The Student Room Group

Help!! Biomedical science to medicine?

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Reply 1
I'd always kind-of wanted to be a doctor, and planned on doing medicine. However due to personal circumstances, I left school too early so therefore couldn't go into medicine. So I'm planning on doing something like biomed and then doing a postgraduate medicine course too.

Anyway, my bit of advice is actually coming from someone who did this. She's juts qualified as a doctor and did biomedical science and then postgraduate medicine and she says that this was the best way to do it. Yes you're at uni for a whole lot longer than if you just did medicine but she said it benefited her in the long run. Medicine is a hard course, but with the background knowledge of biomedical science, she said she found it pretty easy. And also once she did qualify, she was more desirable to employ as she had two relevant degrees.

She also said it was a good way of embracing student life. She partied mostly during her biomedical science degree where the workload wasn't too high, and then was bored of partying by the time she got to doing medicine and so she worked damn hard at it and passed everything with flying colours.

Another point, she had a part-time job in a hospital lab during her biomed degree when she had plenty time to work and wasn't weighed down with work. This not only helped her to get into medicine, as they like candidates to have experience, but the hospital she worked with actually agreed to sponsor her and pay her tuition fees for her medicine degree, and offer her accommodation if she continued to work in that hospital after she qualified. I don't know if this happens often or not though.

Anyway, whatever you decide, good luck. :smile:
Have you got any work experience in medicine? Or are you saying you want to do medicine based on a fantasy of doctors being highly paid, respected people? Grad med is incredibly competitive. You'd be looking at possibly 40 applicants per place. How much do you know about the career structure in medicine? MMC/MTAS? I would not say that being a doctor was a respected profession, in terms of the lack of thanks, the bitchiness of multidisciplinary co-operation, and the litigious situation you'd find yourself in if you do something wrong.

Would you be prepared to sit GAMSAT/BMAT/UKCAT? Have you done voluntary work long-term to demonstrate a commitment to the healthcare profession and an insight into the views of the patient? Have you spoken to doctors about how they feel about their jobs? Currently a lot of them are looking at not having a job in a few weeks. How's that for job security? Could you cope with 7 years at uni (mentally and financially)? Currently, GEP Med is funded by the NHS for years 2-4, but this will end soon.

You could do a lot with a BioMed degree; working as an NHS Biomedical Scientist, do research work, or work in other sectors that don't mind what subject your degree is in. I don't agree with what Sammi22's friend says (not saying you're wrong, I just don't agree) about being more employable due to having two relevant degrees. A biomedical science degree is worth nothing once you have a medical degree, because it supplies no additional knowledge to what is covered in the pre-clinical years. The hospital sponsor thing is almost unheard of; there are plenty of doctors to go around, they don't need to pay out to keep them there. And F1's get free accomodation at their hospital anyway.
Reply 3
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Reply 4
You don't know why doctors are without jobs?! Have you not heard about the whole online application thing?!! - I would have thought you'd know about this if you want to do the job.

Also, those salaries don't look that good to me, bearing in mind the stresses of the job.

Good luck anyhow!
Reply 5
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Reply 6
im doing that too..ive got offers from Aston..southmpton and UWE bristol for biomedical sciences... nd hopefully get a 1st in that and proceed to medicine tbh its only 2 years longe then going straight to medicine so thats not 2 bad..nd there r plus sides..like the medicine degree will be much easier after doing biomed?! x
Reply 7
sheen-bean
im doing that too..ive got offers from Aston..southmpton and UWE bristol for biomedical sciences... nd hopefully get a 1st in that and proceed to medicine tbh its only 2 years longe then going straight to medicine so thats not 2 bad..nd there r plus sides..like the medicine degree will be much easier after doing biomed?! x

I am up for it too. But i was thinking, rather than getting a degree in biomedical sciences, i wanted to get one in a specific field like neuroscience / pharmacology and then apply for graduate medicine. Also, the course that i will be doing is with industrial experience so hopefully that would be good. In terms of salary, i am not too sure but i think it depends on experience and qualification. For instance, if you had Phd than Bsc, than you are likely to earn more.
Reply 8
memenme_1
I am up for it too. But i was thinking, rather than getting a degree in biomedical sciences, i wanted to get one in a specific field like neuroscience / pharmacology and then apply for graduate medicine. Also, the course that i will be doing is with industrial experience so hopefully that would be good. In terms of salary, i am not too sure but i think it depends on experience and qualification. For instance, if you had Phd than Bsc, than you are likely to earn more.


