Can I use a postgraduate course to get into professions like law or medicine?
Until very recently the highly regulated professions — medicine, law, accounting, and engineering, for example — were open only to the young.
Courses were designed to transform callow school leavers into lifelong members of a profession. Very few older students were admitted, and those who were went back to square one, regardless of experience or qualifications.
With some exceptions the professions are opening up, and postgraduates have many more options than they used to for a total change in career direction. Graduates can switch professions through courses which take less time than is required of non-graduates. The University of Sydney's Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), for example, is only available to graduates, and is completed in four years rather than the usual five or six.
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