Welcome to this University of Southampton
5 in Five.
In this video, we will be talking
about alternatives to studying medicine.
Number one, know the breadth of your options.
Whether you have your sights set
on a medicine degree or you're currently unsure,
it's worth first reviewing exactly what your options are.
Currently there are over 350 different NHS careers
and every single one of these careers makes a difference
to people's lives every day.
You may think that you want to become a psychiatrist
but you've not heard of a clinical psychologist before.
Both fields work with people with mental health problems
in the NHS.
A psychiatrist may offer psychotropic drugs
to treat depression
where a clinical psychologist may offer talking therapies.
Currently clinical psychologists do not require
a medicine degree.
It's definitely worth considering
whether there are appealing options available
to you other than the traditional medicine routes.
Number two, look into alternative salaries.
A lot of students consider a career in medicine
because of its high salary,
but did you know that medicine alternatives
can also have appealing salaries?
Make sure you investigate the following factors.
Consider NHS banding,
working in private practise,
working for public or private companies,
variation in roles in other sectors,
and think about progression versus the time it might take.
Here you can see a comparison
between two NHS based medical careers
comparing expected working hours and salary range.
Whilst the surgeon may seem the most attractive
at first sight, a biomedical scientist
on a band nine with more than five years
of experience can earn over £100,000.
Even at graduate entry
with less than one year of experience
a biomedical scientist could earn about £24,000 a year.
When thinking about salary ranges
these are never guaranteed figures
and whatever path you take
you still need to work hard to progress.
Number three, quality of life importance.
When considering medicine alternatives,
it really is important
that you take into account your quality of life.
Medicine, however well paid could lead
to becoming stressed and burnt out
with a recent study finding almost a third
of UK doctors might be suffering from burnout
and compassion fatigue.
Is this something that you'd considered?
Looking again at these two professions
as seen previously and the average working hours,
a biomedical scientist may have their weekends
and evenings free and work more
of a standard week.
With a doctor, this may not be the case
and there is a great NHS comparison tool
you could use to compare different careers
you might be interested in.
Number four, self-reflection is key.
It's best to decide what you actually want
out of a career in the medical profession
and asking yourself why you want to be in a caring career
and what you want to achieve.
A really good way to
start is asking yourself these four things.
Do I want to work in a caring role more widely?
Do I want high levels of patient contact
or am I more happy working behind the scenes?
Do I want to find the cure
for diseases and carry on doing research
because working as a doctor, you may not do this.
And do I want a lifelong career of learning
or progression?
Number five, making use of your fifth choice.
If you are thinking of applying to medicine
your fifth choice on UCAS is for a non medicine subject
but it can still be related.
You may wish to be strategic in your choice.
For example, if you choose a biomedical science program
does the university you've chosen have a good medical school
with a graduate entry medicine programme you could apply
to in the future and what are the requirements
and make sure you look into all your options.
Your fifth choice could be a related subject
but it doesn't have to be a science.
Here at Southampton,
we have a fantastic life science program
including subjects, such as cardiac physiology,
podiatry, and audiology.
Remember, there are many journeys
from A to B in the field of healthcare.
So make sure you understand all your options fully.
So here's our 5 in Five, know the breadth of your options.
There's way more than you might originally think.
Research all different pathways
and the salary options.
Assess what quality of life you wish to have
in your professional career.
Think about what kind of future you want.
Ask what you truly want out of a career path in this field.
Use your fifth medicine choice intelligently.
Good luck with your applications.