Medicine!

I have no idea what job I want in the future. I’m in year 12, and I think that vaguely I want some kind of scientific research career. Should I apply for medicine? I’ve considered biology, biomed, biochem and I don’t know which one would be best. A medicine degree is extremely intense and that’s what’s putting me off, but is it the best way to start a career in medical research?

Medicine is not a research degree. You need to be interested in having a clinical career. If your intention is to go into full time research and you have no interest in clinical work, I think a life sciences degree (biomed etc) would be more appropriate.

Thanks, would which life science degree I do make a big difference in terms of research opportunities? Or, would doing a biology degree and opting for all the molecular/biochem modules put me in the same position as someone who did just a biomed or biochem degree? All the life science degrees seem so similar, do they all have pretty much the same job/career prospects?

At undergraduate level there's probably not huge amounts of significant difference between a BSc in biomed, genetics, molecular biology etc. They will all involve studying core life science topics with some more specialised modules in later years, depending on how general vs specialised the degree is. If your aim is to go into research then you'll need to do a PhD so your studying won't end with your BSc anyway.

I think if you're currently open to learning anything, a more general degree like biology or biomed is a good idea. If you're already absolutely fascinated by genetics then a BSc in genetics might be a good shout - but even if you embark on this and realise you actually want to research in something entirely different, you should still be able to do this. There is flexibility and no one expects you to have worked it all out straightaway.