad training for my career. By the time I felt I was grounded, we unsuccessfully started trying at 37 when I later found out I had very low amh...finally had our first at 41 a month shy of 42

Interesting discussion, though from what I have seen, many people (some non-negligible number) in healthcare professions are there because they are more predisposed to have healthcare issues, eg they have a family history and or are prone to illness, and value medical care more. You know like optometrists that wear glasses. Could explain some fraction of the difference between the normal population and what you are seeing in physicians in terms of fertility.

Similar story with academics.

Low paying during PhD and postdoc, lots of relocations sometimes overseas which disconnects you from family support. Lots of men aren’t up for moving every few years or putting a woman’s career first which the system is set up for. Bad work/life balance. Depending on your field, once landing a faculty position the pay is fine, but you have this do or die period when getting tenure. A lot of people don’t get tenure track jobs at all until their 30s.