Careers for Medicine MBChB

Studying medicine is the first step to a career as a doctor. The medical profession is ever-changing, and working in the field can be hard work, but many doctors find their careers rewarding and fulfilling. There is almost a 100% employment rate for medicine graduates meaning that post-graduation, you should be able to find employment in the medical field.

After you graduate, you'll go into a 2-year foundation programme and join the field as a junior doctor – you may be referred to as an FY1 (foundation year 1) or FY2 (foundation year 2) doctor during this time. These two years will see you move round different care environments within hospitals to gain experience of different medical specialities and undergo further clinical training.

After your FY1, you'll be able to gain full registration with the GMC, and after FY2, you'll be able to apply for further study and training in a medical specialism – for example, cardiology, gynaecology, or emergency medicine – or go into general practice as a general practitioner (GP).

Following your foundation years, you'll be able to choose how your career progresses. You might decide to become a GP where you'll see a range of patients with a variety of ailments, and make decisions on what the most effective course of treatment is, whether that's medication or referral to a specialist consultant. Training for this takes three years.

If you don't want to be a GP and are interested in a specific area of medicine, you can choose to become a specialist consultant. This will involve further training in a particular area of medicine which can take up to eight years to complete.

Whatever you choose to do with your medical degree, studying medicine opens the door for a wide range of potential roles both in and out of the medical field. If you choose this course, you'll graduate ready to meet the challenges of the role of a doctor, but the wide-ranging transferable skills you'll develop will also mean you can change careers if you decide medicine isn't for you.