Nottingham or Sheffield Medical School?

Hey, I'm a third year at Nottingham, just thought I'd add a few points

- First and second year are not really intense at all in response to what someone else said! There is a lot of work but the timetable is quite nice (and a good deal of lectures are recorded if you don't feel like going in, not that that should be the reason why you pick it!) I've managed a good few Thursday - Monday weekends at home during term time

- I wouldn't say it's that much of a public school uni. There are quite a lot of people from public schools but I'm from a state school and haven't ever really felt alienated or anything!

- I've just finished the BMedSci and it was really great to be able to do it without having to add an extra year. It was really well organised, I'd definitely recommend!

- PBL doesn't form a big part but you do have a seminar group of ~10 which you will end up spending a lot of time with as part of clinical visits, seminars and dissection which is nice

- The pastoral care is great - they've been extremely accommodating and understanding when I've had health problems and I've heard good things from other people too I'm sure that's the same for most med schools though!

That's great, thanks! How often do you have seminar type things?

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Every wednesday morning is spent either learning clinical skills and having ethics-type seminars or going on hospital/GP visits - these things are done either in your group or with a couple of seminar groups joined together so you do end up spending quite a lot of time with them!

Hi everyone!

I would also like to enquire more about Sheffield medical school. Is Sheffield a good medical school? From what I have heard, Sheffield is a very good engineering school, so can the same be said about their medical school?

How are the clinical years for medicine in Sheffield like? Also, as for student life, how is Sheffield like as a city to live in? I am an international student so I am not too sure about what to expect!

Thanks in advance!

I'm also in a similar situation and am torn between Sheffield and Nottingham! As I am quite interested in academic medicine, does anyone know if it would be better to do the 5-year course at Nottingham or to intercalate at Sheffield?

I know that you get less points from a Nottingham BMedsci than Sheffield's, which I think is important as 1 point seems to be quite a lot when applying for a foundation post.

If you're interested in academic medicine maybe Sheffield would be better as you spend longer on the intercalation.

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In terms of medicine at the uni, I think it's very good. They've recently changed the course for the better and I think the candidates that will be graduating in 2019 (so your year# will be very strong. Dissection is taught by super smart tutors, one of whom is incredible... a world class surgeon. Sheffield medical school have matched the wages he would earn as a top surgeon to teach, and it's such a bonus he's a part of the medical school. Sheffield also has a great Children's hospital if you're interesting in paeds and it's a tertiary centre for cardiology which also has great consultants. In terms of intercalating, yes Nottingham students have this integrated into their 5 year course, but it's definitely worth less than a intercalated degree that lasts a year. The foundation program application gives you more points #4 for a 1st, compared to a max of 3 (for a first# at Nottingham). I intercalated last year and managed to get 2 papers published and also present at an international conference from the research I did... the quality and oppourtunities for research are great at Sheffield. And on top of that, the course is quite chilled out compared to a lot of other medical schools. I've had a lot of spare time to pursue hobbies. MedSoc at Sheffield was voted the best in the country last year, and it has so many really good sub societies and sports teams. SurgSoc ran their own national conference for it's second year this year, getting great speakers in and getting abstracts judged by the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. It's not all amazing as you can imagine, as the quality of teaching varies at the district general hospitals, but from my experience, the doctors at all these places are quite good at teaching.

It's nice to have a mix of lectures, smaller group sessions, dissection and also a lot of time off to study. I personally think having a bit more time off let's you study a bit more. If you're in lectures 9-5 everyday then it's hard to do 2-3 hours when you get home, but when you only have lectures in the morning it's a lot easier! I enjoy ILAs because they are something different. It's good just to chat about topics with a group of 8-10 students. The tutor that facilitates the session really dictates how good the ILA actually is. Some take a back seat and let the students discuss learning points and others talk you through things which can be very useful if you have an experienced clinician but can also be **** if the tutor is ****.

Hi Vioxx, I came across your posts from last month. I wanted to clarify which year was the course changed and was it a major change (like Liverpool have switched back to a traditional curriculum from PBL). What would a typical week's timetable look like e.g. number of lectures and ILAs? ILA would be Sheffield's equivalent of PBL? So some of the tutors are not experienced clinicians but non-medical staff, and then the ILA is a waste of time. This sounds a bit hit and miss. How do you have a lot of time off to study and fit in all the lectures, smaller group sessions, dissection etc. What size are the groups you are placed in for full body dissection and is any prosection involved. The world class consultants are seconded from the Hallamshire and Northern General to teach in the medical school?
You intercalate between 3rd year and 4th year - what proportion of your year group did this? Is there a cap placed on how many students are allowed to intercalate?
How good is the guidance and feedback. Do you get the equivalent of detailed specification and past papers we get in sixth form for A levels to help revise for the medical exams? Thanks in advance!

I haven't been on here for about a year. Do yiu still want an answer?

Yes please! I was looking for answers for many of the same questions in regards to sheffield