Doubts?

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How much is the UKCAT? I'm thinking about taking it for ****s and giggles. I'm not joking.

I understand your predicament, since I'm in a somewhat similar position (except that I've already applied for medicine this year). Take a step back and try to look at things from a more objective viewpoint - having wanted to be a doctor for ages is probably clouding your judgment, if you feel you can't go back on a decision you've held for such a long time. It is a huge decision to make as a teen so think over it and don't rush to reach a conclusion... it's easy to overanalyse what each path would lead to after university, but I think there's too much uncertainty to make up your mind based on this. Ultimately I think it's down to you envisaging which of the two disciplines would leave you unsatisfied; I doubt you would gain the same - or even comparable - satisfaction from both, if you analyse your ideals carefully. I'd say you should do maths.

Reply 62

Fission_Mailed

Original post by winter_mute

How much is the UKCAT? I'm thinking about taking it for ****s and giggles. I'm not joking.

?£60 if you book early, goes up to about £75 if you leave it to the last minute (like I did :redface:

Reply 63

digitalis

Original post by hassi94

I can't imagine how upset my parents would be if I told them I didn't want to do medicine. I've tried hinting that I may want to do other things but my mum just seems to get upset.

Don't let your parents live through you.

They aren't going to be the ones up at 3AM dealing with a sicky, you are.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 64

No Future

Original post by SteveCrain

It is not overtly difficult, and seems to be similar to the standard intelligence quotient test.

Idk why this has been negged so many times. The UKCAT is very similar to an IQ test and sure it's a test so some stress is involved, but it's hardly the worst exam I've ever sat. There is no required knowledge/content, other than a) about the test and how it works and b) time management in the test and practicing questions beforehand. Other than that, it's effectively a strictly timed IQ test.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 65

No Future

Original post by Beska

It's very subjective because it depends on where you're applying - a score below 650 is below average, while 700 is a good score. A score of 750 or above would mean you shouldn't be restricted by your UKCAT score. I'd class a score between 700 - 750 as a 'good score' - but only IMO and for the 2011 cycle. The 'good score' is likely to increase in the future.

600 is average and it depends on the med school. Some will only take candidates with over 700, but this is not the case for all.

Yeah, the higher the better, but as long as you're over 600/650, you stand a chance at a no of med schools.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 66

lekky

Original post by Beska

moneys

if I LOVED maths I'd probs go for it to.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 67

xXxBaby-BooxXx

Original post by Fission_Mailed

?£60 if you book early, goes up to about £75 if you leave it to the last minute (like I did :redface:

Me too

Reply 68

ickelLorns

Original post by hassi94

Well, firestar, Iraqi parents so yeah. It's been partly that and partly a job that's always interested me. But while I feel like at the moment I'd love to do maths - I don't know what I'd do with it. It seems like all maths jobs are for statisticians anyway which isn't what I want at all.

Have any of you who have done medicine thought about doing other things?

And Ayshizzle that's not really very helpful advice.

@Stevecrain thanks for the input, I think I could get into oxbridge in maths - I do lots of things in maths at school - as many opportunities as possible, I get extremely high grades in maths/physics and so I don't see why not - but where would that get me?

I realise this is seeming a bit silly since most of you are med students! Sorry if I'm putting unwarranted pressure on.

I'm not a med student (hopefully will be applying for 2013 entry) but I am a mature student, I'm 25 and studying Medical Sciences hoping to go on to do GEM. Have you thought about applying to do Maths at uni, but keeping up with medical work exp and then if the drive is still there and the career options with Maths don't meet your expectations you could apply for graduate entry medicine after you complete your first degree, not everyone knows what they want to do at 18...

Reply 69

thisismycatch22

Original post by No Future

Because talking about how hard it is misses the point when your admission for interview will depend on how well you do compared to other people. It's an IQ test, as you say, but it's not like you just have to sit the test and then you get an interview whatever your score is. For all intents and purposes, it's a ranked IQ test, and that element of competition is where difficulty comes in, not whether you need to read a CGP book about looking at circles with dots and lines in for 2 hours a day first.

That and the part where they come across as an arrogant tool discussing the difficulty of a test they've never done.