[star95]

First I am due to start medicine in 2013. Currently I am in England looking for Universities but I live in Spain.
I need advice about Universities. My grades are very good but I am confused about what University to choose from. So far I have been in Cambridge, Imperial College and Kings College. At the end of the month I am going for an Open Day ton Brighton University. I like Brighton as a town, I found London too busy for me although I loved Imperial and Kings.
Will I have more job opportunities once I finished my degree if for instance I have studied in Cambridge instead of Brighton Medical School?. Do my job opportunities go down depending in which University I studied. It's important to me because I would like to choose the right University and don't want any regrets later on in life.
Now I would like some advice about UKCAT or BMAt exam. ~Are they similar exams? I know that Cambridge requires BMAT and Brighton UKCAT. So willl ~I have to do both? How about if I fail, do I have to wait another year?
Which book is the best to prepare for those exams? And Does it involve a lot of studying because the exams are in October?

I will appreciate your advice it seems a bit complicated at the moment

Thank you for reading my post xx

[Hippokrates]

Basically all medical schools give you the same degree value wise. So you need to apply to the places you have the best chance of getting in to rather than the most 'prestigious' unis, because prestige will do nothing for you except give you bragging rights to your family. Also look at the course structure. You're talking a lot about Cambridge and BSMS but they couldn't be anymore different. Cambridge is very traditional, whereas BSMS is PBL. The BMAT and the UKCAT are very different exams. Realistically you will have to sit the UKCAT because it's used at most medical schools and is similar to an IQ test. The BMAT is used at Oxbridge, UCL and Imperial. However you don't sit your BMAT till after you've applied so most would not recommend applying to more than one BMAT uni. The UKCAT can be taken in October but I would certainly not recommend doing it then. Most applicants take it in August. I'm not taking the BMAT so I can't give you much advice on it sorry. But I can tell you that the test is in fact in November.

Just to add 60% of people do not get into any of their medical school choices so apply wisely. I'm not sure whether you'll count as an international student since your from the EU but if you do competition will be even worse. Don't just look at the unis you've heard of before look for the universities that are asking for the qualities that you possess.

[carcinoma]

(Original post by Hippokrates)
Basically all medical schools give you the same degree value wise. So you need to apply to the places you have the best chance of getting in to rather than the most 'prestigious' unis, because prestige will do nothing for you except give you bragging rights to your family. Also look at the course structure. You're talking a lot about Cambridge and BSMS but they couldn't be anymore different. Cambridge is very traditional, whereas BSMS is PBL. The BMAT and the UKCAT are very different exams. Realistically you will have to sit the UKCAT because it's used at most medical schools and is similar to an IQ test. The BMAT is used at Oxbridge, UCL and Imperial. However you don't sit your BMAT till after you've applied so most would not recommend applying to more than one BMAT uni. The UKCAT can be taken in October but I would certainly not recommend doing it then. Most applicants take it in August. I'm not taking the BMAT so I can't give you much advice on it sorry. But I can tell you that the test is in fact in November.

Just to add 60% of people do not get into any of their medical school choices so apply wisely. I'm not sure whether you'll count as an international student since your from the EU but if you do competition will be even worse. Don't just look at the unis you've heard of before look for the universities that are asking for the qualities that you possess.

Not really.

[Hippokrates]

(Original post by carcinoma)
Not really.

Maybe not so much as Manchester and Liverpool but it's certainly a very different course to Cambridge.

[carcinoma]

(Original post by Hippokrates)
Maybe not so much as Manchester and Liverpool but it's certainly a very different course to Cambridge.

Agreed. Then again only a handful of courses come even close to resembling the Oxbridge course's any more. But more to the point, you can't call a course PBL based if they do not even use PBL as a main concept in their course.

(Although Oxford will begin updating their course very soon, they recently visited a selection of UK medical schools and they observed some of our teaching sessions. I have no doubt that they will remain a mostly traditional course for several more years but I think they may start looking at more interactive and possibly integrated methods of curriculum delivery.)

[Hippokrates]

(Original post by carcinoma)
Agreed. Then again only a handful of courses come even close to resembling the Oxbridge course's any more. But more to the point, you can't call a course PBL based if they do not even use PBL as a main concept in their course.

(Although Oxford will begin updating their course very soon, they recently visited a selection of UK medical schools and they observed some of our teaching sessions. I have no doubt that they will remain a mostly traditional course for several more years but I think they may start looking at more interactive and possibly integrated methods of curriculum delivery.)

I apologise I did think BSMS used PBL.

[carcinoma]

(Original post by Hippokrates)
I apologise I did think BSMS used PBL.

You are right they do have PBL sessions, but they are mostly lectures and seminar/tutorial types sessions. They are not like the classic PBL universities like PMS, Manchester, UEA etc who use PBL as the focal point of the course, with other teaching methods following the PBL case.

[tibbles209]

When you apply for foundation jobs after medical school your university is kept annonymous, so 'prestige' is completely irrelevent in this respect. Choose the University that suits you best, in terms of course structure and city.