It’s true that one can be successful in any field…engineering, plumbing, real estates etc. But to beat the dentist’s or doctor’s income, you have to be exceptionally good because there are too many engineers out there…at least 80k of them graduate each year. For dentistry and medicine, you can just be an average dentist (like my sister, my wife, and me) or an average MD doctor (like my sister’s husband) and you still make a lot of money. One major advantage that my niece has over other kids is she would have zero student loan and a medical practice waiting for her if she chose medicine.
My sister’s older son is currently a 3rd year student at a BS/MD program. So it’s not too bad. The thing is her older son had slightly worse academic stats in HS than her daughter. And that’s why she was sad.