Biomedical Science or Social Work degree!?

[FlyingHigh20]

DD is struggling to decide between these 2. She would need to do 4 years for biomedical science as she doesn't have an A-level in science. Or social work? She wants to either get into pathology (which she doesn't even need the bioscience degree for, but she wants to learn more about science before applying for a trainee role - what other science education could she do instead of the degree?) or child protection.

Which is better do you think??

I work in clinical research, so running clinical trials rather than Lab work and we recruit people with biomedical science backgrounds.

What about nursing? Very varied. You could be working as a research nurse, processing your own blood samples, or adjusting various medicines to achieve certain blood pressure say in ITU, or you could work in a discharge capacity or heathvisitor - pulling skills that are more similar to social work.
You can move between the two fairly easily thus lots of variety and chance to have a change.

A member of my family did a biomedical science degree, they had taken the 3 sciences and maths at A level. Your daughter will need to have science a levels or do a course to be accepted. Family member is now doing a masters in genetics.

Has she only just decided this career path? What a levels did she do?

Pathologist assistant :)

Yes but the first year is foundation and doesn't require a science a level for that reason because it goes through it then. There is no where here that does adult classes (I've help her look) for a levels.

Hence it's 4 years. She got A*AA at a level so she could easily get on the foundation year as you don't need a science background.

Maths, Graphics and Psychology.

I would not encourage anyone to do Social Work. There is no work life balance, constant extreme stress and the pay is low, especially for what the job entails. Furthermore, we have a regulatory body that seems determined to sanction Social Workers and provides very little support.

I work in a hospital lab and I would definitely say Biomedical Science. Make sure she chooses a course that is HCPC approved at the appropriate university:

here

Whilst studying she can have a look and see if local hospital labs are advertising MLA jobs or ask to volunteer to get a feel for lab jobs. There are also loads of private biomedical companies and she could go down that route as a scientist.

With hospital work, there's greater flexibility with hours as it's mostly 24/7 work, which I think is really handy.

They are two completely different fields.
Social work is very demanding mentally and emotionally, my SIL is always in tears but loves her job too, would never change it. You need to be the right kind of person for that role though, pay is not great and work is tough.

Science route opens many many doors, drug development is well paid in Pharma companies, lab work lowered paid but less stressful, clinical trial coordinators at hospitals and on and on and on. I would recommend she has a love of science though, like any course your heart needs to be in it fully or she will never take it all in.

Maybe take the time to get some work experience in both fields?

I would have thought a Social Work degree is only worth doing if you have a real vocation to be a social worker. Does you DD have that?

If not Biomed Science is less vocational and will open up many more options career-wise.

For someone who is not doing science A levels, surely Biomedical Science is a bit of a non-starter and a steep learning curve on any decent course. How would you even get on it without Science A levels?

Social work - do not do a degree in it. There is no need. You could do Psychology, for example and transfer onto a Masters in Social Work. Whatever first degree you opt for, unless you really know your vocation, do a general degree then specialise after work experience or further research into careers.

With those A levels if she is interested in Social Work she may like to consider Clinical Psychology. The training is a long slog but eventually she will earn much more money with less responsibility. She would be actively helping people and could work with children and families, forensics, learning disability, pain management etc. etc.. Also some nursing roles are similar to some social work roles, she may consider a nursing degree which could lead to several career paths. Child Protection is very difficult work and because of poor resources can become more like policing. I know less about bio-medical science.

boj read above :) it's 4 years because it has a foundation Year, so you can get on without science a levels as long as you have a levels with reasonable grades.

I'll tell her about clinical psychology.

With the grades she has she could do sociology anywhere - ABB is the offer from Bristol or Bath for September. Two facilitating subjects - she'd be all set.

I assume you're aware the first deadline for UCAS is this Sunday?

I think doing a psychology degree would be a brilliant idea. She could then chose later whether to do a masters in Social work or whether to go for clinical psychology or occupational therapy as a masters/ doctorate. A social work degree is vocational and would shut down her options at an early stage.

I work in pharmaceutical consultancy. We take biomedical sciences graduates. There are lots of varied jobs in the pharmaceutical industry in both commercial and clinical roles that she would be eligible for as long as she had a first or at least a 2:1.

What about doing a module in science with the OU? She could try out without a full on commitment to see if she can take to chemistry and biology.

I was about to mention the many varied careers in the pharmaceutical industry, and the sectors that serve it, that a biomedical science degree would be good for. Loads of options with that degree, whether pathology realised or not, it certainly doesn't have to mean being stuck in a hospital path lab if that's not for her. Elastamum beast me to it really!

I confess I don't know anything about options after a social work degree, although I would be surprised if they are as varied.

With social work she could work in a school so things like education welfare or NSPCC, etc. things like that are what interest her the most about being a Social Worker.

If she is very interested in working with children, then educational psychology could be a good bet? Need BPS accredited psychology degree followed by post grad qualification. Agree psychology as a first degree keeps her options open.

lastqueen new social workers entering the profession are required to be degree qualified in Social work, meaning a degree in social work or an unrelated degree plus a two year MA in social work. If someone knows they want to be a social worker, three years on the specific degree course versus five years in higher education is the easier and cheaper option. MA students still have to do all the placements etc and it's a bloody tough and concentrated two years to pack in the requisite academic teaching plus placement time.

If she is keen on being a Biomed scientist approach local hospital labs for work experience- many labs offer this to school / uni students.

A biomed degree needs to be accredited with the institute of biomedical science to ensure students can be registered as a health care professional and enter NHS labs asap rather than an unaccredited degree where she'd need to "top up" at a different uni.

It's a good scientific degree to use as a launch pad as very generic imho for a lot of different science careers / further study / research but not an easy course to do.

Can't comment on social work but I'm 10 years graduated and now a senior biomedical scientist - happy to answer further if you want to PM

Social work jobs in schools are pretty rare.

If she wants to work in education social work is definitely the wrong degree choice.