DS wants to ditches Medicine for Computer Science - should he?

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DS17 is currently doing his A-levels in Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. He is predicted four A*s. He also spent the whole of summer revising for UCAT (medical entrance exam) and achieved an amazing score. For a long time the plan was Medicine. He has done extensive medical volunteering and would almost certainly secure a place.

He now says his passion has always been technology. He is believer in its potential and constantly gives long monologues about the ways it will transform our lives and the way it is the future of humanity (ai, neural technology, all that jargon). He talks about wanting to be part of the race where biology and technology merge and where tech will undergo extreme advancements especially in AI.

I am advising him to stay with Medicine because of the time and effort already invested and because Computer Science is WAY less secure with AI changing the job market and replacing almost all programmers.

I am seeking advice. Should he continue on the Medicine path for stability, or follow what he feels is his true interest in Computer Science? AIBU to discourage him from changing his mind or at least seriously reconsidering?

He's planning on sending off his application for med (deadline is coming up very soon) but intends on taking a gap year to study a level further maths and apply next year for computer science. I've told him he can apply without FM to many unis but he says he wants to have a shot at Imperial and Oxbridge which essentially require it. I don't know if a gap year is a good idea. It's a huge risk.

It’s fair for him to change his mind about medicine, you have to really want to be a doctor not just get the grades.
Your concerns about CS are valid though, I would be worried about AI, however a degree in CS doesn’t necessarily mean a career in IT.
Has he considered engineering instead? Or simply a degree in some kind of science, with his grades he could go to one of the top universities. Science careers are still quite AI proof at the moment.
A gap year may actually be the best thing for him if he’s not sure.

He should follow his passion. Medicine is unbelievably hard. If he doesn’t want to do it then he shouldn’t.

Medicine is hard. And it’s relentless. Lectures, exams, tutorials, placements, more exams - it’s non stop. And the terms are longer once you get into the 3rd year, so you don’t even get the long uni holidays. You have to be really determined to get through it.

There were quite a few people in my year who were clever, grade A pupils, parents had pushed them into medicine, or they’d done it because it was a good career to go into and “that’s what the clever kids do”. All of them quit within the first 2 years.

I would only advise someone to study medicine if they 100% wanted to be a doctor.

The traditional software engineering jobs are being decimated. What is still secure is cyber security, AI and structural software engineers.
Basically the software engineering jobs that anyone with some coding knowledge could do are rapidly disappearing. What will be left will be highly specialized work and since he is so bright, he should be fine. Ensuring his maths is excellent will stand him in good stead.

AI is rapidly eroding many IT software jobs with the least experienced the most vulnerable. Many software departments are shedding huge numbers of staff 20%+ and those left are becoming checkers of AI and checked by AI in a not very pleasant way.

The Halcyon days of lots of high wage jobs in software are probably over unless we see government regulations, an industry bubble crash or a major public backlash.

There are still opportunities in certain disciplines (such as cybersec) or if you already have lots of niche experience / business domain knowledge (none of which a grad has) but competition is fierce, and uncertain how long these disciplines will remain exceptions.

I would be super hesitant about investing 3 years & Fees into a university computer science course. Better to self learn , or choose a course leading to an AI proof career in something physical. If you can do it on a computer or a phone, an AI can do it.

Russell Group STEM academic here. There is a lot of wisdom above, and I am particularly struck by the posts from @RogerBakewell and @Arran2024

CS and IT are not quite the same thing. The strongest CS programmes in the UK have different approaches but they all teach student to ‘learn to learn’: there is a focus on core principles. This makes it possible for graduates to adapt to change and indeed to drive it, and sounds like it would suit DS.

Who do you think is developing and managing the AI? The roles being made redundant are the less complex ones. I am sure that as AI improves it will take on more. But it isn’t optimal, even at coding. The role of humans is changing but good computer scientists (who, as I implied, have more sophisticated training than IT specialists) will be needed for quite some time.

I also agree with PP that cybersecurity is an important field with a secure future. Every time AI goes rogue this statement magnifies.

@RogerBakewell made an excellent point when she said that those who prefer to understand things from first principles are sometimes unsuited to the pedagogical approach of medical school.

There is a species of highly intelligent YP who are born to become computer scientists. They take to computers like breathing. They thrive in the field. One cannot guarantee that someone who has not yet begun university belongs to it, but your DS seems to be showing the signs. Please let him do the thing he was very probably meant to do.

The gap year and further maths is a good idea. It gives him some time to figure out what he really wants out of his future career.

If he’s genuinely a high flyer academically, I would not write off a computer science degree. Computer science at Oxford has a lot of mathematics and could be a springboard to a number of careers. Imperial or UCL are also good choices.

Imperial now offer maths and computer science for ai as an undergraduate degree course - I don’t know what it’s like. It must be relatively new. Imperial also offers industry placements for some of their degrees, where he might be able to find a project with a biological angle.

I agree with others that a medical degree is a tough gig if he’s not totally committed. But if he sticks with medicine and is still interested in the tech biology interface, it won’t necessarily close doors, but it’s easier to do computing and pick up the extra biology knowledge than the other way around.

