Graduate Medicine or a Research: Finding the Right Choice
This piece is extra special to me because it tells you a little bit about my story. Just because the choices I made here were right for me, does not mean they are the right ones for everyone. Each person will have their own goals, experiences, backgrounds, achievements, and support system; all important factors in shaping an important decision like this. I hope my story will help you and show you that you are not alone.
A little back story…
The dream of becoming a doctor was never a decision made spontaneously at a young age of four that created a butterfly effect of studying towards the grades and birthdays begging for a stethoscope. Instead, it was a dream built from careful reflection and an understanding of interests, like biology, the love for helping others, and the enjoyment of solving complex puzzles. All these clues somehow translated to becoming a doctor.
But medicine was never the only dream. At the age of 16, as biology and chemistry in the International Baccalaureate (IB) became harder, and as the workload increased, a sensible voice started asking questions. Questions like whether business would be a safe, easier path. A path with less rejection, less fear of failure, and less imposture syndrome.
Of course, this is not to say that business is any way less awesome than medicine, but it felt more like a safety net instead of a passion and dream.
This is where one of the first dilemmas lies in the path to choosing to study medicine: your dream to be a doctor needs to outweigh what others may think is the sensible choice for you. Any job has its difficulties, but when it comes to being a doctor, there are many harsh realities. The endless studying, long shifts and very possibly sleepless nights, the sad reality that you will not be able to save every patient, and the constant internal feeling that you need to fight to show you deserve to be here. It would be amiss to say that it will not be easy. But if you are determined and resilient, it is definitely worth it. In fact, people say that the first hurdle of studying medicine is getting accepted to medical school.
It could be argued that the first hurdle is deciding if this is the future you want, despite everything.
For the luckier ones, the path to medicine is simple. Good grades, applications sent in on time, the invitation to attend interviews, and finally the long awaited desired offer. Of course, ‘simple’ fails to reflect the months spent studying, the hours debating what to include in the personal statement, and the endless interview practice. However, for others, including myself, the path to medicine is harsher. The predicted grades you wish for aren’t given to you, so you need to consider your next step: give up, do a gap year, apply through clearing, or apply for another course and do medicine as a second degree.
I chose the fourth option.
Note: remember that this route can take longer and cost more, so it is worth researching the entry requirements, tuition fees and funding options for graduate-entry medicine before committing to it.
The goal of applying to medicine as a second degree is humbling, because all the standards you set for yourself during high school, the good grades and volunteering are something you will now need to continue except at university level. The classes are harder, so you may need to study more to get that second class higher or even aim for a first class.
And because you are studying more, you won’t have as much time for extra volunteering. Not to mention that if you happen to be an international student, you need to figure out a potentially different volunteering system to that of your home country and make sure you don’t surpass your legal hours of volunteering/work.
The greatest advice is to not be blinded by your goal for medicine. It is easy to know that you want to do medicine. It is easy to know that you want to do medicine, but harder to understand exactly why. Is it the patient interaction, the science, the problem-solving, or the idea of becoming a doctor? Understanding that can help you recognise whether it is truly for you.
Introducing research
It’s funny how when one thinks of medicine, there is one particular of the many medical shows that usually comes to mind. An image of Dr Meredith Gray saving the day with a complex surgery and getting recognition by her peers. The idea of Dr. Shaun Murphy going through his library of a brain to conjure up a new, innovative, and pretty cool medical procedure. And the compassion and empathy of Dr Vijay Kapoor towards his patients, taking the time to learn their history and stories, to provide the best diagnosis. But rarely does anyone associate medicine with research.
In fact, one of the shows that does show this is House - albeit depending on the episode the research might appear as time consuming, boring, or an undesired task bestowed to Dr Cameron, Foreman, and Chase where they have 5 hours to test hundreds of samples.
But research is so much more than that. And in most cases, hundreds of samples can be divided into multiple days or weeks - so do not scare away. It is not as stressful or nightmarish as House makes it seem.
Research is such a fundamental backbone of medicine. Without research, there would be not innovative treatments, like the cancer vaccine. Without research, there would be no early diagnosis or even a way to diagnose more complex and obscure cases.
Without research, a doctor might not know that two drugs have opposing effects simply because their mechanisms are not sufficiently understood. Research is so important that many doctors try to take part in it; some even take a PhD after their medical school.
In fact, in most medical schools you will hear different students complaining or stressing about how they can’t find a research project to join.
Of course, for some, such as myself, research can be terrifying. The failure to understand an experimental procedure, the warning stories of the terror that it is to perform a Western Blot (I can now confirm it’s not that bad), the fear of messing up so bad that months' worth of research goes down the drain. All of these are valid concerns. But each concern lies in one single problem: the lack of knowledge.
Research is not limited to laboratory work. It can involve clinical trials, analysing data, studying public health or investigating how diseases develop. It can surprise you by how many different paths are available.
In undergraduate programs, many times, professors and lecturers tried to their maximum capacity to incite students into different fields and careers. Always met with an internal eye roll or a scoff, after all why would anyone consider anything else when medicine has been placed in a pedestal for so long?
But herein lies the problem: being blind sighted by passion for medicine can mean you ignore all the warning signs of a new passion.
The second greatest piece of advice for anyone who has gone through their undergraduate considering medicine is keep repeating your reason for why medicine. Let it become a mantra, almost a prayer. A manifestation of your future. Maybe you will come to realise that it isn’t what you truly want.
Maybe you will find another passion that fills all your boxes. Or maybe you will cement that despite all the challenges medicine is in fact your future.
In my case, after years of wanting to study medicine, I got my offers to Leicester, St George’s, and Queen Mary University of London. Somewhere between applying for medicine and getting my first offer I realised that research could fill all of my wishes for my future career (see image below). So I applied for my MSc Immunology, and I have never looked back since.
A few questions to ask yourself
What genuinely excites me about medicine?
Would I enjoy the day-to-day reality of research?
Have I explored both options through volunteering, work experience or conversations with people in these careers?
Am I choosing this path because I want it, or because I feel I should
No need to have every answer immediately. Sometimes, exploring your options is how you find them.
The right decision for me may not be the right decision for you. Everyone will make different choices because everyone will go through different experiences and have different passions. Find your dream, don’t give up, and I wish you the best of luck in whatever path finds you joy.
Helpful resources:
Medical Schools Council - Compare medical schools and explore entry requirements
GMC : Becoming a doctor - Understand the training and education required to become a doctor.
Prospects - Explore career profiles, qualifications and job opportunities across scientific fields.
NIHR: Research careers - Discover research training, career development and opportunities in health and care research.
NHS: Clinical academic careers - Explore careers that combine clinical practice with research.
Until next time,
Inês C Andre
With determination, one can turn the improbable into the possible