Being a doctor has become an increasingly popular occupation for Korean teenagers in the past few years, and researchers find such job-preference phenomenon as a disadvantage to society. 

According to the 2022 Vocational Preference Inventory led by the Korean Educational Development Institute, a doctor is on the top 5 lists for the most popular occupation for both primary and secondary school students.

Compared to the recent survey of vocational preferences in 2019, there has been a huge jump in the rank for medical fields. 

Surprisingly, a majority of students enrolled in medical schools are those who have the potential to become South Korea’s future leaders of innovative science, but have all chosen to become a doctor instead.  

This phenomenon consequently leads to the ripple effect of an extremely excessive competition for medical school enrollments, but a great depopulation in science and engineering departments by contrast. 

Science and engineering are essential disciplines that are closely related to the innovative development of technology, eventually resulting in great economic growth.

Therefore, the  excessive movement of students from these areas to medical schools is a growing concern to the nation. 

There are multifarious reasons for the rise in popularity of medical doctor as a profession. 

First, doctors generally have a high wage. The national health care fact-finding survey from Korea presents that doctors have an approximately 5 times higher annual income than office workers or salaried employees. 

Second, many college students pursue stability when choosing their future occupation. Research by Professor Ha-il Kim of KAIST shows that this obsession with job security is due to the fact that most of their parents went through the so-called ‘IMF’ financial crisis in 1997. 

Thus, more and more teenagers who initially planned to take natural science as an area of studies shift their interests towards the field of medicine. 

To solve such a major problem in the educational and vocational area, many institutions are attempting to provide significant solutions.

For example, The Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, or more commonly referred to as KAIST, has recently established the Graduate School of Science Technology and Medicine to combine medical training with research in science.

The program is designed as an overall 8 year curriculum: the first 3 years of medical courses, an additional year of science education, and an extra 4 year doctoral degree program that integrates science and engineering research required in the medical field. 

KAIST asserts that with the medical science knowledge, graduates can not only acquire a doctor’s license, but can also gain the opportunity to contribute in the field of biohealth for future innovations of science. 

Furthermore, in an effort to address the issue of overpopulation in the medical department, the government is also planning to mobilize its resources. 

In order to reduce the preference of medical schools for students who take science and engineering disciplines, the executive office of the president is planning to expand the psychological and financial advantages of occupations related to science and engineering. 

New systems could be enforced to increase the incomes of scientists and engineers and consequently provide economic stability, or financially support the research funds and infrastructures of laboratories for innovative studies. 

Shihyoung Lee 
Grade 10
Berlin Brandenburg International School