medicine at uni - late

[kenyancowgirl]

KB is right - I urge caution when making such a big decision so late in the day - and make no mistake, deciding to enter Medicine is one of the biggest decisions there is. Despite all the hoops they are made to jump through, a staggering third of potential Medics drop out of degree courses before the end or make the decision that they will not practice Medicine at the end of their course - and these are the "prepared" ones. Deciding to put effort into a well planned gap year to bulk up his application may benefit him far more than trying to scrabble around now and making a much bigger mistake.

[hermanmunster]

Careers_destination_2016.pdf

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I am not sure that the actual Uni drop out rate is particularly high, though may well get worse

There may be a higher regret rate and also am hearing lots of stories of disillusionment setting in while still at med school (used to take a lot longer than that ). It seems also many don't go immediately onto further training after the foundation years, travelling / thinking about something else etc etc (about half the cohort in 2015)

Attached is results of annual survey of FY docs

[DIY Mum]

A well planned gap year will not only strengthen his application but also his decision on whether to pursue the course of medicine. It is a long, steep path. Expensive too.

Prior to ds1' medicine application, he had extensive medical and non medical work experience for years. And this played an important process in his decision making.
It's year 2 for ds1 at med school and he's even more committed than he was when he started. Some of his colleagues have left or have been asked to leave.

In terms of biology, there is a lot of 'biology' required at med school - not sure how students cope without an AS level at least.
My dd1 initially decided on medicine but after hearing how ds1 has done human dissection and the smell in the mortuary - well that was enough to put her off!

[loobylou]

Another option to bear in mind which I am aware of some families where they didn't want to have their children take a year out is pursue a course at a European University.I am aware of friends of my eldest pursuing medicine and dentistry at University in Prague.

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showth ... ?t=1919164" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.medicalstudyguide.com/medica ... urope.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is becoming a more popular option though (with respect to quasimodo's children's friends who might not be at all like this) I would say the people I have met going down this route have been those where I could understand why they didn't get a place at a UK university. My experience is very limited (to fewer than 10 people) but they have either been 1) students who achieved good grades through incredible dedication and extremely focused hard work but where you could see that GCSEs were their pinnacle and A levels were a very very hard slog and medicine was going to be extremely difficult for them despite their desperation to do it - several of those are repeating years now or 2) students who were pushed into medicine by their parents and it was quite obvious that this was the case.

Interestingly I have met 2 students who are E European in origin, started in med school in their own countries and have moved to UK universities (able to do so because they had IB qualifications) because they had no faith in the teaching they were receiving. I cannot comment further on that but they were both brilliant students.

[Catseye]

I am always surprised by students who at the eleventh hour decide to do medicine and even more surprised by students having done humanity/language A levels then wanting to do a foundation course at med school. Clearly, they have not thought through the implications of such a huge commitment.

Btw I don't think not having A level biology actually puts one at a big disadvantage once on the course but some med schools are keen on it.

[Catseye]

I should add that I dropped out of medicine after my preclinical studies but after obtaining my BA in my intercalated degree at Oxford then promptly bailed out.

btw, I did A level , chem, phys, Pure maths and A level Applied maths and few 'S' levels and aced them all but found medicine intellectually unsatisfactory -so, I left but I never found having not done biology or Latin/Greek a disadvantage, it's easy-peasy.

And went to Birmingham Uni to do philosophy and ethics best decision of my life , my OH is a medic.

[Amber]

btw, I did A level , chem, phys, Pure maths and A level Applied maths and few 'S' levels and aced them all but found medicine intellectually unsatisfactory -so, I left but I never found having not done biology or Latin/Greek a disadvantage, it's easy-peasy.

I am sure you don't mean to sound arrogant here Catseye. But you do a bit.

The demands of an undergraduate Medical degree, from what I gather, lie not so much in the intellectual complexity of the thing, rather in the sheer volume of material to cover.

[mad?]

I am always surprised by students who at the eleventh hour decide to do medicine and even more surprised by students having done humanity/language A levels then wanting to do a foundation course at med school. Clearly, they have not thought through the implications of such a huge commitment.

Btw I don't think not having A level biology actually puts one at a big disadvantage once on the course but some med schools are keen on it.

Back in the day OH's bessie (subsequently our best man) had a place at Oxford to do English having done A levels in English, History, Latin and Maths. Having done voluntary work over the summer he decided over his post A level summer that he wanted to be a doctor and so took a gap year to take Biology and Chemistry A levels plus an Arabic course instead. He then read medicine at Cambridge and is now a world renowned Consultant in his field. He absolutely loves his job and would have it no other way. I really think the whole decide early thin is a joke TBH.

[Catseye]

The demands of an undergraduate Medical degree, from what I gather, lie not so much in the intellectual complexity of the thing, rather in the sheer volume of material to cover.

That is true Amber -spot on.

Medicine is intelligently bereft. Not for smart cookies like you .

[KB]

I don't think it's about deciding early so much as taking time to make sure it's the right decision.
What is generally being suggested here is to take a year to to do that and be properly prepared and indeed that seems to be what mad?'s friend did?