Biomedical Sciences/Life Sciences at Manchester?

Hi there , I have an offer for Biomedical Sciences with Industrial/Professional Experience but I don't know whether or not to accept it. I find that Manchester offers many opportunities but still I'm torn between choices. I really hope someone who did or is doing the degree could help in explaining a few things to me:

1. I had a look at the modules offered on the life sciences website but I totally have no idea how does this module thing works. It says usually 120 credits are taken per year, so does that mean I'll have to take the compulsory ones and choose the rest from the optional modules? There's a long list of optional modules, how do people usually choose from? All seem equally interesting to me. And are there any free choice modules?

Yes. However the list of available modules and the ones which are compulsory can change year on year (though not drastically). You'll find out what you can and can't do when you get here. Also, you can't take every option in the list. For example there are 11 RSM modules in that optional list on the website. You can only pick one. Also some modules are dependent on you doing other modules.

I addressed the point of there being a long list above. People make their choices based on what interests them most (believe me, after some modules this year, my main area of interest has changed drastically). Also some choose what modules to do based on what they want to do the year after. This isn't much of an issue in first year though, because all life scientists have more or less the same first year.

2. And also, regarding placement, does every student who achieve the required grades can apply for placement? How many students actually go for placements per year? Will there be enough places for all, or is it completely competitive? Are there any international students who go for placements?

Yes. It's around a 60% average, but obviously the higher the better

It's competitive, not only against other UoM students, but against students across the country.

And, overall, what do you think of the degree (Biomedical Sciences/Life Sciences) at Manchester?

I really like my degree here so far. Can't comment on biomed specifically but the Life Science dept at Manchester is one of the best in the country.
I really appreciate your time. Many thanks in advance!

P.S I have another offer for Biomedical Sciences at Newcastle.

1st year going on 2nd year Developmental Biology student

Hi fretter778, thanks a lot for your reply. May I ask approximately how many students are there in your course? I understand that UoM offers quite a number of Life Sciences degree and the number of students differs from course to course, but I would like to get a rough idea on what's the staff to student ratio like (as UoM is such a big uni!)

And do you mind telling me why did you choose UoM?

Thanks again

There are about 600 Life Scientists this year. My course is very small so there's only about 4-6 of us per year, but ones like biomed are much bigger with around 120 people. Staff to student ratio therefore varies, but you have academic tutorial meetings every week where it's one member of staff and about 7 of you in a group.

I chose Manchester because they one one of the few to do biology with a modern language (what I did this year, but I'm not carrying on with the language). Also the fact that I live quite near Manchester so I know it's a great city to live in. Not to mention the brilliant facilities that the life sciences department has.

Thanks again for your prompt reply! Wow, your course really is small! I guess Biomed is the largest one? Do all the Life Sciences course study the same modules for first year?

Can I ask what language did you take? Is it tough to take both language and developmental biology at the same time? I really like the idea of doing a modern language alongside with biology, but I don't have the required qualifications

Actually, I don't really know which Life Sciences degree to choose - most seem equally interesting to me eg Developmental Biology, Genetics, Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Biochem. Any advice on how should I choose? Should I take biomed which is more general?

All life scientists have *more or less* the same first year. For example Biochemistry is compulsory for everybody but zoologists, Genetics is compulsory for everybody but two of the courses, and everybody has the same first semester labs. I like it because you get to sample a bit of everything and get a good foundation for the rest of the degree. It can also be surprising. I thought I liked anatomy until I did the anatomy module...

I did French. It was really hard to balance the time properly, and the stuff you learned in the French classes didn't interest me. Far too pretentious and arty

Hi there , I have an offer for Biomedical Sciences with Industrial/Professional Experience but I don't know whether or not to accept it. I find that Manchester offers many opportunities but still I'm torn between choices. I really hope someone who did or is doing the degree could help in explaining a few things to me:

1. I had a look at the modules offered on the life sciences website but I totally have no idea how does this module thing works. It says usually 120 credits are taken per year, so does that mean I'll have to take the compulsory ones and choose the rest from the optional modules? There's a long list of optional modules, how do people usually choose from? All seem equally interesting to me. And are there any free choice modules?

2. And also, regarding placement, does every student who achieve the required grades can apply for placement? How many students actually go for placements per year? Will there be enough places for all, or is it completely competitive? Are there any international students who go for placements?

And, overall, what do you think of the degree (Biomedical Sciences/Life Sciences) at Manchester?

I really appreciate your time. Many thanks in advance!