:yes: :yes: :p: im nt the only looser LOL...my teacher was like..biomed students r medicine rejects::frown:
Reply 9
sheen-bean
:yes: :yes: :p: im nt the only looser LOL...my teacher was like..biomed students r medicine rejects::frown:


teachers are idiots! they just put your hopes down so they force you to work harder and aim higher..or maybe jealousy.. you never know..anyways, that's exactly what my teacher said to me! i still can't get it out of my head :frown: :frown:
Its now 02:02am, im tired after my revision and therefor will not be held responsible for the gramatical errors in the following text:p:

Teachers, are by no means idiots. Without teachers we wouldnt have doctors. However, i do believe that it is fair to say that some teachers may seem rather resentful about the fact that their students will progress to do better than them. Hence "biomed students are medicine rejects" what ever teacher said that has a real attitude problem, and i really HATE the fact that a teacher of all people would have the audacity to say this to their students. Bear in mind that it is us "medicine rejects" that confirm the doctors sometimes uncertain diagnostics. With out us rejects the NHS would really have their hands full. If teachers are going to actively discourage people from wanting to persue careers in laboritory work, then the system must be re-tooled. NOT ONE student should be discouraged by their teachers ESPECIALLY during school years where kids are far more impressionable and open to being mislead by things such as the aforementioned comment. You go and do Biomed! it's a great course and presents chalanges in all aspects biology and chemistry. It also has things like biochemistry, cell bioogy, human anatomy and microbiology.:yes:
Reply 11
This is a pretty funny post.

Its like saying, "No, I'm not just after the money they earn for Medicine, I'm also after the fame and how cool it will look like if I become a doctor".

If you're just doing it to look good without any enthusiasm at all for the career, I suggest you find a new career.
Reply 12
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Reply 13
I think its quite competitive, you would need top grades, if you can't get them now, what makes you think you can get them now?

A lot of my course mates from biomed applied, one had lots of medical work experience and came out with a first class hons, but she still failed to make the cut.

Make sure you enjoy what you are doing and have a back up plan.
Reply 14
So the conclusion is that IT IS POSSIBLE to take MBBS after completing my Bio Medical Science . By the way , 1 question , is there any reason for taking Biomedical Science and then MBBS ? Why not just straight to MBBS? Sorry for my confusion . :colondollar:
Reply 15
By doing biomed science and then Medicine, you tend to get better career prospects :smile: That is a fact! It will not make ANY difference if you wanted to just go to a hospital and work purely as a doctor! But it wud help you a lot if you were to go into research or other cross-disciplinary work!
Reply 16
Hello guys. I'v been rejected from 3 universities for medicine and I been offered to do biomedical and other course which is medical science. I am desperate to study medicine so what is the best way to do so in short time ?? which course is better to study to make me get into medicine and what do I need in my first year score in order to transfer to medicine. help me plz
Reply 17
Original post by Alhebshi
Hello guys. I'v been rejected from 3 universities for medicine and I been offered to do biomedical and other course which is medical science. I am desperate to study medicine so what is the best way to do so in short time ?? which course is better to study to make me get into medicine and what do I need in my first year score in order to transfer to medicine. help me plz


At my university, it is not possible to transfer to second year medicine. However, I know of several universities (like Newcastle) that offer this pathway. Just study, study, study, study like a madman, take up a volunteer role in a care environment and hope for the best!

I know this thread is dedicated to those wanting to apply to medicine after a degree in biomedicine, but have you considered the possibility of reapplying? In retrospect, I wish I took the opportunity to reapply instead of going on with a degree in biomed. Relatively speaking, graduate entry medicine is so much more difficult to get into than undergraduate entry medicine. I urge you to consider resitting your UKCAT/BMAT/A levels/polishing your personal statement/gaining more work experiences and have one more go at it.
Reply 18
Hi everyone,

I just joined this website in order to get some help from all you good people.

I have graduated with a Biomedical Science degree at 2.1. However, i really want to do Medicine but i can't afford it.

I am really stuck as what to do from now on. I believe that whatever i choose to do now, i have to stick with it for the rest of my life.

Keeping in mind that i wanted to become a doctor, could you please inform me of any careers that i can do which are very much similar to Medicine - earning around £40,000 at start.

Or can i do a masters, where i maybe able to carry out similar duties to a doctor.

The bottom line is that i want to do hospital based work, working with patients etc. But NOT A NURSE.

PLEASSSEEEE HELP ME?!!?
Reply 19
How long is medicine/dentristy course after biomedical science?

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