The Influence of Parental Occupation on Choosing a Career: A Closer Look at the Impact on Medical Students in Spain

2024-04-17 00:54:40

Every year thousands of young people face a decision that will determine a good part of their future: what career to study. Some are motivated by their vocation, although they later find it difficult to find a job. In others, however, the choice is marked by a low cut-off mark that makes admission easier. Both cases seem to be marked by the profession and studies of their parents.

This is the main conclusion drawn from ‘The socioeconomic profile of university students in Spain’, a report prepared by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities to know, among other things, the family impact on the choice of the field of study. Based on your data, it is in the medical career that has the most influence parents’ occupation and educational level; either one of the two or both.

In 68.7% of medical students, one of the parents—or both—have high occupations. As they have pointed out some users in X following the report, what is meant by “high occupancy”? Well, according to the aforementioned document, these are individuals who They occupy the management of companiesscientific and intellectual technical and professional positions, and support technicians and professionals.

[Los médicos con las mejores notas MIR ya no quieren ser pediatras: así se ‘desinfla’ la especialidad]

This influence is independent of the ownership of the university. In fact, Medicine is the career with the highest percentage in which both parents have high occupations both in public and private; with 31.9% and 46.5%, respectively. Regarding the level of education, the impact is even greater: at least one of the two parents has higher education in 82.3% of cases, compared to 17.7% in which neither has this academic level.

The controversy

The results of the report have generated a stir among the doctors themselves. And, as some of them have reported, not all of them come from families with good economic conditions.

“We are two brothers, I am a family doctor and my brother is doing the Anesthesia MIR,” Alex Cervera begins by recounting in and post de X. “We both studied on scholarships, working in the summer in border supermarkets among others,” he continues.

This family doctor at the Catalan Health Institute confesses that he is not a supporter of the “if you want you can“. He also criticizes that there are “false ceilings that prevent many from achieving what they could.” The truth is that Cervera’s publication has gained repercussions on the social network, with almost 100,000 views in just 48 hours.

Other health workers have responded to her whose testimonies are similar to that of the Catalan doctor. “I studied my degree working in the family business where we lived. Many people didn’t even know that I was studying medicine. I couldn’t apply for the MIR until I was able to stop working in the store and make my life. Everything cost me a lot“recalls radiologist Victoria Sosa.

Doctors believe that based solely on the data obtained from the report, all those who come from “humble families“and that they reached a career in Medicine “based on a lot of study, effort and sacrifice.”

However, there are those who corroborate the reality drawn by the document prepared by the Ministry of Science: “I have worked for a long time in hospitals and the students themselves said it, the majority came either from a family of doctors or from money family“.

A paradigmatic case

Compared to the rest of the Health Sciences careers, the same situation occurs as with Medicine, although to a lesser extent. Thus, both or one of the parents of 45% of the students who opt for Nursing have high occupations. This percentage rises to 63% in the case of parents with higher education.

In the case of Medicine, there is an influence of the parents’ occupation and/or educational level on the choice of career, as occurs in other areas of study, such as Education, Arts and Humanities, Sciences, Engineering and architecture. There are branches in which the family profile is indisputable among the students. However, there are also other variables that are more important.

The report itself warns that “The case of Medicine is paradigmaticsince it is the area in which students have the most prominent family profile.” That is, it would be expected that both the occupation and the educational level of the parents would influence the choice of career.

[Más allá de la EBAU: en busca de nuevas formas de seleccionar a los futuros estudiantes de Medicina]

The reason this is not the case is the importance of the EBAU general phase grade. “It is necessary to highlight that the average grade is the highest of all the students, with 8.47 points, well above Mathematics and Statistics, in second place, with 7.67. This advantage is due to the fact that The average admission grade in Medicine is also the highestwith 13.14 points, requiring a greater effort in preparing for university access,” the document highlights.

On the other hand, medium and low family profiles are more likely to pursue studies in Education, Arts and Humanities. In the case of public universities, the areas with the highest proportion of students with parents with low occupations occur in Social work, with 33.2%. In the private sector, however, this position is occupied by the Training of early childhood education teachers (21.5%).

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