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Notes -
A lake house and a boat and a housekeeper(because getting paid $300k+ in Mississippi makes domestic labor cheap) isn't enough of a draw?
No, running theory is that the people in the pipeline currently are simply too culturally blue and want to avail themselves of big city resources when they finally have the ability to do so.
Given how many people leave residency single there is also the reality of finding a partner, and since most people want a class/wealth/intelligence equal and being a doctor isn't really a draw anymore, they go where the other young professionals are (and stay).
Totally get wanting a class-equal partner. But, uh, what are 'big city resources' in this context? You can travel(the usual blue tribe luxury AFAIK) from Atlanta or Houston or DFW about as easily as from NYC, and having to drive in or take a connecting flight doesn't seem like that big a deal? I can kind of grasp that the blue tribe doesn't want a lakehouse/cabin in the woods or a nice deer lease very much because they'd prefer to travel internationally, but everyone wants a nice big house with a housekeeper and a handyman, right? There's gyms and bars and decent restaurants and whatnot in flyover.
Let me first reiterate that I don't think this is super rational.
Keep in mind that like 55-60 of percent of grads are women, and ultra woke ones at that. A good chunk of the guys are gay. 45% are non-white (mostly Asian and Indian).
The politics these days are super far left (downstream of admission requirements and other factors).
That alone makes these people disproportionately want to live in the biggest most blue areas or "one of the good ones" in a red state.
If my mom was here she would tell me to shut the fuck up about making this too much about politics so I'll point out other things like - you didn't do anything at all for fun (exaggeration but gets the point across) in your 20s or early 30s. You want to live in a place where you can go and make up for that, and not feel 30 years older than everyone else. That means SF, LA, NYC, Chicago, etc.
A college town has amenities but most of the people using them are younger and don't look soul crushed and it makes you feel worse.
This got rambley.
Atlanta/Houston/DFW are fine at attracting people but where the need is a two drive away from each of them. That's fine for a weekend trip but when you are trying to make up for lost time it isn't viable, you want to be able to catch a show after work, go to a hip new bar or restaurant.
An alternative way to think about this is that a lot of people graduate from college, spend a few years downtown somewhere partying and having fun, then calm down and move to a suburb or further out than that. Physicians are 10-15 years behind their peers on that process.
And then kids get involved and you want a good education because it is pretty much impossible to get through training without valuing education and unsurprisingly that extents to your kids. Not finding that in most rural areas or most places in general.
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