[amogn]

I want to become a medical doctor and am starting IB in September. I am wondering whether I should take biology or physics, I cannot bear the thought of having to chose.

[Flip1]

Everyone who I know doing medicine at university now (who did the IB) had Chemistry and Biology at higher level.

[georgekwok]

It depends. UK likes Chem/Bio. Personally I think UK is overrated and too difficult to get into (just a personal opinion), having to take UKCAT/BMAT and having an outstanding interview.

So it all depends where you want to study medicine. I took HL Chem/Phys/Math (7,7,6 final exam) and EE in Economics and I got accepted into CUHK MBChB in HK. I guess Bio would be advantageous tho, and EE in Bio/Chem too.

[Hypocrism]

You need to consider your uni choices. I wanted to apply to Cambridge and found they didn't require Bio, neither did southampton, Manchester, sheffield, London unis ... in short, a lot of good institutions don't ask for biology. Why? 6th form biology isn't relevant. It will hardly help. You learn too much plant stuff, almost nothing is relevant from A-Level after a few weeks of uni, and it's hardly hard to keep up with. So physics or biology: whichever you think you'll enjoy more and do better at, really.

That being said, I am the only one in my Cambridge college to have no biology, and I only know of a few. But I think that's more due to the fact that many medics think biology is necessary and take it, rather than the unis choose more people with biology.

[Flip1]

(Original post by Hypocrism)
You need to consider your uni choices. I wanted to apply to Cambridge and found they didn't require Bio, neither did southampton, Manchester, sheffield, London unis ... in short, a lot of good institutions don't ask for biology. Why? 6th form biology isn't relevant. It will hardly help. You learn too much plant stuff, almost nothing is relevant from A-Level after a few weeks of uni, and it's hardly hard to keep up with. So physics or biology: whichever you think you'll enjoy more and do better at, really.

That being said, I am the only one in my Cambridge college to have no biology, and I only know of a few. But I think that's more due to the fact that many medics think biology is necessary and take it, rather than the unis choose more people with biology.

I agree. It's down to what you prefer doing; however, HL Biology has option topics regarding further human physiology and neuroscience which I suppose will be interesting to any potential medic. The focus on plants in IB isn't that strong.

[Hypocrism]

(Original post by Flip1)
I agree. It's down to what you prefer doing; however, HL Biology has option topics regarding further human physiology and neuroscience which I suppose will be interesting to any potential medic. The focus on plants in IB isn't that strong.

It's very true. Unfortunately, few students get to choose their options-the teacher will probably force them into something they have taught before or something considered easy, and the medicine-related options aren't considered so.

[Flip1]

(Original post by Hypocrism)
It's very true. Unfortunately, few students get to choose their options-the teacher will probably force them into something they have taught before or something considered easy, and the medicine-related options aren't considered so.

Indeed. Luckily, I was at a school where we voted for what we wanted to do .

[amogn]

Alright, thanks for the advice yall! Some of it was really helpful