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Medicine or CMM (Cellular and Molecular Medicine)

Having applied for medicine, and with 4 rejections following four interviews, I was offered a place at my favourite university - Bristol for CMM. After much deliberation I decided a gap year and reapplying wasn't for me. So, with what it is an incredibly interesting course at my chosen University I accepted the offer. However, I have now been given another offer from a separate university for medicine..

The choice of reapplying was a difficult one, having wanted to study medicine for so long I had not thought of other degrees or career paths. Ultimately, being faced with four rejections put me in a position to question whether I truly wanted to do medicine. I would love to practice medicine, to apply my knowledge gained from over 5 years of hardwork in a form that directly benefited those who I could build up a doctor-patient relationship up with - The prospect of becoming a specialised surgeon got my incredibly excited. But, then I started to think about all the negatives.. the arduous hours, the sacrifices to one's social life during and after University, the relatively little pay for how much I'd be working and the length of time to become a qualified surgeon.

I now face the choice of taking the offer for medicine and 're-finding' my love for the world of medicine, or taking the offer for CMM at the university I'd most love to be at and enjoy 3 years of quality University life studying what is basically the theory of medicine, without the direct application to human life. If anybody could suggest/give advice to me during an extremely busy exam season it would be most welcome.

Reply 1

Freyr

depends what you want to get out of the degree and what you want to work as in the future.
The downsides to medicine are many, but then again, so are the positives. During the application process you should have gone through your head exactly why you wanted to be a doctor in the first place. If that still holds true and you still want to be a doctor, go for medicine.

If you don't want to be a doctor anymore, then do CMM. This route you need to also think about what you want to do after graduating.

You know how diffficult it is to get into medicine, so if its what you want to do, don't let this opportunity pass you by.

Just curious though, how did you get this medicine offer? The way you phrased it, it seems like you got an offer from a university that you didn't originally apply to?
Or was it one of the other 3 med schools you applied to (i.e you were on waiting list?)

Reply 2

Democracy

Personally I'd take the medicine offer. It is much easier to drop out of medicine if you don't like it and do a life sciences degree than vice versa.

Incidentally, if you're into cellular and molecular sciences, you could specialise as a histopathologist once you finish medical school and complete the Foundation Programme. It's not like you have to be a surgeon.

Reply 3

MonteCristo

The question you really need to answer is "do you want to be a doctor?". I wouldn't focus too much on the location or even the content of the course too much - 3-5 years really is a very short amount of time in the context of the rest of your career. If you want to be a doctor, go to medical school and work in Bristol if necessary afterwards. If you don't want to be a doctor, it sounds as if CMM is your degree of choice.

This decision isn't final - you could work in the CMM field as a medical doctor or could study graduate medicine after a CMM degree if you change your mind later on. I'm not sure I buy Democracy's suggestion of choosing medical school because there is an option of dropping out to pursue a life sciences degree. Some universities will let you transfer out of medicine but that will still be a stressful/destabilising experience and does deprive someone else of a medical school place that they might have based a career upon. You should be looking to make a long-term decision now.

Otherwise, I don't know how helpful other people can be in terms of answering whether or not you want to be a doctor...

Reply 4

Rose4

I have just finished 3 years of CMM and absolutely loved it. I was in a similar situation a few years ago, I applied for medicine and with no offers I couldn't decide whether to take a gap year and re-apply or just go to uni for 3 years, really try and figure out if medicine was for me and then re-apply. My last rejection came quite late and I almost panicked with the prospect of not knowing what I was doing the following year and so I decided to accept my place for CMM at Bristol. I don't for one bit regret my decision. The course is great, the academic staff are really passionate about what they teach and Bristol is the most amazing city to live in. However, whenever I meet a medic I always get a longing to be on their course, all my medic friends absolutely love their course and although they are worked hard they still have a great social life.

I'm glad I did CMM because it gave me another 3 years to decide what I really wanted to do. That said, if I did have an offer for medicine I would take it. If you ultimately see yourself as a doctor then go for. Applying for grad medicine is tough, a lot tougher than getting into undergrad, which as you know already hard enough. You could always try medicine and if it doesn't work out switch to CMM, but if you accept CMM there's no way to transfer back to Medicine.

Let me know if you want to know anything else about CMM.

Good luck!

Reply 5

IronMind

Thank you for all the replies, I have chosen to take the Medicine offer with CMM as my insurance!