Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
Hey ppl,
I didnt make the grades for medicine this year, so instead of reapplying i'm planning to take a different degree first. The degree i'm liking the most is CC84 Psychology with genetics and human health.
Do you think medical schools will accept a student who gets a 1st ir 2.1 in this course or would a more academic course suite better?
Re: Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
Some places e.g. Warwick accept Psychology degrees if they're accredited by the British Psychological Society. A number of places accept any degree e.g. UCL.
But I don't think the places which specify a life sciences degree would accept your degree, if psychology is the major part of it.
Re: Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
You are risking it a bit having Psychology as the major part of your degree. Granted, Warwick (where i am at) started taking people with psychology degrees this year, but every psych grad i know is really struggling. It requires a hell of a lot of work.
If you can do a biochem/anatomy/physiology related degree you would be doing yourself a massive favour in the long run.
Re: Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
My only contribution would be to ensure that it is BPS acredited. I have seen that some med schools do specifically note this as a requirement and with a minor it tends to be less likely to be. Again, as other people have said, you would probably be better off choosing something else, but in the long run, its your £20k or so to spend, so pick something you would enjoy.
Oh, thought I'd also note that I've seen that in MOST cases, Psychology does fall into the Biological sciences catagory, or atleast Health Sciences.
Last edited by GodspeedGehenna : 07-03-2009 at 20:00.
Re: Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
Originally Posted by GingerManJames
And that is.....
Thanks to everyone else
The point he is trying to make is that medicine is always an undergraduate degree regardless of whether you've done a degree in the past. The 4 year courses are 'grad entry' rather than post grad and the only way to do post grad medicine is to have done a medicine degree.
Re: Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
Originally Posted by GingerManJames
Hey ppl,
I didnt make the grades for medicine this year, so instead of reapplying i'm planning to take a different degree first. The degree i'm liking the most is CC84 Psychology with genetics and human health.
Do you think medical schools will accept a student who gets a 1st ir 2.1 in this course or would a more academic course suite better?
Thanks for any advice
Your best bet is to do a more science based degree, possibly pharmacology, biochemistry etc..
but if you feel that this is the degree you do want to go for definitely contact the admissions tutors for some medical schools and see what majority of them accept it and whether or not they believe it is in your best interest in starting the course.
Re: Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
Hmmm - My experience of psych grads is totally different to Snails... One of my friends who is on our GEP course (in her final year) has a psych degree and is romping medicine, and are my psych grad friends on 5 year medicine. The GEP has career aspirations dstinct from her background. All the others seem to want to be psychiatrists.
If you're going to do a degree, make it one that you WANT to study. ******* up a degree will close far more doors than it will open, so you need to be motivated by it.
Re: Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
Depends really on where you want to do medicine...some places don't mind what degree you have (like Soton) but some will only accept specific science-related ones (like Bristol).
It is important (obviously) to choose a degree that you're interested in so you can get at least a 2:1 in it, but just make sure you check where you want to apply...you might be limiting yourself though - research! All the best!
Re: Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
Originally Posted by Fluffy
Hmmm - My experience of psych grads is totally different to Snails... One of my friends who is on our GEP course (in her final year) has a psych degree and is romping medicine, and are my psych grad friends on 5 year medicine. The GEP has career aspirations dstinct from her background. All the others seem to want to be psychiatrists.
If you're going to do a degree, make it one that you WANT to study. ******* up a degree will close far more doors than it will open, so you need to be motivated by it.
Re: Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
GEP is an absolute bugger to get into with any degree. You should have a reasonable chance of getting into a standard entry course with that degree though.
There are a few people in my year with psychology degrees.
Re: Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
Originally Posted by terpineol
GEP is an absolute bugger to get into with any degree. You should have a reasonable chance of getting into a standard entry course with that degree though.
There are a few people in my year with psychology degrees.
But assuming the OP gets on - wouldn't it make life easier if he/she had been taught in depth biological science rather than chasing theories of how the mind might possibly kinda work?
Re: Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
Originally Posted by biolojee
But assuming the OP gets on - wouldn't it make life easier if he/she had been taught in depth biological science rather than chasing theories of how the mind might possibly kinda work?
Definitely, but if psychology is what floats their boat they will have a far easier time of getting a 2.1/1 than doing biochemistry, or god forbid, pharmacology.
Re: Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
Originally Posted by terpineol
Definitely, but if psychology is what floats their boat they will have a far easier time of getting a 2.1/1 than doing biochemistry, or god forbid, pharmacology.
But wouldn't shying away from a degree in say - anatomy and physiology seem to suggest the person isn't all that interested in the science of the human body?
Re: Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
Originally Posted by biolojee
But wouldn't shying away from a degree in say - anatomy and physiology seem to suggest the person isn't all that interested in the science of the human body?
Quite possibly, but there is a good chance that come the time they graduate they won't want to do medicine.
Added to which with the removal of funding for second degrees, and the talk of raising the tuition fees to 9k, they may not be able to afford to. As such, on the basis that this could be the only degree they ever get the chance to do, I would encourage them to do whatever interests them.
Re: Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
Originally Posted by biolojee
But wouldn't shying away from a degree in say - anatomy and physiology seem to suggest the person isn't all that interested in the science of the human body?
Medicine's not just about the science though - my course places a lot of significance on the psychological and sociological aspects of disease (with this taking up about 50% of our end of year exams)
The mind/psychology is important in medicine - how the mind affects diseases, how diseases affect the mind etc.
(I'm not saying that the science isn't important, and there are quite a few anatomy/biomed/science focussed grads on my course, who do certainly find some things easier)
University course discussion for medicine.
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Is this degree good enough to do medicine as a postgrad?
