Submitted by whatwouldultralorddo t3_zyolii in explainlikeimfive
[removed]
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deep_sea2 t1_j272o8k wrote
There are about three time as many PhDs than MDs in the USA. About 3 million to 1 million.
msmsms101 t1_j272q0s wrote
I stand corrected then. Thank you
deep_sea2 t1_j272t69 wrote
To be fair, I thought you were right, but I was curious so looked it up.
dimonium_anonimo t1_j273uh5 wrote
I wonder how it stacks up if you group them. Like, I don't know what would be an equivalent tier group as "medical" but maybe literary, theoretical sciences, something like that. If you could come up with an equivalent group, does medical have the most doctors per group? If it's 3:1 and there are more than 4 such groups, then it would stand to reason...
deep_sea2 t1_j274igq wrote
Yeah, you could subdivide the PhD group in any way you want, and that would surely reduce their numbers. Then again, if you do that, then you could include lawyers (Juris Doctor) and that number would go up again.
In the USA, there are maybe a couple hundred thousand more JDs than MDs.
GovernorSan t1_j274tvt wrote
Because those are the kinds of doctors that most people personally know and interact with. Not everyone has met someone who is a doctor of literature or engineering or physics, etc., but from infancy everyone sees a medical doctor a few times a year. There might be more PhD's than MD's, but they don't tend to work with the general population quite as much as MD's.
hasdigs t1_j27dqfr wrote
Because those are the doctors laymen interact with. Many times in my life I have needed a doctor, and it has never been a doctor of music.
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deep_sea2 t1_j2723dv wrote
The way the language evolved, the meaning of the word doctor changed from "teacher" to "physician." If I am not mistaken, back in the middle ages, a doctor was more often to be considered a doctor of theology (which is why you often hear people call St. Aquinas "The Doctor").
You may want to ask this to /r/AskHistorians because I doubt that there is a simple answer to how this word changed meaning.
mb34i t1_j2744o6 wrote
Yeah, currently we address people by their job title, so the PhD's tend to be addressed as "professor" rather than "doctor".
But we do use "doctor" for the honorific that goes with the person's name, for example you called Thomas Aquinas "St." (saint), he could also be addressed as "Dr. Aquinas".
djddanman t1_j27j4vw wrote
It's interesting, in undergrad my professors all went by doctor but in grad school at another university in the same state my professors go by professor
Jkei t1_j28b7o0 wrote
Because they're different titles. You can call yourself doctor at any point in life after earning a PhD from any university, but professorship is a step further and requires active tenure at a university.
djddanman t1_j28zuhy wrote
Some of my undergrad professors were tenured but still went by doctor
msmsms101 t1_j271n23 wrote
Most people are familiar with medical doctors than academic doctors. I'm not sure on the numbers, but I'd wager that there are more medical doctors than academic doctors as well.