Pros and cons of your med school?
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Daveo
Manchester
Pros:
- the city
Cons:
- EVERYTHING else
Pros:
- the city
Cons:
- EVERYTHING else
heheh I remember your accounts of Manchester - none good!
What does spacecam or any others we have here think though?
I don't think anyone's done UCL...
UCL (mainly preclinical)
Pros:
- London
- great location: main university is walking distance from the British Library, Camden, West End, Oxford St, Covent Garden, and lots more
- cheaper to live in than if you were at Imperial, more expensive than Barts
- good rivalries between the other med schools
- nice preclinical/clinical divide which gives you the time to learn the basics, get a bit of confidence and do the fresher's thing without being unleashed onto the wards
- PDS (professional development spine): one morning a week of comm skills, clinical skills, law, ethics, placements. Really builds your confidence and gets you ready for clinics. Your PDS tutor is also the only person in the med school likely to know your name (though that doesn't mean they will)
- intercalated BSc: probably the broadest range of options and lots of arts subjects on offer as well as pure science. Also allows you to be a proper student with an 8 hour week which will be nice after two years of 9-5. And if more study isn't your thing, some people are allowed to use the year to travel.
- good student support system in the form of weekly surgeries. I've found from friends' experiences that the med school is very understanding if you're going through a tough time and will do anything they can to help (Dr Cross, especially, is lovely) but this is only if you seek help
- teaching is, in general, good. The core of all our modules have been very well organised with great lectures, online powerpoint slides and handbooks of lecture notes. Some of the "extra" lectures can be of varying quality, but there's quite a lot of clinically related lectures and content. Student administration is good too. Some people complain, but from what I've heard from other med schools, UCL is a model of organisation. And it's amazing being at a university at the forefront of research - the things discovered here and currently under research are constantly mentioned in lectures and make you feel part of something pretty good, particularly in neuroscience.
- dissection! Some people don't like the way its taught here but that's mainly because they don't spoonfed you. Provided you put the work in and actively seek teaching, anatomy teaching is excellent. By far my favourite part of the curriculum and a real strength here.
- SSCs: there's a really good selection, with something for everyone (eg. volunteering, IT, arts, languages, science, library projects, community placements and you can even create your own)
- RUMS: we have our own sports teams, societies, bars, social activities and so on. It makes us cliquey and less likely to socialise with non-medics but it also creates the sense of a community which I like.
- pretty much nothing to hand in, other than the odd PDS essay and SSC things
- the third "arts subject" admissions policy suits me because there's a lot of people here who are into things other than science. Of course this will be the case at other medical schools, but there's definitely a lot of people here like me who would have done an arts subject if they couldn't have applied for medicine.
Cons:
- London: expensive (especially with the compulsory BSc)
- you are effectively a barcode to the university. Some PDS tutors are great, but others barely know your name and have no idea what you're like as a person so they write generic references for BSc applications. No other lectures or tutors know your name unless you repeatedly fail or attend the surgeries frequently. I feel like if I had a problem, no-one within the medical school would notice other than my friends
- the medical school is quite clique-y
- constant formatives to revise for
- summatives: exam papers are often unbalanced and place a disproportionate emphasis on small details so even if you know the core essentials inside out, you can come out feeling absolutely awful. Plus you have to pass each paper and also each module.
- the library has a tendency to do building work round the time of exams
- the preclinical course is pretty much 9-5 every week day so if you work part-time, social life or academics might have to be compromised
- psychology and sociology are taught in perhaps too much detail and could be better assessed by essay, though some of the lectures are excellent
UCL (mainly preclinical)
Pros:
- London
- great location: main university is walking distance from the British Library, Camden, West End, Oxford St, Covent Garden, and lots more
- cheaper to live in than if you were at Imperial, more expensive than Barts
- good rivalries between the other med schools
- nice preclinical/clinical divide which gives you the time to learn the basics, get a bit of confidence and do the fresher's thing without being unleashed onto the wards
- PDS (professional development spine): one morning a week of comm skills, clinical skills, law, ethics, placements. Really builds your confidence and gets you ready for clinics. Your PDS tutor is also the only person in the med school likely to know your name (though that doesn't mean they will)
- intercalated BSc: probably the broadest range of options and lots of arts subjects on offer as well as pure science. Also allows you to be a proper student with an 8 hour week which will be nice after two years of 9-5. And if more study isn't your thing, some people are allowed to use the year to travel.
- good student support system in the form of weekly surgeries. I've found from friends' experiences that the med school is very understanding if you're going through a tough time and will do anything they can to help (Dr Cross, especially, is lovely) but this is only if you seek help
- teaching is, in general, good. The core of all our modules have been very well organised with great lectures, online powerpoint slides and handbooks of lecture notes. Some of the "extra" lectures can be of varying quality, but there's quite a lot of clinically related lectures and content. Student administration is good too. Some people complain, but from what I've heard from other med schools, UCL is a model of organisation. And it's amazing being at a university at the forefront of research - the things discovered here and currently under research are constantly mentioned in lectures and make you feel part of something pretty good, particularly in neuroscience.
