[daot]

I would just like to ask a question about the Cambridge medicine course - sorry if it's stupid:

i understand that you're not actually guaranteed a spot at addenbrooke's hospital for the three clinical years. however, if you go to another teaching hospital in London (because you want to, or grades weren't high enough for Addenbrooke's, or whatever), are your final MB exams still sat at Cambridge? so your MB BChir is awarded by Cambridge?

yes, I'm a little unsure of how medical education works despite wanting to be a doctor someone please enlighten me! Thanks in advance.

[rapidresponse]

Hi

My borther is at Cambridge. You can do your preclinical in Cambridge and you clinical in London. It is quite common. But its one or the other.
If you do your clinical in Cambridge, you will spend some time at Addenbrookes, but you will also inevitably end up doing some attachments in Norwich or Bedford. The Eastern Deanery is very wide!!

[Spencer Wells]

To answer your question; if you did Cambridge preclinical then went to London, you used to be allowed to go back to Cambridge to sit your finals. AFAIK this practice has now been abolished and you have to sit the London finals (and get MBBS) but I expect Helenia will correct me if I'm wrong.

[nexttime]

20-30 go to Oxford too, just to say. They are generally the highest achieving students though, so its competitive.

[Helenia]

(Original post by rapidresponse)
Hi

My borther is at Cambridge. You can do your preclinical in Cambridge and you clinical in London. It is quite common. But its one or the other.
If you do your clinical in Cambridge, you will spend some time at Addenbrookes, but you will also inevitably end up doing some attachments in Norwich or Bedford. The Eastern Deanery is very wide!!

Not Norwich any more, apart from a few people who get sent there for GP. UEA have taken over the N&N.

You can, however, get sent to King's Lynn, Ipswich, Huntingdon, Bedford, Bury St Edmund's, Stevenage, Luton, Welwyn Garden City... All universities will send you away on placement though, and I actually enjoyed most of my away attachments more than the Addies ones.

(Original post by Spencer Wells)
To answer your question; if you did Cambridge preclinical then went to London, you used to be allowed to go back to Cambridge to sit your finals. AFAIK this practice has now been abolished and you have to sit the London finals (and get MBBS) but I expect Helenia will correct me if I'm wrong.

I have not heard of anyone being allowed to come back to Cambridge to sit finals.

If you leave Cambridge after 3 years, you get your BA and subsequent MA from Cambridge, but your medical degree will be from whichever university you did your clinical studies at.

[Cities]

(Original post by Helenia)
Not Norwich any more, apart from a few people who get sent there for GP. UEA have taken over the N&N.

You can, however, get sent to King's Lynn, Ipswich, Huntingdon, Bedford, Bury St Edmund's, Stevenage, Luton, Welwyn Garden City... All universities will send you away on placement though, and I actually enjoyed most of my away attachments more than the Addies ones..

I've been wondering.. how restrictive are these attachments to general life? E.g. if someone wanted to play college / university sports, would the attachments be a massive hindrance? I imagine it would cost a lot to constantly travel back and forth from the hospital.

[Helenia]

(Original post by n1r4v)
I've been wondering.. how restrictive are these attachments to general life? E.g. if someone wanted to play college / university sports, would the attachments be a massive hindrance? I imagine it would cost a lot to constantly travel back and forth from the hospital.

Most people come home every weekend, so if it's just playing the odd game of college football that's easily doable. If you're aiming at a higher level, it is possible, but there are loads of variables affecting how easy or otherwise it is. If you drive (and have a car!), it's much easier, but yes, it is expensive. It's easier to come home from Bedford/Huntingdon than it is from Ipswich. Rowing for college would be pretty much impossible as you couldn't get to placement after earlies in time for ward rounds, and if you have afternoon practices then you would struggle to get to them.

[Chief Wiggum]

The BA is from Cambridge, but you would get the MBBS from London.

[Cities]

(Original post by Helenia)
Most people come home every weekend, so if it's just playing the odd game of college football that's easily doable. If you're aiming at a higher level, it is possible, but there are loads of variables affecting how easy or otherwise it is. If you drive (and have a car!), it's much easier, but yes, it is expensive. It's easier to come home from Bedford/Huntingdon than it is from Ipswich. Rowing for college would be pretty much impossible as you couldn't get to placement after earlies in time for ward rounds, and if you have afternoon practices then you would struggle to get to them.

Ah okay, seems quite difficult then. In which case, are there usually gyms nearby the hospitals, or in general what do most people do if they want to get in some exercise (assuming the days aren't too tiring)?

In fact, if people stay over, what do people do? Just socialise within the small group, or go out, or maybe go back home? Sorry, don't really know how it "works" .

Thanks.

[Helenia]

(Original post by n1r4v)
Ah okay, seems quite difficult then. In which case, are there usually gyms nearby the hospitals, or in general what do most people do if they want to get in some exercise (assuming the days aren't too tiring)?

In fact, if people stay over, what do people do? Just socialise within the small group, or go out, or maybe go back home? Sorry, don't really know how it "works" .

Thanks.

Some hospitals have smallish gyms on site which some students use. Others run a fair bit, or swim in nearby pools. The days are long though, so unless you're a complete gym freak, you might not feel up to going out most nights.

