Medicine is overrated.

Errrrrrm...you do know medicine is linked to phisics and chemistry, which are the same subjects your 'genius' friends are doing. It also depends what you mean by 'medicine'. Do you mean becoming a doctor or nurse? Researching medicine? Creating medicine? I think you need to develop your comment more.


Posted from TSR Mobile

It's made out to be this degree where you have to be a genius to get into and to complete. I know several classmates (who all got at least 2 offers) who I would count as "pretty clever" but far, far from geniuses...in fact the cleverest people in my year are all heading off to do some sort of engineering, maths, physics, chemistry type things...If you look at these degrees at top end universities, drop out rates are a lot higher than medicine, yet the entry requirements are usually higher, so it's not like incapable people are being enrolled.

A lot of you will think "so, why do you care?", I don't really, it's a bit like how when I tell people I'm going to do maths they think all I am going to deal with is big numbers -_-...more of a pet peeve than anything serious....still.

Completely overrated...agree?

Errrrrrm...you do know medicine is linked to phisics and chemistry, which are the same subjects your 'genius' friends are doing. It also depends what you mean by 'medicine'. Do you mean becoming a doctor or nurse? Researching medicine? Creating medicine? I think you need to develop your comment more.


Posted from TSR Mobile

To answer the question, I don't think anyone's claiming Medicine is the most intellectually challenging degree out there - that would probably go to something like Physics. It's more the sheer amount of information that medical students need to learn, which is undoubtedly far higher than pretty much any other course (bar Dentistry/Vet Med, which I'm throwing in with Medicine here cause they're all similar in difficulty). Combine that with the 5-6 year length of the course, the added stress of having to deal with patients and the whole clinical aspect (which often involve long and difficult hours, on top of the amount of studying required) and it's hardly surprising it's regarded as one of, if not the hardest undergraduate degree. It's not exactly like the course content is easy either, just because is isn't as difficult as advanced Maths or Physics.

Getting into Medicine does not solely show intelligence. You have to demonstrate skills such as empathy, patience, team-work etc not to mention a work-life balance to show that you do have a social life that you can escape to, so universities are sure that you can handle the stress of the job. The application process is darn right crazy because of this, as so many people are getting high grades and one of the only things that are setting prospective medics apart are extra-curriculars and work-experience. This makes medicine so competitive, but this doesn't mean that other courses aren't like this.

Or just have enough money, pay the right private school and they'll do your application for you