Are any of you lads medical doctors or working your way towards becoming one? I'm interested in hearing how people have managed with the UKCAT (now UCAT), and medical studies in general.
After many years of skirting around the edges of medical fields in academic jobs, I'm thinking of just going for it.
I was thinking about it (and never say never), but I'm comfortable and well paid and I think becoming a student again would set my life back by a couple of years. I think you have to know. That's what they say about PhDs. Studying medicine is a bigger commitment than a PhD; 4 or 5 years in medical school and 2 as a junior, then more training. Still, it's a great career. I sat the UKCAT twice. Got 620 the first time. 740 the second. Buy a book, study the questions. It's fucking boring and might put you off applying, but a decent UKCAT score is enough to get you in. You'll have a strong application if you have shadowing experience in different departments, and long term volunteer experience in a hospital/care setting; admissions like to see that you're happy to do the menial jobs, because that's what a decent chunk of the next decade of your life as a student doctor will be.
>>13297 Rereading, I wasn't clear. In fact, the voluntary experience and hospital shadowing are prerequisites. But really, you can do a Saturday morning every week. You can have "6 months" as a volunteer with 96 hours of actual volunteering (4 hours a week).
I did the UKCAT about 7 years ago. It felt like there wasn't enough time. I remember there was a lot of verbal/numerical reasoning, it's possible to prepare for it. So get a book and practice.
Are you doing graduate entry or the full undergrad? I've heard graduate entry is really hard because it's 4 years instead of 5.
