Teaching with a Medical Degree

Thanks, your comments have been really helpful

I was just wondering, what has put you off medicine so much?

is it not? because of recession do you think???,,a few of my friends dads are doctors in high places and they assured me job security should i apply for medicine, which i didnt,

Nope, its because of the deliberate oversupply of medical graduates and squeezing of training budgets in order to produce a surplus of doctors in order to drive down wages and bargaining power.

If you can get through specialist training things are alright, that bit is however the current nightmare.

Yeah, i have been considering a gap year, especially since i have been doubting my decision. I am not sure if the university would definately allow deferred entry though if i didn't apply for it to begin with?

What made you continue with your medicine application instead of nat. sci.?

i didnt know this, all in all medicine seems like a bit of a waste of effort if there's no job at the end of the line, and you have to do all this work experience, bmat, ukcat etc etc,
even getting admission into an average uni seems like an achievement,

i didnt know this, all in all medicine seems like a bit of a waste of effort if there's no job at the end of the line, and you have to do all this work experience, bmat, ukcat etc etc,
even getting admission into an average uni seems like an achievement,

You have absolutely nothing to lose by asking them, I know someone who was allowed to defer as late as June (for Dentistry, so kinda similar).

It was down to the reasons for my doubts in the first place. I was worried that the only reason I was going for medicine was because I'd convinced myself from such an early age that I wanted to be a doctor, and I wasn't really considering other paths. This wasn't helped when I went on a Cambridge open day, as I really liked the place, just didn't like the look of the Medicine course (as an option for me). I realised fairly soon that I still didn't want to do anything else though, so went for it

Yeah, my mood today is try and stick out the six years, then feel the water and either stay or swim for it.

^^ i think thats my problem/worry too

Which uni are you thinking of heading to for clinicals (assuming you stay)?

Try and defer then. It'll give you time to fully reassess your situation, look at other possibilities etc. Get yourself some HCA work for part of the year, and possibly some WE in a school too, just to educate yourself some more on your options

I'm guaranteed a place at manchester, though if I can motivate myself to take an interest in the course matter and get some grades I may apply elsewhere.

I havn't thought about it massively thus far.

Any recommendations?

Can you apply anywhere? I thought you had to choose between Manchester and the other Scottish unis...

You can apply off your own back anywhere you want. You are guaranteed a place at either of the above.

A mate for instance is holding a place at Dundee, but looking at applying for Cambridge.

I'm guaranteed a place at manchester, though if I can motivate myself to take an interest in the course matter and get some grades I may apply elsewhere.

I havn't thought about it massively thus far.

Any recommendations?

Tbh you're probably as well asking in the Med Students Soc thread, then you can get opinions from people in all areas. Personally though, I really like the South West of England as a region, and would probably consider putting in an application for somewhere down that way. If you're just looking at Manchester bases then I'd go for Preston, cause then you'll be starting at the same time as me, and you'd be one of the St Andrews students making us look bad

Which uni are you thinking of heading to for clinicals (assuming you stay)?

what are clinicals, what you do after the initial degree

The extra year can't make that much difference surely.

I was actually looking favorably at preston for manchester though.

Not if you just look at as a year no, but in context it's 2yrs to 3yrs, so 50% more core teaching time. From talking to some friends I have in clinical years its apparently mainly your anatomy that's better, although one guy (St Andrews 5th year, 4th year Manchester equivalent) was saying how you have a better grasp of clinical skills to start with too, having already done some.

I'll be able to tell you a bit more about Preston in a month or so, as I have an early experience placement there, but if you wanted to know what it was like to spend three years there then you might want to talk to a couple of the other guys on this forum (I'll pm you)