Anonymous
Post 02/11/2026 00:19     Subject: Why is med school so hard to get into if there is a shortage of doctors?

Med school is gambling straight up. You have to invest 500K+ no refunds for getting into primary care, no residency or lesser paying fields. Heck no. Hard pass.


Anonymous
Post 02/11/2026 00:01     Subject: Why is med school so hard to get into if there is a shortage of doctors?

Anonymous wrote:42% of US applicants to US MD programs get accepted to at least one school. That is hardly “so difficult”. T10 med is difficult. Any MD program in the USA is not. If the MCAT takes multiple times to get over 508 you are not cut out for it. If you cannot get a science GPA of 3.6+ you are not likely cut out for it. Those two factors together plus clinical hours and research make you an average applicant with roughly 40% chance of acceptance. Get the numbers up to 512 and 3.8 and do the rest and the chances rise to 60%.


You don't have a 40 or 60 percent chance at any given school though. Schools have about 100 in a class and between 5000 and 15,000 applicants per each cycle. You do that math.
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 23:40     Subject: Why is med school so hard to get into if there is a shortage of doctors?

Anonymous wrote:Crazy GPA preferences miles ahead of ones needed for Big Law, consulting, banking etc.

I don't want Johnny frat boy with his 2.0 GPA cutting me open.
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 22:39     Subject: Why is med school so hard to get into if there is a shortage of doctors?

42% of US applicants to US MD programs get accepted to at least one school. That is hardly “so difficult”. T10 med is difficult. Any MD program in the USA is not. If the MCAT takes multiple times to get over 508 you are not cut out for it. If you cannot get a science GPA of 3.6+ you are not likely cut out for it. Those two factors together plus clinical hours and research make you an average applicant with roughly 40% chance of acceptance. Get the numbers up to 512 and 3.8 and do the rest and the chances rise to 60%.
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 22:07     Subject: Why is med school so hard to get into if there is a shortage of doctors?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Foreign doctors will work and live anywhere in the US and there are countless places in the US that American trained physicians do not want to live in for residency, let alone as Attending physicians.


Only for long enough to get their medical residency finished, get medically licensed, and become US permanent residents, then they decamp to big cities.

Still longer than an American would have stayed.


Ha ha! Correct!
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 21:15     Subject: Why is med school so hard to get into if there is a shortage of doctors?

The book "Abundance" by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson has a brief section on how this was a very deliberate policy choice in the 80s.
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 21:12     Subject: Why is med school so hard to get into if there is a shortage of doctors?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There's a shortage because it's hard.


the bottleneck is residency spots. there are more graduates than there are residency spots. ever hear of someone going unmatched?


Most are matched though
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 21:10     Subject: Why is med school so hard to get into if there is a shortage of doctors?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Because it's cheaper to farm in a bunch of Indian and Chinese med school graduates.


yep. It's much cheaper


Cheaper for who exactly?


United Healthcare


Such an ignorant answer. Are you under the impression that United Healthcare cares where the billing doctor went to school?


You definitely missed the point. Provider wages (paid by insurance companies) can be suppressed if you bring in labor from the developing world.

So-called shortages in U.S. labor are often pressed as a political issue with the proposed solution of importing cheaper labor. This is in every sector of the economy.


Please provide any semblance of proof for the statement you made.


If you do not understand this from following U.S. news and policy over the last 30 years, it is because you choose not to.


I understand perfectly that you've been told a lot of nonsense by Fox news that you now believe without any actual proof. Either produce the evidence or shut up.


I'm definitely left of center and I probably hate faux news more than you do. But I am annoyed that wages have been suppressed by large corporations through lobbying congress for special visa exemptions that just so happen to increase their profit margins. Those are just facts. You can choose to like or not like them.


Again, provide evidence or shut up. If it's so evident, why haven't you done it yet?


PP’s defensiveness regarding something pretty obvious is fascinating. If the number of medical school seats isn’t increasing, but demand for doctors is… how exactly do you think that gap gets filled? Have you not noticed the vast number of doctors with medical training in foreign countries that are practicing here in the US? Do you want 15,000+ screenshots of medical credentials? What ridiculous science project do you need to see to verify that the US imports labor when there are shortages. Even in the medical field. And yes, sometimes importing labor happens at the expense of American citizens.


Please read what I responded to in the first place before you tell me how wrong I am. We don’t have enough doctors, but it’s not because of united healthcare. Way to show you’re just as dumb as the one I was responding to. Also, feel free to produce evidence.


I’m not dumb, but apparently you think everyone else is.

United Health care was listed as an example of a US insurance provider - this was made clear in the subsequent posts. PP could have said Kaiser instead - the actual insurer/hmo is immaterial. You’re the only one here hung up on United Health Care, which on its own, has nothing to do with the purpose of this thread.

I clicked on this thread because it sounded interesting, but you seem compelled to attack others and obstruct a conversation because you’re either hung up on United Health Care or you have a problem with the overall topic and you want to impede the dialogue. If you have a point to make, you can post whatever references you want without trolling for “proof”


If you make a claim, it’s on you to provide the evidence. For someone who is not dumb, you have a very hard time with this very simple concept.
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 21:08     Subject: Why is med school so hard to get into if there is a shortage of doctors?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There's a shortage because it's hard.


the bottleneck is residency spots. there are more graduates than there are residency spots. ever hear of someone going unmatched?


What do these unmatched students do? This is after years of schooling, correct?