Honestly, I think technology will change the face of medicine - and being a doctor - much, much sooner than we think. So he should go with his heart and if he is as bright and dedicated as he seems he could do amazing things with his passion.

He can do post-grad medicine if he changes his mind, he has time.

OP I think he needs some real life advice to work out what he actually means when he says he wants to work in frontier tech. A computer science degree with specialisation in AI/machine learning or actually, probably better, a pure maths degree from a top university would be right if he wants, for example, to be an AI foundation model engineer.

If he wants to be more of a wet lab scientist at the intersection of biology and tech then he probably needs to do biological sciences/biotechnology/some kind of engineering course. Any degree course worth its salt in those fields will also have opportunities for building AI/data/programming skills as part of the course.

From the sound of it he does not seem particularly set on being clinical i.e. involved in hands on patient care? In which case a medical degree might not be the best option, although it wouldn't rule out doing something tech focused later. It's not unheard of for medics do the preclinical academic bit and then go full time into non-clinical science jobs.

I would say if he's thinking this way already, then don't do medicine unless he very strongly wants to be clinical at some point or doesn't want to lose that option, but he should really get some advice or talk to some university admissions people to work out what course actually aligns best with his interests.

He needs to do what he wants to do in his heart, but he should consider the area of computing and how that might be impacted by AI going forward. Since he likes both medicine and technology, what about something like biomedical sciences or medical technology of some kind?

I thought almost all careers in computer stuff were being made redundant by the development of AI?

Encourage him to look at courses that combine elements of both- Biomedical Engineering?
Id personally say youd have to be totally committed to doing medicine to do it!

My child is a recent Imperial CS graduate and it opens so many opportunities in CS, financing and other careers. Imperial is 4 years as it's an integrated MSc.

Both pathways take a lot of dedication and commitment. If he's not sure a gap year could be very useful.

my child got straight A* - maths, further maths, physics, econ. Your son sounds equally as capable. But if he's not sure it may be best that he applies grades in hand when he's had those extra months to consider his options.

My child also considered medicine up until 6th form but their love of maths and CS won through.

This is 100% his decision and not yours. He's 17 and needs to do something he is passionate about and fully committed to, something he finds fulfilling. You're in no position to advise him, you have no knowledge of contemporary careers advice and your personal opinion is just your personal opinion. The best option is to get him professional paid careers advice (Morrisby?) to explore all his options. A gap year or two sounds sensible in regards to study and gaining real life work experience.

He must follow his heart. I know a chap whose son qualified as a doctor and later studied computer science which was his passion. He had been pushed into medicine. It wasn't wasted but he really wanted to do something else.

It's entirely up to him.

Comp Sci is an area that won't have human input in the very near future. He would be very foolish to spend three years at it.

If he loves tech and has excellent grades, he should consider biomedical engineering, and apply to Imperial, UCL, Kings, Manchester, or Oxford.

He could also take a year off and prepare an application to a highly selective US university and major in biomedical engineering there. A select few American universities offer need blind admission and financial aid to international students.

Yes they are.

The speed at which AI is replacing human rains in CS is exponential.

It would be incredibly foolish to commit to it.

"Follow your heart" is silly advice in this day and age.

Not if you become a pathologist, nuclear medicine doctor, radiologist, anesthesiologist.

All are heavy on the tech side.

The people you've spoken to are 100% correct.

Please have him consider biomedical engineering.

I was going to say biomedical engineering might be an option to look in to.

Pacemakers evolve all the time, or rather the programming does and someone needs to design the algorithm.

I think a gap year is an excellent idea.

He needs to decide what he wants to do, not you. He won't stick with medicine if he goes into it, so you might as well accept the situation and support him doing the thing he is interested in.

I think he needs to step away from the ‘headline’ subjects (medicine, CS) and look, as others have said, at the Biomedical, Biochemical and engineering options out there. They sound like a more accurate representation of his skill set and will allow
him to delve into the topics that interest him whilst having real world applications. Several friends studied physics at BSc level and then went on to do medical physics MSc and PhD and now work in the world of MRI and similar technology advancement. Plenty of work and reasonably well paid depending on which companies you go for (less so if you stay within academia but that’s always the way).

Medicine is no longer a stable/secure career.
Training has been monumentally fucked up by successive governments and if his heart is no longer in it he will not tolerate 5-10 post-graduate years in residency. It will quite possibly destroy him. Follow his heart, go with the computers, if he loves it he will find a way to make it work because he’s motivated.

Honestly unless you are 100% all in wanting to be a doctor you’re on a pathway to misery.

I’d advise him to follow his heart and do what he wants.

While you may think he has invested a lot of time and effort, he is only 17, so if he’s going to change things, now is the time to do it, not in a few years after he’s been forced down the medical degree route.

I wouldn’t advocate for anyone to take CS right now tbh but he sounds exceptional so he’d probably be alright. We’ve only started to see the first redundancies and given the direction of travel if anyone was still writing code by the time he graduates I’d be surprised. That said architecture/security/systems devs will probably around longer so there will be some roles etc but I’d certainly not do CS if he likes writing code. Just my two cents