Taking the drama out of becoming a doctor

My daughter has announced that she wants to be an actress. This is not because of any noticeable acting ability, but entirely due to the fact that she recently saw a picture of Cameron Diaz in a copy of Good Housekeeping magazine which my mother-in-law leaves conspicuously around the house in the vain hope that I’ll realise what a poor job I’m making of looking after her son.

Following this announcement, we moved onto the subject of secondary schools, and which subjects would be appropriate for the budding thespian to study in three years’ time (physics, chemistry and biology).

The whole things got us thinking about what career we would encourage the children in our family to follow. My husband has a ridiculously lax attitude to making a living (“anything which makes them happy”) but after prolonged domestic arguments we’ve settled on the following compromise - medicine, or law (if desperate).

But would she be accepted for medical school? A recent report by Alan Milburn claimed that medicine is becoming more socially exclusive - apparently people only get into medical school if they “know the right people” (i.e. they’re related to doctors) and go to private school.

This is both good and bad from my perspective, as obviously my daughter is related to me. However, the problem, apart from the fact that she doesn’t want to be a doctor (at least that’s something we can work on) is that she won’t go to private school. This is because my husband is a fanatical supporter of state education, probably because he teaches at a large inner city school (and if you think medical shop talk is tedious, try going out with a bunch of teachers…).

There is a glimmer of hope however. Since 2003, St George’s medical school has been offering reduced A level requirements to applicants from some state schools. Interestingly these students have subsequently done just as well as those from other schools with straight A’s. The obvious conclusion is that, beyond a certain point, A levels are a crap predictor of progress at medical school.

I could have told them that, and frankly, anyone who survives seven years at our local, 2000+ pupil comprehensive, and emerges with any A levels at all, has already demonstrated all the drive, motivation and resourcefulness necessary for a glittering medical career. 

So what is the best way to select medical students? Previously I’m pretty sure St George’s selected its students according to their rugby-playing prowess. My two ex-George’s colleagues are both fanatical rugby players, and also excellent doctors. Extrapolating only a little, rugby is at least as good a selection criterion as A levels, and the principal could easily be extended to include any team sport

This may be a little controversial, but my new, absolutely fair, entrance system would be as follows: for private school pupils, 3 A* at A level plus at least one year’s experience as head boy or girl. State school pupils: any qualification. Plus, for both groups, participation in a team sport.

So my plan is…encourage her to join the drama club, because with kids you just know you’re going to need a plan B.

Tags: Medical students, Recruitment