Office Workers Turning to Med School

Office workers in their 30s are applying for medical and dental graduate schools that began to admit new students since 2005.

On October 13, according to the medical and dental graduate school association, applicants in their 30s accounted for 23.5 percent last year, 23.1 percent out of the total applicants for the medical and dental education test this year. The number of applicants almost doubled from 664 last year to 1,012 this year.

According to the Ministry of Education and Human Resources, among 773 students who entered medical graduate schools last year and this year, those in their 30s numbered 114, accounting for 14.7 percent. As for dental graduate schools, out of 753 students, 172 students are in their 30s, accounting for 22.8 percent.

In particular, out of 80 students at the medical graduate school at Konkuk University, as many as 24 people (30 percent) quit their jobs and decided to become medical school students.

15 people (15 percent) out of 48 applicants for Chungbuk University and 14 people (12 percent) of 115 applicants for Ewha Womans University that admitted students through year-round admission quit their jobs and decided to become doctors.

A growing number of office workers in their 30s are studying at private institutes. At the Seoul Medical Exam Private Institute, in 2004 students in their 30s accounted for less than 10 percent of the total students but the share of such students increased to more than 30 percent this year.

Lee Il-geun, a professor of the medical graduate school at Konkuk University, said, “Doctors have no retirement and their job is rewarding, highly recognized, and well-paid, so a growing number of office workers in their 30s decide to live a second life as a doctor.”

zeitung@donga.com