My understanding was that medical doctors had, by the time they finished training and internships and everything else required for a professional license, giving them the right to be known as "doctor", had roughly the same education and time invested (10-15 years according to google) as PhD doctors.
Fact is, for whatever reason, people finishing the medical university are called doctors, even while they don’t have a doctorate, only a licenciature (or however is called in each country). A character finishing the Medical School in CharGen is 26 years old, so he has not invested the 10-15 years you say. Most who make a doctorate do it while working too (at least those I’ve known, who are not a few, me being a nurse).
As per medical skill, I’ve always have assumed, talking in Spanish terms, level 0 to be a first aid trainee, level 1 a nursing auxiliary, level 2 a nurse, level 3 a doctor, level 4 a specialist and further levels a better one, or a doctor with more than one specialty (I’ve also known a few)
Another example out of medical field:
According CT:LBB4 mercenary (pages 26-27), basic training for troops require one level of instruction skill per 6 trainees, and if two instructors work together they add 1 to their combined skills. For simplicity in this example, I’ll assume each instructor that joins adds another level to combined skills, instead of adding one per two instructors (whis means more skill levels are added).
When I joined the Spanish Army (then compulsory) I was sent to a training camp for the basic instruction. IIRC there were less than 10 instructors (I remember 2 officers, 2 NCOs, 3 Lance Sergeants, 3 Corporals) in my company, for 216 trainees.
While applying the rules as written 10 instructors would add 5 levels to their total, using it as I said above would mean adding 9 levels, so 54 recruits trained. That leaves 158 recruits, which would need 27 levels of instruction, so an average of skill 2.7 per instructors. As about half of them were also conscripts that I assume had lower level, it’s quite probable at least one of the NCOs or officers would have level 4+, and be sure they were not known figures outside the camp /other companies were likewise, and we didn’t even know the ones in them).
See also that high levels renown may be among specific circles. A great game designer (let’s say MWM) may be worldwide know among the gaming circles, and a true unknown outside them…
So maybe the exact description is in error and skill 4 is 'best in Pop 4 area', so that's any grouping of a 10 thousand or more. Or 'Pop 3 area' Statistically, if skill table is selected randomly and skills are rolled, you can expect about 1 Skill-4 per thousand people. Very roughly.
Following this way of thinking, I could say, as a rule of thumb, that the best in the world (or community) to have a skill level about pop digit… Of course level 9 is exceptional, but we’d be talking about the best in current RW, and I guess if you generate 4 billion characters (half the current world population, assuming the other half not having reached the age) you'll have at least one in each skill
…
