The Student Room Group

Telling people that you do Medicine

Does anyone else get weird responses to this? Examples include:

"So do you want to work in a pharmacy?"

"Wow.. so you, like, make medicine?"

"My Aunt works for Johnson and Johnson too"

"BLANK EXPRESSION"

"I've always wanted to be a nurse- How do I get on it?"


P.S. I tell people in response to being asked- I don't go telling strangers (often).

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Reply 1
Original post by Samwelln
"So do you want to work in a pharmacy?"


Exactly this. It's unreal how many times people have said it to me.
Original post by Samwelln
Does anyone else get weird responses to this? Examples include:

"So do you want to work in a pharmacy?"

"Wow.. so you, like, make medicine?"

"My Aunt works for Johnson and Johnson too"

"BLANK EXPRESSION"

"I've always wanted to be a nurse- How do I get on it?"


P.S. I tell people in response to being asked- I don't go telling strangers (often).

'You study medicine! So do you want to be a doctor or a nurse?'

Enough said.
Reply 3
I'm not doing medicine but when I tell people I want to do medicine they often, in jest, say something along the lines of "Oh, well I've just got this pain here".

Then I'm all:

Reply 4
Most of the time it's 'What do you want to specialise in?'

However, I have had 'YOU study medicine?!' a few times. :<
(edited 12 years ago)
I usually get the standard "well done" or whatever....

although the best one I've had was "oh....wow....."....and then the guy started talking to me/treating VERY VERY differently....*I thought it was pretty cool :biggrin: *
Two different responses...

Family etc who then procede to try and talk medicine/science in which I act interested in what they say..


'Dropping the medic bomb' on a night out in order to gain extra points with the woman I'm speaking to... works quite well actually :colone:
I say I'm applying for medicine, and I usually get one of two responses

"Oh, what kind of doctor do you want to be?"
Me - "I don't know just yet"
Them - "oh......"

"Wow, well done, how amazing!"
Me - "Um, um, well, I haven't got any offers yet.."
Actually part of me wants to turn around and say "Well done for what exactly?" but then I'd feel very mean, so I just make an excuse to leave
when i tell people im applying for medicine they sound really surprised...im not sure if i should take offense at this or not :tongue:
Original post by atomos
when i tell people im applying for medicine they sound really surprised...im not sure if i should take offense at this or not :tongue:


I would say not. It says as much about them as it does about you :smile:
Reply 10
Usually I get "what sort of doctor are you studying to be?", because Joe Public don't seem to get that you have to learn EVERYTHING first before getting down to specifics.

I also had two people convinced that I actually was a doctor when I told them I was studying medicine. I also find that people expect you to know everything about every health condition in existence.
I avoid mentioning it and try to be as vague as possible. The conversation that it leads to is a snooze-fest and is very repetitive.

Last stranger to ask me this question started prattling on about their entire medical history. Was so happy when the bus came.
Reply 12
Original post by GodspeedGehenna
I avoid mentioning it and try to be as vague as possible. The conversation that it leads to is a snooze-fest and is very repetitive.

Last stranger to ask me this question started prattling on about their entire medical history. Was so happy when the bus came.

When strangers ask (seems to occur so often when getting hair cut), I simply reply with English. It induces no further comment. Halts the conversation. Tumbleweed. It's brilliant.
Original post by atomos
when i tell people im applying for medicine they sound really surprised...im not sure if i should take offense at this or not :tongue:


I get that a fair bit too :tongue: I also get the typical: "Oh! So you want to study Medicine?! Have you always wanted to be a nurse then?" :l
Reply 14
Original post by GodspeedGehenna
I avoid mentioning it and try to be as vague as possible. The conversation that it leads to is a snooze-fest and is very repetitive.

Last stranger to ask me this question started prattling on about their entire medical history. Was so happy when the bus came.


You might well get used to it, this will happen a lot in the future! :tongue:
I wouldn't go around telling anyone. My conversations have depressingly nosedived with my grandparents to them discussing their medical problems with me and me mm'ing and aah'ing in the background....starting to head that way with my parents too.

As for pulling power, I reckon it's pretty minimal as a student. Everyone knows you're a noob and can't do jack **** for them.
Reply 16
If I'm shopping/at the hairdressers/whatever, I "work in x hospital." This is true, but avoids me having to answer questions about their ingrowing toenails/tingly arse. In a social situation I usually tell people, especially if it's hubby's banker friends, and I tend to get a mixture of pity and restrained respect.

I used to find the "So, what do you study?" "Medicine" "Oh wow, what university?" "Cambridge" "Oh, you must be really clever then." conversation massively awkward - what do you say after that? How do you then make polite enquiries as to what/where they study, without sounding condescending? But then we all know Cambridge students can't talk to people. :p:
(edited 12 years ago)
This one woman let out a huge gasp and murmered 'god help me' when I told here I wanted to do Med :teehee:

On work experience when I was shadowing a nurse, she introduced me to an elderly woman and told her we were the 'doctors of tomorow, and wanted to know about nursing', to which she replied in a frantic voice,"tell them, tell them everything you do to us!". Nurse was not impressed.

I've had afew 'you look like a doctor', which I find slightly upsetting.

In general I try to avoid mentioning the word medicine/doctor, the following conversations are mundane as they try to advice me on application strageties. Somebody suggested that I should be doing Sociology AS or a health and social care BTEC. :ahee:
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 18
Original post by GodspeedGehenna
I avoid mentioning it and try to be as vague as possible. The conversation that it leads to is a snooze-fest and is very repetitive.


Ditto
Original post by jmfc
You might well get used to it, this will happen a lot in the future! :tongue:


Haha, true. I'm more than happy to do it in a clinical context, of course. Not so much when I'm holding a load of sainsburys bags in the rain at the bus stop at 7pm after eight hours of lectures.
(edited 12 years ago)

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