The Student Room Group

Newcastle -- Durham doubt

I got an interview at Newcastle in a week and i was just brainstormin a few questions they could ask me..and i got stuck with this one....

Why Newcastle and not Durham??(they work in partnership)

ive checked their research and durham dont do any medicine related but does that make a good answer..
Actually i was thinking if they had asked me just "why newcastle?" i would say, " I am very interested in the research projects being conducted especially neurological ones..Alzheimer's "

Is that a good answer ??im very edgy as u can tell
If you can back it up with maybe a time where you've cared for an Alzheimer's patient, or developed a genuine interest in Alzheimer's, then fair enough. Just don't make yourself look ridiculous...I mean, what if they were to ask "Oh right! Well Dr X here is a consultant neurologist and he/she'd be very interested to hear what you know about Alzheimer's"...hopefully you could talk about it for a while instead of thinking, "Oh, erm, haha, see the thing about that is..."

I think you've got to take a different approach towards this. Think about not just the medical aspect of things, as the courses are near enough identical. Instead, consider why Newcastle as a place, and indeed a university? Remember you did apply to Newcastle initially...why? Just be brutally honest. If you're actually genuinely enthused by the fact they have a strong research team in the field of neurodegenerative conditions, why not Glasgow, or one of the London unis (I think it's Barts that have this specialty also, not sure??).

Just be honest. Maybe you don't know why Newcastle? You're allowed to say that you applied to the Newcastle medical school knowing the curriculum and either place would be ideal for you...that it is the course itself that attracted you there.

On a final note...out of all the medical schools in the UK, Newcastle reported the highest percentage of student satisfaction (according to the Virgin Alternative guide I think?)...why do you reckon that is??

Just...aye, be honest :biggrin:
Reply 2
Yeah, I'd be carefull about implying you know more than you do about something. When they say 'why newcastle?' just talk about why you like the course and university/city as a whole - I think that's what they'll be looking for.
just say you wanted to be somewhere more central and stockton campus is too far out of durham for you. or that's what i would say.
Reply 4
Its not durham proper - its Stockton (which incidentally I don't know exactly where it is...)
Reply 5
alright thanx for the advice..umm..i said alzheimers only cuz my first line in my PS is "Taking care of my grandmother who is suffering from the incurable Alzheimer's disease....." but yea ill try to take the lines you have said.
And graemematt ure right dunno too much bout newcastle but hear good opinions bout it all the time thats why i applied

I was just reading about this apparent "cure" for Alzheimer's what do you think about this.....http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/25/2333250
So long as you can really justify that article. The negatives of that therapy are obvious though...using IR to grow cells...if ANYTHING went wrong you'd have a brain tumour on your hands really, especially when using such a direct method.

Chances are you'd be better off by specifically targeting beta-amyloid 42kDa if at all possible. Also, conformation of gamma-secretases play a role. Things like that.

...maybe it's best you don't suggest this article as being 100% factual, however say you did read it out of interest and that, from a caring point of view, it's also highly important to provide primary care to these patients to improve quality of life in the face of adversity. They'll want you to have that desire to care for every patient as though they were your own granny with Alzheimer's (and btw I am sorry to hear she's been diagnosed with it). You could talk about how frustrating it can be for the patients themselves, for their families (with the memory loss and mental deterioration it can be distressing), and for their carers (with specialist nurses needing to be qualified in a certain area, needing to dedicate extra time to them, etc).

Just lots to think about :smile: I think it's great you've got this to talk about, scope for a potentially impressive discussion!!