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How to become a doctor

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Haha this thread is so wrong... I feel sorry for the OP... but here is my say on the matter!

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showpost.php?p=18306888&postcount=42 <--- read that (not mine but v informative and quite accurate!)

I just want to say that the way to go about creating your awesome medical school CV is to do *your best* in *everything* that will go on it. Just spank everything you do, seriously. And do a lot. Competition is going up, and you're in a good position to spank a lot of things from now on to create a very strong application. Go look at loads of the medical schools' websites and see what factors they are looking for specifically, so that they can be spanked, so that in turn you accumulate lots of wins. If you see that they ask for a minimum of 6Bs at GCSE or something, lol @ that and aim for 100% A* because you should go by the philosophy that you want the best possible application you can get. It will still be a lottery to an extent, but you will *obviously* be at an advantage with better grades and more quality work exp and extra curriculars etc.

Oh and watch House loads. Then, when asked in your interview "Medicine is a stressful career. What do you do to relax?" say that you like to watch medical shows such as House. That is a win at interview, trust me. You need wins for medical school.

To sum up, (wins/spanking) + ignoringanythingsaidbyRogueTrombonist = success.

gammaknifed

reems23

Glad to be of service :hat:

Just hope the OP reads it!

Reply 43

7589200

Wolfy^

There is no top university for medicine.

It's been said 12867592 times and counting.

Thats because there's only one top and 30 others; clearly theyll win when it comes to making this point. Dunno who it is tho...but medical school communism is WRONG - all things are not equal and people are deluding themselves if they think things are.

I don't advocate doing ridiculous things like doing a gap year because you feel you're not in your prestige zone - the place at medical school is the most important thing for our careers, clearly.

Reply 44

gammaknifed

Vazzyb

Thats because there's only one top and 30 others

UCL is the best. Definitely.

Reply 45

7589200

gammaknifed

UCL is the best. Definitely.

may be it is, who knows
didnt they just top some table for biomedical science or summit
all the people who applied to ucl from cambridge kept talking about it

Reply 46

7589200

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0812/08121804 - there ya go!

Reply 47

ballerinabetty

pp2r

Actually no it doesnt. Seriously I dont know whether your a medical student or applicant but you are giving some pretty wrong advice. Firstly there is no such thing as a top university for Medicine. Secondly the point about having 7 A*s is also wrong. Different Universities have different entry requirements. Birminghan for example want 8A*s whereas Newcastle want only 6 Bs. You also dont need a third science (apart from maybe a few colleges at cambridge which require you to have have them). Likewise you also dont need to take a essay style option (apart from UCL and peninsula). Also biology and chemistry aint actually compulsary not up to A2 anyway. Thats the mistakes I can think of at the moment.

it is funny that you are telling the above poster that she/he is wrong yet you get this wrong.

Reply 48

gammaknifed

Vazzyb

may be it is, who knows
didnt they just top some table for biomedical science or summit
all the people who applied to ucl from cambridge kept talking about it

Ah haha I dunno really, and in any case I'm not a big fan of ranking tables and stuff. I did Neuroscience at UCL too though and I know that's a top course, but Medicine is different and has good/bad points wherever you go - it's obv hard to say which is best! How come you're going to Oxford next year? For clinics? A couple of medic friends of mine are loving it at Oxford!

Reply 49

gammaknifed

Vazzyb

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0812/08121804 - there ya go!

Oh yeah I remember seeing this a while back! Cool! Actually not a bad ranking system either... Thx for that.

Reply 50

7589200

gammaknifed

yeah for clinicals, cos like 6 yrs in what is...a bit of a village wud be boring! Dont get me wrong, ive loved the 3 years so far, but I think its time for a change. Also the cambridge course involves going to some really far and rather dodgy places for quite a while.

Reply 51

gammaknifed

Vazzyb

Fair enough, makes sense. Good luck with it all yeah!

PS. hmmm what is up with my sig... I spent like 7 mins doing that and now it doesn't even appear. Laaame

PPS. omg it just appeared wtf!

