Top Doctors
So You Want to Be a Doctor?
Medical degrees have long wooed high achievers (and won over in-laws), but they’ve never been as coveted as they are now. What you may not know about the journey to MD or DO—and the profession itself.
Call it the Fauci Effect, or just a corollary of some schools waiving MCAT scores last cycle, but interest in becoming a doctor has never been higher. The University of Washington School of Medicine received a 26 percent bump in applications for the entering class of 2021 compared to the previous year, and other medical schools across the country experienced similar surges as Covid-19 cases climbed. Makes sense, right? We feted all those doctors donning PPE. But peeling back the emotional layers of those white coats reveals that glory only comes after a fraught road to a hospital’s halls. Can’t say we didn’t warn you.
