[hilbert42]

The position you've put about medicine is essentially as I've come to understand it having viewed it from the outside.

Had I wanted to do medicine I've no doubt that I'd have thought twice about it given the long and tenacious path I'd have had to have taken to get there. My interests were always in basic science and engineering, so I was never in the position of having to make those awkward decisions.

That said, it wasn't a completely black and white process, at one stage I started pharmacy but changed my mind, that may be obvious from my earlier comments.

I've no doubt that filtering is needed to weed out the less motivated but as I've said elsewhere, I've concerns about how it's done. If good people are weeded out because of say their circumstances then society loses the benefit of their input.

My opinion about organic chemistry is that it is a tremendous subject and I have an abiding interest in it. I think this puts me in a good position to appreciate the dilemma medical people face when confronted with the subject. As you know it can get complicated quickly and getting to grips with it can take a lot of work and time—time that many cannot afford to commit.

Thanks for your thoughtful comments.