Ask a Buckingham University Student!

Hello, I am terribly sorry but cannot offer any financial advise. As mentioned previously, I had a colleague who managed via student finance, some parents help and working on weekends by tutoring GCSE/A level students. I would suggest approaching a financial advisor or maybe even Buckingham directly to ask them how the fees cost could be covered. I found this on their page, I hope it offers some useful information: https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/admissions/scholarships-and-external-funding/


Alternatively, assuming you are a British citizen, you could apply to other UK universities for medicine as the fees are lower (same for internationals at any UK medical school).

Hi, which year of medical school do you recommend for someone who wants to apply to the US to study for USMLE step 1?

Hello. As an international student in the UK, what do you exactly have to do and how long does it take to become a fully specialized doctor. I understand that after the MB ChB (typically 5/6 years in other medical schools, 4.5 at Bucks) there's FY1 and FY2 (total of 2 years). What happens next? I don't really understand the terms residency, fellowship, speciality training etc. nor the durations. Suppose a student wants to become a neurosurgeon/plastic surgeon/ cardiothoracic surgeon, how long will it take and what are the steps to get there?

Hi how would u compare univ of Buckingham with univ of central Lancashire. Both have been reacently acredited by GMC. Thanks

Hi, sorry I don't know much about UCLAN so cannot make a fair comparison. Your decision should be influenced by factors the location, fees, course structure (to name a few) as you will be there for approx 5 years. See this thread for more info https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6507388

Hi. What's something really unique about the medicine course offered in Buckingham? Something that you particularly enjoy and felt that it was different from other unis that you know of. Also what are the class sizes?

Hello,
Bucks is unique due to its good staff: student ratio, teaching quality, student support. Less students (compared to other unis) in each cohort mean that there is more attention given to individual students.

I would recommend checking the GMC website and working your way through each university's quality reports which will show you an honest opinion of areas that each university is achieving well including areas of improvement. It might help influence your decision

I fell in love with the town, having always wanted to study anywhere apart from central London. The people were friendly and Bucks gave off a really good community vibe when I attended the open day and the interview.

Class sizes are small. So, once you attend lectures of the day (which are approximately 100 students in each cohort). You go off for group work sessions where you are working through clinical cases relevant to the lecture just covered. In these rooms, there are 7 students in each group and a facilitator per room (4 groups in each room). Sometimes there are 2 facilitators in the room delivering these sessions and as far as I know this is a good staff student ratio. I never felt that I could not ask a question as these facilitators were involving and came round the groups constantly asking if we had questions and helped us work through the tasks at hand.

Thank you! So I presume its "case based learning' which is followed in Bucks?
And can med school students take part in any of the societies like Debate?

How much should I know about the NHS and GMC and things like that for an interview? and how long do you think you should take to prepare?

is Buckingham known for its research/does it carry out any research because thats something I never heard of actually

Does Bucks have dissection or prosection?

Hi. There is no cadaveric dissection however Bucks has an anatomage table which is essentially a big table with an anatomy man in 3d and you can learn from it. When you arrive at induction, they give you a the same 3d software for your ipads. It was really useful.

Also, If you manage to secure one of the student selected components in your first year of medical school at Buckingham, you will have an opportunity to witness prosection. I really learnt a lot from these sessions too.

What are the different option in the student selected components?

Weird question but since the course is 4.5 years long there are less holidays, do you think a medical student would get at least some time off to travel (within Europe)