Medicine or Neuroscience?

I am in a bit of a sticky situation, pretty much at the crossroads.

I am just about to graduate with a BSc Psychology and based on my interest have narrowed my future career down on a) medicine or b) neuroscience research. I have been accepted into a pretty good MSc Neuroscience in Norway and have an internship in a research institute lined up over the summer, alternatively I have a place in medical school essentially guaranteed that I could take up in one year time.

A bit of background:

Shortly before finishing secondary school I realised that I am really into medicine. Unfortunately I had always been a lazy student and wasn't able to pull up my grades enough in time - I got the equivalent of ABB, not bad, but also not nearly good enough to get into medicine. However, in Germany we have a system in place that allocates 20% of places in medicine to those who have waited the longest. I decided to do that but to pass the time I took up an undergraduate degree in psychology in Scotland.

I kept the dream alive for several years but a couple of months ago my determination started to waiver - through friends doing medicine I realised how hard life as a doctor will be. Long hours, bad work-life balance, and considering I will start quite late and medicine in Germany takes 6 years I will be over 30 when I finally start working. At the same time I had realised through my studies that I am really into neuroscience and finally decided to drop my medical ambitions and go for an MSc, then PhD in neuroscience.

That is until a couple of days ago. I did some research into career opportunities and it looks atrocious. Wherever you look, young scientists are struggling (both in neuroscience and many other fields). PhDs take longer than I expected (on average 4-5 years rather than the advertised 3 years), then people get stuck for years in temporary postdoc contracts with horrible pay, all while working 50 to 60 h a week. Only a fraction manage to get tenure track positions and become lecturers, many just drop out of the system. 90% of the experiences of young neuroscientists I have come across on the internet painted a bleak picture.

Here is an example: Are you a neuroscientist? Happy in academia?

So now I am reevaluating again. The reasons that made me drop my plan to do medicine seem to apply to neuroscience just as well. Doing a 2-year MSc, then 4-5 years PhD will take me just as long as doing medicine, I will start earning some sort of salary once I start a PhD, but it will be very low, I will have to work just as long hours in both professions, but at least medicine pays well and you essentially have a job guarantee.

I am not solely focusing on pay and hours - I am willing to work hard at work worth doing, I am not chasing the money and find both options intriguing. But I do not want to just scrape by and find myself still jumping from one temporary position to the other at age 40 either.

I am not even sure why I am opening this thread, I guess I am just looking for general input, both from those who might be active in life science research and those who just want to chip in some life advise :redface:

Reply 1

alleycat393

21

Both careers need a lot of hard work and dedication. Junior doctors (in the UK at least) don't have it easy and may have to move around a bit too to get the training they want in the fields they're interested in. But you're right about there being more stability and more of a defined career path in medicine. My only advice to you would be to go with what you enjoy more because it's going to be difficult either which way. It's also fine to go with neither!

Reply 2

returnmigrant

21

Neuroscience.

Medine is so competitive, and you may not even get a place. Even if you did, it would be an expensive 5 years because you already have a degree and will have to fund much of it yourself. Do you really need to add another 5 years of debt to your existing Student Finance repayments?

Neuro is a vast area. Lots of research opportunities, and these will take you into areas/career pathways way beyond 'medicine'. And you don't need a PhD for any of that. Do the MSc, do the internship, and enjoy Norway.

Reply 3

nexttime

22

Original post by alleycat393

and may have to move around a bit too to get the training they want in the fields they're interested in.

Correction: have to move city at least every year in >90% of cases for at least the first 8 years (5 for a GP), irrespective of field or training on offer.

Reply 4

Sir Fox

OP

18

Original post by returnmigrant

Neuroscience.

Medine is so competitive, and you may not even get a place. Even if you did, it would be an expensive 5 years because you already have a degree and will have to fund much of it yourself. Do you really need to add another 5 years of debt to your existing Student Finance repayments?

Neuro is a vast area. Lots of research opportunities, and these will take you into areas/career pathways way beyond 'medicine'. And you don't need a PhD for any of that. Do the MSc, do the internship, and enjoy Norway.

I have a place in medicine guaranteed in Germany where there are no tuition fees, and I did not pay tuition fees for my current degree either. No debt, only living costs, which will be higher in Norway than Germany.

Reply 5

alleycat393

21

Original post by nexttime

Correction: have to move city at least every year in >90% of cases for at least the first 8 years (5 for a GP), irrespective of field or training on offer.

I think this is a bit of an exaggeration. I have junior doctor friends (not training to be GPs) who don't move around as much as you say. Also my PI looks after clinical researcher training at our Institute (part of an RG uni). Again these are not GPs in training and certainly don't move around every year. They may (and do) move hospitals within the same trust but that doesn't necessarily involve uprooting and moving where they live every year.

Reply 6

nexttime

22

Original post by alleycat393

I think this is a bit of an exaggeration. I have junior doctor friends (not training to be GPs) who don't move around as much as you say. Also my PI looks after clinical researcher training at our Institute (part of an RG uni). Again these are not GPs in training and certainly don't move around every year. They may (and do) move hospitals within the same trust but that doesn't necessarily involve uprooting and moving where they live every year.

Depends on the come you tolerate. If you're OK with four hours driving per day then sure, you might not have to move.

Reply 7

Sir Fox

OP

18

The system in Germany is different, I wouldn't have to move at all during training (unless I wanted to). All training from graduation to the level of consultant can be done in the same institution.

Reply 8

returnmigrant

21

You seem to have found/realised all the answers yourself - so I do wonder why you asking anyone here.

Reply 9

alleycat393

21

Original post by nexttime

Depends on the come you tolerate. If you're OK with four hours driving per day then sure, you might not have to move.

Again a bit of an exaggeration but this isn't really relevant to the op so never mind.

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Reply 10

Sir Fox

OP

18

Original post by returnmigrant

You seem to have found/realised all the answers yourself - so I do wonder why you asking anyone here.

I don't have all the answers, I was just correcting a couple of the perceptions because studying medicine in Germany is different from doing it in the UK.

The reason I posted is because I hoped there may be some people here who are in research (doing a PhD or postdoc) and could chip in. People are more likely to post to complain about stuff than to post that everything is going well, so all the stuff I found on the internet about how bleak and depression a research career is might not show the complete picture :smile:

Medicine or Neuroscience?

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