Was this woman right in saying this?

A Nigerian delivery lady came to my house, I started the small chat and she briefly said: 'what course are you studying, I said 'biochemistry'. She later said 'what do you plan to do afterwards?', I said 'probably medicine, hopefully', she said 'why are you doing biochemistry? Why don't you read medicine? you're wasting your time, I studied microbiology and I was 35 when I started having children, you're a grown up, time is ticking'. After her lecture I told her, I fell short of the grades however I did have one medicine interview but sadly didn't get in. I'm not going to take loads of gap years, I'd rather try my luck as a graduate. She said 'you should have got a tutor, you're wasting your time, just think about it'.

Her comments have sort of disheartened me a little, this isn't the first time someone's said this to me. Hers was the most blunt.

(edited 12 years ago)

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Reply 1

Someone123123

Original post by T-Toe

A Nigerian

Is this necessary info'?

delivery lady came to my house, I started the small chat and she briefly said: 'what course are you studying, I said 'biochemistry'. She later said 'what do you plan to do afterwards?', I said 'probably medicine, hopefully', she said 'why are you doing biochemistry? Why don't you read medicine? you're wasting your time, I studied microbiology and I was 35 when I started having children, you're a grown up, time is ticking'. After her lecture I told her, I fell short of the grades however I did have one medicine interview but sadly didn't get in. I'm not going to take loads of gap years, I'd rather try my luck as a graduate. She said 'you should have got a tutor, you're wasting your time, just think about it'.

Her comments have sort of disheartened me a little, this isn't the first time someone's said this to me. Hers was the most blunt.

Well, each person is different. You know yourself better than she knows you. Some people feel it is right to go for the graduate route, others don't. I think it's just a personal thing.
You shouldn't let the comments of a stranger you don't know affect you to a great extent.. everyone has their own opinions.. some which differ to our own..

Reply 2

rY4uGD1fMzBj4xe2

After this speech did she go on to tell you your uncle had died and left you £1,000,000?

Was this then followed by her asking your sort code and account number?

Reply 3

Dekota-XS

Graduate entry medicine isn't the easiest route in, so she has a point.

Reply 4

Yawn11

You already know she wasn't right...

She obviously wasn't listening when you said you fell short of the grades, suggests to me she doesn't really get how the system works.

If you were wasting your time, does that mean that all the other individuals who got in through post graduated wasted their time?

Is anyone who didn't make it into medicine and chose alternative pathways wasting their time?!

Success is by perception not others. It worries me that people feel so pressured to be on competitive courses, and don't realise the time and commitment it places on their life as a career not just the period that they are studying.

Honestly, if truly whole heartedly wanted to pursue medicine something like that shouldn't have really phased you.

Reply 5

omlette

True, it's not the easiest (or cheapest!) route, but if you have still got the medicine bug at the end of your degree then it's worth pursuing. Only you know if you're wasting your time, just because it didn't work out for her doesn't mean that it doesn't work out for the hundreds of people who discover med later in life.

Reply 6

itchy and scratchy

You shouldn't let what other people say affect your decisions/ goals. Microbiology -> delivery person :wtf:

Reply 7

alleycat393

I did biochemistry and loads of people I graduated with wanted to go on to do medicine. My point being that it's not uncommon and is in fact quite a smart thing to do.

Graduate entry medicine is fairly competitive and so if I were you I'd work hard from day one (though at some unis your first year doesn't count!)

From the perspective of someone who's a biochemist and who was considering a career in the clinical sciences I would say that having done biochemistry as a first degree will give you a wider perspective of things when you do qualify as as doctor-a better molecular understanding of the things you'll encounter. Also, doctors talk to clinical scientists a lot when diagnosing and managing diseases using various biochemical tests. You'll be better equipped to understand and communicate with your clinical scientists.

I believe that medical degrees do contain elements of biochemistry and molecular stuff so your degree will help you there.

Reply 8

Pride

Original post by ritchie888

After this speech did she go on to tell you your uncle had died and left you £1,000,000?

Was this then followed by her asking your sort code and account number?

hey!

lol what is it with these nigerian 419 jokes...?

lol, OP, it doesn't matter what some random woman says (why did we need to know she was nigerian?). Be confident in your own abilities, follow your dreams and you'll be fine. What she said is what many people think and she was obviously very full-on and rude. But that doesn't matter, do what you want, work hard and you'll get there....

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 9

rY4uGD1fMzBj4xe2

Original post by Pride

hey!

lol what is it with these nigerian 419 jokes...?

You make it sound like I've made many before! (I have, but you shouldn't know that!)

Reply 10

Pride

Original post by ritchie888

You make it sound like I've made many before! (I have, but you shouldn't know that!)

I'm talking about on any nigeria-related thread lol. Not surprised though :sigh:

Reply 11

Democracy

Well if you don't have the grades to apply, then you physically can't do anything apart from attempt to get in as a graduate, can you? Short of studying abroad (which is not recommended), I don't see what else you could be doing. But you could have picked something fun for your degree...biochem? :p:

Reply 12

Organ

Original post by Yawn11

Word.

If you do grad entry it isn't any-longer than somebody who took a gap year and did a 6 year med degree, or any longer than somebody who took a gap year and then intercalated (3 year biochem, 4 year GEM = 7 years!). It is also shorter than any American will graduate (8 years).

Reply 13

FALCONSFURY

Original post by Dekota-XS

Graduate entry medicine isn't the easiest route in, so she has a point.

this

Reply 14

508836

Original post by Democracy

Like..? Most non-science subjects require the GAMSAT which I want to avoid. I personally find biochemistry very interesting and challenging.

Reply 15

Broderss

She's Nigerian. They don't even go to school where she's from. Africans don't even have hospitals anyway so how does she know about medicine? I don't think she quite understood what you were saying. Keep holding on to your dream it still may happen you never know.

Reply 16

508836

Original post by Broderss

I'm Nigerian too, I thought me mentioning that might be a factor as to why she was very blunt. Have you completely ignored the fact that I said she studied microbiology? Pretty ignorant of you if you ask me. Your other posts seem to be smelling of racism. Trololol.