is it possible to medicine and maths at the same time?

no friends or no life. Hard one tbh

The comment was ridiculous - I did a maths degree and now teach. I am married and have loads of friends. Take the comment with a huge pinch of salt.

Reply 21

m_j_

11

What a levels you doing now ?

Reply 22

TajwarC

17

Original post by lhabgabdgbfa

I can't chose between the fielgds. I'v reached the age where I have to think about my future and I can't decide. On one hand, I am extremly good at maths ( I got 239/240 in my gcse and I also got gold every year in the ukmt since year 7) but on the other hand, after doing some work experience, I think medicine is a great career path and it would help me become a better person by helping others. Cant I just do medicine at the same time as maths buy doing a gap year where I can focus on my maths degree ( im also very interested in mathematics as well)

Maths is very much something you can do as a hobby, solving problems from Olympiads or generally stuff you find online or on YouTube, in your spare time. You can't really do the same for medicine as far as I can imagine

Reply 23

vicvic38

19

Original post by Muttley79

The comment was ridiculous - I did a maths degree and now teach. I am married and have loads of friends. Take the comment with a huge pinch of salt.

Lol it was obviously a joke.

Chill

Reply 24

timif1

13

Original post by squeakysquirrel

No. I think you are underestimating the workload for both subjects. If you do medicine you have no life. If you do maths you have no friends. Pick one or the other. Nowhere will let you do both.

Isn’t friends a subset of life tho

Reply 25

lhabgabdgbfa

OP

12

Original post by m_j_

What a levels you doing now ?

maths, fm, them, bio.

Reply 26

MezmorisedPotato

18

This depends on the stage of education you are in. If you are at the A-level stage and according to research, you can imagine a degree you can do other than medicine, then sticking with the other degree is probably a better choice. Medicine requires complete dedication and people apply usually after sifting through many choices over the years of school and sixth form.

If doing Maths makes you happier and you enjoy it more, then stick with this over medicine. You can only determine this with your own research and interests in mind.

Reply 27

å¦ç”Ÿã®çˆ¶

19

Original post by lhabgabdgbfa

I think its possible to do medicine and maths at Cambridge. Apparently you do your first 2 years of biomedicine or something like that and on your third year, you can do any degree ( maths in my case) and you can get a degree out of it ( so if I do maths I can ge a maths degree), then you can continue with medicine ( years 4-6) and get a medical degree. If that's true, I guess Cambridge is my goal lol

It is very unlikely that you would be able to do the Part II Maths tripos in the 3rd year of your Medicine degree at Cambridge. Yes, you are required to intercalate, but the amount of theoretical mathematics content in Part I (the first two years) of the medical programme is so small you'd be totally out of your depth with the mathmos.

This is how the website describes your 3rd year at Cambridge:

Year 3 is a year of specialist study into one of a wide range of subjects on offer at the University of Cambridge. It is a unique opportunity to explore interests outside the typical medicine curriculum. Options vary from more science-related subjects such as Pathology or History and Philosophy of Science, to less science-related disciplines such as Philosophy or Management Studies. The Preparing for Patients module continues throughout the year to maintain patient contact. At the end of this year, you receive a BA degree

Reply 28

lhabgabdgbfa

OP

12

Original post by 学生の父

It is very unlikely that you would be able to do the Part II Maths tripos in the 3rd year of your Medicine degree at Cambridge. Yes, you are required to intercalate, but the amount of theoretical mathematics content in Part I (the first two years) of the medical programme is so small you'd be totally out of your depth with the mathmos.

This is how the website describes your 3rd year at Cambridge:

Year 3 is a year of specialist study into one of a wide range of subjects on offer at the University of Cambridge. It is a unique opportunity to explore interests outside the typical medicine curriculum. Options vary from more science-related subjects such as Pathology or History and Philosophy of Science, to less science-related disciplines such as Philosophy or Management Studies. The Preparing for Patients module continues throughout the year to maintain patient contact. At the end of this year, you receive a BA degree

you seem to have done maths at uni. I have a random question, which uni is better at maths (in prestige, teaching and career prospects), st Andrews or Imperial College.

Reply 29

squeakysquirrel

20

Original post by timif1

Isn’t friends a subset of life tho

I think the amount of fun you will have is inversely proportional to the difficulty of the degree

Reply 30

TheUKAmerican

11

Im doing two undergraduate qualifications- a full bachelors at one uni and a qual équivalent to the final year of a bachelors at another. It’s certainly doable but last year for instance, I completed 10 modules instead of the usual 6 an undergrad would. I’ve managed to get 68s at both Unis for that year, and it’s imperative I finish with a first at both this year and I’m not sure how I can squeeze out the extra time needed.

