Medicine 2012...(hopeful entrants) !!

Sorry to jump in but I noticed this thread and I feel like crasting. Integrated isn't a mix of PBL and Trad - a course could be 100% PBL and be integrated. An integrated course means that clinical contact is integrated into the pre-clinical years, as opposed to the strict pre-clin/clin divide at places like Cambridge.

Oh and Liverpool is a good choice

You're way more than welcome to jump in, God knows we need your older and wiser minds here.

Thanks for that. What's a uni that has lectures and PBL called... I vaguely remember hearing about horizontal and vertical integration in the context of medical schools, is that anything to do with... well, anything?

Haha, cheers, European Capital of Culture 2K8 hell yes! And apparently they specialise in tropical medicine.

Haha!

Oh, I mentioned the vertical one - this post explains it http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showpost.php?p=29641846&postcount=31

Yeah Liverpool is very strong regards tropical medicine, the school of tropical medicine is about 5 minutes walk away from the medical school and recently recieved millions and millions of £ from the Bill Gates Foundation and has been established for decades and now has a nice new shiny building! - so it's one of the best places to study medicine if you think Tropical Medicine interests you. I mentioned this in my interview and they liked it *future hint*

I don't have a high enough attention span for lectures which means I'd prob fall asleep and end up self-teaching anyway. PBL involves teaching which I enjoy doing tbh. Plus it's applied knowledge the whole way through so you get the medical feel the whole way through. And I know it's immature but I love the idea of trawling through books and journals and websites for info... plus you can go into however much or little detail you want with topics (within reason but you know what I mean lolz) so I can go mad with the topics I enjoy and skim through the ones I don't. Studies've shown that while integrated/traditional students have known more than the PBLers while studying, the PBLers retain more afterwards. And it cuts down on the boring nitty-gritty science bits.

Would you prefer PBL or mix of lectures/PBL or trad?

At my school, at the beginning of this academic year, there were 4 people that wanted to do Medicine.
I'm the only one left that's on track to get the grades, and the other three are saying "I don't even know if I want to do medicine any more"

Christ!

Thanks, that's cleared it up. So is Liverpool vertically integrated? I really hope so. Shame there's no short way of saying "lectures and PBL together", though.

Bill Gates foundation? That's a tad bit random, but good on him/them. Hehe, I'll bear that in mind if Liverpool are nice enough to give me an interview! I applied for work exp in the tropical medicine department a few months ago. I probably won't get it, but I can at least say I tried, I guess.
Another great thing about Liverpool, they specialise in Vet Med. I guess med and vet won't overlap much but surely it means there's opportunities to work/volunteer with animals?

So are you going to Liverpool come Sept? And, just FTR, the song in your sig is the best thing I've ever heard!

Oh okay cool! I'd prefer a mixture of lectures/PBL. As for PBL I'd be worried if I'd covered enough, and apparently you're set in groups and I've heard you're therefore only as good as the weakest member of your group.

I wouldn't really like traditional that much, as Id prefer to do clinical work through out.

Mmm, that's what worries me. From the team work-y stuff I've done at school it's so hard to keep other people motivated.
But I think it's quite bold to say you're only as good as the weakest member of the group... I mean, if everyone makes an equal ish contribution then surely a weaker member would be balanced out? And I think the supervisor keeps you more or less on track with depth... I guess it's a learning process. I would talk to people in the year above if I wasnt sure about depth, I reckon.

Agreed on the clinical. It would keep you motivated.

Lectures at Liverpool supplement the PBL sessions - the course is PBL driven and there's clinical integration from year one onwards.

It was something to do with Malaria http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-11809057

I don't know really about the animals it does have a big vet school so I'm guess there should be opportunities

Liverpool or Nottingham, I am still waiting on Nottingham's decision, Liverpool offer

Yeah I guess, I don't know it annoys me when teacher's tell you to workin groups and then split the work between you then feedback, as I never feel it's presented by people in a way that will help me learn best. Not because my work is any better than theirs, just that by doing it my way is better for me.

I do know what you mean. I guess it just comes down to your preferred learning style. Tbh, at the end of the day, a degree from a medical school is a degree from a medical school.

And apparently they specialise in tropical medicine.

I envy them too, I got to follow some F1s on the ward for one of my days shadowing and it was really enjoyable. As for where I'm applying I have no idea, just slowly whittling it down on where I can't/shouldn't/won't apply.


I get a grand total of two day's study leave due to how my school now structures study leave, it sucks.

The more you talk, the more in love with Liverpool I get. I'm glad they have some lectures (and apparently they're increasing the lecture-ness of the course... hmm) and CLINICAL PLACEMENTS yay.

Wow, that's amazing. I hope they do research-y placements or something.

Nice, I honestly believe you can learn more about communication by working with animals than humans sometimes.

Oooh, good luck with Nottingham, I'm sure it'll be fine. How do you reckon the interview went?

What kind of voluntary work experiences do you guys have? Do you suppose non-medical stints like tutoring kids from disadvantaged families will be as good as medical ones if the lessons learnt are well-reflected on?

Someone else who wants to do/is interested in tropical medicine? Wow!
At my school I'm awash in a sea of surgical hopefuls; heaven help anyone who's interested in something a little less "usual".