age and cost another barrier to your dream career??

[batool]

hi everyone

anyone had enough of biomed!!
is anyone doing a biomed degree and feeling its just putting you off the idea of another degree in terms of finance and time. i am doing a biomed degree and am having to continue reminding myself why i am doing it. the cost of one degree is alot never mind two! plus the time it will take to finish this damn thing and go on to doing medicine is a nightmare when i think about. i mean ill be what 29 when i finish the medicine degree. then comes all the other post degree stuff specialising etc. when will you get the time to start a family or think about anything else besides medicine. on top of all that youve got to work your backside off trying to get atleast a 2:1 to begin with, which still leaves you with the rest of the 'top' graduates applying for gem route.

although i know medicine is the only career i would be happy with i am having second thoughts about medicine considering my age and cost. my friends have recommended dentistry or optometry but i know i wouldnt be happy with those careers because my heart is set on medicine. they have had arguments such as dentistry and optom pays better and is less of an effort because medicine requires alot of post grad education and training compared to the others, but at the end of the day i'm not doing it for the money or prestige.

does anyone feel the same way??
is age and cost another barrier to your dream career??

[Bambi]

I'm pretty worried about the money issue too. I was sick of my degree in first year and although it is very relevant to med we still do so much stuff that I wont need to know and it is just so dull.

As for other careers dentistry is just as difficult in terms of grades and competition and optometry is as difficult in terms of grades but there is less competition. My dad is an optician and he loves it but personally I could never do it, it would bore me to tears.

[Leo2004]

Hey all,

Just to put a counterpoint to your argument...

I will be between 32 and 35 when I graduate Med, depending on whether I get a place soon or if I have to complete my parttime 4yr biomed BSc to win a place - I already have the ALevel and degree reqs for a grad, but am finding the competition tough ;-)

This can be extremely demotivating at times thinking of all the docs I know at my age and the money and the sheer volume of learning to be done in a BSc just to begin to learn Med....

But since I know the only thing I want to do with the rest of my life is practice medicine and grow in medical skills knowlegde and experience, I keep going....

We all feel down at time cos this can be a hard road to follow doing the study and work experience needed to get in and the money and thime this takes and thats just to start on a 5/4 yr MBBS.....

Nevertheless, very few things worth doing come easily to all.......

If you decide not to follow the med path, biomed can give you some cool opportunities as well.....

Keep your head up and a happy new year to all ;-)

Leo

[DH2005]

I echo Leo, to some extent.

I'm no medic. In some respects, I'm the exact opposite - I was a lawyer until the beginning of September this year, and that was a damned expensive education, I can tell you...

But I digress... when I finally found it in me to see straight, I knew that medicine was all that I cared about, and most of all that I will ever care about - maybe that's deranged of me, but I've never been so excited or motivated about anything in 26 years... Hopefully a med school will take me this year - if not, I'll come back next year.

Enough of my shit... my moral is that you shouldn't let your current degree get in the way of your education. You've already realised that medicine is for you - that's great - but you need to graduate from where you are now, if only to demonstrate to medical schools that you're brilliant and deserving of their attention... I reckon you'll be fine.

All the best.

[Leo2004]

DH, another one of your quality posts, my friend... ;-))

I agree entirely with your sentiments re.medicine being all you will ever care about - its really strange isnt it to find something that everyday the more you find out about the theory and practice of it the more unendingly interesting it becomes.....

This isnt to say I havent been interested academically or otherwise in stuff before - i love having had an arts education - but nothing like the way I am now interested in this.

Its like I fit it like a glove with all its unglamour and emotionally taxing situations and ridiculous levels or resposiblity and hours of work.... ;-)

But its just the only thing I can ever see myself doing and it is this that keeps me going - this is my 3rd year of applying and I'm not gonna stop til I get in ;-)

And I agree entirely about keeping on with the degree one is doing now to show med schools they have to take you - hoping it'll pay off.....

Anyway, I'm sure there's some U+Es I should be doing!

[DH2005]

You're too kind to me... if only because I've been missing from The Guide for so long! I expected the community to have forgotten about me!

Keep on keeping-on, buddy... how are this year's applications shaping-up, for you?

[Leo2004]

Hey DH,

I certainly haven't forgotten about your interesting contributions to many a debate on this forum...... For this you are welcome

Well, this year is kinda still up in the air.

I had an interview at GKT and was sure I'd done really well and I'd get an offer. I was dumbfounded when I was rejected purely cos of how I thought the interview went and my answers and the questions they chose to ask me..... ;-(((((((

I still have PMS and St.Gs outstanding on the Grimsat, which I am sure I will fail this year as I only spent about 80 hours studying my Des Oneill notes some months ago since when I have been busy doing BSc Biomed stuff (and trying to have a bit of a life outside hospital too!)

Also, I have last but not least UEA who I am hoping will invite me for an interview...

But then again this is only the 1st year of appying in which I have the requisite science ALevels and 1st year degree Biomed (by June) so lets wait and see.....
... ;-)))))))

[DH2005]

I see... you've got a few bases covered! Makes my Access to Medicine look like a sack of shit.

I'm sad to hear that GKT turned you down... on the upside, it's a fabulous med school that, doubtlessly, turns down hundreds of excellent people every year - it's no indictment on you that it didn't work out.

I was interviewed at York a week ago - they were lovely, and I did okay, but it's tough to know how it went, isn't it? ... I'm due at UEA on 17 January.

[Leo2004]

DH,

Thanks for your words of encouragement...:-)

Quite the contrary, I m sure A2M with a good law degree is all you'll need to get into medschool... I would nt be going to the lengths I am if Id been motivated to work enough at 18 in a degree i could've walked a first in according to my tutors if Id been as motivated by it as I was by London and my female uni classmates ;-)

I am rightfully sucking up the payback for youthful follies which actually got me where I am today with a huge love and passion and drive for medicine ;-)

Very good luck at UEA and hang on in there.

Leo

[DH2005]

Keep safe, too.

It'll happen, man. I have great faith in this country... we'll all be sorted out, soon.