I am writing in response to Wai-Ching Leung's article concerning the intercalated BSc.

Overall, I thought the article did not answer the question that it set out to: Is studying for an intercalated degree a wise career move? The only exception was if you are a student interested in going into research after medical school - in which case the article provided a fairly clear answer: Yes.

However, if - like the majority of medical students - you have little intention of doing research - then the answer was not evident within Mr. Leung's article. He begins by pointing out the differences in the number of people doing intercalated degrees between medical schools - and therefore confirms student anxiety about there being competition between applicants with and without an intercalated degree.

Potential benefits of studying an intercalated degree are more geared towards potential researchers than potential clinicians. Mr. Leung points this out. Also, the quoted research seems to imply that it is not the intercalated degree that imparts a deep and strategic learning style onto the student, but the reverse: That students are more likely to intercalate if they have a deep and strategic learning style. Therefore this point seems irrelevant to the subject of the article. Mr. Leung also says that medically qualified professors and readers in the UK are more likely to have intercalated. However, it is not clear whether this is because just a few years ago it was only the most gifted students who were allowed to intercalate - and were therefore more likely to become professors anyway.

As the intercalated degree appears to have no impact on finals results, perhaps the only other way of looking at the problem is to ask the question - does having an intercalated degree make you more likely to get jobs? These jobs can range from PRHO posts to consultancies. However, as of yet no work has been published that attempts to answer this question. Mr. Leung appears to have decided that the question is irrelevant. He says: 'house officers at district hospitals are not necessarily disadvantaged compared with those at teaching hospitals'. Well, nobody is saying that they are. However, it is telling that consultants at teaching hospitals prefer those graduates with the highest finals results, and are therefore interested in the academic achievement of the candidate. It is therefore a highly relevant and interesting question to ask if candidates with an intercalated degree are more likely to be employed. It is also, I believe, the question that most students ask when con! sidering whether to intercalate. Some have suggested that it doesn't matter because 'everybody gets a PRHO job' - but what about after that when people are applying for SHO jobs? Or registrar jobs? Before Mr. Leung's article, the answer was elusive; it is now still no clearer.