Medicine

• Studying: 5%
• Employed in graduate job: 91%
• Employed in non-graduate job: 0%
• Unemployed: 0%

• Average graduate salary: £29,132
• Average non-graduate salary: £-

Medicine is a vocational degree and studying it allows you to develop the practical and clinical capabilities specific to medicine, as well as the professional and personal attributes necessary to be a doctor. Consider the skills developed on your course as well as through your other activities, such as paid work, volunteering, family responsibilities, sport, membership of societies, leadership roles, etc. Think about how these can be used as evidence of your skills and personal attributes. Then you can start to market and sell who you really are, identify what you may be lacking and consider how to improve your profile.

 View the best universities for medicine degrees.

Prospects

All UK medical graduates must undertake the two-year Foundation Programme in order to practise medicine in the UK. They then undergo run-through training lasting several years, choosing to specialise either in general practice or a specialty. The length of this training varies on the specialty undertaken. Check the NHS Medical Careers website for details of routes into various medical specialisms.

A 2010 HESA survey of medical graduates indicated that, six months after graduation, 95% had found employment either in the UK or overseas, and almost all had found work in the health sector.

Where are the jobs?

Most doctors work within The National Health Service (NHS) - see NHS Jobs and NHS Scotland Recruitment  for opportunities. There are also opportunities for those wishing to practise medicine in the armed forces, overseas aid agencies, prisons, hospital/research institutes, clinical trial organisations, private healthcare establishments, residential nursing homes, air ambulance services and university teaching.

Jobs directly related to your degree

Upon completion of a degree in medicine you can work as either:

• General practice doctor
• Hospital doctor

Jobs where your degree would be useful

With a medical degree, you could also pursue a career as a:

• Clinical molecular geneticist
• Health services manager
• Health promotion specialist
• International aid/development worker
• Research scientist (life sciences)
• Higher education lecturer
• Management consultant
• Science writer
• Solicitor

Although some of the jobs listed here might not be first jobs for many graduates, they are among the many realistic possibilities with your degree, provided you can demonstrate you have the attributes employers are looking for. Bear in mind that it's not just your degree discipline that determines your options. Remember that many graduate vacancies don't specify particular degree disciplines, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

Included with the permission of AGCAS and Graduate Prospects. For the latest version of this publication, see www.prospects.ac.uk. For permission to reproduce, contact copyright@agcas.org.uk. We would welcome your comments on this section of The Complete University Guide. Please email us at admin@thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk.