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Are UK students entering Medical School too early?

Most first years are 18 years old in the UK. Is this a mature enough age to be interacting and dealing with patients and entering such a difficult course?
In America you are required to take a different degree before Medicine and the average age for a first year medical student is 24. Why is this the case?
Do you think the age of 17/18 is too young to start medical school? Why?

Reply 1

modini

The difficulty of the course isn't really an issue as it lies within the amount of information that needs to be absorbed, not in the difficulty of the actual content. I don't think someone in their early/mid twenties would be any better at retaining vast amounts of information (actually if anything your memory deteriorates as you get older).

In terms of maturity of the individual, you can't really generalise all 18 year olds and say they're all not mature enough/aren't competent enough to deal with patients. I've known people in their mid twenties whom I could never imagine undertaking medical training (that's why there are interviews).

I think the only real issue that you can nitpick with 18 year olds starting medicine is that it's quite a young age to decide on a career path that requires such commitment. This isn't the case with people who go to study, say, maths at uni as 'maths' itself isn't a career, unlike medicine, and people will choose what job they want to do during or after their years at university.

Reply 2

username1236842

Compared to many degree courses medicine has a low drop out rate and the course work is mangaeable if you are an A grade student which most medics are.
I've no experience of the US system but presumed their high schools didn't educate students to a high enough level for students to need to do another degree first and have heard the first year of some US degrees is like our A levels or highers. Also there is money to be made from getting prospective doctors to do 2 degrees instead of one.
In the UK you have 5 years med school plus 2 foundation years before you start your basic training in the speciality you want to enter. That really is long enough.
I think some prospective docs get fixated on the idea of being a doctor without enough experience of what being a doctor entails, but making medicine a postgrad course won't change that and it's hard to see how to change it given the large numbers of people wanting to be doctors and the small amount of work experience in hospitals and general practice available.