Studying Medical related in UK

[Chen Vivian]

Hi all IB survivors, 

I am currently a senior-to-be, but I am still feeling really confused about the major I am going to take in college. I have been thinking major in bio or other medical-related majors in UK. But i heard it is really hard for international student to get into those majors in UK. Is that true?( Cause they have quota or smt like that. 

Also I'm interested in arts, so I really couldn't make up my mind what to study. 

[Sandwich]

Just to make you aware, Medicine in the UK is an undergraduate degree. It's not like in the US where you study a possibly related 'pre-med' subject and then apply to Medicine, you do Medicine straight away and complete the course in 5 or 6 years. It's very competitive and there are lots of hoops to jump through if you're seriously interested. Domestic competition is very tight but there are spaces for international students. I don't think there's a specific quota, I've never heard of one, but I can't be 100%

 

If you want to study Biology or Biomedicine etc., that's a very different kettle of fish. Less competitive (although obviously for top Universities, still competitive courses), but they don't lead into medicine. You should study Biology because you love Biology, not necessarily to become a medic. It is possible to do a degree and then apply for medicine, but it makes more sense to just do Medicine from the off if you know that's what your ultimate goal is. Graduate entry medicine is even more competitive than undergraduate because there are fewer places. The system here is that you pick a degree and study it all the way through. The majoring/minoring thing does not exist.

 

If you don't know what you want to study then thinking on that is probably the best place to start... if you want to do arts then there's not much point considering the other options and vice versa. Soul searching is a good idea!