For most people who apply to study medicine, there are two key factors that attract them to the role of a doctor; the rewarding nature of helping others and the high pay that senior positions offer to medical professionals.
In this guide, I will be discussing the financial costs, as well as the practical and physical costs, of becoming a doctor in the UK.
Written by Rozh Akram
Firstly, for the purpose of this guide, I will assume the candidate in mind starts medical school at the age of 18/19 right after finishing school.
The purpose of this guide is absolutely not to put you off pursuing a career in medicine, but rather to give you a realistic understanding of the financial and emotional burden of becoming a doctor.
Financial cost of Studying Medicine
UK Medical School Tuition Fees
So, as you’re all aware, going to university in the UK is not free. Your tuition fees per year are £9,250 if you’re a home student and up to £60,000 if you’re an international.
Note that some medical schools will charge you a different amount for each year if you’re an international student as opposed to a fixed £9,250 for each year that home students pay.
Bearing in mind a standard medicine course is 5 years, if you intercalate and/or do a foundation year it will be an extra year (or two if you do both), which is an extra £9,250 for each year (or the international fees equivalent).
So you will be paying the following amount for purely tuition fees:
- £46,250 if you do a 5-year course as a home student
- £55,500 if you do a 6-year course as a home student
- Anything between £140,000 to £290,000 if you’re doing a 5-year course as an international student
- Anything between £168,000 to £348,000 if you’re doing a 6-year course as an international student
Please double-check the exact figures if you have overseas fee status since this figure varies considerably according to each medical school.
Medical School Living Costs
Living costs, or maintenance costs, vary according to the individual and what their expenditure is like. Roughly speaking if you’re not in London, you would need at least £10,000 for one academic year if you’re living out and about £4,000 if you’re living at home. This is due to the cost of student accommodation, which can generally be quite expensive depending on location and quality.
So, for a 5-year degree, you would be looking at an extra £50,000 and £60,000 for a 6-year degree. However, if you are in London, this cost can be almost double and you could be looking at £20,000 per year if you’re living out and about £7,000 if you’re living at home, and this figure is multiplied by 5 or 6 in total depending on your course length.
So as you can tell, it is quite an expensive course to study medicine, and even more so to think about if you ever work full time instead of investing those 5 years in training – you would likely earn at least £20,660 before tax.
Student Finance UK
Student Finance UK will provide the full tuition fees for home-paying students, as well as maintenance loans to help with living expenses.
Let’s have a look at the maintenance support Student Finance England provides for home students:
| Situation | 2023 – 2024 Academic Year | 2024 – 2025 Academic Year |
|---|---|---|
| Living with your parents | Up to £8,400 | Up to £8,610 |
| Living away from your parents, outside London | Up to £9,978 | Up to £10,227 |
| Living away from your parents, in London | Up to £13,022 | Up to £13,348 |
| Spending a Year of a UK course studying abroad | Up to £11,427 | Up to £11,713 |
| If you’re 60 or over on the first day of the first year of your course | Up to £4,221 | Up to £4,327 |
Bearing in mind this will be a loan and you will have to pay this back once you graduate as well as pay interest on top of this. Depending on which student loan plan you’re on, you’ll have to start repaying this when you earn an income of between £24,990 and £31,395. Anyone entering university after August 2023 will be placed on Plan 5, which requires repayments to start at £25,000 income.
So as you can probably tell, unfortunately, the maintenance loan you will be receiving will not be enough given how expensive things are at the moment (for reference I am writing this in August of 2024).
For most students who are living out, the maintenance loan they receive will go entirely towards their accommodation fees and most students have to resort to other sources of income such as family, a part-time job or scholarships and bursaries.
I personally go to University College London (UCL) and I receive the maximum student loan. I can confidently say it is nowhere near enough for my expenses as a whole. Therefore, this becomes yet another challenge that medical students face.
Medicine Equipment Costs Costs
This cost is far smaller than the other two we’ve discussed, but it’s still worth noting that you’ll need to buy a few pieces of equipment yourself during your studies. Some of these are inessential but helpful, like fob-watches, but some things will need to be purchased to study.
The most notable of these is your stethoscope, which will be essential for performing checkups during training and on placements. This can cost you anywhere from £75 to £500 depending on the brand and quality of the equipment.
As for your studies, you will likely also need to purchase various textbooks, which can range from £20 – £70 each.
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Additional Costs of Studying Medicine
Moving on from the financial side of things, I will now explain the emotional and practical burdens of becoming a doctor. Please note that I will be speaking generally here and I fully understand that you can achieve everything you want with the right support and skill set.
Time Cost of Studying Medicine
So going to medical school is obviously a huge commitment to time, which people can use to invest in relationships, careers, businesses and more. This is even more true if you take a traditional route to get into medical school.
By the time you graduate you will be 24 (I personally will be 25 since I took a gap year) and your foundation Years 1 and 2 (and possibly 3 according to the individual) will be particularly tiring, as they will involve a lot of long shifts as well as night shifts and weekend shifts.
This is the time when many people will be getting married/engaged, having kids, buying houses and investing in lifelong businesses. However, as a medical student and as a doctor, this will be particularly difficult as you would have your career stability later on.
Emotional Cost of Studying Medicine
Another thing I personally find to be a lot is the emotional burden. Typically speaking, a lot of the time you will come across patients with particularly difficult situations and, as a doctor, you will have to make ethically and emotionally challenging decisions.
As with most human beings, this will be quite upsetting – more so in situations where the patient is terminal or where, within your professional capacity, you cannot do much to help. With that being said, I personally believe having strong personal relationships and connections will help a lot to elevate the emotional burden. However, this in turn takes time to produce and maintain, therefore strong time management and work-life balance skills are crucial.
Despite what I have said in this guide, I fully believe that a career in medicine is incredibly rewarding when you know for a fact that you’re making such a positive impact on someone’s life. The time spent in medical school could be the best years of your life if you get involved fully. It’s a time when you will be making lifelong friends and hopefully enjoy university life with their company. And as the financial side of things, should you be able to advance and specialise in your career, you should hopefully end up making a good enough salary for that initial hardship to be worth it.
With that being said, I really want you to think about the different burdens of becoming a doctor and being a medical student, as you could potentially be asked this in medical school interviews. If it is, just answer honestly based on what you understand about it. I hope this guide has helped you understand these costs a bit more.
When it comes to commitments in medicine, dedicating time will start even before you’ve started studying, as you need to be well prepared for your med school application. If you want somewhere to start, I’d recommend checking out the other free guides on 6med, which cover everything from the basics of medical school to elements of the application process like the UCAT and Interviews.
For more comprehensive support in your medicine application process, 6med offers all-inclusive bundles for the UCAT and interviews, as well as the Medicine Mastery Bundles, which feature everything you need to get your offer. If you’d like to learn more, book a free consultation with our friendly team today! Best of luck!
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