In fact, to do ANY job well requires a ton of hard work and the ability to focus on your goals without being distracted. I m sure that if you think about it, you ll see that this is true. And I hope that you then conclude that you, too, can be a scientist if that is what you want to do. There is nothing that can stop you. Some people with MD degrees, i.e. doctors, are also primarily scientists doing research on biomedical topics.
Medical school takes four years.
This takes at least seven years after college. And of course, when a new scientist completes their training, they still must go through several more years of working with and learning from older, more experienced scientists. This is called a postdoctoral fellowship, or postdoc. I hope this clarifies things in your minds. Copyright 1996, Washington University.