I think the discussion went all over the map here. For some reason I thought this was a financial discussion. Just back of the envelope.
The single biggest incremental cost of med school is the 4-year med school (say around $300K). Everyone goes to 4 year college, and mostly everyone does a few years of low paid starting job (in medicine we call this residency)
After that even at places like Kaiser, a GP does rise very quickly to $400K/$500K annual. This can continue for 30 years with no impact during recessions. Plus there is a potential to make more in private …
From a financial perspective this is an easy call - unless of course you compare this against becoming a VP in Google or Facebook (or winning the lottery).
What am I missing here… as far as hard work goes, better to work hard for good money than to work less for crappy income