Where should I go? (Medicine)

Marly1993

I'm a gap year student, and I have offers for medicine from HullYork, UEA and Belfast. Ratings-wise, HullYork is the best at 8th, but I didn't really get a great feeling from Hull or York as universities when I went to visit. Then again, I don't want to base my future on what my mood was like for those few hours. UEA was beautiful, but I'm not really sure about employment prospects after graduation, as graduates are competing with Cambridge students. Belfast was gorgeous but its lecture-based learning there and also, its quite far from home.

All in all really confused, I'd love to hear from students who go to these universities, or with similar experiences of making such a difficult decision.

Thanks.

Reply 1

modini

Original post by Marly1993

Employers don't see which university you graduated from, so it doesn't matter which you choose in that sense. My advice would be to choose whichever you liked most (location, student life, course structure etc.)

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2

gozatron

Original post by Marly1993

Ratings don't matter, if you didn't like the place you won't enjoy spending 5 years there.

I don't see how Cambridge students will be competing in particular with UEA students seeing as you can apply anywhere nationally...

Reply 3

Mero8

Original post by Marly1993

Employers don't see where you graduate from, and the prospects for all medical schools are 99/100% anyway. I worked at Addenbrookes in Cambridge for my work experiences and the two FY1s I met were from Oxford and UEA...

I'm assuming by "but its lecture based there" for Belfast, that you prefer PBL. If you say UEA is gorgeous and you prefer the course there too then I'd say firm UEA. Course preference is the most important thing, and job prospects will be the same from all universities A) because this is Medicine B) they don't see where you graduated from when applying for posts after med school

Reply 4

Freddy12345

Original post by modini

Employers don't seen which university you graduated from, so it doesn't matter which you choose in that sense. My advice would be to choose whichever you liked most (location, student life, course structure etc.)

This is correct.

Reply 5

liquid394

What grades did you get btw, and in what?

Reply 6

Marly1993

Original post by liquid394

What grades did you get btw, and in what?

Chem - A*
Biol - A
Maths - A
Physics AS - A

Reply 7

liquid394

Original post by Marly1993

Chem - A*
Biol - A
Maths - A
Physics AS - A

well done

, i really want an A* in Chemistry but i doubt i will get that as i suck at EMPA's

I'd recommend UEA

UEA if you like the university best. You can apply to anywhere in the country for f1 jobs so that shouldn't bias your decision.

Reply 10

OpenArms

Original post by Mero8

True but they will be able to tell by your degree
UAE giving a MBBS
while Cambridge give MB MChir

Reply 11

-Simon-

Original post by OpenArms

True but they will be able to tell by your degree
UAE giving a MBBS
while Cambridge give MB MChir

All that will tell them is that you went to Cambridge which won't be an advantage...actually I remember one person saying they were disadvantaged when applying for anesthetics training by attending Cambridge (by a technicality)

They won't be able to tell if you get an MBBS as Imperial College School of Medicine, UCL Medical School, King's College London School of Medicine, Barts and The London School of Medicine and St George's, University of London, University of East Anglia, Hull York Medical School, and Newcastle University all use that classification.

Reply 12

Hippokrates

Original post by -Simon-

How were they disadvantaged? I thought everyone was on a level field.

Reply 13

-Simon-

Original post by Hippokrates

How were they disadvantaged? I thought everyone was on a level field.

It was a slight thing and it was resolved I think...I shouldn't really have mentioned it as I have no actual concrete fact. :L Ask Helenia...it was something about certificates, it was an interesting post. :smile:

EDIT: Knew I could find it

Helenia

For specialty applications, you do put down where you graduated from, but I don't know who sees that bit of the form. It will also be on there if you have an intercalated degree, which is in a separate bit of the form. You also have to take your degree certificate to interviews so they will know where you're from if you get that far. Whether it makes a significant difference I don't know, but I doubt it.

Having gone to Cambridge technically counted against me in my anaesthetic interview last year though

Helenia

My BA certificate doesn't have my classification on it (Cambridge is the only place that does this, I think), so they said there was no evidence that I had a 2.1, therefore only gave me the points for an unclassified degree instead.