[quote=sdrealtor]Thanx captcha.
I’m wondering what country you are from.
Its an intersting perspective which speaks to the differences between the US and other countries. Here our best and brightest typically become doctors because it is generally regarded as the top of mountain careerwise. I wonder if it is second tier in other countries because as a doctor you have to play on the local stage whereas engineers get to play on a global stage which gives the access to the US.[/quote]
Western part of the former Yugoslavia, which is often mistaken for a Soviet-controlled country. Fairly boring until ’90s. Unlike ‘those’ countries we did not need a permit to exit the country or visa to enter any European country other than France, commerce was fairly liberal and pop-culture shaped by Hollywood and French movies.
However, most of the industries and services were not state owned, but heavily regulated. You would have to go into commerce, manufacturing or agriculture to run a private business – education, health, energy, etc… were ‘publicly owned’. And if an industry is regulated the ratio between the lowest and the highest salary worked as equalizer for salaries between professions. A physician cannot make 10x what college professor makes if the highest salary cannot be more than seven times larger than what janitors make. So, a college degree would almost guarantee an equivalent of a middle-class life – a housing unit, a vehicle, summer and winter vacation trips, vacation house in the area, etc.
Desirability of occupations and professions change once you reduce the disparity in the compensations. A physician is always and everywhere held in high regard, but the job really sucks and the school is not easy. You are always around people who are ill or dying, cutting parts and draining stuff. And while in school you have to memorize a lot of information and there is little room for creativity. Engineering is less stress and more creativity.
When I went to school access to the US was not part of the equation. Poor and uneducated were more interested in finding work in wealthier European countries. Professionals were mostly happy with what they had.
