Medicine 2022- changing mind 5 days before UCAS deadline

[hughey2]

DD was always unsure about what to study at university. School internal deadline for UCAS is Sep 20 (for Sep 2022 entry), and after working really hard on a medicine application for months she has suddenly 'decided' -waveringly- to apply for Natsci at Cambridge and Durham. She got straight 9s for her GCSE, predicted 4 A*s and scored 800 in UCAT. She loves to go to Cambridge but feels that biology is 'soft' and 2 years of human biology will be boring. Natsci and chemistry will be more challenging she says. She loved medicine work experience but also loves pure science. I can she see is torn and really worried about her 'whim'. Its not as if she wants to be a scientist. She frankly does not know what exactly she wants to do apart from the fact that she likes science and maths. Any words of advice? I'm worried sick as she only has 5 days to write up a Natsci personal statement etc.

I would suggest she discusses with her Head of Year to see if the school deadline can be extended to give her a bit more time to reach her decision
I do think medicine is (or should be) a vocation and if she is not sure she probably shouldn't do it
All you can do is support her

Send two ucas applications... send this one and if she changes her mind she's got a year to decide. Although based on what you've said, I'm really not sure medicine would be "for her". Perhaps with everything going on she could take a gap year, so relevant work experience in a healthcare setting and apply for 2023

Thanks- that's an idea but she doesn't want to take a gap year :( I wonder if it is all my fault though that she is thrown into this quandary. Her dad has been insisting she studies medicine because she enjoyed work experience, volunteering, is a people person and loves science. But although I have great respect for medics, have always been luke warm about taking it on as a career unless you were 100% sure. So have probably been less than encouraging. DD has in the past desired to be a lawyer and then an economist and at some point a chemical engineer. But work experience at a hospital was surprisingly enjoyable and she went for medicine. I panic that she will regret and be demotivated after making such a hasty decision.

Would it not be feasible for her to apply for natural sciences at Cambridge & Durham and use her other three choices for medicine at universities that don't read personal statements? It would still leave her with a very short time to write a natural sciences personal statement, though, and would mean she had no back-up for "hard" science courses if she's unsuccessful at Cambridge & Durham.

Most medicine courses don't involve learning human biology for 2 years. She might not have researched the courses very thoroughly, and possibly doesn't appreciate that university-level study of science is entirely different from A-Level. It might be worth getting a second-hand copy or Kindle edition of an undergraduate physiology textbook and seeing whether it confirms or contradicts her thoughts. Try www.amazon.co.uk/Guyton-Hall-Textbook-Medical-Physiology-ebook/dp/B08WTGF41Z/ref=sr_1_3?revisionId&rnid=1642204031&s=books&depth=1&keywords=physiology&format=4&asin=B08WTGF41Z&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1631719092&sr=1-3 and skip to chapter 3.

Having said that, if she really feels she will prefer being a scientist to being a doctor - which I could fully understand, as a scientist who teaches medical students - she shouldn't pursue medicine just because she can.

Should have said it would also preclude applying for medicine at Cambridge.

thanks so much for taking the time to write. your thoughts are exactly hers. She wants to apply for 2 natsci courses at Cambridge and Durham and submit 3 medicine applications for places that don't need the personal statement. The overall personal statement submitted will be a Natsci one. Her school is very unhappy about this and say that it is likely that med schools at least glance at the personal statement before making an offer. And it is likely that she may end up with no offers at all.

Up to her
She may get an offer or not
Worse case she has to wait for clearing

Nobody should be insisting on what she studies
I think that there's always a risk that straight A students are 'encouraged' to do Law/Medicine
Genuinely think a year out would be a good idea
Much better than starting the wrong course

she has 5 days to write up a Natsci personal statement
Plenty if she is passion ate about science
Deadline is 15 oct she can ask school few more days

In my day Cambridge let you chop and change when you get there so she could swap to natsci after a week or two if she hates medicine… we had loads of swappers but that was years ago…

Only do medicine if 100% certain that nothing else will do. If you don't have a passion for it, then it tends to destroy you. Well, it can destroy you even if you do have a passion, but it tends to take rather longer and not be so inevitable.

@nocoolnamesleft I don't think she has a 'passion' for anything, really. Just a 16 year old who likes the subjects she studies, enthusiastic and up for anything, likes people and working with people. Most professional jobs these days takes an awful lot of training, hard work and commitment. I know someone who did Natsci, then a masters, management consulting, PhD, CFA and is now a university lecturer on a 50k salary, working endless hours as academics usually do. Sure, the responsibility that comes with medicine is not there but they can all be pretty draining. Correct me if I'm wrong.

@nocoolnamesleft

Only do medicine if 100% certain that nothing else will do. If you don't have a passion for it, then it tends to destroy you. Well, it can destroy you even if you do have a passion, but it tends to take rather longer and not be so inevitable.

This with bells on. A dear friend studied medicine and persevered for 1 1/2 years before making the call that she couldn’t continue. She has a fantastic career now as an academic in a completely unrelated field and is much happier overall.

I'd agree asking the school for a few more days may be a good idea.

As she likes science and has considered law, becoming a patent attorney sounds like something that might appeal to her, if she's not sure she wants to end up as a scientist. (I changed my mind the night before I handed in my UCAS form, did a science degree and now work in IP!)

Does she know about neuroscience? It’s going to be the next huge thing (well already is) about the brain, Chem, behaviour, AI, psychology etc and helps humans in a different way to med.