medicine or biology?

what’s a better degree, medicine or biology? i can’t choose and i lowkey wanna do both but i know it isn’t possible, what do you guys suggest i do?

Reply 1

TSR Hippocrates

Hey there, thanks for posting a question in the Medicine forum. :biggrin:

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Reply 2

username6938074

Hey!

Have a look at the reasons WHY exactly you want to do either degree. See which interests may trump each other. Think about what potential outcomes would come from each degree ie. Job wise and what you could see yourself doing and enjoying most. Look at the negatives of each degree eg. How difficult working in healthcare is, how hard it is to get jobs with a bio bsc, whether you'd be willing to do post grad education too, etc. and whether this would be enough to put you off pursuing this or if you'd still be willing to do it.

Do some work experience. Perhaps in a hospital and in a lab to get different perspectives and see what you enjoy more. It's hard for someone else to tell you what is best for you without having experienced it to see what you like and dislike particularly about it.

Medicine:
- you know you'll be able to be employed as a doctor somewhere
- med school is hard to get into and hard to complete
- very rewarding job if you enjoy working with people and making their lives better directly
- the future of the nhs is unclear currently, especially for junior doctors

Biology:
- very broad, could specialise in so many aspects of biology, not just human
- would most likely have to do masters/phd to make a competitive application for jobs - I know that jobs are very hard to get in the research sector at least and funding for research is also difficult to obtain
- could potentially do post grad entry med if you decided that's still what you wanted
- much more easy to get accepted into a uni for biology
- would you want to opt for a more specialised degree? Eg. neuroscience, molecular bio, biochem, etc.

Of course these are just random points I can think of off the top of my head, but yeah. The decision is yours to make! Don't let other people dictate your future :smile: