A survey was carried out of the career experience of the doctors who graduated from Scottish medical schools in 1962. Few of those in general practice in the UK had undergone the minimum period of vocational training now considered necessary for new entrants to practice. Of those in the hospital and specialist services, 53% were consultants. There was a tendency for early career decisions to be made, leading to an increasing number of doctors obtaining postgraduate training almost exclusively in one specialty. Many married women doctors were underemployed. A quarter of the doctors were living overseas, including those of the nonBritish nationals who had returned to their country of origin.