Do State Schools Make Surgeons And Doctors?

DecentLivingWage

The Cons think not apparently - Tory candidate Maria Hutchings has apparently said that her son can't go to the highly praised Ofsted inspected state schools in Eastleigh because he wants to be a surgeon - I think that will hurt of families' feelings, especially locally.

kingfisherblue

Oops! I don't think my niece realised this before she qualified as a doctor! She attended a state school in Wigan before going to university.

little-spender

I think there are some that slip through, but if you looked at it on a percentage way, then yes state school does not make surgeons -in general.
Wrong but correct

Poppy9

At least 15 fellow six formers in DD state school 6th form applied for medicine for Sept'13 and most have had all rejections, she's only heard of one with an inteview.

She's very friendly with 3 of them and they all had high GCSE & AS and have A*/A predictions for A level. They also scored above average on BMAT or UKCAT tests and between them have 12 rejections. All children of doctors, all had work experience etc.

One of my neices friend was a straight A student, failed twice to get in to do medicine so did medical science, applied again after graduating and failed again. Took a year out to get relevant work experience, tried again and failed. Is now training to be a nurse.

Spendless

My chiropodist's son is currently doing a medical degree. he attended a state school. He has already done a 3 year degree as he couldn't get on his preferred choice to start off with and this one is now a 5 year one. What Poppy said, he has experienced as an A/A* student and found he has needed to have the qualification when applying rather than be predicted to get it, so he had to take a 'gap year' inbetween the 2 degrees and work.

onlyroz

I have a friend who failed to get onto a medicine course and so instead got a degree in Biology. With this degree she was eventually accepted to do medicine and is now a qualified doctor. It's a long-winded way to go about it, but if you're bright and determined enough it is possible.

jamesmorgan

The latest survey from 2011 showed that 72% of students studying medicine or dentistry came from state schools so it is clearly not an unusual combination. It has been quite a while since I studied medicine at a Russell group university (coming from a state school background) but very few of my peers came from an independent school.

That said, Medicine is very competitive to get into and most that apply won't get in (regardless of their A-levels or type of school they went to). There are about 10 applicants for every medical school place so you need to stand out from the crowd. Assuming you are a straight A's student, the two most important characteristics will be your work experience and interviewing skills.

daisiegg

My sister got into medicine at Cambridge, coming from a state school.

However, she does say that a lot of her peers on her course went to private school. Not all of them, though.

What does make her stand out is that the vast, vast majority of her course mates have parents who are doctors. This is not the case for my sister. She is just brilliant!

peachyprice

You know the doctor who saved Muamba's life on the pitch at Spurs? Educated at my, and my son's & daughter's state school. I think he did OK for himself.

Maria Hutchings is talking crap.

Poppy9

jamesmorgan wrote: »

There are about 10 applicants for every medical school place so you need to stand out from the crowd. Assuming you are a straight A's student, the two most important characteristics will be your work experience and interviewing skills.

You would think with such a high number of applicants per place they would choose students with people skills. Sadly this is one area that IMO is sadly lacking with doctors. Those that appear to be human are in a minority.

bizzybee

jamesmorgan wrote: »

That said, Medicine is very competitive to get into and most that apply won't get in (regardless of their A-levels or type of school they went to). There are about 10 applicants for every medical school place so you need to stand out from the crowd. Assuming you are a straight A's student, the two most important characteristics will be your work experience and interviewing skills.

I would second that and the work experience has to be for a considerable length of time too.