Aberdeen Uni Medicine interview pls help

I had mine in November.

Some questions were standard, others were harder, there were some very very very nasty questions, I had to admit that I was very nervous and I even stumbled on the easy/standard questions. But the interviewers were super friendly!

The interview went really fast, and I felt kinda tired&numb after the 7th station.

They said it on the day too, they interview about 800 applicants and only 150ish people actually get in... I am not an extraordinary applicant, so I am not too optimistic. I actually went shopping after my interview and had a really great time there.

Aberdeen is a small, friendly and lovely city, its a good medical school too. But you don't get dissection

Did you get to rotate between different rooms, or that single big noisy room? I got the single room and the noise was pretty distracting...

But you don't get dissection

Aberdeen is a small, friendly and lovely city, its a good medical school too. But you don't get dissection

This is not necessarily a bad thing. Anatomy used to be one of the main things about medical school, but these days other advancements (eg genetics) and priorities (eg communication skills) have become more important. Dissection is good for a more in-depth and detailed understanding of anatomy, but because these days we dont get as much anatomy teaching time a more time-effecient method is needed.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. Anatomy used to be one of the main things about medical school, but these days other advancements (eg genetics) and priorities (eg communication skills) have become more important. Dissection is good for a more in-depth and detailed understanding of anatomy, but because these days we dont get as much anatomy teaching time a more time-effecient method is needed.

Unfortunately I didn't make it to Aberdeen's open day so don't know what you guys are talking about? It says on the website;
"In the anatomy department, our students begin an exciting 3 year journey of discovery of human morphology, gaining excellent hands on knowledge of the whole body through the use of our prosected cadaveric specimens. Students are guided throughout this voyage by our friendly and dedicated team of anatomy staff as well as visiting clinicians from a range of surgical, dental and medical specialties, allowing students to seamlessly weave in-depth knowledge of traditional anatomy with its clinical applications.Some students also have the unique opportunity to engage individually in whole body dissection and a number of clinically orientated dissection projects"
So what do you mean there is no dissection? Do you mean we don't get to dissect cadavers ourselves? Is it taught using computers instead?

Unfortunately I didn't make it to Aberdeen's open day so don't know what you guys are talking about? It says on the website;
"In the anatomy department, our students begin an exciting 3 year journey of discovery of human morphology, gaining excellent hands on knowledge of the whole body through the use of our prosected cadaveric specimens. Students are guided throughout this voyage by our friendly and dedicated team of anatomy staff as well as visiting clinicians from a range of surgical, dental and medical specialties, allowing students to seamlessly weave in-depth knowledge of traditional anatomy with its clinical applications.Some students also have the unique opportunity to engage individually in whole body dissection and a number of clinically orientated dissection projects"
So what do you mean there is no dissection? Do you mean we don't get to dissect cadavers ourselves? Is it taught using computers instead?

This is not necessarily a bad thing. Anatomy used to be one of the main things about medical school, but these days other advancements (eg genetics) and priorities (eg communication skills) have become more important. Dissection is good for a more in-depth and detailed understanding of anatomy, but because these days we dont get as much anatomy teaching time a more time-effecient method is needed.

Aberdeen is a good place, and Inverness is amazing for 4th/5th year (though perhaps not such good nightlife if thats your thing!). There are pros and cons to dissection, I did an essay on it for a student selected component and pretty much came to the conclusion that its difficult to say if prosection or dissection is better. Anatomy is generally only a small part of what you need to know and I wouldn't chose a med school based on it solely.


Good luck for the interview Zain. We had clinical exams called osces at med school which have multiple stations and the most useful piece of advice you get for them, is that after each station clear your head and move on - never dwell on preceding stations or you may get trapped in a downward spiral. Often you have done better than you think in a station and dwelling on it may bring your performance down for the rest of the exam. Try as hard as possible to relax and enjoy the interview (easier said than done).

Happy to answer questions about the course, though there have been subtle changes over the last 5 years. (Abdn grad 2015)

What do you think about the intercalated degree? worth doing it??

I only found out that Edinburgh doesn't do dissection after I read the Edinburgh Medicine thread(not the 2016 one)! Quite surprised tbh because everyone knows that Burke&Hare used to supply cadavers for Edinburgh medical school..