Engineering regains popularity among high school students?

Doctors used to be one of the most popular potential son-in-laws, but their popularity appears to have declined slightly. People say doctors make good money but are not appropriate as a husband or a son-in-law because of their bad personality. They say that many doctors who passed difficult exams to get into a medical school lack understanding of the world and care for other people because they had to study hard from an early age. As medical school professors say, not all doctors are like that.

Medical schools are popular globally but it is particularly so in Korea. The top of high school students used to choose the physics major in the 1980s and 1990s. People aspired to become scientists and the science and engineering community had a pride in leading the development of industries. After the Asian financial crisis, however, waves of corporate restructuring led to a surge in preference for secure jobs, and top high school students chose medicine. Back then, students chose colleges of medicine in provinces, which do not have even a teaching hospital first, and then considered the college of engineering of Seoul National University or KAIST, Korea’s prestigious universities.

A survey of this year’s freshmen at the college of engineering of Seoul National University found that at least 115 out of 800 freshmen, or 14 percent, chose the university’s engineering major even though they were admitted to the college of medicine, dentistry, and traditional Korean medicine of other universities. There would be more students like them given that 675 out of 800 students participated in the survey. It would be desirable if this means less preference to medicine and revival of engineering. Probably, the decreased income of local clinics would have had an impact on the result. More than 2,000 clinics shut down per a year due to intensified competition, low medical treatment reimbursement, and pressure from expensive medical devices and rent. Doctors account for up to 40 percent of individuals who file for individual rehabilitation with the Seoul High Court.

The popularity of medical schools is not always bad. We need many doctors and researchers who study basic medicine in aging society. As many talents go to medical schools, they can export Korea’s medical system to other countries and create a start-up in the medical community like Medipost. However, engineering can broaden the horizon even further. The right answer is to find a job that suits oneself, whether it be engineering or medicine. You will be more satisfied if you do what you like regardless of the change of the trend of society.

ysshin@donga.com