STUDENTS FROM UK who go ABROAD to study medicine

why did you choose this option?

as opposed to applying for an undergraduate course allied to medicine then going for postgraduate entry medicine?

is it because you could (i.e. you had the finances)

or because there wasn't any undergrad course you were excited/ passionate about

or because this would allow you to do what you wanted without having to spend an extra 3 years studying something you weren't so passionate about

or because you wanted to travel

or because there is no guarantee that you will get into to postgrad degree medicine so it would be silly to do another degree with the sole aim of getting into postgrad as it may not happen

or because postgraduate entry is even harder to get into than undergraduate entry..or possibly something else

Really interested and curious to hear your responses

most ppl go because they have crappy grades - A-levels mainly - why would you want to spend 5 or 6 years almost completely away from home in a new culture? if you just wanted to travel you could do so by going on holidays. Also there isn't UK student finance to help you.

US/Canada/Australia is good however but really competitive. We're talking about these bulgarian/polish and other european universities...

if u had the finances you would most likely pay to study medicine at uclan or bucks (which is private and costs 35k a year sterling).....

Taking a place on a health professional course with the sole purpose of using it to apply to GEM is a scummy thing to do, in my opinion. Unless you'd genuinely like to work in that profession for the rest of your life if you don't get in, of course (and even then it's still a bit scummy).

I applied abroad because I live abroad.

why did you choose this option?

as opposed to applying for an undergraduate course allied to medicine then going for postgraduate entry medicine?

is it because you could (i.e. you had the finances)

or because there wasn't any undergrad course you were excited/ passionate about

or because this would allow you to do what you wanted without having to spend an extra 3 years studying something you weren't so passionate about

or because you wanted to travel

or because there is no guarantee that you will get into to postgrad degree medicine so it would be silly to do another degree with the sole aim of getting into postgrad as it may not happen

or because postgraduate entry is even harder to get into than undergraduate entry..or possibly something else

Really interested and curious to hear your responses

Taking a place on a health professional course with the sole purpose of using it to apply to GEM is a scummy thing to do, in my opinion. Unless you'd genuinely like to work in that profession for the rest of your life if you don't get in, of course (and even then it's still a bit scummy).

I applied abroad because I live abroad.

If you can deal with the debt of two degrees why is it scummy? In the US you have to have done a primary degree before you can begin medicine. I did a Marine Biology BSc first, not actually with the intention of going into medicine specifically but with a view to using it as a springboard into a different science related degree. I wanted to do medicine but had a lot of problems in year 12 and 13 which trashed by A2s.

People who don't get AAA for medicine and dentistry often go for pharmacy, optometry, biomed etc.
Some of them have the money to study at bulgaria, romania etc etc.

Although, the majority will say 'I wanted to go abroad' etc etc, if you ask them what their a level grades are - you'll be shocked.

1)medicine/dentistry
2)pharmacy,optom,biomed - abroad medicine/dentistry

This is the case for 90% of the students.


Sorry, just telling it like it is

He said health professional course....

Ohhh right so what you're saying is that the people (i.e. people who were living in the UK and went through the UK educatio system) are forced to go abroad i.e. it is not by choice they only do so because they do not have the grades.

Right, so if all the people who did not get the A level grades had the finances to go abroad do you think the majority of them would i.e. the main reason potential medics end up doing pharmacy/op/biomed is because they could not afford to go and do medicine abroad or would rather be in the UK doing something they aren't so passionate about rather than doing something they are passionate about but in an unknown territory ?

In reference to:

"as opposed to applying for an undergraduate course allied to medicine then going for postgraduate entry medicine?"

By "health professional course" they were referring to a degree like Biomedical science or something similar I think.

Would you say its a scummy thing to do because there is no guarantee of GEM and the person is unlikely to be happy if they are just applying for it as a route into medicine?

If you can deal with the debt of two degrees why is it scummy? In the US you have to have done a primary degree before you can begin medicine. I did a Marine Biology BSc first, not actually with the intention of going into medicine specifically but with a view to using it as a springboard into a different science related degree. I wanted to do medicine but had a lot of problems in year 12 and 13 which trashed by A2s.

Biomedical science is not a health professional course dawg.
He was referring to people who study pharmacy, optometry etc just to go onto graduate entry dentistry or medicine.

Because the NHS pays for the tuition partly or even entirely on those courses with the intention that they get a health professional out of it. If you do it only with the intention of it getting you into GEM, you've wasted their money and deprived them of a health professional (and stopped someone else becoming that health professional).

Because the NHS pays for the tuition partly or even entirely on those courses with the intention that they get a health professional out of it. If you do it only with the intention of it getting you into GEM, you've wasted their money and deprived them of a health professional (and stopped someone else becoming that health professional).

I know, "allied to medicine" is a bit vague though. The impression I got was OP was considering applying for a sort of related to medicine degree and then going for grad entry after. As opposed to training as a professional and then switching to medicine outright.

I've been wrong before though.