[B]PhD or Medicine?

[biomed12]

Hello everyone,

I am really confused about what i should do at the moment and any help is better than no help, so please comment, give advice or anything...

I graduated Biomedical Science last year 2009 with 1st class honours.
My A levels are A, B, B, C (buisiness studies, biology, chemistry and english literature respectively)
GCSE: A*,A, A, A, A, A, A, B, B, B

I applied for medicine last year during my final year of biomed with a predicted 1st, however i was foolish enough to apply to 4 year courses and i failed miserably in getting a place at the unis i applied to (imperial, birmingham, st georges, warwick). After finding out i got rejected.. i got an offer from my supervisor (who was in charge of my double experimental dissertation) to have a funded PhD in chemistry. At this time i was confused with the decision i had to make. PhD takes 3-4years to complete. so i knew if i took on that offer i wont eb able to reaply to medicine for a while...

Im now doing my 1st year of PhD and every day i go into work thinking about reappling to medicine. i believe the reason why i failed last year in application was due to my UKCAT result (640) and my GAMSAT which i failed and also because i didnt have enough work experience in clinical field.

I am currently 22 yrs old.. and i can not imagine myself doing anything else other than medicine. Research doesnt bring the same amount of happiness and reward to me as medicine would. And due to this i feel i dont have the motivation whilst doing this PhD. I am therefore thinking about withdrawing from this PhD, work for a year in a clinical background (volunteer) and also revise for my UKCAT and reaaply for a 5 year course as it is less competitive.

Problem: now i have started my PhD, ''giving up'' up after 1 year looks very negative doesnt it? im worried med schools like have a bad impression on me. But teh reason why i am wanting to give up such a great opportunity is because i know research is not teh career i want to do.. and i am willing to give up this opportunity and risk applying to medicine with no guarantee ill get in... do you think they would accept my reasons?

please give me advice on what you think you would do if you were in my shoes.
i understand PhD is great, and getting full funding for it is even better.. but would i be wasting my time if i dont want to do research?

confused me... please reply...

Thanks..

[MonkeywithaMachete]

and i can not imagine myself doing anything else other than medicine.

That alone should be strong enough a reason for you to reapply.

Leaving your current PhD program before you're done indeed won't be looked upon too favourably. But plenty of people apply for medicine whilst still in their first year of a BSc. As long as you give a sensible reason, I don't think it would be too much of a problem.

Probably a silly question, but I'm not familiar with anything to do with postgraduate degrees... would it not be possible for you to keep your PhD offer and at the same time apply for medicine?

I say go for it, and good luck if you do

[GenericName]

Screw that! Take the MPhil at the end of the year and just re-apply. Make sure you do something about the work experience and perhaps I would recommend smarter choices to apply to if you get a similar UKCAT next time, but otherwise go for it.

You shouldn't worry about leaving PhD after the first year, plenty of people do it! One of the reasons for the transfer viva is to assess not only your competancy to complete the PhD but also whether it's the best course of action for you. If any transfer viva panel felt you didn't want to pursue a career in research they would at least advise you to rethink. Also, although it may show a slight lack of commitment in general if you drop out of a PhD, I'm sure if you're honest in interviews they'll realise the position your in and if anything, they'll look at your decision to go back to medicine as a career path as dedication to Medicine!

The jist of what I'm rambling about is, don't feel pressured to finish your PhD just because you feel it might look bad, just ditch, apply to Medicine and if you don't get in again, then you can rethink.

[Maria87]

GenericName,
"If any transfer viva panel felt you didn't want to pursue a career in research they would at least advise you to rethink."

can you elaborate please....are you saying that you shouldn't apply to medicine after a PhD?or you won't be granted a PhD if the panel thought you're not going into research?? I know people who after finishing thier PhD applied to medicine... I was slightely in the same position as the OP and I'm certainly thinking about applying to medicine but once I'm finished as I don't like the idea of quitting (myself) and PhD teaches you alot of valuable skills if you like the topic your researching about, at least ... but I don't like the idea of being in an ivory tower in most research/academic life which is one of the reasons why I want to switch to a more people orienated/scientific/caring profession...

For the OP, only you know what is best for you...if you really hate your PhD and it's a nightmare then I would quit, but if you think you could spend 2 more years and finish it on time then go for it... only you know... All the best!

[GenericName]

No sorry, I meant that you SHOULD do it after first year of PhD if your heart isn't really in it. I think applying to Medicine after having done a PhD is a great idea, I'm sure PhD grads make excellent Med students and eventually excellent Docs. Tbh, if I were offered a good PhD place but had to decide upon it before I heard back from Med, I would take the PhD without a seconds thought... basically for the reasons someone gave earlier.... a PhD in hand is far better than hoping you get a Med place, plus you can do medicine after a PhD anyway and it will help you save money and better prepare yoursellf to do medicine. I'm pretty sure PhDs are acknowledged as being higher tier than a Bachelor degree as well, even though a masters is not.

