Chemistry or Medicine?

Hello! I'm really not sure what to apply to study at University.

I keep being told that I should do medicine by teachers, friends, career advisers because it's the more 'respected' and is guaranteed a job; don't get me wrong though, I would love to be a doctor, I just feel like they see a Chemistry degree as less respected, which I don't agree with.

But I love Chemistry, would doing a degree in Chemistry be less advantageous than going to medical school? I love Chemistry not only because the subject fascinates me, but because I've heard that you can go into careers such as accountancy, lawyers, researchers, (even the new Pope Francis did a Chemistry degree - so that's always an option :wink:

) but how easy/true is this idea of a Chemistry degree opening up different careers?

So, which degree would you say is more respected in your own opinion? Would a Chemistry degree be less advantageous? Which one would you go for?

:smile:

Reply 1

Juno

Medicine is highly competitive. If you're not really committed to it you'll come unstuck at interview and won't get any offers. Many people who really want to do it don't get any offers, so you stand no chance if you're not really sure.

Reply 2

hemalgangani

There is little Chemistry in Medicine.. You probably wouldn't enjoy it if you want to do a Chemistry degree.

Reply 3

F1's Finest

It's not good to be unsure on whether you want to do medicine or chemistry. Both science related fields of course, but Medicine is extremely competitive and it's not one of those courses where you can make your mind up like a couple of months before you apply for it and expect to secure interviews.

You need to do work experience, lots and lots of it. I know a close mate who's got his offer from Bristol to do medicine (he's on a gap year now). But he said it was ridiculously competitive.

You need to be fully committed to it.

Reply 4

Acruzen

Original post by hemalgangani

There is little Chemistry in Medicine.. You probably wouldn't enjoy it if you want to do a Chemistry degree.

medicine is based almost entirely on chemistry..

Reply 5

hemalgangani

Original post by Acruzen

medicine is based almost entirely on chemistry..

I did a workshop with 2nd Year Med students and I asked them about course content and they said, it's wasn't much more complicated than A-Level Biology it was just the way in which you applied that knowledge. One of the Med Students said he was surprised in the very little amount of Chemistry he had to learn. His exact words "It's practically next to none".

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 6

Funtry

I've applied for Chemistry, even though it was a filler subject for me at AS, as I didn't think I'd enjoy it. I'm really looking forward to going to Uni now to study it, having offers from a few top 10 Uni's for Chemistry. If you like Chemistry do it, and then if you want to do medicine at the end, go for Graduate entry Medicine (yes, it involves an extra year of study, but an extra degree is always good :smile:

). You may do a medicine ancillary at university whilst doing a Chemistry degree and find it boring an tedious, and then go into research or something instead. So I'd say Chemistry (from my completely unbiased viewpoint!).

Reply 7

GermanScientist

Original post by ChloeBazingaa

Study what YOU want to! That's the most important thing - if you don't enjoy it you'll lose interest and hate it completely. Chemistry degrees are very respectable degrees!

Reply 8

Kinkerz

This boils down to the question of: do you want to be a doctor?

If yes: medicine.
If no: chemistry.

All this talk about 'respected' and 'advantageous' is meaningless babble. One sets you on a career trajectory into a profession, the other does not. They're totally different outcomes.

Reply 9

Helloworld_95

It might be worth organising some work experience for each option, it might also be worth considering biological science degrees (e.g. Biomedical sciences, Bioengineering, genetics, etc.)

I've also heard anecdotes of chemistry as a degree being quite different to at a level so you might want to investigate that further too.

Reply 10

Runninghigh

To be honest medical applications are horrible. I really disliked the experience - it dragged out for well over 4 months. You can easily be in a place where it seems like you have no hope of getting in and no firm plans for next year. Despite all the straight As and work you'll put in, you could easily be left in your hometown as friends move off to uni.

Thankfully I did get an offer but the process was awful - the only thing that made it okay is knowing that I was working towards the profession I really wanted to join. That would have kept me going through a gap year.

If I hadn't really wanted to become a doctor -and had any doubt at all - it would have been worse!

ONLY APPLY FOR MEDICINE IF YOU'RE COMMITTED TO IT!

Chemistry - if you love it - would lead to loads of great careers that you would enjoy more. :smile:

Make sure it's your decision

Reply 11

Helenia

It's worth knowing that Chemistry at university is quite different from A-level Chem. From talking to my friends, a lot of it becomes more like Physics in terms of all the subatomic/quantum stuff, rather than just doing cool experiments and blowing **** up. There is also very little pure Chemistry in a Medicine degree, contrary to what some people above have suggested.

However, a decent Chemistry degree from a good university is still a "respected degree" for whatever that's worth, and you'd have lots of options open to you as a graduate, both within the field/industry and in the more general graduate jobs market. If you're not reasonably sure about Medicine (after some work experience etc) then don't do it.

Reply 12

nexttime

I'm just gonna lose the illusion of impartiality and say do chemistry its obviously what you want. .

I agree with the others that chemistry at uni, especially at a prestigious uni, is a very high proportion maths - just be aware.

Yes, Chemistry allows for a wide variety of careers.

Original post by Acruzen

medicine is based almost entirely on chemistry..

In the same way that pottery is based on particle physics maybe. Not in a practical sense though.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 13

shonaT

I allowed my tutor to talk me out of applying for what I really wanted to do. I regret it and am going to retrain this year as a very mature student.

My advice would be consider what you want to do for a career afterwards as you'll be doing that for longer than you are at university. If you want to be a doctor go for medicine and if you want to work as a a chemist or something similar then go for chemistry.

Reply 14

user977153

Who cares if the degree you want to do is respected? You're doing it cause you enjoy it!

Reply 15

Legit

Original post by ChloeBazingaa

I was in a similar spot to you, it was between Pharmacy/Chemistry or Medicine and in the end i went on Medicine based on the fact of interaction with the wider public. Medicines the perfect balance between science and human contact. I couldn't see myself working in a Lab or anything of that sort. I loved Chemistry but Medicine has a greater impact on individuals around me (IMO) obviously.

Don't go for medicine unless your 100% sure because its very difficult to handle if you constantly think 'I wish i had done x subject' etc.

Original post by Acruzen

medicine is based almost entirely on chemistry..

Thats what they all say before you start medical school, I'd say less than 1% of my course is chemistry.

Reply 16

Idreesa1

Original post by ChloeBazingaa

The main danger of uncertainty especially for medicine is that when applying for medicine you have to have ample medically related work experience because nearly all if the medicine applicants have this and many university use this when inviting candidates for interview and as talking point in interview so uncertainty may reduce the amount of work experience that you may undertake because you are split between two course and as a result you personal statement may not be very convincing for either of your degree choices when you have finally chosen one and could jeopardise your application overall. Also you have take admissions test for medicine so bear that in mind that these test have deadline.

Forget about all this respected *******s I'm a medical student and I didn't choose to study medicine because I want to be respected I did it because I love the sciences and I love social aspects of medicine. Of course there are privileges to being a doctor and patients trust you so much and they share things with you sometimes that they haven't even told there closet family.
In terms of how you decide think about what you want from a future career because your lucky both your degree choses are heavily scientific Except one has more social, ethical and publicly minded aspects to it... So atleast you haven't got to cut science out of your life completely if you choose one over the other :smile:

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Reply 17

username971590

I'm definitely going for chemistry, thank you for all your insights, I'm tired of people telling me to go for medicine and not chemistry !!

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