A Qualitative Study of First‐year Medical Students: Why do students want to become physicians? What kind of physicians do they want to become?

This study used group interviews and questionnaires with first year medical students to determine : 1) their motivation for entering a medical school; 2) their self‐image as future physicians; and, 3) the factors that have influenced these. Our study revealed that medical students’ motivation for entering medical school and their self‐image as future physicians were influenced by their personal medical experiences, family members who worked in medicine, and medical issues presented in the mass media. We believe that gaining an understanding of changes in students’ self‐image as future physicians and the factors influencing these changes can be important in the development of effective medical education curriculum, as we face change and upheaval in both medical knowledge and practice.