In Korea, Studying Medicine Is in High Demand, but in China, It's Shunned: "Why Become a Doctor When You Can’t Make Money?"

Medical School Popularity Declines Amid AI Boom in China
Low Wages and Heavy Workloads Cited as Key Reasons

As artificial intelligence (AI) and the robotics industry grow rapidly, a "STEM boom" is sweeping China. However, the preference for studying medicine and becoming a doctor is steadily declining. The main reasons pointed out are the lengthy process required to become a doctor, low salaries, and excessive workloads.

Medical School Admission Scores Fall... Top Students Reconsider Their Paths

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According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on September 20 (local time), there has recently been an increase in the number of top students in China reconsidering their career paths after entering medical school. Admission scores for medical schools are also on the decline. Analysts attribute this trend to several factors: It takes a long time for doctors in China to establish themselves as stable professionals; compensation during the training period is low; there are difficulties in finding permanent employment; and working conditions are tough, often including night shifts and heavy workloads.

Huang Chaoyuan, a fifth-year student in clinical medicine at a university in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, chose medical school after witnessing the role of healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, she is now considering a career transition into the consulting industry. Having completed a 12-month unpaid internship in her final year, she said, "Measures to cut costs and improve efficiency are causing both young and mid-career doctors to suffer from a shortage of jobs, low wages, and excessive workloads."

As majors such as AI and other science and engineering fields are rapidly rising in popularity, interest in medical school continues to drop. SCMP, citing a local media outlet's analysis of entrance exam results from Zhejiang Province, reported that the lowest ranking for admission to the medical school at Sun Yat-sen University—a prestigious institution in Guangdong Province—was 1,300 places lower than last year.

Becoming a Doctor Takes at Least 11 Years... 28% of Residents Earn Less Than 1,000 Yuan per Month

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Chinese universities set their own admission quotas and cutoff scores by region. In particular, the decline in cutoff scores is most prominent in the five-year undergraduate clinical medicine track. Graduates of this program must complete a three-year residency at a hospital, but competition for these positions is fierce, and in recent years, having at least a master's degree has effectively become the baseline requirement.

Furthermore, it takes at least 11 years to complete the whole process from entering medical school to finishing residency training. Even if students manage to enter residency, their compensation remains low, despite doing work comparable to that of regular medical staff. According to a 2020 survey by Dingxiangyuan, a Chinese medical information platform, about 28% of residents earned less than 1,000 yuan (about 200,000 won) per month, and 8% had no income at all. Only 32% earned more than 3,000 yuan (about 580,000 won) monthly.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.