Reply 52

7589200

gammaknifed

Fair enough, makes sense. Good luck with it all yeah!

PS. hmmm what is up with my sig... I spent like 7 mins doing that and now it doesn't even appear. Laaame

PPS. omg it just appeared wtf!

it comes up in the first post in the thread isnt it...

Reply 53

Comp_Genius

pp2r

Of course there is a top university for medicine. Would you say East Anglia medical school is the same as Oxford's?

Reply 54

River85

RogueTrombonist

Also my definition of top universties for med is Oxford, Cambridge and Birmingham as these seem to be, from the info I've read, the hardest to get into.

You might say this is opinion but judging how good universities are by how difficult they are is a serious mistake.

Durham is one of the hardest universities to get into for politics (one of the few with AAA standard offers). Does this mean they are a top department? Nope. Departments like Aberwystwth's can more than match it and they have a typical offer of 280 points and don't attract.

Now, this is politics and not medicine, but the poin still stands. Because Birmingham apparently have this 8 A* requirement it doesn't mean it's harder to get an offer from them that it is from Southampton.

It's a sign of popularity really and the most popular aren't always the best.

There are no top universities in medicine. Oxford and Cambridge (due to their age and prestige), Imperial, Newcastle, UCL, perhaps Birmingham....these have a reputation/are the stereotypically "top" universities for medicine. Imperial being a specialist institutution, Newcastle being a former college of medicine (and still retain great strengths in the medical sciences). But this doesn't mean they are better than, say, Penninsula or Liverpool.

Comp_Genius

Of course there is a top university for medicine. Would you say East Anglia medical school is the same as Oxford's?

Well not the same, of course, but not strictly better either. All medical schools are of a good standard but do differ in areas (not least teaching style).

Reply 55

gammaknifed

Comp_Genius

Of course there is a top university for medicine. Would you say East Anglia medical school is the same as Oxford's?

I wouldn't, but then again I wouldn't say that either of them are the best. If you were a candidate who was highly motivated by the clinical side of medicine and wanted to get stuck in as soon as possible, UEA would be more appealing than Oxford which has 3 years of pre-clinical medicine with very limited patient contact. I would argue, though sadly without evidence lol, that one could lose their motivation in that time.

The biggest overriding point to the statement that there is a top medical school, imo, is that wherever you go, how good a doctor you become is dependent on how much effort you put in through medschool (with the caveat that more effort does in fact = better results). Your motivation to do well depends heavily on your level of enjoyment of the course (i.e. the type of teaching), the location, the university itself, the kind of people you are around and are friends with, and some people would simply rather be closer to or further away from home if they had a choice. Since all medical schools' curricula + standards of teaching etc are GMC approved, and that you're guaranteed a job once you get your medical degree, the only people that truly care about which medical school they or someone else has been to are the probably insecure ones.

Bottom line is that *individuals* can have top medical schools based on what they construe as factors that are going to get them into the top ranks in their cohort (teaching style, location, etc). If those factors include prestige or a sexy admissions tutor then furry muff but that does not really mean the medical school is better than a newer medical school with a fugly admissions tutor (if that's the sort of thing that floats your boat if you know what I'm sayin' :wink:

)

Therefore UCL is the best. For me.

Reply 56

digitalis

How do you become a doctor?

Go to medical school, pass every year, qualify, obtain provisional registration and license to practice with the GMC. Job done.

Reply 57

Skye333

Hygeia

No. Some medical schools only ask for maths at grade C (http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medical_School_GCSE_Requirements), few require both biology and chemistry at A level (http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medical_School_GCSE_Requirements).

Again, no. Only a few colleges at Cambridge require 3 science subjects at A2.

the links you posted didn't work.... but if that's true that's even better I guess. My understanding is that the majority require the first thing a said, with cambridge and such wanting a 3rd (like maths)...

And hey op you can get below B grades and take a year extra before doing medicine anyway if thing go 'wrong' lol