German academia doesn’t have world-class universities and is self-avowedly egalitarian.
Without a clear top university, many talented students instead enter highly competitive medical schools to prove their ability.
But, as argued here, medical school is a bad default choice for these students if you care about accelerated scientific, material, and moral progress. This is for four reasons:
Entering many different universities instead of one top college, talented students do not generate and thus do not profit fromlocal agglomeration effects.
Medical students aren’t allowed the intellectual flexibility to explore ideas and projects independently.
Medical school takes six years, offering no intermediate degree. This locks in students’ choice of study, even if they change their minds.
Lastly, practicing medicine offers small impact at the margin (i.e., talented medical students can’t add much to an already highly advanced medical system).
Instead, talented individuals could study subjects and enter jobs that allow them to do much more good.