Comments on No Debt MBA: Is the expansion of women in professional schools ...

1. I've read that Op-ed and it's going the...

2011-06-21T19:51:08.879-07:00

1. I've read that Op-ed and it's going the rounds on medical blogs. Regarding the idea of "debt to society", while it's true the federal government pays for residencies, it's also true residents repay their "debt" or obligation to society by being high-trained professionals who work 80-hour weeks for $50K a year. I think with any occupation that requires 10 years of training and so much sacrifice, there is an inherent constraint / lead time required in building the pipeline. You can make a career switch into medicine, but it's a long and difficult process.

2. How to achieve a satisfying career with a good home life is a question for both men and women, as you've correctly observed. And your friend from Princeton.. I just.. have no words.

cashflowmantra - The supply constraint is a...

2011-06-21T04:55:13.530-07:00

cashflowmantra - The supply constraint is absolutely what makes all of this a more pressing issue. There's also a supply constraint for top-tier professional schools in general. Harvard, Stanford and Yale will not expand class size and thus supply quickly enough to meet demand or to balance falling worked hours. Personal choices would be far less of an issue without the supply constraint.

The problem with the doctors is the artificial sup...

2011-06-20T18:26:58.408-07:00

The problem with the doctors is the artificial supply constraint. Without that, the decreased hours could actually be made up for with increased employment opportunities for others. I would think that many of the other professions would find this to be true. Job sharing and part-time work is feasible and could be used to help foster family and work balance.

I have a couple of thoughts here. I work for a Ja...

2011-06-20T13:53:27.881-07:00

I have a couple of thoughts here. I work for a Japanese company and I see many of my Japanese counterparts never getting ahead or promoted though they are just as educated and certainly work hard. The difference they tell me is that managers are weary of hiring and promoting women because eventually they leave to have babies or get married and reduce their work hours. Because of this stupidity this company has a vast untapped resource in a lot of women that are not considered equal.

Quite honestly the women here that get ahead ARE the ones that sacrifice having families and it's a very hard decision to make. Men have less of that burden because they are not physically attached to the aspect of carrying babies. Granted, not every woman wants kids but when the choice comes down to family or career it's not an easy decision.

With that said should women be given less opportunity? No. These days I see more MEN choosing to staying home and raise children. In my small office we have 3 such spouses to the women working here.

1. What metrics are we using and why? Is productiv...

2011-06-20T10:41:04.831-07:00

1. What metrics are we using and why? Is productivity measured only in workplace HOURS, and is "productivity" the only thing we should measure? Perhaps the strengths of female doctors are qualitatively different in ways that counter the quantitative loss of hours.

2. Perhaps all MDs should work less hours, to improve their health (and therefore performance) and professional development--and what we need are more doctors spread broadly.

3. These gender workplace problems and questions will probably persist as long as we place different demands on female professionals' time and resources, and refuse to acknowledge the personal needs of all professionals (e.g. people do need sleep, time with their families, etc).

I started to type up a slightly mocking response t...

2011-06-20T09:52:23.526-07:00

I started to type up a slightly mocking response to this op-ed, but then I went back and reread your post. Your final paragraphs covered most of my points.

I think that given that we cannot say that there are inherent sex-based differences between the intellectual faculties of men and women, these 4.5 hours can be relegated to the twin pressures professional women still battle more sharply than their male peers of success in both professional lives and personal lives.

As for the original op-ed in the NYT you mentioned, the author makes a convincing case backed from her own experience living life as a doctor. I'm afraid, however, that she is certainly projecting the "If I did it, so must you" fallacy. What works for one person doesn't work for everybody. Should individual hospitals be able to have their young doctors sign contracts stipulating hours/performance requirements? I wouldn't be opposed to that, but I don't think that medical school admission is the appropriate place for this screening to take place.

If anybody wants to be a doctor enough such that they are willing to incur the educational debt that goes along with it, one must trust they will do what they feel needs be done, whether they are refused a place at Mayo's Medical School due to somebody who will later decide to leave the profession or not.