[groovyangel2008]

(Original post by Friar Chris)
Interviews, if people are interested, are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Those of you who have interviews on Wednesday the 19th of October, good luck - you're the first batch

Hi, this may sound like a random question...I know GP visits start in first year but I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about what the visits involve?

[Kooala]

(Original post by OliHudson)
awesome well done!! what time is yours? so excited but scared!, where have you applied to? i heard like 80% of interviewees get offers, so hope ours go well!

Mines in the morning, at 11.45. At least I'll enjoy the tour without worrying about my interview lol. I've applied to leicester, BSMS and cambridge. What about you?

[Friar Chris]

(Original post by groovyangel2008)
Hi, this may sound like a random question...I know GP visits start in first year but I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about what the visits involve?

It varies...

The medschool set a 'timetable' and curriculum for each individual day of placement - you have CBM ('Community Based Medicine' - i.e. primary care placement) every other Thursday in first year..

These timetables are often dull and bureaucratic, written by secretaries and academics who are sat behind desks or stood lecturing most days in the medical school, so they schedule hour-long 'talks on the importance of confidentiality' and other such nonsense into the days - which seems to defy the point of specially travelling out to a placement since you can discuss the importance of confidentiality anywhere in the med school you feel like.

The good news is twofold:

1. There is still scheduled patient contact and clinical skills teaching despite the pencil pushers' tick boxes.
   
2. You'll be under the control and supervision of a full-time doctor on your placement, and those of you who are lucky will find that they have no more time for bureaucratic box-ticking and mindless politically correct discussions than you do; GPs are often very down-to-earth people.

Mine largely did the bare minimum needed to satisfy the medical school and got straight onto the clinical teaching and then put us in consultations all day where all the other GPs were more than willing to teach you as if you were a clinical student or a house officer on primary care rotation (got to diagnose a man's rosacea and suggest tetracycline prescription ). Basically once they ran out of patients for the day, we got to go home .

[os93]

When applying to Birmingham is it necessary to include individual module grades and scores at AS

[Immi :)]

do birmingham sent acknowledgement letters once they've received your application? sent off my form on the 27th, so nervous!!

[OliHudson]

(Original post by Kooala)
Mines in the morning, at 11.45. At least I'll enjoy the tour without worrying about my interview lol. I've applied to leicester, BSMS and cambridge. What about you?

Yeah at least we wont have it hanging over us! oh cool, i applied to cardiff, liverpool and cambridge

[thesalamander123]

(Original post by OliHudson)
Yeah at least we wont have it hanging over us! oh cool, i applied to cardiff, liverpool and cambridge

Which college at Cam?

[Thescorchedman]

Hey, I got a D in my biology EMPA (pending remark, not hopeful), but an A overall. Will this affect my application, because if it doesn't go up, I'll retake. I got 6As at AS + an A in the EPQ, have been predicted 4 A*s for A2, and got 9 A*s and 3 As at GCSE.

[spoinkytheduck]

(Original post by Thescorchedman)
Hey, I got a D in my biology EMPA (pending remark, not hopeful), but an A overall. Will this affect my application, because if it doesn't go up, I'll retake. I got 6As at AS + an A in the EPQ, have been predicted 4 A*s for A2, and got 9 A*s and 3 As at GCSE.

I'd imagine, seeing as you still got an A overall, it wouldnt make a big difference.
But I'm obviously not an expert - email them directly?
(I've emailed them before and they tend to reply really quickly)

Hope that helps

[groovyangel2008]

(Original post by Friar Chris)
It varies...

The medschool set a 'timetable' and curriculum for each individual day of placement - you have CBM ('Community Based Medicine' - i.e. primary care placement) every other Thursday in first year..

These timetables are often dull and bureaucratic, written by secretaries and academics who are sat behind desks or stood lecturing most days in the medical school, so they schedule hour-long 'talks on the importance of confidentiality' and other such nonsense into the days - which seems to defy the point of specially travelling out to a placement since you can discuss the importance of confidentiality anywhere in the med school you feel like.

The good news is twofold:

1. There is still scheduled patient contact and clinical skills teaching despite the pencil pushers' tick boxes.
   
2. You'll be under the control and supervision of a full-time doctor on your placement, and those of you who are lucky will find that they have no more time for bureaucratic box-ticking and mindless politically correct discussions than you do; GPs are often very down-to-earth people.

Mine largely did the bare minimum needed to satisfy the medical school and got straight onto the clinical teaching and then put us in consultations all day where all the other GPs were more than willing to teach you as if you were a clinical student or a house officer on primary care rotation (got to diagnose a man's rosacea and suggest tetracycline prescription ). Basically once they ran out of patients for the day, we got to go home .

Thanks, sounds exciting

[DstarRaW]

Hey guys I'm applying to Birmingham with 7.5 A*'s, 3A's, with predictions for A2 being A*A*AA. However because I'm applying through the A2B scheme, but i already meet the standard requirements do you think my chances of gaining an interview are high?

[OliHudson]

(Original post by thesalamander123)
Which college at Cam?

gonville and caius you applied for med there too? which college? there are loads of us! haha

[Friar Chris]

(Original post by groovyangel2008)
Thanks, sounds exciting

You might not be saying the same thing when you're getting out of bed at 0530 to walk to the station to catch a train to New St. station to get a train to Wolverhampton to walk to the bus station to get a bus to Penn to walk to the GP's practise there .

It is pretty good though, and if you get the right doctors you learn a hell of a lot from right at the beginning of year 1.

[thesalamander123]

(Original post by OliHudson)
gonville and caius you applied for med there too? which college? there are loads of us! haha

Trinity Hall I'd be right next to your college... If we both got in :P How's the BMAT prep going?

[Jasmine_777]

(Original post by Friar Chris)
You might not be saying the same thing when you're getting out of bed at 0530 to walk to the station to catch a train to New St. station to get a train to Wolverhampton to walk to the bus station to get a bus to Penn to walk to the GP's practise there .

It is pretty good though, and if you get the right doctors you learn a hell of a lot from right at the beginning of year 1.

Dunno why but that just makes it sound even more exciting haha.

[Friar Chris]

(Original post by Jasmine_777)
Dunno why but that just makes it sound even more exciting haha.

A fan of early starts and almost 2 hour journeys to work, I see .

[Jasmine_777]

(Original post by Friar Chris)
A fan of early starts and almost 2 hour journeys to work, I see .

haha, I think I just have a v. boring life!
But after a while, it's probably hell.

[Friar Chris]

(Original post by Jasmine_777)
haha, I think I just have a v. boring life!
But after a while, it's probably hell.

Between becoming nocturnal to facilitate enough waking time to study, drink and party; and obscene amounts of caffeine, it becomes pretty normal after half a semester or so .

[Jasmine_777]

(Original post by Friar Chris)
Between becoming nocturnal to facilitate enough waking time to study, drink and party; and obscene amounts of caffeine, it becomes pretty normal after half a semester or so .

haha, fun times! ... ooh at uni/bham, it's called a 'semester' rather than a 'term' ?

[Friar Chris]

(Original post by Jasmine_777)
haha, fun times! ... ooh at uni/bham, it's called a 'semester' rather than a 'term' ?

Indeed. Always confuses me because a 'Semesters' implies two terms, when there are actually three and so should be called 'Trimesters'. I shall however digress; I believe they label it as such because there is only scheduled teaching in the first two terms and the third in summer is just exam season.

Some people get the GPs in the local area or close by in Birmingham (exempli gratia for my second year I'm in Edgbaston which isn't so bad), but then others have to go to Wolverhampton, Hereford et cetera .