Any advice from current students/medics?

**minnako** · 29-11-2009, 12:44 AM

Work experience is a must. Particularly long term volunteering at a hospital, but I mean the kind of work experience where you actually get to see the interaction between health care professionals and patients in an un-glamorised way over a long period of time. People's experiences volunteering or work shadowing can differ greatly, with some people getting a much more detailed picture than others about what medicine is really like. If you can, talk to hospital doctors and GPs about what being a doctor is really like. Read books about it (Atul Gawande's are good at tackling the limitations of doctors, for example) and spend quite a while thinking about if the whole of medicine is for you.

Chemistry won't make up a huge part of your degree, though it's an important subject to take to A level, unless you plan to do the grad route.

As for biochemistry, it depends. Everyone studying science have areas they find easier and harder, like more or less, so it depends on how much you actually dislike this. If it's merely something you're less interested in compared to, say genetics or anatomy or physiology etc, then that's not necessarily a sign that medicine is wrong for you. But you will not be able to escape learning biochemistry as a doctor, and if this feels like it will be a huge problem for you, there may be other fields that allow you to interact with people that aren't so heavily rooted in science.

Additionally, many doctors do end up contributing to research and lab work, and even if you avoid this, understanding how research works is vital to being a doctor. It's up to you to examine for yourself how much science actually means to you, and science has to mean quite a lot for studying medicine to be worth it. Especially for the first years of studying medicine, when there is not a lot of clinical teaching, you need to be able to appreciate why you are studying all the background science.

This isn't about wanting to put you off medicine, or persuading you to do it, it's about making the right choice for yourself. After all, you're going to be studying this subject for at least five years, then working in the field for maybe the rest of your life. I know that a lot of people who start studying medicine, even with lots of work experience, soon realise that it is not like what they thought it would be. Everyone has doubts at some point, and needs to examine if this is the right choice for them, and there is no shame whether it feels like it is, or feels like it is not.

Chwirky's right in that medicine, whether in a hospital or a GP setting involves a lot of stuff that you don't see on TV. There's a lot of routine work, a lot of bureaucracy, and a lot of diplomatically dealing with people. It's more than just science and more than making people better. Keyahh's recommendation is good: take the relevant subjects if you are still interested. Do your research, have a long think, and talk to as many people about what the realities of studying and working in the field entail.

Also, unless you're a glutton for punishment, there's no earthly reason to be taking 5 AS levels or A levels. If you want to, be prepared to be asked for 5 As - universities make no exceptions because you are doing more subjects, and will expect you to do as well as the people they will give 3A offers to. Unless you are sure you can achieve that and get your extracurriculars done, it's normally better to focus on being a well-rounded applicant (this includes UKCAT and BMAT) than taking extra subjects that universities in no way give much preference to.

Best of luck

**minnako** · 29-11-2009, 12:45 AM

[comment posted twice accidentally, sorry]

**MochaDoc** · 14-12-2009, 11:48 PM

Originally Posted by flarestar

Yeah BMAT only requires that you have enough knowledge and understanding of GCSE science to take. The A-levels do help but are not necessary as long as you have the understanding for them and were not just memorising it.

Oh about a lack in chemistry when I took it at high school I didn't like it whatsoever, however when i took it at A-level it was easily my favorite subject so don't write it off just yet.

I agree with you don't take 5 A-levels unless you are sure you can completely cope with it.

And yeah i agree with Chwirkytheappleboy about your reasons for considering medicine, if you aren't 100% for it, don't bother. The media really hypes up everything to do with the NHS and medicine more then it actually is in reality. You say you've done work experience, how did you find taking care of people and observing doctor's at work? If you haven't done work experience in a hospital and that's what's motivating you then go do some experience and see what a doctor actually does. It's the best way to find out if you really want to do medicine. That's why uni's stres about having work experience. It's to see if you really do want to do medicine and you understand what you're committing yourself to. Also if you're considering english what do you plan on doing with the degree and try and sort out work experience for that field and then compare which you would enjoy more. Honestly medicine is not something to take light-heartedly, if you are going into medicine you need to be 100% sure that's what you want to commit to for teh rest of your life and not something you're going to regret. Srtiously do some work experience and really see what a doctor does and decide for yourself is that what you want to do? then you'll have your answer.

That happened to me too. When i was doing my GCSE's i absolutely hated chemistry! Quite possibly one of the dullest most uninteresting subjects on the GCSE spectrum. (this next part is gonna sound stupidly geeky....) But A-Level chemistry is SOOOO interesting!! it's such a jump up from GCSE but definetely worth it! i don't know if your school lets you do this but mine did so maybe....take chemistry! try it for a while...if you don't like it, then drop it

**they_call_me_pg** · 16-12-2009, 02:12 AM

ok i thought i would give some advice which will more or less echo what has already been said but i know how many questions I had around GCSE years.

Firstly, you should definetly choose chemistry as obviously, if you dont then you are ruling yourself out for medicine. In relation to your other A level choices in general, you shouldnt do maths or physics if you feel you are bad at it. Maths has always been my weak point so i didnt do them and havnt looked back since. Maths does help a bit with Chemistry as the calculations are hard but you can always get help with that side of things. Personally I think you would be foolish to do 5 A Levels. Anyone will tell you how demanding they are and from my experience you dont need to do 5 subjects. I would to advise you to do 4 at AS level and then do 3 to A2 as essentially, that is all you will need. The only exception would be if you are applying to Oxbridge which seem to attract those with an insane amount of A-levels. If you are interested in Oxbridge then you should do 4 full A-levels and if you honestly think you can cope with it, then do 5. But if you arent interested in Oxbridge then it isnt worth it.
Ultimately i think you will need to choose between English, Politics and History. Talk to your teachers/students and find out what they are like at A-level. Realistically you need to choose 2 you are sure you can get an A in, and pick 2 that will not hinder your chances of getting an A/A* in the sciences. I guess what im saying is pick the easiest ones.

Also, there are 20 people in my A Level chemistry class and everyone hates it. Its not a very interesting subject and its incredibly difficult and requires a lot of work to just get your head around it. The only reason the majority of people do it is because they need it. Im sure a lot of people on here do like chemistry but im just saying is dont let your hate of chemistry ruin your chances of pursueing a career in medicine. It is just something that you need to persevere at and just work hard to get the grade you need. Every doctor i have spoken to say that there is no real chemistry in their job. There is biochemistry obviously but you do that stuff in Biology-not chemistry!

In terms of labwork, I'm sure there is some at university (im a 2010 applicant). But again with the medical degree course there are some things you will like and some things you wont-simply because it is such a varied course.

But basically i think you should do some more research about what you will be getting yourself into to make sure it is definetly what you want to do.

Hope this was of some help to you

**Rippy** · 20-12-2009, 06:42 AM

Disagree with the above about doing 5 for Oxbridge. I think they'd care more about high GCSEs, high UMS, and high BMAT than an extra A Level. (It's probably a good idea to do 4 for Oxbridge, but 5 seems excessive.)