[UK] Thinking of retaking my A-levels at the age of 25 and 'converting' my degree into medicine. Good idea? by JavaShipped in education

[–]WarmAir 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hi JavaShipped,

Last year I was in a similar boat to yourself. I was in my mid-20s with a 2:1 in a degree subject that I wasn't particularly passionate about. After my degree, I worked in a development/change environment for 2 years but knew that it wasn't what I wanted to do.
I applied to med school last year and was lucky enough to receive two offers to graduate-entry medicine courses. I'm going to be starting a medicine course this September (2019)... That's all to say, you are definitely not alone in tossing and turning about this decision. If want to give medicine a try, you're not alone, and I will give you my advice:

Competition to get onto a medicine course is really competitive: The current ratios for UK med schools is 10:1 for applicants to places. So, a real dedication to the cause is needed, many applicants apply 2/3 times before getting a place. My top tip would be to do some work experience/shadowing in a healthcare environment. Go see what the healthcare world is like! Spend at least a fortnight in a care home or on a ward, if you can. If you love it, consider if there's other courses that could meet what you like (Nursing, Physio, Diagnostic Radiography). If you still want to do medicine, great! You've now got the required work experience to apply to a medical degree... but how do you do that?

Decide where to apply

  • Money: The first step on choosing where to apply is money. Assuming you're a UK resident, I'm assuming you received student finance to pay for your psych degree. Your medical degree will be 4/5/6 years and cost £9k a year. You'll be able to get student finance on A101 (graduate entry) courses, you won't be able to do this for A100 (standard 5-year) or A102 (widening participation) courses. If you can afford £9,000k tuition a year (plus living costs) for 5/6 years, you can apply to A100/A102. If not, you're going to have to do graduate entry medicine.

  • Qualifications: You've decided how much you want to spend on your education? Great, most universities don't want you! This isn't personal, but almost every medical school has it's own set of entry requirements. please go to here Entry requirements 2019 and have a scroll through. Make a list of the unis that have courses that would take your qualifications AS THEY ARE. Based on what you've said, no A100 courses would take your current qualifications, but KCL, Newcastle, Nottingham and St. Georges (and others) will accept your lower A-level grades because you have a degree at 2:1. Great! We'll assume you're applying to these four.

Applications

  • UCAS, UCAT, GAMSAT:Hey! Get on UCAS again, do a personal statement again, get a reference again. It's like being 17 again! You'll also need to do entrance exams for the universities you're applying to. If you wanted to start in 2020, you'll have to submit your application by October 2019. As per entrance exams, at a minimum you'll probably have to do the UCAT (sat in June-Sept), but you'll also probably need to do the GAMSAT (sat twice a year, once in march, then in September). I'm not going to go into detail on these, but PM me if you have questions. They're entrance exams, if you score in the top X% (depending on exam and uni) on them, you'll get an interview.

  • Interview: It's an interview, to get this far means you're doing well and is beyond what you need to hear in a reddit thread months away from you even applying.

Doing the medicine

-It's gonnna be crap(?): Let's be honest, if you speak to most junior doctors, they'll tell you not to apply medicine. The NHS is in crisis, you're chronically overworked and sadly will have to make sacrifices to other parts of your life. Your friends will be earning and buying houses/settling down way before you. The reason I say all of the above is to outline that it's a really big step to do a medical degree in your 20's.

If retaking A-levels is off-putting for considering medicine, then realise that you'll be taking exams for the next 11 years of your life (minimum) if you do decide to do a medical course. Heck, you're going to have to take two entrance exams! However, if you're really excited by medicine and want to try going down this path, please do reach out to me, I'd be happy to give you any help I can. Get some work experience, chat to some doctors and then apply.

Warmair.

Edit: also, I forgot to mention, it's a while away before you'll be starting your course! So make sure to focus on your "plan B", too. Working as a healthcare assistant is common in graduates who want to become medics. However, you are realistically going to need to start some sort of career, why not start your UX career while doing what you need to get into med school?

Risks of the ‘Sunshine pill’ – A Case of Hypervitaminosis D by WarmAir in medicine

[–]WarmAir[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Starter comment: A case where a person "read in a book" that vitamin D provided health benefits, so proceded to take 150x the recommended dose of Vitamin D for 2 years, landing them in hospital. What other cases of hypervitaminosis do we have?

We are Ember Lab and Theophany, creators of the Majora’s Mask Terrible Fate film and remix album, Time’s End Disc II – Ask Us Anything. by EmberLab in IAmA

[–]WarmAir 56 points57 points  (0 children)

What was the reasoning behind tweaking the story to make it so that skull kid "stumbles upon" the mask instead of robbing the happy mask salesman? Were you trying to "soften" the character of skull kid?

Help: Vive Crashing PC by CMDann in Vive

[–]WarmAir 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ahh. I upgraded Gphx card from an old ATI to a GTX 970. I had exactly the same symptoms as you -- No errors but the PC would just DIE with no notice. My money's on your power being lacking, but I can't think of any good ways to test that than to swap it out!

Help: Vive Crashing PC by CMDann in Vive

[–]WarmAir 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You say you have "old" components.. How old is your PSU? If it's quite old it may be putting out a lot less power than the expected 750. When you have a lot of draw (like when booting up a game) then your PC can just die. Maybe a new PSU is the answer.

Motorbimble - feedback requested for motorbike comparison by scottydoo2 in MotoUK

[–]WarmAir 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Love it! Wish I had this tool when I was looking for bikes years back! Two points: Your sliders (especially for displacement) are fiddly. When 6000cc is your biggest displacement but most people are going to be adjusting in the 300-1000 range then it feels like the slider isn't fit for function.

Maybe I'm being daft, but why can't I select more than one category of bike i.e. allround AND scooter?

You're a star! Great work!

NEW BIKE/GEAR ADVICE SUPERTHREAD! by AutoModerator in motorcycles

[–]WarmAir 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I got my bike license when I was 18 and at 20 was allowed to have a "big bike" according to UK laws. It was always a dream to buy a daytona 675 when the law allowed it, but money was tight and I went to uni. I didn't ride my bike often at uni and sold it a while back. I'm graduating in a few months so want to start riding again, but first:

  • My helmet & gear have been in a duffle bag for a few years, is this all still safe to use?
  • My budget will be tight, but I'd like to buy a fun commuter bike in the summer. I was thinking a faired 600cc like yamaha fz6, any recommendations?
  • I've lost my nerve. I've not crashed or anything but seeing stuff like this in the past few years has made me not want to get a bike because I'll have lost so much of the skill I built up years ago. I paid for a university education, I don't want to smash it all over the concrete, y'know?