What is your motivation for medicine? We always anticipate this question during our medical interviews, but we frequently fear it since there is seldom a straightforward response. There are various topics you can choose to bring up while explaining why you genuinely want to study medicine or become a doctor. For example, you may wish to discuss your work experience and how it helped you form an opinion on a career as a doctor. Another point that you can also discuss is what led you to think about medicine as a career choice in the first place.
In this section, we will go through the key points you should cover in your answer to explain why you want to study medicine. This includes an emphasis on your motivation for the career.
Interest in science
Given that medicine is a science-based degree, it can be assumed that anyone who wants to study medicine must be interested in science. Hence, it is not sufficient for you to simply mention in your interview that you are passionate about the sciences. Instead, you should elaborate on that. Where does that desire come from? Was it a project you completed in class? Were you naturally skilled at the sciences? Did this grow your interest in the topic and inspired you to consider a career in science? Dig deep and think about where your interest in science stemmed from. It may have first been kindled by a variety of factors.
Desire to help people
One of the responsibilities of a doctor includes helping people. You have probably witnessed this throughout your work experience as a patient observer. As this is such a central part of the occupation, it is crucial that you explain to the examiner why you wish to help individuals. However, do be careful that this is not your sole reason for wanting to pursue medicine. It should be a multi-faceted answer due to the complexity of the profession. A lot of other reasons will need to be covered in your response.
Interest in patient contact and human engagement
Being a doctor requires you to like interacting with people. You will be speaking with patients, other medical professionals, and other individuals all day long. Being involved with patients on a regular basis is a significant portion of a doctor’s profession. It marks a significant distinction between careers in scientific research and healthcare. As such, be sure to emphasise in your response that you understand the distinctions between the responsibilities of a doctor and those of other allied healthcare professionals. Afterwards, go one step beyond and explain why you are particularly interested in or suited for the doctor’s role as opposed to other healthcare positions.
Insights from work experience
Tell the examiner about your hours spent following doctors around hospitals and shadowing them since you worked hard to get them! Keep in mind what you have gained from your experiences. How has this strengthened your conviction that a career in medicine is the correct choice for you.
Other
You may wish to study medicine and become a doctor for a variety of different reasons. Examples include personal medical experiences or anecdotes. It also includes motivating elements like family or relatives in the field who inspired you to pursue a similar path. However, please take note when doing so if you want to discuss this with the examiner. Keep in mind that your path to deciding to apply for medicine should be specific to you and how it has shaped you, not about anyone else.
My model answer to “Why do you want to study medicine?” is
For information, I am a graduate student in medicine. Only for inspiration purposes.
When I was in secondary school, I developed an interest in a profession in medicine after learning about its history in my GCSE history lesson. I was astounded at how quickly medical advancements were produced. Sometimes even before the mechanics of illnesses were even vaguely grasped. One example is Joseph Lister, who invented antiseptic procedures. He also created a carbolic acid steam spray system to maintain antiseptic conditions during surgeries. This fueled my love of science in school as well as my interest in medical sciences.
My passion for science and research has always been strong. This is why I chose to pursue a biomedical science undergraduate degree before pursuing a master’s degree in clinical oncology. However, I constantly felt that my profession and job position lacked the aspect of human contact. This made me feel dissatisfied with my work. I briefly left my scientific career to work as an account manager in London, where my responsibility was to establish and sustain a professional clientele. I genuinely loved the client-facing work, which involved interacting with people, solving problems, and making sales.
Work Experience
However, I started to miss the scientific components of the study and research I had previously done. Previously, I had considered a career in medicine, so I conducted work experience where I shadowed doctors to confirm that the right combination of human contact and science was what I actually wanted out of a job. I took advantage of several opportunities to shadow an area A&E department, where I was able to appreciate the variety of patients who present in primary care, from serious cases to kids. I was even able to help a consultant assemble the supplies needed for resuscitation as well as discuss the blood charts with him, even though I did not have much practice reading them before. The consultant’s enthusiasm for his work and for inspiring the next generation of physicians reaffirmed my decision to pursue a career in medicine.
To follow up on this, I went to the Dominican Republic to volunteer at a local orphanage and observe a general surgeon. As a patient and a potential medical student, the dramatic differences between the healthcare systems in the UK and the Dominican Republic made me truly appreciate the NHS’s commitment to teaching excellent physicians and associated healthcare workers.
I have always had a strong desire to serve others, and for the past three years, I have volunteered at my local hospital as a dementia befriender and patient visitor. As part of my role, I sit and talk to dementia sufferers and those without visitors. It has been such a rewarding job because it has taught me the value of showing compassion, empathy, and care to hospital patients, especially those who frequently spend long periods of time alone in the facility.
Conclusion
My decision to pursue a career in medicine has been supported by all of my experiences over the past several years. It blends my two loves for scientific knowledge and research, with the human interaction I have always found so enjoyable in my prior working situations. My job experience has shown me that being a doctor is the ideal way to combine my two loves, which is the reason I want to become one.
Top Tips:
- Keep in mind that your purpose for studying medicine will differ from that of others. The examiner wants to learn about your unique motivations.
- Avoid saying something like, “I can earn a lot of money as a doctor”. This is because although it is true, you could achieve that far more easily in many other professions.
- Describe the advantages of being a doctor over becoming a nurse, pharmacist, or other allied healthcare professional.
- Get ready! This is one of the few questions you may easily practice for because you can already anticipate this question and you know your own answer best. List the points you want to make in your response to this question in a bulleted list.
- The examiner wants to see how passionate you are about medicine. So grin and demonstrate in your response all the amazing knowledge and experience you have acquired! Non-verbal cues go a long way in communicating your genuine interest!
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