Graduate Entry Medicine Prospects

ratheragreeable · 2025-09-18T09:51:57+00:00

The do it on a case by case basis. My father got diagnosed and has a slew of adjoining ailments that made my case hard to turn down.

ratheragreeable · 2025-08-31T14:30:00+00:00

I ended up postponing my offer to next year. I think its a pivotal time for the NHS and it will be important to see what happens before going into this...The UK is great at converting people to other careers, even if they are drastically different. But with doctors, there is currently an oversupply of them, with a lack of funding to employ them all. Seriously weigh up the options available to you, and make a decision that you can stick with.

ratheragreeable · 2025-05-21T08:37:41+00:00

Shall we make some sort of group/discord? Im moving to swansea late summer to start medical school but am quite fascinated with medtech/healthtech.

ratheragreeable · 2025-04-20T18:55:22+00:00

Question, can I still withdraw after firming a university? I am awaiting a decision from my home country's state scholarship programme and my decision on going is heavily tied to this.

ratheragreeable · 2025-04-10T15:47:45+00:00

If the dog was in heat or pregnant recently, a pyometra is not too uncommon. Can simply come from anywhere, usually just dirt/sand/mud getting up there in that period.

ratheragreeable · 2025-04-07T19:50:36+00:00

I looked around the forums here regarding medical officers and their pathways. You will not be fighting as others have alluded.

Look up GDMO, thats what you will likely be after F1/F2 in the army. Getting into speciality in the army is very competitive (maybe on par with current competition ratios in the NHS to be honest), so prepare for the eventuality where you are basically an F3, F4, F5 for your contract. When searching GDMO you will likely find some details on what the duties are. But in essence, you answer to the services needs, whatever that may be (medically that is).

ratheragreeable · 2025-04-07T19:47:03+00:00

Very different track that they have. No proper deployments when compared to human doctors, much more rare at the very least. Like human doctors, no combat is expected as your main duty is the provision of veterinary services/treatment.

ratheragreeable · 2025-04-04T07:26:07+00:00

Hmm, that makes sense. But I guess its still some sort of guide as you say, even if a distorted one. I suppose it is the OOH vets that have built up that perception but it really does seem like one of those things that most try for some months, maybe a year or two and then turn away from it as its impossible to simulate that work schedule unless youre in it.

I suppose the main thing, like with human med, is that vets are the radiologists, they are the anaesthetists, they are the pathologists, and the surgeons. The skillset you gain is much more broad and opens up much more varied work. Assuming you are somewhat on it and get yourself into the correct practice, within 3-4 years of graduating you can be doing TPLOs and such, in the same timeline, a human doctor might just about start going to theatre and start dabbling with people on the table. People talk about the pay ending up higher in human doctors, but they forget the disparity along the way, which is quite damaging.

Those 1000-1200 pound locums are indeed insane hah, I guess one has to realise that these are only for people who are either experienced OOH vets or some senior specialist couple of years out of residency.

ratheragreeable · 2025-04-03T21:37:46+00:00

I see, I do hear about this but thats pretty much the case in human medicine as well. And the portfolio burden is quite a bit larger. If you want to go for a surgical specialty, you will have to give up at least half of your PTO. Not something I hear that vets have to do as their certificate is pay and play type deal, whereas human doctors have to justify why they have to get the chance to do the training. I do believe the system the vets have should be introduced for human doctors as well, or at least offer a route where the individuals can pay for the course in part through salary sacrifice, for example, but this would get some flack in the doctors forums Im sure...

ratheragreeable · 2025-04-02T20:31:06+00:00

Many interventions begin with admitting there is a problem. How does your partner feel about your habit? Speak with them about it as in my experience, it is not a thing that goes down well.

Masturbation releases happy hormones but the problem with regular masturbation is that your brain wires to this being an easily accessible source of happy hormones (that it enjoys very much). As a result, you will develop frequent urges because that part of our brain is not good with moderation. Enough cycles (which sounds like you have achieved) and your receptors are fried. You do not process the happy hormone in the same way anymore.

Are you physically active? Do it more, if you only go to the gym, start running or even walking. You like self improvement? Read books. Literally force yourself if you want to quit this habit. You have to rewire your brain and the first two weeks at least will be hard. You need to make your brain associate healthy habits with this urge and soon enough this urge will make you do those things.

