Medlink Courses

[Tinkers]

Interestingly the third best paid graduate profession is chemical engineering
I enjoy telling students at careers fairs that, after I've explained what a chemical engineer actually is. Unless they already know someone who is a chemical engineer, they usually don't have a clue.

I have to say I was torn between medicine and chemical engineering to some extent, but loved the maths more than the biology. What really swung it was watching Doctors to be. A few years later when they showed the follow up program, I knew I had made the right decision.

[KS10]

I think it takes a special type of person to become a doctor: the studying, the long hours for some, the responsibility ...

I'd say that most deserve every penny they get.

[scary mum]

My fear is that still from some schools (and no doubt from parents too) there is a lot of pressure (spoken and unspoken ) that anyone who is very bright and "good at science" and not sure what they want to do will be steered towards medicine, maybe for the kudos of the school, rather than encouraging them to look fully at the wide range of other options (engineering of all varieties, straight science, other non-A level science subjects such as biochemistry or geology, other medical paths etc). Maybe it's because many teachers have no experience of "the real world" outside education so can't necessarily give inspiring examples from their own lives (whereas we all know what doctors do having watched Casualty!) - but schools should at least attempt to help their pupils become aware of the possibilities ...

I think careers advice is better these days. I am a scientist who wasn't considered clever enough to be a doctor. DS1 completed an on line quiz to suggest careers and along side doctor were all sorts of other sciencey things like pharmacist, as well as (at number 3) the job that I do. Whatever you might think of the careers questionnaires it did give us the opportunity to discuss other science based careers.

[DC17C]

As someone who opted for dentistry because I knew I would never cope with night shifts - I wish I had known more about the other science options -we did modules on biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, radiology/radiography and genetics and I loved all of them and they might have suited me better.

[Reading Mum]

Interestingly the third best paid graduate profession is chemical engineering
I enjoy telling students at careers fairs that, after I've explained what a chemical engineer actually is. Unless they already know someone who is a chemical engineer, they usually don't have a clue.

I have to say I was torn between medicine and chemical engineering to some extent, but loved the maths more than the biology. What really swung it was watching Doctors to be. A few years later when they showed the follow up program, I knew I had made the right decision.

My mum divorced my Dad ( a doctor) and married a chemical engineer - the Hen Barn obviously thought her something, even if it was not how to avoid getting pregnant at 18

[solimum]

My fear is that still from some schools (and no doubt from parents too) there is a lot of pressure (spoken and unspoken ) that anyone who is very bright and "good at science" and not sure what they want to do will be steered towards medicine,...

Interestingly having written that I read in yesterday's Sunday Times a very similar thought from Les Ebdon (Director of the "Office for Fair Access")

But the next thing he says brings me up short. We are talking of his comments about medical degrees and the obsession among middle-class parents with encouraging their children to embark on hugely competitive courses such as this and law.

“It’s not just the middle classes,” says Ebdon. “One of the interesting things I have discovered is that one of the underlying reasons for the under-representation of ethnic minorities in some highly selective universities is because they apply predominantly for medicine and law, both highly competitive courses, and a significant amount of that is parental pressure. Colleagues tell me these students may not always be personally committed to medicine or law as a career but it is the career their parents want for them.”

The result, says Ebdon, can be that students who find themselves under such pressure drop out or break down. Parents shouldn’t be “lectured” about the error of their ways but helped to “understand” the options for their children.