<p>I think it’s important to figure out what your motives and goals are, and find a way to make your degrees congruent with that. If the goal is to make as much money as possible, then the arguments about opportunity cost of course make sense. But if the goal is different (eg being involved in health policy, hospital administration, government work, etc) then perhaps it makes sense to get degrees and experience at a more leisurely pace. I personally think it was pretty rude to characterize someone who gets an MD/MPH in 5 years as stupid, even though I can see how it might not make the most short term economic sense.</p>