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

[OneAlertPearlExpert]

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 his life to lead, not yours. He's clearly a clever lad who will do very well whatever he chooses to do. I'd offer advice if he asks for it, but other than that be clear that he owns his choices.

I was about to post this. Well said, even if it’s rather depressing.

Maybe true about a year ago, not so much now with agentic ai I’m afraid. I would say yes you need someone who understands code to keep track of build but they are slowly removing the interface for viewing the code as it’s not needed.

I work with a consultant who was pushed into medicine by his parents. He told me he never wanted to do it, music was his love and he wished he could have followed that. (He does play in a band on the side). He had a mental breakdown and a lot of time off work a couple of years ago, he had a family to support and felt he had to carry on. He's a truly lovely man 😔please let your son follow his heart.

Agentic AI is much more expensive.

Let him make his own decisions and then he can't blame you for anything!

But seriously, he really needs to want to do medicine in order to do it. As someone who's worked as an allied health professional you can't do it/won't last unless you are passionate about medicine.

He's only in 6th form so not sure what you mean by time and energy invested already. He's done a bit of reading into it and some volunteering. I thought you were going to say he was halfway through the degree. Now is the ideal time for him to realise it's not what he wants. There will be plenty of work in tech, AI will be a booming industry. He won't be short of work.

As far as the monologues go, context is everything. I agree that assessing DS’ sources might be a good idea. Chances are they are perfectly sound, but you never know.

Medicine opens doors to hundreds of careers outside NHS patient facing ones!’

He sounds very switched on.

am not clear where you’re getting your info on the IT industry from? It’s a massive growth area for jobs with lots of new and exciting opportunities.

if that’s what he’s interested in then let him go for it

Yes but you don’t get to specialise immediately… a rotational doc for years before then will need those skills. In placement too.

There are many ways to work in computing that don’t involve programming. DH and myself both work in IT but I cannot remember the last time either of us did any coding - it would have been decades ago.

I was made redundant in March, in my mid 50’s and had little difficulty securing a (better) job.

18.99 a month expensive?

Or you can run the model locally now too on your own machines. It really isn’t. It’s a very fast paced sector.

Ok. My daughter is a neurogeneticist - neural implants and that area the route into the neural link and brain implants surgery is either medicine ( preferably) or high level PhD bio or translational medicine ( she went to Cambridge). Friend of hers is doing the maths side creating the implants software - it’s almost entirely weird high level maths - he did maths at masters level Cambridge and a PhD at Princeton. No one I know that’s in this went into it via computer science so although I understand what your son is saying he needs to check what end game work / academic research he wants to do and double check he’s applying for the right degree path. Good luck to him and I agree with him it’s the way forward but it might mean medicine first then a specialist PhD ( which is what my daughter did ).

CS is changing rapidly but the degree program should prepare him for the jobs/opportunities of the future, not the ones that are disappearing now.
Just to throw in a curve ball, has he considered a Degree Apprenticeship? No student loan, straight into employment, cutting edge learning/doing.

@OneAlertPearlExpert

OP, reading through your post prompted me to remember a recent visit I made to the Ray Dolby Centre in Cambridge, which is the new home of the Cavendish Laboratory.

Part of the building is a small museum which shows how the Cavendish's work has developed over the decades.

The last exhibit is a new film explaining how the Laboratory is moving towards a cross-pollinating approach in that their work embraces all the sciences with the intention of solving problems in areas like medicine.

I was very impressed by the post-grads I met when I had lunch in the super restaurant there later.

This sounds like somewhere your son would feel very at home.

I wonder whether he might be able to arrange to visit them for an insight into the kind of work he has in mind.

I do think that Cambridge would be a good destination for him to aim for.

I think that he would start with the Natural Sciences Tripos at UG level.

https://www.natsci.tripos.cam.ac.uk/what-nst

This is the film explaining more about the Lab's work.

It’s a long life and AI will disrupt everything, medicine included. He should do what he’s passionate about. Also biotech is going to be huge.

There are lots of good career options with a degree in medicine with far greater earning potential - perhaps worth exploring those too.

I am married to a Dr and we are very relieved that our children do not want to do medicine. I also work within the NHS and it’s all a bit of mess really. I think you would have to really really want to be a Dr to choose this as a degree.

What are we talking about, a decent level of coding for moderately complex tasks? Claude or the like? If so there is no contradiction in our views.

If you are doing genomics research with the significant assistance such a tool I stand corrected.

Where are you getting the idea that IT is a dead industry because of AI? That really isnt true. Entry level coding/software engineering, sure, much of that is done with AI yes, but your son would be aiming much higher than that. I work in IT and like PP dont code and am mid fifties and have been headhunted 3 times and switched jobs 3 times in the last few years. I earn approximately the same as an NHS consultant. There are lots of jobs in IT and tech still and people will still be required to oversee and regulate AI. Tech research is booming.

With your sons interests and abilities he could have a really exciting career at the forefront of technology/medical tech in academia at Cambridge/Imperial which would then evolve into lucrative private contracts etc. He could even start a tech company and the skies the limit in terms or earning potential, if that is what he cares about. It sounds like its more about the intellectual stimulation for him though and I dont think years sloghing away in the NHS as a junior doctor will give him that.

Having said all that, you can easily switch into CS as a science graduate at Masters level so another option is to do undergraduate medicine and then do either an MPhil or a masters in CS/AI. I have a friend you is a doctor but works for a neuroscience tech company as their technical director and he did that route. He was a neurosurgeon in the NHS for a few years before switching over.

I really think your ideas about Medicine vs CS/tech are out of date in terms of prestige/job security though either way.

Have a look for yourself.

“DeepSeek-R1 is a powerful open-source reasoning model released in January 2025 that excels in academic literature analysis, logical structuring, and problem-solving”

There are many different models which you can now active multi agentic task. All then handled by an LLM to give good interface to the user.

Sorry just to clarify by the time you’ve done masters the PhD is now part of the job, should be paid and working with post docs in whatever medical tech area he enters.

I don’t think we are contradicting each other.

I have been thinking about lot about your son, he really reminds me of myself, but the other way round. I did science A level and science at university, later switching to CS via a masters, but I've always regretted not doing Medicine.

Anyway, this part is key for me about him: "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."

Its unusual to be so intellectually curious/sophisticated at 17, ime of 17y olds, including my own. I was the same. So I think it is important he feel that level of excitement about whatever degree he chooses. The other thing that strikes me is that that biotech area that he is interested in, is surely coming and going to be huge, and it will be taking people from both ends - Medicine and CS, so in some ways he can't lose. Either undergrad choice could lead to research and a career in the area he is interested in. I do wonder if a straight science degree, Physics or Natural Sciences might also be a better option? Can you put him in touch with some biotech researchers at places like Cambridge or Imperial to ask their advice? He sounds more like a science need to me.

My guess is he wants to do this and you want him to do medicine because you see it as a more "worthy" career. Is that because it has better career prospects, or because it is more impressive to boast about at dinner parties ?

Medicine is a long slog. Difficult course with years of long hours at the end of it.

Every time he runs into trouble on that course he's going to feel he was forced into it and will resent you for it.

I would tell him I would back him whatever he wants to do. He sounds like a smart guy and will probably do well whatever he chooses to do.

He's going for a numerate degree in doing computer science, and that will open up a huge range of possibilities for jobs in the future.