do you think medicine admission will calm down or become less COMPETITIVE in future?

you seem to be arguing that, say, quantum physics degrees are in demand.

I honestly don't see it calming down any time soon. In the past year, applications have risen steadily by 3-4% each year since about 2002 (I'll try and find the census data from UCAS I was looking at). Apparently, this year, applications increased 30%.

My course director told me that medicine admissions were down for 2011 entry compared to 2010 I think it was only 3-4%, but where did you get your stats from?

At the majority of med schools offering the 4 year courses and 5 year courses, the only difference between the two is the first year. Once the 4 year course medics have completed their first year they move into year 3 of the 5 year course (albeit their year 2). Most 4 year courses require a life science degree for entry, this is because much of the basic bioscience (cell biology, biochemistry etc) is removed from the curriculum, allowing them to condense 2 years work into 1 without making it insanely difficult (so you basically spend a year learning anatomy and physiology).

My point is, it's not as though you're squeezing a 5year course into a 4 year one. It's only the 1st (pre-clinical) year that is different.

What the guy above was aiming at, was that you implied in a previous post that the difficulty of gaining entry to a course reflects the difficulty of the course itself. This is obviously not true - I'm sure a physics degree is much more challenging academically than medicine, but arguably much easier to get into.

What the guy above was aiming at, was that you implied in a previous post that the difficulty of gaining entry to a course reflects the difficulty of the course itself. This is obviously not true - I'm sure a physics degree is much more challenging academically than medicine, but arguably much easier to get into.

EDIT: I may have put a bit too much emphasis on the whole 'job security' thing, but despite what people say, I do think that can be a factor, especially in graduates.

guys listen: Im not taking another ****ing gap year......gem cant be as competitive personally because i could only apply to two unis as i didnt have bio just chem,physics,maths

Why not take another gap year and teach yourself biology A-level, or do an intensive course at a college in 1 year? That way you can apply to pretty much any of the unis (grades dependent). Surely this would have been the logical thing to do on your 1st gap year?

I've taught myself both biology & chemistry this year whilst juggling work exp for veterinary and a part time job. All it takes is a little bit of time management.

One thing to note is if you apply as a grad I'm pretty sure most unis (assumption based on vet med which is 6/7) want you to have both biol & chem A-levels. Unless you have a degree based on biol & chem. But I would have assumed you wouldn't get onto a course like this without biology?