Medicine or finance/consulting

My current position is quite a unique one.

I have an LSE offer to study BSc Management which is an extremely competitive course and a fantastic opportunity. Eg 15 applicants for one place (15:1).Approx. 6.5%

I am currently on a gap year and as i enjoyed biology quite a lot during a-level, I wanted to pursue medicine work experience for a week.
I am on day 2 of work experience and nothing has really put me off and it sounds very interesting.

Just for background, I am quite an entrepreneurially inclined person and love problem-solving.

I am also interested in din biotech entrepreneurship, healthtech and med tech related fields.

From looking at different masters degrees the other day, I could do a masters in a subject such as biotech with entrepreneurship at UCL, Pharmaceutical and biotechnology management at UCL or something such as a masters at imperial in global healthcare management.

I’m also interested in life science consulting but I don’t know why.
I’m very much split on entrepreneurship and the finance side of biology and then biology and medicine themselves.

I’m trying to navigate this.

I am scared if I get to the end of the week and I decide that I am interested in pursuing Medicine.
Even though that may not be the case, I still wouldn’t have the guts to decline an LSE offer.
I am definitely interested too in the course at LSE too.

Can anyone give me some words to think about, opinions, anything that would be helpful.

I also got AAA in my A-levels and if I was to apply for medical school, I’d only be satisfied getting into a ‘mid-tier or high-tier’ med Schl such as Southampton/exeter/st George’s and the list goes on, but personally I only see myself at a top institute as it’s what aligns with me as a person the most. For example UCL and Imperial.
I am very much attracted to LSE’s challenging environment, where people push each other one and I can surround myself with some of the best academics.
I personally see myself as a leader so also want a challenging environment if it turned out I’d want to go to medical schl.

Reply 1

TSR Hippocrates

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

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Reply 2

dx7

totally different person as I'm older, but if you want to chat privately can get at me. I guess I would be one of the few people to have taken the GMAT, MCAT, and UCAT for graduate business (ie MBA), graduate medicine (ie MD) and undergraduate medicine (ie MBBS) and had competitive offers both in the UK as well as Stateside for each. admissions report data has 15.3% offer rate for LSE's Management with avg AAA (ie par), but now attending one of the better London med schools currently the avgs I see online for all them are A*AA [assuming you didn't take things like bio or chem they usu require] [and could you take them now, idk how this system works as an intl…]? true MBB-level consulting or the level of finance I think you'd aim for is not "problem solving" at all imho, its my girlfriend doing powerpoint slides and meetings all day plus pouring over excel and reports inbtwn. whilst both are competitive in a 'getting into programs' sense, actual medicine is more akin to problem solving but then in the UK doesn't pay what you might make across the pond, which is ballpark consultant/finance figures. defo accept the LSE offer, and maybe spend time inbtwn or over summer [idk when y'all take A-levels, know very lil about UK school systems plus my girl is Scottish] shadowing physicians whilst more importantly hardcore prepping UCAT. sit maybe late June–early Sept and you'll get results as you walk out–if you score insane and find medicine genuinely interesting at the cost of possible future income, then just call up LSE and tell them. I'm sure they'd rather you not show up before it starts so they can rush fill a spot than drop out if those are their options, but biz and med two very diff currencies let alone sides of the same coin. still have this printout attached below from maybe 2020? filed at my desk when i was in real estate investing considering biz transition / going "back" to medicine which i have done since. hopefully is some useful insight somewhere in there. realistically consider your options sans prayers and move forward with power, all the best.
Adobe Scan Apr 4, 2025.jpg

Reply 3

spicy toast.56

Original post by ah-13

My current position is quite a unique one.
I have an LSE offer to study BSc Management which is an extremely competitive course and a fantastic opportunity. Eg 15 applicants for one place (15:1).Approx. 6.5%
I am currently on a gap year and as i enjoyed biology quite a lot during a-level, I wanted to pursue medicine work experience for a week.
I am on day 2 of work experience and nothing has really put me off and it sounds very interesting.
Just for background, I am quite an entrepreneurially inclined person and love problem-solving.
I am also interested in din biotech entrepreneurship, healthtech and med tech related fields.
From looking at different masters degrees the other day, I could do a masters in a subject such as biotech with entrepreneurship at UCL, Pharmaceutical and biotechnology management at UCL or something such as a masters at imperial in global healthcare management.
I’m also interested in life science consulting but I don’t know why.
I’m very much split on entrepreneurship and the finance side of biology and then biology and medicine themselves.
I’m trying to navigate this.
I am scared if I get to the end of the week and I decide that I am interested in pursuing Medicine.
Even though that may not be the case, I still wouldn’t have the guts to decline an LSE offer.
I am definitely interested too in the course at LSE too.
Can anyone give me some words to think about, opinions, anything that would be helpful.
I also got AAA in my A-levels and if I was to apply for medical school, I’d only be satisfied getting into a ‘mid-tier or high-tier’ med Schl such as Southampton/exeter/st George’s and the list goes on, but personally I only see myself at a top institute as it’s what aligns with me as a person the most. For example UCL and Imperial.
I am very much attracted to LSE’s challenging environment, where people push each other one and I can surround myself with some of the best academics.
I personally see myself as a leader so also want a challenging environment if it turned out I’d want to go to medical schl.

Hey sorry to be jumping on, current Y13 here with 2 medicine offers. Found this quite an interesting read as they are completley different fields (which is what you hear all the time im sure), I had a similar thing this year when applying as I was interested in both Human and vet med (trust me i got some odd comments from teachers and the like given how different they are). The only thing I would say with medicine is make sure you are 100% that is what you want to do, this year where I have applied has been absoloutley draining (UCAT, interviews, etc) so alot goes into getting into medicine alone and then its a 5 year course (assuming you don't intercalate or have to resit a year which are both fairly common). Then you have another 2 years of foundation training, and then another X amount of years speciality training - you're looking at what 10 years alone to become a GP. It is definatley a long-term commitment so its definatley somehting I'd only adivse doing if you are 100% thats what you wish to do (obviosuly every year people graduate from medicine and go into different fields but it's best to avoid if possible). With the finance degree afterf 3 years you'd be employed and climbing the career ladder at your firm and in the same 10 years that you'd only JUST be becoming a GP, you could laready be an established member of staff in your desried field. To help me decide between vet med and human med i did a week of wex at both, and although i didn't mind vet med i absoloutley loved my hospital work experience and it was a no-brainer the career i wanted. Sorry for the long rant I know it isn't explicitly helpful but may be good to hear a different opinion on it. You could always do a finance degree and then a med degree as a grad (grad med is very popular with a handful of unis that offer grad med courses exclusivley)