5 Reasons Why You SHOULD NOT Study Biomedical Science

Hello everyone, welcome to my channel. My name is Vy. Previously on my channel, I made a video on reasons why you should study biomedical sciences, but there are always two sides to the story. This video is by no means meant to discourage you or make you regret your degree choice. Every subject does come with its pros and cons, and I just thought that it might be useful to share some of this information, since these are some of the things that I wish I knew before I studied biomedical science in university. Number one, biomedical science is a very specific field, and this can be a good or bad thing depending on how certain you are of your career choice. Biomedical sciences gives you biological and medical knowledge beyond what a junior doctor may study, but if you're not going to be pursuing a biology-related career, then this may sound very obvious, but it will be a waste of your time to pursue this degree. However, if you do want to become a biomedical scientist and spend your career researching a topic that you love, then this is the perfect degree for you. But for many of us who are unsure of our career paths, this may limit some of our future career options. Contradictory to the statement, there are many consultancy or corporate companies that really value STEM students because of their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Even though studying biomed may make it more difficult to transition into other career options, it is not impossible to do so. In fact, many of my coursemates who studied biomedical science with me when I was in university actually ended up in life science consultancy companies, and some of them completely just diverged from science and went into business, for example. And speaking of transitions, biomedical science does overlap with other biology-related courses like biomedical engineering, biochemistry, biotechnology, and medicine. It may be possible for you to transfer credits or transfer to a different course if you realize some way along the way that you don't really enjoy biomedical sciences, but I will say that this is very uncommon in UK universities, and a lot of the times it's actually not even possible. So what is normally done in this situation, and I definitely have seen friends who have done this before, is that they would drop out of their university altogether after first year and then restart again. But you need to keep in mind that you also need to go through UCAS applications again, so this might not put you back by one year, but actually two years. And maybe after a certain amount of time, that feeling of being a fresher may not necessarily be the same as when you actually start at university for the first time, and also you'll be seeing your friends from your original cohort that might be graduating before you. In the grander scheme of things, one to two years is obviously not a lot of time, and it's honestly better to realize something that you don't like sooner rather than later. Number two on the list is that you are not guaranteed a job after graduating. When I first started uni, I had this common misconception that it would be extremely easy to get a job after I graduated. One, because I thought biomedical science is a desirable degree, so everyone would want that, and of course it is a very desirable degree, but the number of available positions out there are still quite limited. And two, I thought that my university name held some prestige, so people would want to hire me. And while some of that may definitely help, a lot of it is not true, and a job doesn't simply magically just fall into your lap. Something that they just really don't teach you enough at university is how to apply for internships and also jobs. Considering how important job applications and interviews are, you'd think that universities would definitely highlight this more, but they don't unless you seek out these opportunities yourself. You need to take responsibility of your own future from day one, and that is not to say that every single thing that you do is cv-worthy or should contribute to your cv, but I'd say that as much as you should enjoy your time in university, your first and second year are very important times to search for internships, especially during Easter or summer breaks. A cv, of course, doesn't say everything about you, but an experience-filled cv definitely puts you above the rest in what is now a very competitive society. My advice is definitely to make use of the career services at your university. This is something that I definitely took for granted for the longest time. I'd recommend to attend as many career fairs as possible, even though you may not find them super relevant. Talk to some of your alumni, and of course on top of talking to people and getting to know people, you need to also do your own research online. Just keep applying to internships, placements, or jobs if you're graduating soon, because the more practice that you get with these applications and interviews, the better you will be, and also the more likely the right opportunity will present itself to you. I also wanted to plug in a little video that I made where I talk about how to apply for research assistant or technician jobs in the UK, especially as an international student, some of the things that you might need to consider, like working visas or graduate visas. I also talk about some of the job application platforms that I use, how I organize my job applications, and things like that, so if you're interested, I'll link it in the cards above. Following on from my previous point where I talk about how you're not guaranteed a job after graduating, I will say that I thought that becoming a biomedical scientist would make me rich, and although that may be possible in some situations, if you do decide to go down the more traditional route of being a biomedical scientist, maybe in academia, do expect a lower paying salary. Maybe working in a larger biotech or biopharmaceutical company might earn you more than working in academia, for example, but just note that the won't be as high as someone who may be working in the corporate setting. Also to note, if you do decide to pursue biomedical science and then do a PhD, your salary will only be a stipend of £15,000 a year, and you will also need to secure your own funding. Normally, a PhD is required if you want to go further in your career and maybe climb up the ranks, but just know that it will be some amount of time before you actually earn a higher paying salary. It's truly a shame that pursuing science doesn't pay you as well as other corporate jobs, but I'd say that it can be a really fulfilling job if you enjoy what you do. The fourth reason why you shouldn't study biomedical science is if you think that it is an alternative for medicine. Graduating with a biomedical science degree does not give you the qualifications to become a practicing doctor, and although there are some universities that may allow you to transfer into graduate medical school with a biomedical science degree, this is not possible for all universities, so you need to check that beforehand. I also wouldn't say that it is the easier route per se. Some of the science that you will cover will definitely overlap, but medicine is something that involves people giving the right diagnosis and also suggesting the best course of action. Biomedical science, I'd say, is more behind-the-scenes work. It's the research to better understand human diseases and how we can also potentially develop therapeutics that doctors and pharmacists then prescribe to their patients. Going off tangent a little bit, when I was actually doing my master's in something biomedical science related, a lot of my course mates were actually doctors, so I'd say that there are some doctors who, after several years of study, choose not to pursue that anymore and want to study biomedical science, and this actually gives them a pretty interesting perspective on how to tackle research. But what I'm trying to say is that although there is overlap between biomedical science and medicine, both these subjects are not the same. And finally, the fifth reason why you should not study biomedical science is because you need to get used to failing. Failure is not something that is easy to get through, and definitely every job comes with its challenges and personal failures of their own. But I'd say that in scientific research, maybe 99% of the time, things don't go to plan, and this may be a good or bad thing you never really know. So a lot of science is actually mostly just trying to figure out why things don't work or sometimes why they do work. Some people might find failure as a source of motivation, and in that case, I definitely think research is the thing for you. But for a lot of people, this can be extremely frustrating, and I can definitely understand why. So if you do decide to go down the more traditional route of being a biomedical scientist after graduating with a biomedical science degree, you do need a lot of resilience and also be willing to ask a lot of questions. This can definitely be a challenging thing if you were to work in academia because there's a lot of pressure when it comes to publishing papers and securing grants or funding. It may not always be possible to continue your research without the money, and in that sense, failure will definitely hold you back a lot. And also similarly, in industry, maybe in a smaller biotech company for example, although failure is still a huge part of science, investors may not be willing to fund your research if they do not see certain results by a certain period of time. And unless you want to fake it until you make it and then don't, like Theranos, then scientific failure will definitely be a huge obstacle in any science-related career. So those are five reasons why you shouldn't study biomedical sciences. These are of course entirely based on my own opinions, experience, and what I've gathered from talking to people that work in similar fields. I hope this video helps to shed a little bit of light on what studying biomedical sciences can be like. Of course, there are also pros to studying this course, and I've made a video on that, and I'll link it in the cards above as well. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comment section below, and I'll definitely try my best to answer all of them. If you find videos like these helpful or interesting, please click the like button and also subscribe, as it would really help me out. And that's it for this video, thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye!