*MEGATHREAD* - Hyper Awesome mega thread for simple applicant questions!

So I'm pretty much screwed then?

I'm doing a lot over the summer though.
Care home, Nursery, Helping on wards and *possibly* getting a GP placement for a week, although I'm struggling with this as well.

I'm really concerned that I'm not going to have enough/ANY work experience and that my personal statement will be thrown out because of it

Well what you've stated could be sufficient for your personal statement. You can also write in that you have planned X amount of weeks at a placement and what you hope to gain from it. It's not the personal statement that will be the main issue though, work experience is an opportunity for you to gain more of an insight into the career and that's what they'll be more interested in asking you about at the Interview.

So I'm pretty much screwed then?

I'm doing a lot over the summer though.
Care home, Nursery, Helping on wards and *possibly* getting a GP placement for a week, although I'm struggling with this as well.

I'm really concerned that I'm not going to have enough/ANY work experience and that my personal statement will be thrown out because of it

So I'm pretty much screwed then?

I'm doing a lot over the summer though.
Care home, Nursery, Helping on wards and *possibly* getting a GP placement for a week, although I'm struggling with this as well.

I'm really concerned that I'm not going to have enough/ANY work experience and that my personal statement will be thrown out because of it

Ah right. Thank-you very much for replying.
I think my personal statement will be okay. (I'm just starting to put sections together)
As long as it doesn't rule me out completely.
What work experience have you done? x

I am pretty much in the same situation as you. I've been looking and looking, but it is very hard to find any work experience opportunities. I've volunteered in a GP for 4 years during college but that was not in the UK, so it's not going to be extremely relevant.

I've been chasing down people all over town and in surrounding areas. All I've managed to get is a short placement at my local hospital (apparently they're really busy) and will possibly get a volunteering position at a care home.

That placement you mentioned in the first post seems really nice. Where did you manage to get that? Your local hospital?

Try hard for this one, since like others have said there's a real possibility of being called before Feb.. Remember it doesn't necessarily have to be a week or any particular length of time; if you can get 2 days for example atleast it's something. Medical schools understand that it can be difficult to get placements so I don't think they're likely to ask or be bothered about short length of time.

Thank-you!
Yes, I'm definately going to push this and ring again tomorrow morning.
Just got to keep my fingers crossed something comes up!

I have had a pharmacy placement, which was interesting for 3 days. I don't know whether it would be relevant to mention this though :/

Leeds said they understood completely how difficult it was to gain work experience, they said even helping out on wards would be classed as *something*, so I'm awaiting feedback for that now x

can someone please help me too :/

Hey Uk students. I'm a jamaiacan medical student in my 2nd year. Studying at the University of the West Indies (UWI). I would like to do a reisdency in sport medicine after i get my degree and have a few questions i'd like to ask:

1. How a intl student from jamaica can apply for a sports medicine residency after getting his MBBS (BMBS)?

2. Is it particularly hard to get a sports medicine residnecy?

3. Is sports medicine offered at alot of universities?

4. Could i go straight into sports medicine residency or would I have to do family medicine first?

5.How much does residency cost? Do you get paid as a residence? Is it enought to get by?

6. How typically long is the sports medicine residency?

Sorry for bombarding u with these questions but I'd really like to know the answer to em going forward if possible

Which english uni's dont focus too muhc on gcse grades? i got 3a*s and 8a s and dont want to waste an application spot on somewhere like birmingham.

I'm not sure this comes under 'simple applicant questions', but people on here seem really helpful so I was wondering if any current medical students could give me some help. I came across a thread that mentioned that apparently 'most' consultants have a PhD, or at least most surgical consultants have a PhD, and I've spoken to a few people (who tbh don't know much about medicine) who agree.

Is this true? Surely the vast majority of medical students don't go on to do a PhD and they don't all become GPs, so what happens to those who don't do a PhD?
How hard is it to get funding, and when do medical students do a PhD - I'm hoping to go to St Andrews in September, and thats a 6 year course with an option to do an MRes after the BSc you get after 3 years (if you've had good grades), so would you do the PhD after the BSc and/or the MRes, or after clinical years, or after foundation training or even later?

Personally, spending 3ish years just doing pure science away from the clinical side of medicine seems like a really big commitment and I just can't imagine that many medical students wanting to do it - plus it's another few very expensive years that I doubt I'd be able to afford. So, are these people who tell me that I'll never become a specialist consultant without a PhD talking rubbish? I understand certain specialities are very competitive, but I didn't think a PhD was needed.

I'll try my best to answer these as it seems no-one else has yet. First of all, you need to understand that medical specialty training in the UK does not work in the same way as in the US/other similar countries - we don't have "interns" or "residents" and in general it takes longer both before you are allowed to specialise and in specialty training itself. Have a look at www.mmc.nhs.uk for a basic understanding.

Sports and Exercise Medicine is a relatively new subspecialty and there are only a handful of training jobs each year for it (about 10, as far as I can tell). It is not something that can be applied for straight out of medical school; if you were to work in the UK, you would need to do two years of "Foundation training" and then another two years of training in either General Medicine, Acute Care Common Stem (A&E, acute medicine and anaesthetics) or General Practice before you would be eligible to apply. If you were applying from overseas you would be expected to have a similar level of experience. This link shows you the person specification for SEM, giving you a rough idea of what would be expected. http://www.mmc.nhs.uk/pdf/PS%202012%20ST3%20Sport%20and%20Exercise%20Medicine%20FINAL.pdf

In terms of competitiveness, as I said, there are only about 10 training posts open each year. As a non-UK citizen who did not train in the UK, you would be at a big disadvantage in applying. The jobs would be based at hospitals rather than at universities, and many of them seem to only have 1 or 2 jobs at each one. As far as I can tell, specialty training is 4 years long. This might tell you a bit more. http://www.medicalcareers.nhs.uk/tools_and_resources/spotlight_on_royal_colleges/faculty_of_sport_and_exercise.aspx

You don't have to pay for specialist training - you get paid during it, and the salary is reasonable. You would have to pay for any extra training courses or exams.