The only reason it’s been possible for me is because the two fields are adjacent - one qualification is just a more quantitative sub domain of the other, and so they reinforce each other and I can do a lot of two for one reading - same goes with my dissertations.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 31

FA_600

3

I’m a medical student and as much as I’d want other people to be on the same path as me, I’m afraid just wanting to help people may not be the best reason to do medicine. There’s lots of ways you can help people. But to do medicine (5-6 years) training (another 5-10 years) you’ve got to really enjoy studying about the human body and human physiology.Yes every medical student wants to help people and every single one of them said that in their personal statement, but most of them who get on well on the course also really enjoy the challenges and studying about the body.In order to enjoy the course you’ve really get to have an interest in the subject as well as people obviously because doctors are nothing without the patients they treat. Also we do quite a bit of maths but it’s just stuff like drug dosing etc. What makes it interesting though is that someone’s life quite literally depends on it.I can only talk about medicine. No experience here of studying maths beyond A-levels.

Reply 32

Chief Wiggum

20

Original post by lhabgabdgbfa

I think its possible to do medicine and maths at Cambridge. Apparently you do your first 2 years of biomedicine or something like that and on your third year, you can do any degree ( maths in my case) and you can get a degree out of it ( so if I do maths I can ge a maths degree), then you can continue with medicine ( years 4-6) and get a medical degree. If that's true, I guess Cambridge is my goal lol

I really don't think they'd let you do Maths in your 3rd year at Cambridge.

Reply 33

Med3

17

Original post by Moe_00

As people said you can't fully do both. But if I recall correctly Imperial had a program where you could study another subject for a year. Not sure if it was only medicine related or anything. Can't be bothered to research it but you should look up the Imperial course structure (this is assuming you can get in of course).

You can do an Intercalated Bsc in Year 4 of the med course but maths isnt one of the subjects

Reply 34

TheUKAmerican

11

As probably the only person here who’s actually (successfully) attempted 2 (actually, 3) qualifications at the same time, If you’re serious about this, you can do a BA in Maths part time on the Open Uni. I would encourage you to not do more than a module a term during the school year, and then load up on classes for the Math BA in the summer so you can finish it in a reasonable amount of time and not have the two qualifications affect each other too much.

That being said, unless you have a very specific reason for doing so the hassle isn’t worth it and i would discourage you. I don’t have a life right now because all i do is study.

Reply 35

lhabgabdgbfa

OP

12

Original post by Med3

You can do an Intercalated Bsc in Year 4 of the med course but maths isnt one of the subjects

what are the subjects one can do

Reply 36

lhabgabdgbfa

OP

12

Original post by FA_600

I’m a medical student and as much as I’d want other people to be on the same path as me, I’m afraid just wanting to help people may not be the best reason to do medicine. There’s lots of ways you can help people. But to do medicine (5-6 years) training (another 5-10 years) you’ve got to really enjoy studying about the human body and human physiology.Yes every medical student wants to help people and every single one of them said that in their personal statement, but most of them who get on well on the course also really enjoy the challenges and studying about the body.In order to enjoy the course you’ve really get to have an interest in the subject as well as people obviously because doctors are nothing without the patients they treat. Also we do quite a bit of maths but it’s just stuff like drug dosing etc. What makes it interesting though is that someone’s life quite literally depends on it.I can only talk about medicine. No experience here of studying maths beyond A-levels.

thanks for the advise, deffo keep it in mind

Original post by TheUKAmerican

As probably the only person here who’s actually (successfully) attempted 2 (actually, 3) qualifications at the same time, If you’re serious about this, you can do a BA in Maths part time on the Open Uni. I would encourage you to not do more than a module a term during the school year, and then load up on classes for the Math BA in the summer so you can finish it in a reasonable amount of time and not have the two qualifications affect each other too much.

That being said, unless you have a very specific reason for doing so the hassle isn’t worth it and i would discourage you. I don’t have a life right now because all i do is study.

Reply 37

786_Medstudent

2

Hey, so what did you end up doing because I have the same dilemma now?

Original post by lhabgabdgbfa

I can't chose between the fields. I'v reached the age where I have to think about my future and I can't decide. On one hand, I am extremly good at maths ( I got 239/240 in my gcse and I also got gold every year in the ukmt since year 7) but on the other hand, after doing some work experience, I think medicine is a great career path and it would help me become a better person by helping others. Cant I just do medicine at the same time as maths buy doing a gap year where I can focus on my maths degree ( im also very interested in mathematics as well)