In message , at 20:04:56 on Wed, 20 Jan
2016, tim..... remarked:

try working as a junior doctor for 70 hours a week making life and death
decisions on possibly an hourly basis

Not to mention the nine years training, and having to be "AAA" at A-
level material.

I don't think that's a "have to", it's just a convenient filter. IME
there's no equivalent academic expectation in many other countries for
"entry level" doctors.

Entry to medical training in the UK is highly competitive and greatly
(I've seen as much as 10x) oversubscribed.

politics Perhaps junior doctors need to remember the weren't forced to
study medicine /politics

Some require even more than AAA, for example Oxford:

"A-levels: A*AA, in three A-levels taken in one academic year
excluding Critical Thinking and General Studies. Candidates are
required to have Chemistry (compulsory), plus Biology and/or
Physics and/or Mathematics to full A-level."

Back in the day (early 70's) I had four A-levels in sciences; today
they'd be called A*AAC, but only three were taken the same year (one I
took the year after, having already confirmed a Uni place). Many
students went to Uni with two A-levels.

UCL's clinical medicine course entry averages 532 UCAS points (which is
halfway between A*A*AA and A*A*A*A).

My daughter is doing a related course at UCL which requires AAAA in
sciences, but that's OK because she has A*AAA. The biggest problem was
getting the school to agree to let her drop General Studies (which was
virtually compulsory), but simply a way to easily increase a school's
league table results - however clearly cuts no ice with the major
universities.

In retrospect, I don't think they had any argument with the A*AAA, not
including General Studies.
--
Roland Perry