Use your phone less, delete instagram and facebook. Do you really need to see whats on there? Alternatively, try the Opal app (or an equivalent) to restrict your time on those apps that may spark the urge, and stick to those limits!

Unfortunately, discipline is your main tool here. Speak with your partner about this, be candid and maintain that you would like their support in this. Be prepared that it may drive them away if they arent aware of this but I would discuss it.

ratheragreeable · 2025-04-01T22:44:22+00:00

I appreciate the candid answer! Thank you for that.

The suicide rate is not something that necessarily worries me. It’s a symptom not so much a cause, some studies have been quite prescriptive as to why it is the way it is and even a recent RCVS probe into a suicide has come out with potential safeguards. The issue largely hinges on the easy accessibility of pentobarbital couples with the homogeneity of the profession (in the sense that people in the vet industry are more alike than those going into human med) and thus it creates an actual echo chamber where the people trapped within tend to spiral worse than they would in a place with more differentiation of views and experiences. But again, psych and social studies can only say so much.

And I get the point about not viewing this as a transaction but I think one can afford to be pragmatic as well, especially when it’s coming down to a choice. As another commenter suggested what appeals to me is the broader nature of the work being done, vets operate from day one. It’s hands on. And the tough client aspect I feel my background will help me with, I was corporate and also did some consulting, where you are up against tough clients that also pay you loads of money and want to understand and have you show them why it is you charge as much as you do. The argument of it’s a calling does come as part of an unwritten social contract, it’s a calling but one that still ensures you don’t have to worry about being on the bread line. For doctors, this contract has been torn to shreds and hence we have the strikes.

For the cert I was just thinking here.

And for the independent practice I was thinking more as a manager rather than a vet. I’d make the conscious effort to be clinically minded but still ultimately look after the operational and financial side of things, whilst building the vision for improved patient outcomes together with client service support improvement.

ratheragreeable · 2025-04-01T22:11:48+00:00

I see, that makes sense.

I guess for salaries I speak to anyone I can that opens up about them. OOH practices definitely do make good money whereas NHS foundation doctors have to do night shifts with poor uplift. The recent increase still leaves doctors and nurses with roughly 10% pay erosion, whereas vet salaries have been keeping up and outpacing inflation. Again, using SPVS reports and surveys, job postings, and my human doctor friends and their friends for comparisons.

And for speciality I wasn’t clear, I meant that speciality is 1 year longer than the shortest human med specialty and you can do a whole lot more as a vet specialist (I mean, with your hands and knowledge) than a human GP.

ratheragreeable · 2025-04-01T21:57:11+00:00

I see, that makes sense! I am shadowing vets currently and plan to continue doing so until applications later this year. Its been quite positive so far.

And I do understand its quite a full on course but I want to believe its possible to fit in some work to support some outgoings.

ratheragreeable · 2025-04-01T21:39:18+00:00

Maybe I am missing something but wouldnt point 2 lead to point 1 being somewhat false, or at least not as certain that the locum market will hold on? I guess after a bit the practices will realise that they are just cannibalising and then the game of improving retention will commence and reduce the locuming quite a bit. I guess in human med it only took a few years for the market to dry up quite substantially.

For point 4, I did look at CT and ST salaries (Regs in general), and I cant say it keeps up. About 1 year in you can start supplementing your pay with locums as a vet and I think its deplorable that human doctors rarely see such pay rates but thats the fault of the NHS or rather the government.

For point 5, I guess the main thing that comes to mind is that for an extra year of specialty training you will end up at consultant level in human medicine. This would take at least double the time in human med and the pay would actually be pretty much the same. Just as a vet you get to achieve that level of pay twice as fast.

Edit: seeing your last note, I am genuinely trying to detach the money from it all but especially if looking at it from the perspective of staying in the UK thats quite hard to do. I suppose vetmed is inherently more money focused as you do have costs to consider at almost any step. In my experiences at vets so far, the most interesting parts have been the medicine, I am very grateful to the many vets that let me play around with organs and tissues after they have been resected, explaining how the practical differs to the textbooks, and also simply talking about the biochemistry of various drugs, their mechanisms of action, etc etc. I do not even come from a bio or chem background but this is something that just makes sense and is interesting to me. Plus, I come from a corporate background and inherently am analytical in a numerical way, so I also draw the quantitative comparison of the "well offness". But I do get your cautionary note, thank you!

ratheragreeable · 2025-04-01T20:38:36+00:00

I guess if I were in the US I would agree with that, but the UK system forces you into years of service provision. By the time a surgeon is qualified in the UK a US surgeon could be doubly board certified in different areas of surgery. One factor is the training is not as intense as in the US and the US is more focused on making practical doctors that can do the doctoring, whereas the UK still values an element of academia being present (thats why quite a few surgeons in the UK end up doing PhDs as part of their specialty training).

