How much thought should I put into PBL vs. integrated vs traditional?

I did consider style of teaching, but on an equal level for making a decision with how much I liked the uni in general. It can be important in how much you enjoy the course, but it's very individual, if you're unsure about PBL it might be better to apply for integrated/traditional courses. It think a solely PBL approach is quite different, and can be difficult to adapt to if you are used to school teaching.

These days there are very few courses that are completely traditional, even 'traditional' courses are slightly integrated now; my course is a traditional lecture-based course with a pre-clinical/clinical split, but there are weekly tutorials in clinical skills etc. which are similar to PBL.

Bear in mind that sometimes when a uni says a course is integrated what they mean is that they integrate theory and clinical training (i.e. no preclinical/clincal split) rather than that they integrate lecture-based & PBL teaching.

In the end, though, it's more important to apply to places where you are more likely to be considered for interview by applying to your strengths as it's so competitive.

I think you should look at style of teaching as you will spend 5/6 years learning that way and due to the vast workload you need to be using a style that will suit your learning type! From your choices you should think about Newcastle and Leicester as they are integrated. If you want traditional you need to be looking at Bristol and Oxbridge. I have a 2nd year friend at Liverpool who doesn't like The PBL there as they said there is not enough guidance about what he should be learning. I would recommend you look at St. Andrews as well

With the greatest of respect, where are you getting your information from? Hearsay from one second year student is not terribly significant. I can "trump" that with 6 or 7 of my students at Liverpool who really enjoy the course. They work on the basis that they will not be "spoonfed" and have to put in some effort. I don't know of a course any more that only uses 1 style of teaching. Sorry, I just think what you are saying does not reflect the current picture.

Sorry, just another style-of-teaching thread. Okay so I've just started year 13 and am hoping to apply for 2015 entry. Right now I'm down to 4-5 unis (Manchester, Newcastle, Leicester and Liverpool or Birmingham) but I've just realised that I have barely put any thought into the style of teaching. I've focused completely on my perception of each uni and City (and backing that up with open days), and just which ones i am sure I have the best chances of getting an interview at. That's surely the best way to go about things? I don't know.

From what I've read I think I'd prefer integrated and/or traditional. But at the same time I don't want to drop universities just because of that if I have a better chance of an interview, you know? I'm also not totally against PBL and tbh I do kind of wonder if it is that big a difference. Like I'm sure that both styles will end up with perfectly good junior doctors by the end of the 5 year course. But then I'm worried that's quite a naive viewpoint..as you can see I'm pretty indecisive about this.

So is anyone else thinking about style of teaching? Or people who have already gone through this process - did you take style of teaching into account when choosing which 4 unis to apply for?


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You will spend the next 5/6 years being taught in the style of the particular university. And PBL is incredibly different to a lecture/seminar based format - medical courses are pretty much the most varied courses out there. The tiny amount of PBL i had on my course was utter torture - we felt completely aimless and abandoned, with no idea of what was important to know and what was additional... so I personally feel that course style is very important.

However... it often is not as clear as 'traditional vs integrated', 'early clinical contact vs split course'. Traditional means lectures, but also small group teaching, e-learning and practical teaching. Lectures can be case-based, clinically orientated and interactive, not just theory talked at you. Many traditional courses also include some PBL as mentioned.

And then 'early clinical contact' can in reality mean no more than one afternoon wondering around the hospital per week, rather than the apprenticeship-like course some applicants seem to think they are.

Plus of course you won't really have experience of either before you apply. You may not like the sound of PBL, but in reality you may love it once you give it a try. How can you know for sure?

Basically my feeling is that it can make a huge difference to your life and you should carefully consider it. Its just that detailed information is hard to find and you probably won't know what you're even looking for yet

My advice is to consider your preferences, consider what the unis say about their course, and just attach as much weight as you feel you want to. There isn't really much else you can do.