> And there are people that wait for years until they qualify for a slot.
But those are outliers, aren’t they? I’ve dated a med student, and been flatmates with others, the only times I’ve heard of people waiting was if they were doing a gap year or something, 1.5 years for NC improvements being pretty much the maximum and already rare.
Sure, the majority gets into medicine rather quickly. I have yet to meet an engineer of any domain to actually wait longer than mandatory civil or military service. My impression has always been that the average med student is more dedicated than the average engineering student (I am the latter, met quite a few of the former before I started university). And that dedication starts years before going to university, simply because the entry barriers are so much higher.
But those are outliers, aren’t they? I’ve dated a med student, and been flatmates with others, the only times I’ve heard of people waiting was if they were doing a gap year or something, 1.5 years for NC improvements being pretty much the maximum and already rare.