Some try to rematch the next year. Some go pursue another degree (PhD) while they wait it out and with a backup plan of doing research. I have followed a few here and there on Instagram who are very transparent about their stories but I suspect that there’s a lot of shame attached to not matching so we never hear about those stories and people quietly disappear into research jobs, maybe teaching, other degrees, etc.
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 20:38     Subject: Why is med school so hard to get into if there is a shortage of doctors?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Because it's cheaper to farm in a bunch of Indian and Chinese med school graduates.


yep. It's much cheaper


Cheaper for who exactly?


United Healthcare


Such an ignorant answer. Are you under the impression that United Healthcare cares where the billing doctor went to school?


You definitely missed the point. Provider wages (paid by insurance companies) can be suppressed if you bring in labor from the developing world.

So-called shortages in U.S. labor are often pressed as a political issue with the proposed solution of importing cheaper labor. This is in every sector of the economy.


Please provide any semblance of proof for the statement you made.


If you do not understand this from following U.S. news and policy over the last 30 years, it is because you choose not to.


I understand perfectly that you've been told a lot of nonsense by Fox news that you now believe without any actual proof. Either produce the evidence or shut up.


I'm definitely left of center and I probably hate faux news more than you do. But I am annoyed that wages have been suppressed by large corporations through lobbying congress for special visa exemptions that just so happen to increase their profit margins. Those are just facts. You can choose to like or not like them.


Again, provide evidence or shut up. If it's so evident, why haven't you done it yet?


PP’s defensiveness regarding something pretty obvious is fascinating. If the number of medical school seats isn’t increasing, but demand for doctors is… how exactly do you think that gap gets filled? Have you not noticed the vast number of doctors with medical training in foreign countries that are practicing here in the US? Do you want 15,000+ screenshots of medical credentials? What ridiculous science project do you need to see to verify that the US imports labor when there are shortages. Even in the medical field. And yes, sometimes importing labor happens at the expense of American citizens.


Please read what I responded to in the first place before you tell me how wrong I am. We don’t have enough doctors, but it’s not because of united healthcare. Way to show you’re just as dumb as the one I was responding to. Also, feel free to produce evidence.


I’m not dumb, but apparently you think everyone else is.

United Health care was listed as an example of a US insurance provider - this was made clear in the subsequent posts. PP could have said Kaiser instead - the actual insurer/hmo is immaterial. You’re the only one here hung up on United Health Care, which on its own, has nothing to do with the purpose of this thread.

I clicked on this thread because it sounded interesting, but you seem compelled to attack others and obstruct a conversation because you’re either hung up on United Health Care or you have a problem with the overall topic and you want to impede the dialogue. If you have a point to make, you can post whatever references you want without trolling for “proof”
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 20:35     Subject: Re:Why is med school so hard to get into if there is a shortage of doctors?

Its a real problem. Additionally, they bring immigrants into these residency spots from overseas schools, further limiting the number of spots available to Americans.
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 20:29     Subject: Why is med school so hard to get into if there is a shortage of doctors?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There's a shortage because it's hard.


the bottleneck is residency spots. there are more graduates than there are residency spots. ever hear of someone going unmatched?


What do these unmatched students do? This is after years of schooling, correct?
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 20:19     Subject: Why is med school so hard to get into if there is a shortage of doctors?

No one wants to be a doctor with this Administraition or DR OZ or RFK Jr.....
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 20:12     Subject: Why is med school so hard to get into if there is a shortage of doctors?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Because it's cheaper to farm in a bunch of Indian and Chinese med school graduates.


yep. It's much cheaper


Cheaper for who exactly?


United Healthcare


Such an ignorant answer. Are you under the impression that United Healthcare cares where the billing doctor went to school?


You definitely missed the point. Provider wages (paid by insurance companies) can be suppressed if you bring in labor from the developing world.

So-called shortages in U.S. labor are often pressed as a political issue with the proposed solution of importing cheaper labor. This is in every sector of the economy.


Please provide any semblance of proof for the statement you made.


If you do not understand this from following U.S. news and policy over the last 30 years, it is because you choose not to.


I understand perfectly that you've been told a lot of nonsense by Fox news that you now believe without any actual proof. Either produce the evidence or shut up.


I'm definitely left of center and I probably hate faux news more than you do. But I am annoyed that wages have been suppressed by large corporations through lobbying congress for special visa exemptions that just so happen to increase their profit margins. Those are just facts. You can choose to like or not like them.


Again, provide evidence or shut up. If it's so evident, why haven't you done it yet?


PP’s defensiveness regarding something pretty obvious is fascinating. If the number of medical school seats isn’t increasing, but demand for doctors is… how exactly do you think that gap gets filled? Have you not noticed the vast number of doctors with medical training in foreign countries that are practicing here in the US? Do you want 15,000+ screenshots of medical credentials? What ridiculous science project do you need to see to verify that the US imports labor when there are shortages. Even in the medical field. And yes, sometimes importing labor happens at the expense of American citizens.


Please read what I responded to in the first place before you tell me how wrong I am. We don’t have enough doctors, but it’s not because of united healthcare. Way to show you’re just as dumb as the one I was responding to. Also, feel free to produce evidence.
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 19:45     Subject: Why is med school so hard to get into if there is a shortage of doctors?

Anonymous wrote:There's a shortage because it's hard.


the bottleneck is residency spots. there are more graduates than there are residency spots. ever hear of someone going unmatched?