When I applied to university I didn't really have a clear idea where I wanted to go. Having visited all the unis which offer medicine, I began to notice the difference between the larger, more 'elite' institutions (Edinburgh and Glasgow) and the smaller ones (Dundee and Aberdeen). The latter unis seemed to try a lot harder to encourage me to study there, it felt that way to me anyway
The interview experience only concreted this. At Glasgow I felt extremely intimidated by the staff and the whole environment, whereas Aberdeen were welcoming and friendly even when asking difficult questions
In the end the friendliness of the staff and the fact that Aberdeen felt more homely was the reason I turned down my Glasgow offer to study in Aberdeen.
If you look at the University of Aberdeen as a whole, it isn't as big or shiny as Edinburgh or Glasgow. The city is nowhere near as cosmopolitan. But the quality of teaching and the medical school's reputation within the profession are both excellent. I do not regret choosing Aberdeen at all and would strongly recommend it to all of you
I have listed below a few observations about the course in the past year.
ProsStudents are taught in systems. We do anatomy and physiology of each system (e.g cardiovascular, respiratory)and then pathology, clinical treatment and pharmacology.
Clinical skills from the first year. Starting from the basics of history taking and examination, all the time interacting with volunteer patients and then real patients on weekly ward sessions.
Staff and students are all fantastically friendly. We are a slightly smaller medical school with (come 2011) a 160 intake each year. As such you get to know most people quite quickly and develop your own group of mates.
Though the medical school is a trek away, once you get there you have 1000+ beds directly across the road. The ARI+Royal Aberdeen Childrens'+Aberdeen Maternity hospital site at Foresterhill offer every specialty and clinical procedure under the sun.
Nearly all your tutorials involve clinicians teaching you or supervising you. This makes the whole thing more real and gives you the chance to find out directly how they use the knowledge.
The MedSoc organize great social events such as beerienteering which are always well attended and rather epic fun.
ConsAnatomy. Prosection is fine, it's just the sessions generally which are difficult to follow. The learning outcomes could be a lot clearer.
Community course. Possibly the single largest waste of your time. Ever. Though the subject matter is interesting (as Rabbitt said) the method of assessment is such that it is pretty much impossible to fail. Not much incentive to really learn anything.
First year can seem rather disjointed at times. Course is still very new and is being tweaked every year. They add in seemingly random seminars and lectures which, though interesting, don't really flow well into the course.
The medical school is at least 30 minutes walk away from every uni or private halls in the city.