The social life is really variable depending on where you are and who's with you. Ipswich was the best one for me, as it has a fantastic doctors' mess, decent accommodation, there are around 40 students there across the 3 years, plus a fair number of the FY1/2s will be people you know. And of course, it is so far from Cambridge that most people stay there in the week. Generally there's a mix of work and play. In other hospitals the facilities aren't so great and there are not so many students, but it's perfectly possible to keep yourself entertained there during the week.

[daot]

hii original poster here. Thank you so much for the responses - I guess it makes sense that the final degree would no longer come from Cambridge if you don't even take your final exams there.

This is a little off-topic (well, still very much regarding Cambridge Medicine), but could anyone who's studied medicine at Cambridge or know anyone who's studied medicine at Cambridge give me details about the course? I mean, I know from the website that the first two years focus on "Functional Architecture of the Body", "Mechanisms of Drug Action", etc., and that Cambridge medicine course is known for focusing a lot on scientific basis rather than clinical practices in those first few years. However, I would appreciate if anyone could give me ANY more specific details to help me prepare mentally? lol

I'm very excited obviously since this is my dream course at a top university, but definitely somewhat nervous as well. What kind of books do I need to buy, how specific are their reading lists (jesus books are going to be expensive), exactly what's studied in the first two years, how many times have you considered giving up and just saying "screw it"?...I totally know that this course is going to be tough and demanding, but I would appreciate the insights of anyone with actual experience, rather than some people I've talked to who've said stuff ranging from "medicine at Cambridge is not actually THAT stressful" to "be prepared to sleep only two hours every day"

thanks in advance to anyone who's actually gone through my rambling and is nice enough to answer!

[Chief Wiggum]

(Original post by daot)
This is a little off-topic (well, still very much regarding Cambridge Medicine), but could anyone who's studied medicine at Cambridge or know anyone who's studied medicine at Cambridge give me details about the course? I mean, I know from the website that the first two years focus on "Functional Architecture of the Body", "Mechanisms of Drug Action", etc., and that Cambridge medicine course is known for focusing a lot on scientific basis rather than clinical practices in those first few years. However, I would appreciate if anyone could give me ANY more specific details to help me prepare mentally? lol

I'm very excited obviously since this is my dream course at a top university, but definitely somewhat nervous as well. What kind of books do I need to buy, how specific are their reading lists (jesus books are going to be expensive), exactly what's studied in the first two years, how many times have you considered giving up and just saying "screw it"?...I totally know that this course is going to be tough and demanding, but I would appreciate the insights of anyone with actual experience, rather than some people I've talked to who've said stuff ranging from "medicine at Cambridge is not actually THAT stressful" to "be prepared to sleep only two hours every day"

thanks in advance to anyone who's actually gone through my rambling and is nice enough to answer!

Well I've only done the first year, so I can tell you about that I suppose.

You do 3 main courses:
1. Functional Architecture of the Body (FAB). (This is anatomy.)
2. Molecules in Medical Science (MIMS). (This is biochemistry.)
3. Homeostasis (HOM). (This is physiology.)
These are examined at the end of the final term, at the end of May/start of June.

You also do 2 short courses:
1. Introduction to the Scientific Basis of Medicine (ISBM). (This is statistics.)
2. Social Context of Health and Illness (SCHI). (This is sociology.)
These are examined at the end of the second term, and they have basically no content at all compared to the main courses.

The thing I found hardest was just the pace at which the course moved. It didn't really seem to bother other people though.

[nexttime]

(Original post by daot)
What kind of books do I need to buy, how specific are their reading lists (jesus books are going to be expensive)

If its anything like Oxford (which i imagine it is), you won't have to buy any books. Some people buy a couple of key texts (particularly when the colleges also give book grants), but almost everything is readily available in the libraries.

Also, "jesus books" - my first instinct was books from Jesus college

[ultramarine]

(Original post by Chief Wiggum)
The thing I found hardest was just the pace at which the course moved. It didn't really seem to bother other people though.

I just finished first year too and it sure did bother me

Anyway, I think it depends on how serious you take things really. I know people who get 7 hours of sleep a day and still got First, and there're people like me who didn't get much sleep and didn't get a First

Don't go buying books before the year's started - have a read around and see which ones suit you best before buying. I dno which college you're in, but in mine we get to borrow books for a term each time so buying books is quite unnecessary. And then there are always books that you can download/access on internet :P I think I downloaded Physiology by Guyton (must've been 1000+ pages long) off scribd once, etc.

Also, imo don't worry too much about books. Focus on memorising the lecture notes inside & out first. I found this itself to be too challenging sometimes, so extra info from books didn't really go into my brain anyway haha. So yeah... focus on learning the core stuff - lecture notes, practical notes, dissection manual, etc.

And don't worry too much about it all - almost everyone gets through in the end anyway

[Giggy88]

(Original post by rapidresponse)
Hi

My borther is at Cambridge. You can do your preclinical in Cambridge and you clinical in London. It is quite common. But its one or the other.
If you do your clinical in Cambridge, you will spend some time at Addenbrookes, but you will also inevitably end up doing some attachments in Norwich or Bedford. The Eastern Deanery is very wide!!

How does that answer the question.