Biomed Anyone?

[agneishd]

gotta take gizzy's comments with a pinch of salt

like the comments on imperial are always negative, but it all adds to the fun i guess

[JH]

Perhaps but to some1 who isn't aware, they would read this forum and be mis-informed as a result. That's not fair.

[agneishd]

i'm sure potential medics will have the sense not to go on what are clearly biased comments, and do a little personal research

but then, you never know eh?

[Fonzie]

Originally Posted by agneishd

gotta take gizzy's comments with a pinch of salt

Yeah but too much salt is bad for your heart!

I would strongly advise anyone considering taking up a place on a Biomed course to reconsider.

It would be much wiser to either take a gap year and reapply with the grades in hand or to resit and reapply. Although the number of places you can apply to as a resit student are very few and most require strong mitigating circumstances.

This is a far "easier" option than taking up a place on a Biomedical Sciences course where most of the students will be those who missed out on a place at medical or dental school and will result in a very competetive cohort. To achieve a 2:1 is not as easy as it sounds when you take into account the calibre of your peers in addition to the fact that with Biomed having never been your first choice of course, it may well prove to be difficult to motivate yourself to study. I know several people who did this at other unis and who susbsequently failed their first year of Biomed and are now either doing other courses or taking time out to re-think their options.

Taking Biomedical Sciences purely as a route into graduate Medicine is a bad idea (for the reasons I said above). Also (and no disrespect to Biomeds), the degree doesn't have many decent career opportunities and you have to bear in mind how fiercely competetive graduate entry into medicine is especially for the 4 year programmes and with a lot of medical schools now refusing to consider graduates for the 5 year programmes.

You would be best off studying a degree that you will enjoy and that can give you excellent career opportunities. This way if you did decide you wanted to go into graduate medicine but didn't get a place, at least you have degree which will open the door to an excellent career.

When I didn't get any offers I took up a place to study Pharmacy. I chose Pharmacy after having down work experience with a community pharmacist and also because I felt the course would be interesting and would offer me good career prospects and job satisfaction similarly to Medicine. I decided during my first term to reapply for Medicine as I was still keen to pursue a career in Medicine but if I was unsuccessful I was more than happy to continue with my studies on the Pharmacy course.

As it happens I was successful in getting into medical school and I left the pharmacy course after the first term and hopefully I will make it into year 2.

Anyways the point I am trying to make is that if you are going to do an alternative degree then make sure it's one that you're going to enjoy and that you're happy to work in that field after graduation. Remember, a lot of medical schools will consider graduates in any discipline be it arts or science (but you may have to sit an additional entry exam like the GAMSAT).

OK I've gone on quite long enough but the points I hope I have made are:

-Think carefully before opting to go down the graduate route in terms of time, money, competetion etc.

-If going down the graduate entry route, you would be best to do a first degree in something you will enjoy and that you would be happy to have a career incase you don't initially get into medical school via the GEP route. Also note that some medical schools may ask Pharmacy/Nursing etc. graduates to have worked for a certain number of years in that field before entering medical school.

- Too much salt in your diet really isn't good for you.

I hope all that helps.

[agneishd]

agreed - think about the reality of actually spending 3 years doing a degree you may not want to... tougher than it sounds

[Gizmo says -]

Originally Posted by JH

Isn't this forum suppose to be impartial?

you're rite, i was far too candid wif ma first post.

Originally Posted by G-baby

-no, macca. its a shit option designed to lure in those not wise enuff to reapply to med skool.
- the system at sgul is a sham designed to keep staff who cant be bothered to get other jobs, in work as biomed teachers.
- dont be there bitch. do what you want to do.
- its a sgul fread, not an sgul monopoly on fort

i should ave said that biomed is a worse than shit option at sgul. opefully peeple reading this will pick jup on this sense.

just to spare the george-centric backlash, i'll reiterate that the med course is good for medicine, probably wif a better course than mine as i've said many times before...still, i expect a backlash of 'you always say bad fings about georgies' at least a few times more....

[Fonzie]

Originally Posted by agneishd

agreed - think about the reality of actually spending 3 years doing a degree you may not want to... tougher than it sounds

Exactly. It's bad enough if you feel you're doing something that's either inferior (in your mind) to Medicine and not what you wanted to do. But then when everyone else on the course feels the same way, well it just adds to the doom and gloom.

And when you feel like that it can be really difficult sometimes to just pick yourself up and study to achieve at least a 2:1 level when it feels like you're doing something just for the sake of it.

On the other hand studying a degree you enjoy and that you selecting after much consideration is far more beneficial.

So yes some biomed courses may promise entry into year 3 of medicine but that's for a select few.

Also you need to think about time, do you really want to be spending a number of years in university? I mean if you did a 3 year degree and then 5 years of medicine and then the foundation years, that's a good ten years until you're fully qualified.

Some people may want to be earning good money, start a family and settle down by the time they reach 30 or their mid thirties and taking the long road into Medicine may just put that on the back burner. Hence why it's better to do a degree in something that will give you good career prospects, work for several years in that field saving up good money and then if you still want to, enter into Medicine.

[agneishd]

if you want good money young, don't do medicine!!!

[kjack]

It is a good idea to consider if you really want to do biomed because doing a course you dont eally want to do is never a good idea. If you are thinking of doing biomed then think about what you would do with that degree afterwads (beside medicine). There are many career options open to someone with a biomed degree and it is a good broad science degree and would allow you to enter most biological science pojects/labs/futher degrees. You have to bear in mind though that to get the good jobs you will prob need a further degree after the BSc. However, this is the case in most science careers. With regards to the biomed course at georges I would say that it is one of the better ones if you want something that covers a lot of topics and is based on the medical side of science. Other biomed courses will emphasise the chemistry for example.

[x.Parin.x]

thanx for all the advice! but im in a situation where i dont wanna do any other career, and there is no doubt as to whether i would enjoy the course because generally the topics covered are something i know i will enjoy. even if i took up a degree like dentistry or pharmacy, it would actually mean i was spending even more years at university.. whereas the biomed course at georges (if u get into yr 3) only means ur spending 6 years there. it will definetely be difficult to get in after 3 years, but the motivation will be there because i no i will be doing it to get into a course i really want to do. if i take a year out n resit, first my uni choices are gna be really limited and theres no guarantee ill get AAA second time round, which i think most unis expect. does anyone no what the odds are on getting in after doing biomed at georges?