- dissection! Some people don't like the way its taught here but that's mainly because they don't spoonfed you. Provided you put the work in and actively seek teaching, anatomy teaching is excellent. By far my favourite part of the curriculum and a real strength here.
- SSCs: there's a really good selection, with something for everyone (eg. volunteering, IT, arts, languages, science, library projects, community placements and you can even create your own)
- RUMS: we have our own sports teams, societies, bars, social activities and so on. It makes us cliquey and less likely to socialise with non-medics but it also creates the sense of a community which I like.
- pretty much nothing to hand in, other than the odd PDS essay and SSC things
- the third "arts subject" admissions policy suits me because there's a lot of people here who are into things other than science. Of course this will be the case at other medical schools, but there's definitely a lot of people here like me who would have done an arts subject if they couldn't have applied for medicine.
Cons:
- London: expensive (especially with the compulsory BSc)
- you are effectively a barcode to the university. Some PDS tutors are great, but others barely know your name and have no idea what you're like as a person so they write generic references for BSc applications. No other lectures or tutors know your name unless you repeatedly fail or attend the surgeries frequently. I feel like if I had a problem, no-one within the medical school would notice other than my friends
- the medical school is quite clique-y
- constant formatives to revise for
- summatives: exam papers are often unbalanced and place a disproportionate emphasis on small details so even if you know the core essentials inside out, you can come out feeling absolutely awful. Plus you have to pass each paper and also each module.
- the library has a tendency to do building work round the time of exams
- the preclinical course is pretty much 9-5 every week day so if you work part-time, social life or academics might have to be compromised
- psychology and sociology are taught in perhaps too much detail and could be better assessed by essay, though some of the lectures are excellent
My personal opinion about Manchester.
PROS
*Course is quite flexible in terms of the timetable so you can easily fit in part time work. At least I don't have to worry about debt.
*Assesment is easy IMO. All written exams are MCQs and norm referenced so as long as you are not doing much worse then rest of your year there is nothing to fear. You can easily get away with ignoring large chunks of material and still pass with distinction.
*SSCs are quite good in clinical years.
CONS
*You need to be self motivated.
*The way placements are organised there will be areas you don't get any exposure to. For example I have never had a cardiology, ENT, ophtamology or endocrinology plecement.
*SSCs in preclinical years are a bit rubbish.
PROS
*Course is quite flexible in terms of the timetable so you can easily fit in part time work. At least I don't have to worry about debt.
*Assesment is easy IMO. All written exams are MCQs and norm referenced so as long as you are not doing much worse then rest of your year there is nothing to fear. You can easily get away with ignoring large chunks of material and still pass with distinction.
*SSCs are quite good in clinical years.
CONS
*You need to be self motivated.
*The way placements are organised there will be areas you don't get any exposure to. For example I have never had a cardiology, ENT, ophtamology or endocrinology plecement.
*SSCs in preclinical years are a bit rubbish.
in addendum to UCL from someone who has only done preclin:
Pros:
Security staff are pretty helpful
Good presentation of modules although 2nd year is a big step up from 1st year.
Good Psych and Sociology teaching - lack of psychology book is made up for by very good lecture slides.
Good network of support, revision guides etc... written by previous years. Helps a lot when first approaching something you may have missed.
LONG library opening hours - also a good choice of them - the cruciform too busy? try the science, main, royal free, or whitt ones. Or even go try out the rooms at the BMA or the wellcome trust. Cruciform, Science and Main open 24 hours during exam season.
Cons:
Variable qualities of PDS tutors - some are fantastic - *Dr C* *cough* and write you a good reference and do the PDS social things all the time - some are less sociable and more of a teacher role, which works less well in PDS. Also - at the 'free the anecdotes from the lecturers.....
Variable usefulness of tutorial staff - lucky ones get the staff that write the exams - unlucky ones get the ones that blatantly got dragged in to help out with numbers. Prof. Foreman's group were probably the luckiest this year.
They expect a lot of detailed knowledge in summatives - can sometime be down to the luck of having seen it recently. Also spot test - there are 2 circles with exactly the same questions - but on the different circuits one group have a model to demonstrate a question, whilst the other gets a cadaver.
Things which can go either way: Embryology - interesting - but there is a lot of extra terminology on top of what you already have to know.
SSC choices - good in 1st year, but less imaginative in 2nd - people who want to do languages are very well served however.
Also - this really should go into the prefreshers bit - might help them out a bit - so long as they don't post in it.
To whoever repped me for this - find the post amended per your comments - as far as I know the sensitive areas are hard to get into with extra, tighter security elsewhere.
Pros:
Security staff are pretty helpful
Good presentation of modules although 2nd year is a big step up from 1st year.
Good Psych and Sociology teaching - lack of psychology book is made up for by very good lecture slides.
Good network of support, revision guides etc... written by previous years. Helps a lot when first approaching something you may have missed.
