Best Universities to study ODP

Hi all,

I've been looking at applying to university to study Operating Department Practice. I've been searching around and doing quite a bit of research into the universities that offer the course but I'm curious to know which are the best universities for overall student satisfaction on the course, placements, uni life etc. (Might be better to hear from current students as my head is getting scrambled with research lol)

My current favourites are Hull, South Wales, Anglia Ruskin and UEA.

Some things to note:
-I'm a mature student (23 currently)
-Would be applying for 2024 entry due to existing commitments till May next year
-I work as an HCA (Applied for the ODP apprenticeship in my trust but didn't get it, had over 70 applications for 2 posts)
-I don't really drink so not bothered about going to a university with a good nightlife etc
-I am trying to go to more open days but as I work full time, it's not easy to drive up and down the UK!

Hope to hear from any ODP students past and present to give me an idea of what each university is like and their experiences!

Reply 1

ARUStudents

Official Rep

Original post by Alexandra.Vernon

Hi Alexandra,

I’m a second year student ODP at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), Cambridge. I’m also a mature student and didn’t have much interest in the nightlife but Cambridge is so beautiful. The area probably did help to persuade me.

I applied for a number of universities and found the decision difficult. A few things helped me pick ARU. Firstly, the hospitals they’re team up with are really great, including London hospitals if you study at Chelmsford. Also, something that I think is quite unique to ARU is that we are in placement full time. We don’t do block placements like most other unis. We are in placement 3 days a week and uni 1 day a week. Before I started this really attracted me to ARU because I loved the idea of being able to get some much clinical experience.

It is intense being full time sometimes but most students I talk to from other unis say they wished they was here full time, as they find it difficult coming back after break. We also get so much assignment support!

My placement has been amazing so far. We have a very supportive practice educator and all the lecturers are really approachable. When I’ve had a few stressful times I’ve found them really supportive to talk too!

Having the 1 university day as week is really helpful. We are always learning about something relevant to our current placement. It’s helpful because we can come back to placement with a lot more knowledge about the specific area. Plus we often all have discussions before and during class about our experiences. We relate them to what we’re learning but it makes us all feel like a big team!

We do have an upcoming Open Day on Saturday 10 June if you want to look around and meet the team :smile: