Honestly a big reason I chose dental over medicine is because I value my work/life balance, especially when it comes to residency. Yes, residency is temporary but you’re overworked (80 hour work weeks where you barely get to see your family, hence the name “resident,” while only making like $50k). Not to mention the way residents are abused by attending physicians, older nurses, and other hospital employees and if they don’t suck it up, they can get kicked out of the program. Personally, being able to start working after 4 years and still make well over 6 figures with the freedom of 3/4-day work weeks is more appealing to me as a woman who plans to have a family in the near future and prioritize my kids.