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Dropping out of Medicine???

How hard is it to stick to and complete the medical degree?? Are there many drop outs? What are the main reasons? is it mainly bcoz one decides that its not the course for them or is it the immense work load??

Many people hav told me that gettin in is the biggest hurdle. how true is this?? I'm hopin for some comments/opinions frm current med students.

Thanks!!

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Reply 1

Philosoraptor

Well if Fluffy is anything to go by, getting in is just the first step. The large workload etc is a much bigger trek than A-levels.

Reply 2

Renal

Mmm...

It depends.

Traditionally, there are three drop out points - the first term when the student discovers that university is not for them, the begining of clinicals when they discover that they can't stand sick people and early on as a junior doctor when they discover that they hate the job. That isn't to say that people can't and don't drop out elsewhere and for other reasons.

In my opinion, getting in is the hardest part, after that it's fairly smooth. There is a workload, you do have to be switched on and you can't necessarilly coast. However, certainly on the course I'm on, there's no 'immense work load', certainly I'm routinely under far less pressure than when I did my GCSEs.

Reply 3

Saffie

Philosoraptor

Well if Fluffy is anything to go by, getting in is just the first step. The large workload etc is a much bigger trek than A-levels.

ohhhhhhhh no it's not!

Reply 4

Philosoraptor

Wow, really? This is beginning to sound ok. I mean I had to work pretty solidly for A levels. (I'm your classic doesn't really do much work type though, slacks as much as possible type, that's why I'm worried) :p:

Reply 5

leedsmedic_07

Saffie

ohhhhhhhh no it's not!

thats encouraging , uve made by day , some people on the forums make medicine sound imposible to complete.

also does the workload vary a lot from uni to uni. obviously it will vary a but - but surley there wouldnt be too much of a difference ?

Reply 6

Saffie

asjad_03

lol. I should probably point out that i havent actually passed my first year yet! :wink:

I think it's "hard" if you're aiming for 85%+ on all of your exams. But it's also possible to get that by going to all timetabled stuff and just cramming the week(s) before the exam... And you don't need such high grades to complete medical school anyway, you need 50%+.

I did read an article saying that BL students do the least work though...
I couldn't really tell you how much work is/needs to be done at other med schools.

Reply 7

leedsmedic_07

Saffie

lol. I should probably point out that i havent actually passed my first year yet! :wink:

so for e.g at BL do u need 50% in ur exams to pass the first year?

p.s woooo my 600th post

Reply 8

Renal

Philosoraptor

(I'm your classic doesn't really do much work type though, slacks as much as possible type, that's why I'm worried) :p:

In the previous 10 weeks of term, I've been in around about 11 days and one night.

Reply 9

leedsmedic_07

Renal

In the previous 10 weeks of term, I've been in around about 11 days and one night.

wat ??

but are u opne of these people that picks up things really quickly ? so the rumours that u have to work your butt is just not true ?

Reply 10

Renal

Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

I've just picked up my PPD results!

(Personal & Professional Development is an 8 week block in third year that covers ethics, public health, stuff like that)

In those 8 weeks, I went in for four sessions.

I passed the exam with an A.

PMSL :biggrin:

Reply 11

Saffie

asjad_03

so for e.g at BL do u need 50% in ur exams to pass the first year?

it's not all measured on exams.
You get marks for attendance to some stuff. :biggrin:

You get marks for writing up a PBL once a term :biggrin:

And a poster! :biggrin:

You do need to get 50% in each of your end of year exams though. (i think)

Nah, I don't think you need to work your butt off :rolleyes:

A Levels were harder- four random subjects and needing to get 80%+.

Reply 12

Saffie

Renal

wow! congrats! Everyone seemed really worried about that exam! :eek:

Reply 13

Saffie

Revenged

well... it's not all fun and games here... in my first year Saffie 70 people had to retake, which is 20% of the med school... but only 13 people were chucked out after failing the retakes the second time...

in any event, it is a lot harder than A-levels...

sadly i dont have any comparative statistics...

Reply 14

Philosoraptor

No. It's "All you see". Not abbreviating for anything. Stop reading things too deeply :p:

.
And no he studies at UCL(RUMS).

Reply 15

Fluffy

Renal

Me too (grade - not not going in!) - seems I needent have worried about lack of revision! Meh! Maybe this is a new chapter of my life - no work!!!

Reply 16

Revenged

asjad_03

do u study at cambs ? that wat UC stands for doesnt it ? :rolleyes:

i hate abbreviations ...lol

UC = University College

Reply 17

Revenged

Renal

(Personal & Professional Development is an 8 week block in third year that covers ethics, public health, stuff like that)

In those 8 weeks, I went in for four sessions.

We have have half a day of this crap every single week for the entire 5 year course... So you are lucky if you get away with having only 8 weeks of it...

Reply 18

Fluffy

We don't get off that easily - we have blocks of it in our 1st and 2nd year too ("Human Science and Public Health" and "FunMed - communications skills")... Not to mention a whole lovely block of finals OSCEs on the subject :frown:

Reply 19

Revenged

but i just think it's completely stupid Fluffy... it isn't like your course where you actually get to see patients and get to go on placements... we do nothing... for my two 'community placements' this year... one of them was cancelled and the second one involved listening to someone from a disability charity telling us what words we should and shouldn't call someone with disabilities... there is no point in all this effort to practice communication skills if you are NEVER going to actually talk to patients... i have yet to take anyone's history and i have never spoken to a patient in the entire year and yet i've spend approx 30 hours of my life 'practising' how to talk to imaginary patients...