[minnako]

The problem is a PhD can take time and money, which if you've already done a degree and want to do medicine, may not be affordable time and money wise for many people.

I do get the benefits of a degree, but it's a balance: past a certain point the balance flips as costs rise and you might go further and further into a field you actually don't want to go into. different people will feel the benefits or risks of either choice differently, so it's a very individual choice.

A master's isn't 'higher-tier' than a BSc on it's own, but it's an add on to a first degree, anyway. As is a PhD, except that's longer. Universities don't normally care how you've done in second degrees (or third, etc), and whilst they might be useful, I don't think they'll give you a huge advantage to applying to medicine, particularly if you've already got a degree.

[yazoo]

What would you do if you didn't get a place at med school ever? Would research be your back-up plan? If so, complete the PhD. And apply in your last year. You can make it 3 years if you are disciplined.

Giving up the PhD will always have the dropping out stigma. Getting an MPhil would avoid this. So I would advise either of the above. Good luck.

[zhangyuzhi]

giving up your PhD studies certainly looks bad on your CV, but if you really want to do med and not to pursue a research career, dropping out at this stage is probably the best option. If you would consider a career as a clinical scientist, I would recommend you continue with your PhD, then apply med at the end. You will not be disadvantaged because of having an advanced degree.

[biomed12]

Thank you everyone for your comments and advice.
Research as a career is deffinetely not what i intend to do... i did think to myself that it could be a back up plan if i neevr get into medicine, in fact it was a medical academic who gave me advice to take on phd as a back up plan. The phd topic im studying in chemistry is actually interesting and i do enjoy it, my supervisor is very supportive and ive had loads of opportunities given to me already i.e going to conferences, being in charge of the university research website etc... and i feel if i leave i am so irresponsible but.. though i do enjoy the science part of teh phd, i do not want to become a researcher as a carreer. nor do i want to be a lecturer/academic. So i get the feeling that if i carry on finishing the phd its not working towards the carreer which i want to do at the end of the day.
the phd which i have now, i did not apply for (i dont mean to sound big headed because i do not intend to) i actually got offered it after i handed in my 3rd year desertation, and it is also fully funded for 3 and 1/2 years. i took this offer as i only had a week to make up my mind, and at the time i just heard all my uni choices for medicine were rejected. But now... after doing this for nearly 1/2 year, ive noticed that i dont enjoy it like i would with medicine. and i know... ive actually put myself in a worse situation than if i never took on this phd offer now, because if i give up it will look bad, plus i could have used the time i used on phd doing more work experience. sigh..... i feel i made the wronmg decision and mistake for taking up this offer.. but i suppose if i never tried doing it i wouldnt know how much i want medicine over anything else.

If i dont get into medicine this year id try again next, and teh next. I have a total of 3 years to try (if i stop phd) before i reach the year which i would have been able to apply if i finish this phd.
People say why i dont finish phd before medicine. I suppose it is because i really want to finish the course i want to do and start working 'upwards' on the career path i want. And now i feel if i carry on with phd im just wasting my time...

currently i am thinking about changing phd into MRes or MPhil, because that wont look as bad as getting nothing after wuitting something. I am also going to aim to get loads fo work experience.

To avoid the bad impression of quitting.. do you think its a bad idea to avoid writing about phd in ucas and just pretend it never happened? is that illegal? :S

Once again thank you everyone for your advice. It is very much appreciated and no matter what, it will keep my brain thinking until i feel i make the right decision which is best suited for me

[biomed12]

[QUOTE=MonkeywithaMachete;727927]That alone should be strong enough a reason for you to reapply.

Probably a silly question, but I'm not familiar with anything to do with postgraduate degrees... would it not be possible for you to keep your PhD offer and at the same time apply for medicine?

it is possible to apply whilst in phd.. but it wouldnt be fair on the supervisor if i apply say this year.. and if i get in next sept i leave phd. whilst doing research the univeristy gives a lot of funding for us to buy the products chemicals machines etc. and every research is tailored so if i order products and use them.. but never end up writing teh thesis, that money will be wasted.. and another porblem is reference and work experience. I was hopiong to ask my phd supervisor to write my ucas reference! so i want to 'quit' in the most professional but nicest way possible. because i feel my supervisor if not too put off by my reasons of quitting would be able to write me a good reference as he is who knows me best and my working enthusiam and motivation (once i find it!). and also PhD is 9-5 every day of week.. usually by weekend i am too tired! so its really difficult to fit voluntary work experience into the schedule

i keep telling myself, if i was to dedicate to medicine i should dedicate fully and spend alll my time on working towards the goal, rather than half hearted for PhD and Medicine Ucas....
Thank you for the luck