I also would like to stress some points about these issues. This 
message may be forwarded to other people if it is seen helpful, but I 
myself would like to remain anonymous.

Someone already mentioned that the job/salary situation makes some 
students quite insecure and worried. I can't exactly point out where 
this comes from, but it's very hard to avoid hearing at least some 
depressing comments about the unemployement etc. It's actually quite 
hard to exactly point out where this comes from because there have 
been these events where people outside the university come to talk 
about their careers (maybe it's has not been convincing enough?). Also 
I think at least some older students tend to talk about the matter, so 
that can be one source too.

Many people would like their job to be well paid (or at least 
adequate) and not to worry about unemployement and part-time jobs. So 
it seems quite logical in some way that even people, who originally 
were not that interested about going to the medical field, may change 
their mind because becoming a doctor is very secure thing to do when 
thinking about the salary and employement, besides it's one of the few 
professions where one can use their problem solving ability combining 
their knowledge of biology, biochemistry and some other natural 
sciences (so if thought this way, it's not actually that far from 
biochemistry, the biggest difference being the close contact with the 
clients).

So in my opinion ot would do a lot of good to get the new students 
more confident about the work employement/salary situation. Though I 
can't come up with any new ideas which haven't been tried already. I 
also like the idea about going to school to talka about biochemistry 
because it is very likely many of the "lukio" students haven't ever 
heard about the subject before.

Lloyd's additional comments - the last time there was a survey biochemistry students were amongst the highest employment rate in the faculty. Another international survey had our area of science being the 2nd faster growth rate world wide for jobs (after information communications technology). Our students are VERY highly wanted on the medical faculty to do research. There are issues job wise, but that holds true in many fields. One reason we decided to take on international students rather than increase the output of Finnish students is because they are likely to move away from Finland after they complete and so are unlikely to compete for the same jobs. There is a lot to be positive about, but it is not as secure nor as well paid as becoming a doctor.