8 Reasons to Study Medicine

8 Reasons to Study Medicine

Study Medicine

8 Reasons to Study Medicine – Why study medicine? you may ask. The course comes with near-impossible entry requirements, difficult content, a hefty amount of contact hours, at least five years of study (expensive!), and you’ll be moving on to an extremely demanding profession.

1. Excellent graduate prospects

A quick glance at our Medicine subject league table tells you that students at the majority of universities all find themselves in professional-level employment within six months of leaving. In fact, the lowest graduate prospects score is 98% – pretty good if you ask us.

2. Doctor’s salaries

It’s no secret that medical professionals are fairly well remunerated. The basic starting salary for Foundation Year 1 doctors is £22,636, increasing to £28,076 in Foundation Year 2. Stay in the profession and you may well be earning six figures by the time it comes to retirement.

3. Practical & theoretical

Universities aim to equip their medical students with the skills required to become practitioners, so it makes sense that the course involves a large proportion of practical work. Students spend most of their time on placement in teaching campus hospitals.

4. Status

The Complete University Guide certainly isn’t one for perpetuating the status quo but there’s no denying the fact that doctors are traditionally held in high esteem. A tradition which still applies to some extent today.

5. Transferable skills

A medicine degree may appear to be one in which its participants are resigned to a career as a doctor. The reality is that medical graduates are highly regarded in almost all walks of life. So if you decide to pursue other avenues you shouldn’t be in too much trouble.

6. Giving back to society

As a student and later in your career you’ll be having a direct impact on people’s lives, and for the better more often than not. If you’re a conscientious person a career in medicine will certainly satisfy your sense of duty.

7. International elective

All UK medicine courses comprise a 6–12 week elective period, the chance for students to study away from their home medical school. Most students use this opportunity for travel, experiencing a different culture, partaking in relief work and seeing how medicine is practiced in another country.

8. Career and course variety

There are many different branches of medicine – this will be reflected in your course, and later in your career. One day you may be studying neurosurgery and the next learning about chiropody – quite literally looking at the human body from head to toe.

8 Reasons to Study Medicine