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Dear Felicity

Thank you for your question regarding career information assistance for your friend’s  daughter.

To get into medicine at university people need good overall academic (National Senior Certificate) results with strong mathematics and physical science or life sciences results, together with good results on a health professions admission test administered by universities and evidence of community involvement. For example, volunteering in the community. Refer to the UCT webpage (www.uct.ac.za) for admission guidelines. 
 
The University of the Western Cape (www.uwc.ac.za) also offers some health sciences qualifications which your friend’s daughter may wish to consider:

• Nursing
• Occupational Therapy
• Physiotherapy

Explore the health sciences information from the University of the Western Cape (www.uwc.ac.za).  The University of Stellenbosch has the following useful web pages which may also be of interest:

• Admission requirements ttp://sun025.sun.ac.za/portal/page/portal/Maties/English/Undergraduate%20Prospectus
• Specifically for health sciences http://sun025.sun.ac.za/portal/page/portal/Maties/English/Undergraduate%20Prospectus/Health%20Sciences

As you say her mathematics results are not that good, she may also consider training for a health-oriented career through obtaining a National Diploma through a University of Technology. For example the following courses are offered by the Cape Peninsular University of Technology (www.cput.ac.za):

• Biomedical Technology
• Dental Assisting
• Dental Technology
• Emergency Medical Care
• Optical Dispensing
• Radiography

Refer to the CPUT admission requirements document for 2010 (www.cput.ac.za).
 
If she enjoys helping people she may also consider entering the teaching profession. The following are examples of national diploma courses offered at the Cape Peninsular University of Technology (www.cput.ac.za):

For primary school teaching

• BEd degree: General Education and Training (Get) Foundation Phase (Grade R – 3)
• BEd degree: General Education and Training (Get) Intermediate and Senior Phases (Grade 4 – 9)

For high school teaching

• BEd: FET (General) or FET (Specialisation: Natural Science or Technology) 
• BEd: Further Education and Training (FET): Economic and Management Sciences

I also suggest that she tries to get an appointment to see a student adviser at the education institutions she is considering applying to.

I hope this information will help your friend’s daughter to start her career exploration process.

The Career Planet Team