Getting into Medical School: Personal Opinion

It is one of the most complex and difficult of sciences. It is personal at so many levels. One of the most respected and longest-standing professions of all time. I am of course talking about medicine. Nowadays competition for a place in a medical university is notoriously high. I won't even talk about any specific values since it will probably disincentive many of you readers from such a career. It will be untruthful of me to say that I have always wanted medicine as a future career. Many of my close friends and colleagues believe that this choice has been influenced by my parents who are both respected medical officials. I won't deny that their perseverance towards their job was what first made me seriously consider medicine as a potential future.

I have been reading many guides towards making yourself a perfect UCAS application in order to get an interview. And let's just say that the standards for getting an interview have seriously gone up. Not only do you have to achieve the highest possible marks for all A levels, you also need to have prior working experience. One candidate had such a big curriculum full of amazing achievements such as working in hospitals part-time, being leader in all types of societies and even one part where it almost seemed as if he found a cure for cancer. I actually found myself becoming more and more in doubt whether I really wanted this amount of work just for a place in an university in the UK. Already I have been to many MUN conferences (http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/modelun/index.asp) here in Portugal as well as being part of INTERACT (http://www.rotary.org/pt/studentsandyouth/youthprograms/interact/pages/ridefault.aspx). They have proved to be useful experiences but they are not enough to guarantee even an interview.

As a result of these expectations I am facing the biggest dilemma of my life. Whether to continue down this road, work non-stop for a reward that might not even be much different than university's in Portugal or in Poland. Whatever my future choice will be, I do know one thing. That I will make the best selection because it is my opinion that counts in the end.

http://www.nice.org.uk
http://student.bmj.com/student/student-bmj.html  
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/
http://www.thelancet.com/home
http://www.newscientist.com/