LONG library opening hours - also a good choice of them - the cruciform too busy? try the science, main, royal free, or whitt ones. Or even go try out the rooms at the BMA or the wellcome trust. Cruciform, Science and Main open 24 hours during exam season.
Cons:
Variable qualities of PDS tutors - some are fantastic - *Dr C* *cough* and write you a good reference and do the PDS social things all the time - some are less sociable and more of a teacher role, which works less well in PDS. Also - at the 'free the anecdotes from the lecturers.....
Variable usefulness of tutorial staff - lucky ones get the staff that write the exams - unlucky ones get the ones that blatantly got dragged in to help out with numbers. Prof. Foreman's group were probably the luckiest this year.
They expect a lot of detailed knowledge in summatives - can sometime be down to the luck of having seen it recently. Also spot test - there are 2 circles with exactly the same questions - but on the different circuits one group have a model to demonstrate a question, whilst the other gets a cadaver.
Things which can go either way: Embryology - interesting - but there is a lot of extra terminology on top of what you already have to know.
SSC choices - good in 1st year, but less imaginative in 2nd - people who want to do languages are very well served however.
Also - this really should go into the prefreshers bit - might help them out a bit - so long as they don't post in it.
To whoever repped me for this - find the post amended per your comments - as far as I know the sensitive areas are hard to get into with extra, tighter security elsewhere.
Chimpyang
Prof. Foreman's group were probably the luckiest this year.
I actually love the man
He's pretty damn good. Shame he's cutting back at stuff with UCL as part of retirement. The younger years wont know what they missed though...
Thought of another con - they've taken past papers away - largely not a problem but there will be a point where the old questions will be phased out. Cripes.
Thought of another con - they've taken past papers away - largely not a problem but there will be a point where the old questions will be phased out. Cripes.
Smile88egc
Peninsula
- Exams aren't hugely stressful and I dont spend my life revising, as we only have 4 exams a year set at F1 standard that you can't revise for.
- Exams aren't hugely stressful and I dont spend my life revising, as we only have 4 exams a year set at F1 standard that you can't revise for.
Hey Uhmm I heard that if you fail you get kicked out is this true?
Chimpyang
largely not a problem
Heheheheh.
I wouldn't know what you're talking about.
Although whoever it was who complained about it might have something to say!
Chimpyang
He's pretty damn good. Shame he's cutting back at stuff with UCL as part of retirement. The younger years wont know what they missed though...
Thought of another con - they've taken past papers away - largely not a problem but there will be a point where the old questions will be phased out. Cripes.
Thought of another con - they've taken past papers away - largely not a problem but there will be a point where the old questions will be phased out. Cripes.
They're writing new questions refreshing the bank compleatly so by the time the new freshers come they'll be ready to unleash hell.
Another pro is the 'parent' system, so you get at least one second year looking after you telling you where to go, which nights out are good/crap/avoid, good places to eat, what books to buy etc. Quite often the families become massive (so I have many cousins). Some 'rents are great, others just buy you a drink and sod off. It does mean you get incest, but tis a geat way to meet new peeps.
We got a email from the med school which was very supportive, hoping we'd all help...woe betide any child of mine...
Wangers
They're writing new questions refreshing the bank compleatly so by the time the new freshers come they'll be ready to unleash hell.
Another pro is the 'parent' system, so you get at least one second year looking after you telling you where to go, which nights out are good/crap/avoid, good places to eat, what books to buy etc. Quite often the families become massive (so I have many cousins). Some 'rents are great, others just buy you a drink and sod off. It does mean you get incest, but tis a geat way to meet new peeps.
We got a email from the med school which was very supportive, hoping we'd all help...woe betide any child of mine...
Another pro is the 'parent' system, so you get at least one second year looking after you telling you where to go, which nights out are good/crap/avoid, good places to eat, what books to buy etc. Quite often the families become massive (so I have many cousins). Some 'rents are great, others just buy you a drink and sod off. It does mean you get incest, but tis a geat way to meet new peeps.
We got a email from the med school which was very supportive, hoping we'd all help...woe betide any child of mine...
That was me
I had good intentions but I don't think my daughter likes me....I did give her past papers though!
Wangers
We got a email from the med school which was very supportive, hoping we'd all help...woe betide any child of mine...
We got a email from the med school which was very supportive, hoping we'd all help...woe betide any child of mine...
You'd be surprised at how easy it can be - you just drag them round your friends after the initial pep talk and make them talk to your friends' children. Just don't abandon them on the first night in the middle of Huntley.
Renal
I only pulled one of my daughters...
Hahah, I purposefully didn't family a fresher that went on to be a gf hehe due to not wanting accusations of incest!
My daughter wasn't the drinking type, which disappointed me, so I went to get a new one, only I was so drunk that I forgot her name and what she looked like. I am a bad dad.
Any Newcastle medics around to post on here? I'd be interested to hear criticisms of it as i haven't heard any yet.
Anyone else get the email from the med school book (can't rememeber the exact name, but it's one of those pre-fresher things telling you where to go) asking for contributors to write about their own med school? Worth doing? I suspect they won't permit criticism, however constructive it may be, though....
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