Subject Choices For Medical Degree.

[Kira Meagher]

As a student hopeful at becoming a med-student, I've been carefully pondering over my subject choices for the commencement of the IB.

English HL
Spanish Ab Initio (irrelevant)

Pyschology HL

Biology HL
Chemistry SL
Mathematics HL

I would appreciate feedback on the draft of my courses and would love to hear what others are intending to study, are currently studying or have studied as to become a medical practitioner.

On top of this, what score does your specific university require to gain entry into the program?

[Adrianna]

Check the requirements for the universities that you consider. I am not interested in medicine but as far as I know for european universities you need definitely chemisty and biology both on HL and sometimes also physics/mathematics

[Sandwich]

Maybe it's different in Australia but you need HL Chemistry as a minimum, HL Biology for certain universities (also it makes sense!) and those are the only required subjects, in the UK at least.

Where do you want to study Medicine?

[bluedino]

All the aspiring medicine IB students I know do Chemistry HL - it's definitely a strong advantage. Note that some universities do say that Chemistry is a prerequisite, but most will put it as "Assumed Knowledge" or "Recommended Studies". In Australia, if you want to do med, it's most important to get a 45 (possibly a 43/44 will be okay, but only if you get really high UMAT scores that balance it out), do well in the UMAT tests and if you're lucky/good enough, do well in the interview. If you're looking to go overseas then this will probably be irrelevant.

Med has rigorous entry guidelines and your focus for the next 2 years will probably be on getting a 45, and all the med students I know are hardworking people who strongly desire to achieve a 45 and hence, achieve their goal of going into med. In light of this, I think your subjects provide you with a reasonable chance in doing so, although you should definitely drop a HL subject as soon as you figure out which is the most difficult.

This is just what I've heard about from careers/friends, so I can't guarantee absolute authority on anything I'm saying, but I hope it helps anyway

[SeniorStatus14]

I would drop English HL to SL and make your Chemistry HL to make it kinda pre-med like.

But, if it gets to hard to do 4 HLs drop either your hardest course to SL or the course you like the least to SL! Good luck!

[Kira Meagher]

All the aspiring medicine IB students I know do Chemistry HL - it's definitely a strong advantage. Note that some universities do say that Chemistry is a prerequisite, but most will put it as "Assumed Knowledge" or "Recommended Studies". In Australia, if you want to do med, it's most important to get a 45 (possibly a 43/44 will be okay, but only if you get really high UMAT scores that balance it out), do well in the UMAT tests and if you're lucky/good enough, do well in the interview. If you're looking to go overseas then this will probably be irrelevant.

Med has rigorous entry guidelines and your focus for the next 2 years will probably be on getting a 45, and all the med students I know are hardworking people who strongly desire to achieve a 45 and hence, achieve their goal of going into med. In light of this, I think your subjects provide you with a reasonable chance in doing so, although you should definitely drop a HL subject as soon as you figure out which is the most difficult.

This is just what I've heard about from careers/friends, so I can't guarantee absolute authority on anything I'm saying, but I hope it helps anyway

Honestly the most helpful thing I've heard so far.

Thank you and I will consider this all when the time comes.

[flinquinnster]

Though I would agree that Chemistry HL would probably be useful for medicine (not that I know anything about this personally, just from instinct/general talk), it doesn't really matter that much. You've still got some useful knowledge from Chemistry SL, and although Chemistry HL might be more useful for later medicine courses, if it's harder for you to get a high score, then don't do it. Australia is quite unusual in the sense that most medicine courses will not really have pre-requisites - instead, as mentioned above, it's probably better just to nail a very high IB score, the UMAT (if applicable) and then the interview. Otherwise, Biology HL and Mathematics HL should also look 'good', and your other subjects seem fine as well - particularly Psychology, which might have a somewhat quasi-medical/physiological aspect to it as well.