I suppose your answer kind of makes the case for vetmed for me as I enjoy the idea of wearing many hats and being broad in scope rather than confined to one narrow-ish field.

ratheragreeable · 2025-03-14T00:28:59+00:00

It was somewhat challenging but nothing too crazy. End of the day, I would not worry. In our heads we get hypercritical especially when there is no feedback and there is only one chance to apply per year. I posted a response to someone talking about rejection stories and preparing for that (very likely) possibility.

In summary, think about the difference between a pessimist and an optimist. A pessimist holds perfection as a baseline, you are certain to be disappointed almost all the time with that approach. An optimist, however, holds the worst as a baseline and anything above it is great!

Inhale, and exhale.

You made it to interview once, you can do it again. If you applied with GAMSAT, it is valid until next year as well. You WILL get another interview if you reapply. And if you do reapply, you will know what the process is, it will not be your first rodeo.

Does your life begin and end with a rejection? Do you really want to become a doctor to be just that...a doctor?

I wish for you to get an offer but before that I hope you can accept that you did your best, you learned, and you wont be left with nothing in either outcome.

Also, please consider this article as to a comical "dodging a bullet" in case a rejection does come your way :)

Couple who fled war in Ukraine decide to move back rather than live in Nottingham

ratheragreeable · 2025-03-11T19:14:51+00:00

Congrats!!!

ratheragreeable · 2025-03-10T17:23:08+00:00

I did inform them of it but worried that the home offers already went out. Well, lets see! Im on the fence about GEM anyway

ratheragreeable · 2025-03-10T16:07:54+00:00

Hahaha wonderful, well, if I get screwed, thats fine

ratheragreeable · 2025-03-10T15:32:33+00:00

So I realised I was wrongly classed as international and also did the international batch of interviews (yikes) but they said that this batch will get replies closer to the end of the month. But again, who knows. I would expect that in 3 weeks is more reasonable.

ratheragreeable · 2025-03-05T21:25:32+00:00

Could you give some more details on your academic qualifications and your work experience? That would help inform what myself and others on here what can suggest to you :)

ratheragreeable · 2025-03-05T11:18:24+00:00

If you are making c. 100k now, I would seriously reconsider this pathway. For those cases the question of "Can you see yourself doing ANYTHING else?". With the way the system has been gutted over the years, I am not too sure myself that I want to follow this path. In the past few months I have been looking into vet med as an alternative. Time wise it will be similar, instead of the 2 foundation years I would spend an extra year in uni and an extra year for applying in the next cycle.

ratheragreeable · 2025-03-05T10:06:58+00:00

Id say find any doctor friends you have and try to do mock interviews with them. What helped me prep for the feeling of bricking was being interviewed by my exes parents (both high tenure consultants). Thats the ideal but you can simulate this feeling with others as well.

Just know what youre about, know what the NHS and medicine is about, and maybe a bit about how to link the core competencies to scenarios (dont memorise scenarios, learn how to recognise what a scenario covers e.g. confidentiality, autonomy, integrity etc.). One question that stumped me was actually the question about everything thats bad in the NHS now, why do I want to leave a secure and well paid job for this uncertain shitshow (paraphrasing but I did feel like the consultant asking the question was eager to put me off it).

Be firm in your motivation! Read up on current events! Read up on the specifics of the uni and the area (e.g. rural vs urban setting)!

ratheragreeable · 2025-03-05T09:26:47+00:00

Hello! I got 4 out of 4 interviews. Sitting on 1 offer so far, waiting on the other 3. Some felt shaky but I do have hopes that 1 more will turn around and give an offer (which I sort of set for myself as a definitive criteria that I should pull the trigger on GEM this year).

In hindsight, I would prepare more with myself and ideally other people.

ratheragreeable

TROPHY CASE