>But for a person capable enough to become a surgeon, there very well may be decent odds of success via a different route There's a few issues here. First, sur

>But for a person capable enough to become a surgeon, there very well may be decent odds of success via a different route There's a few issues here. First, surgery can have bad work life balance depending on the subspecialty. Some spend a lot of time on call, some basically work 9-5 or less. Second, unlike basically every other very high paying profession, surgery requires working with your hands, and physical and mental stamina to endure hours of operating. Just getting through med school requires above average intelligence and hard work, but you don't need to be a super genius. The abilities that make someone a good surgeon don't necessarily translate to any other profession that is that highly paid. Third, surgery is a very direct path to what most people would consider serious wealth for someone who is smart enough/hardworking enough to get into med school, but didn't necessarily get into one of the top tier schools that some of the other very high paying careers recruit from. All that aside, surgery isn't the only specialty that is very highly paid. > that allows them to work a Mon to Fri 8 to 5 job Many very highly paid subspecialties work Mon to Fri 9-5 and some even less. >maybe even work from home Radiologists routinely work from home, and there are remote opportunities for other doctors as well. >and live in a popular city as opposed to living in a less popular area (many doctor's get paid more for living in less popular areas, for obvious reasons). That is only true for certain specialties and subspecialties. My wife's sub speciality requires her to live in cities with a population of at least 500k or so. Many of the very highly paid subspecialties are similar. Even for family medicine the difference is only 5-10%.