Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

How important is your intercalation choice?

So I just wondered, in terms of choosing what you want to do your intercalated degree in, how important is it for your future career (not the classification of the degree but what subject you actually choose). Like does it come up a lot in specialty interviews etc? Or is it just more important for foundation years and then forgotten about afterwards?

Thanks!

Reply 1

TheStudent21

Posted it in the other thread but got no replies so thought I'd try here.

So I just wondered, in terms of choosing what you want to do your intercalated degree in, how important is it for your future career (not the classification of the degree but what subject you actually choose). Like does it come up a lot in specialty interviews etc? Or is it just more important for foundation years and then forgotten about afterwards?Thanks!

Reply 2

im7

I thought the exact same thing when choosing my iBSc subject, and from what I've gathered from speaking to older years and current doctors, I don't think the subject is that important at all. Of course, say you do a Neuroscience iBSc and then apply for Neurosurgery specialty training, you may get some advantage, but I have been told that a 1st in an unrelated iBSc beats a 2:1 in a relevant one (which I was a bit surprised by)
I would think that it doesn't matter too much what you pick, as long as the iBSc has a significant research component.
This is just based on my own experience though - maybe a doctor would be better advised about specialty training applications :smile:

Reply 3

spacepirate-James

I think if you want to specialise in whatever you did your intercalation in, then you can make it a very good foundation for your career; equally I know a lot of people who intercalated, who hated the subject, and thought nothing of it realising that a research career was not for them.

Reply 4

goodjobstudent

I'm wondering the same thing. I'm still unsure what speciality I would like to go into, but I would hate that later on in life I choose to do e.g surgery and I don't have an anatomy/surgery bsc. Can any doctors shed some light?

Reply 5

Helenia

AFAIK most specialty training programmes don't discriminate between intercalated degrees when awarding points for that particular section of selection criteria. So a 1st in any intercalated degree is better than a 2.1 and so on. However, if you have an idea of what you want to specialise in, and do a related intercalation you might have more opportunity to do presentations/publications in that area which might be helpful - though again you still get points for publications/presentations in general.

Overall, I don't think it matters that much, and lots of intercalating students, especially those doing it after pre-clinical years, don't really know what they want to go into long-term. I certainly didn't, and my BA is only tenuously related to my specialty, by chance rather than design.

Reply 6

username2125051

Does anyone know if there is any benefit to doing a particular type of intercalation? I'm looking at doing an intercalated masters and I'm torn between two. One is an MRes which has a big research focus and one is a taught MSc. I like the look of both so I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on which one to go for?

Reply 7

Sarky

Original post by Belaisandia

Do you see yourself doing higher research in the future? That might steer you towards an MRes instead of the former, but I honestly don't think it matters too much. I did an MA which was relatively left-field, but I knew I didn't want to do a scientific degree and it's been quite useful in some ways.

Reply 8

twmffat_twp

Original post by Belaisandia

I think that the crucial question you need to ask yourself is what do you hope to get out of the degree: a detailed understanding of a particular subject area or a good grounding in the process of conducting research?

MRes degrees, as far as I can see, tend to be primarily focused on understanding the research process; the content of the actual projects you end up working on is somewhat secondary. Many of my friends did MRes degrees, and it was a bit of a pot luck what they researched and whether the projects they were assigned were in any way relevant to their interests. The lab work available was almost always parts of other people's PhDs, and the focus of the degree was very much on gaining research skills rather than understanding the actual subject matter (i.e focusing on how to design and conduct a study into cell signalling in breast cancer rather than actually exploring the wider field of the pathophysiology of oncogenesis for example).

Personally, I did a taught MSc with a research based dissertation at the end, and compared with my MRes friends I think I gained a much deeper understanding of my (narrower) subject area and I also had a far greater sense of ownership over my dissetation project. On the other hand, I only learned about research techniques relevant to my diss. I feel that doing a taught MSc suited me best (although I was tempted by the MRes) as I really wanted to learn more about that particular subject area. However, subsequently and late in the game, I have become increasingly interested in the more academic side to medicine and I've been playing with the idea of trying to get a more academic bend to my career and I do think people who did the MRes perhaps have more transferrable skills which stands them in better stead to go on to do academic jobs than I do. That said, i wouldn't change my intercalation for the world as I had a brilliant year.

As with most things career based, there isn't really on globally correct answer- its all about what's right for you