Students! Why did you choose medicine, and why did you choose your university?

1. The promise of sex with nurses.

Right! To play DA, why do you want to study medicine?

I always get very suspicious of people who are trying to decide between medicine and law... Are you considering them as options because they both appeal (and if so, why do they both appeal?), or are you at one of those schools whereby the mantra is 'Oh, you're a top A-Level student, therefore you can only apply to medicine, law or OxBridge'?

Don't be too suspicious! Well, personally I have interests lying in both.

Why - what draws you to both?

I've seen lots of medical students only doing medicine for hte above reason. I'm sure every medic on here will tell you that they know someone doing medicine because they had AAA predictions and liked science, but actually they would have loved to have been a Speech and Language Therapist, a botanist etc...

Right! To play DA, why do you want to study medicine?

I always get very suspicious of people who are trying to decide between medicine and law... Are you considering them as options because they both appeal (and if so, why do they both appeal?), or are you at one of those schools whereby the mantra is 'Oh, you're a top A-Level student, therefore you can only apply to medicine, law or OxBridge'?

It swings more in the way of medicine than law. I had discarded law for a while, but worries about medicine have made me reconsider it. I was pretty certain about medicine for a while.

Medicine:

The subject really does interest me. I like finding out about illnesses, the causes and the treatments and why/how they work. I believe I am a compassionate person and feel a want to help people. Reading about new medical developments is interesting. I find it hard to put into words precisely how I feel about it, but there is a strong urge to do this.

Law:

I enjoy debating, reasoning and analysis of sources. (Not much really to say here).

I have to say, while I never even considered law at school, now that I've taken my medical law course, if medicine doesn't work out, it is an option I'd consider. Guess that's slightly different though.

highly competitive people look for competitive jobs to be put to the test, naturally medicine and law are a couple that would pop into your head :P

Then, IMHO you sound like a medic, not a law monkey - 'debating, reasoning and analysis of sources' are all intrinsic to medicine...

Medicine is more than that though - much more...

so is law, but its a starting point, then they figure which one they want to do by talking to people and doing work experience. thats probbly the best way to go about it

Why are medicine and law perceived as being challenging? No one pushes people into being a rocket scientist, or a nuclear fusion expert

I rather think it has nothing to do with the challenge in people who seek out 'either/or' career, but has more to do with the expected financial reward...

Why are medicine and law perceived as being challenging? No one pushes people into being a rocket scientist, or a nuclear fusion expert

I rather think it has nothing to do with the challenge in people who seek out 'either/or' career, but has more to do with the expected financial reward...

more chance of reward in Law. I never really considered it although I know I would enjoy it to some exten, espcially the philosophical side. Hate the idea of it being for personal gain though, the actually process of winning a case for the sake of winning rather than for true justice. I want my life to be worth while to humanity rather than for personal gain. I want to sit around at the end of my life and think 'I've had some low times, I havn't always been well off, but I've done well and I've changed lives for the better'. Rather than 'I've got lots of money, I've won x cases'.

i think people think its competitive for two reasons,

1) lots of people do it already, and more a looking to go into the field
2) these people are intelligent and are in a demanding job

naturally people will want to be the best that they can (like any scientist too). But the reason people will instantly think of medicine and law is because of the reputation of most pure scientists and the kind of work they do, and its not exactly most teenagers' ideal

i think very few people go into law or medicine for money, of course it plays a role in choosing your career, you'd be silly not to consider it, but if someone was going for pure financial gain and wanted a challenge, they'd do economcis.


similarities:
essential communication
opportunity to help people
working in a team
commitment required


I thought a keen scientific interest is a very good reason to distinguish between law and medicine as a career. obviously not the only, but certainly a main reason.

depends how far you want to take medicine, and their are many types of challenges