You could choose biomed to start with because you get a broad range of modules but if you feel like you want to do something different, there's a chance to switch to another life science course in 2nd or 3rd year if you've done the prerequisite modules for it. (Hopes that's clear, I tend to ramble).

Hey, I'm second going on third year genetics if you still have any more questions?

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-I9100

Hello there, may I know if there are any free choice modules for your degree? According to the prospectus students could choose to take law, languages etc. Are those considered optional or free choice modules?

Hi K.ChosenOne Are you doing Biomedic by any chance?

Prerequisite modules..? Doesn't everyone do more or less the same modules? Like what freeter778 said above? And from what I've seen the optional modules for Year 1 aren't a lot to choose from?

Hi there,
Yes you do get some free choice, more in the later years than the first. You get two practical units a year for the first and second years. In the first these are predetermined, and they are on the second year if you take one of the more specialised degree programs (genetics, developmental, biochem, plant sciences, neuroscience, anatomy, etc) but if you do a more general program (biology & biomedical sciences) then you can pick your practical units on the second year.
Lecture units you get four compulsary each year so you pick seven more in first year and six more in second year (your second year dissertation counts for ten credits) you can pick up to two a year from outside the school, although I think if you're doing a degree with a language these will be core language units. The manchester leadership program is popular, and worth a google.
In the first year, there arn't that many options within life sciences, so the majority of first years do the same courses. About half of the biology/biomedical sciences transfer courses after the first year, so if you think there's a chance you might do this, then make sure you do the compulsary modules for that course.
Third year is completely different.

Hi No I do Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology but have a lot of Biomed friends. Yeah everyone does more or less the same give or take a few optionals but you get a lot more choice in second year. Those are what the prerequisite modules are for but I fear that I've confused you a little bit. You'll learn more about this when the time comes but that's when it comes to second year. Sorry for the confusion

It seems that I can't make up my mind on which specialised degree to take. Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Biochem as well as Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology seems equally interesting to me. Do these usually require the same prerequisites?

Would you suggest applying to either of these specialised degree and transfer later (if needed) or apply straight for biology/biomed?

And, what's the difference actually for 'Life Sciences' and biomed? Both seems the same from the descriptions?

And how do people get first, '2:1',' 2:2' etc? How are these determined?

Hey,



At manchester neuroscience, pharmacology and biochem are all on the same school. So whichever if these you apply to, you can transfer between programs easily during your first year. This is mainly due to the fact that they like to give you a basic insight to all areas in your first year, so every one does pretty much the same.

How about genetics, molecular biology, cell biology and physiology? Same school too?


The majority of people who transfer are the ones who start on biology/biomed and then go onto one of the more specialised ones, I haven't really heard of it happening the other way around. Read around a bit, look at module descriptions four the different degrees at different unis and decide what interests you most. If you're struggling to find them, pm me your email and I'll send you the manchester ones.

I tried reading, but there're so many universities and most of them offer more or less the same topics! I always ended up getting more and more confused..Some unis don't even have descriptions for the modules.Did you really go through each and every uni's modules before deciding to apply to Manchester? Is yours in a list? Ok, I'll pm you.


Sorry to confuse you, life sciences is the name of the school in which all these degrees are, but admission is done in bulk because so many people change program. For instance there were 240 biomeds in my first year, but only 19 genetics. Things even out a lot more by second year.


Hmmm..isn't there a degree with the name 'Life Sciences' on its own? I thought I saw that in the prospectus?

The majority of unis (including manchester) do it like this:
1st - 70%+
2:1 - 60%-69%
2:2 - 50%-59%
3rd - 40% - 49%
You'll get a percentage score for each module, the score for the year will be the average of this.

I've heard from someone else, to get a first we will need something like 85%?

Anything else?

Thank you for your response

Cognitive Neuroscience is in my consideration list too! Just couldn't make up my mind which degree to choose :/ Is there any difference between 'cognitive neuroscience' and 'neuroscience'?

I have no idea but I think Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology would be a bit different with regard to other Life Sciences course? Do you have to do subjects like Biochemistry, Anatomy?

Speaking of anatomy, which degree has less portion of anatomy? I'm afraid I don't really like anatomy..

Cognitive neuroscience looks at more of the psychology side whereas neuroscience is strictly biological. My and my course mates don't really understand the 'cognitive' part of the course though
Yes, unfortunately with my course there's even less choice and its a lot different. I only had one optional module for the whole year compared to other life sciences who have more plus once you're on the course you can't move out and nobody can move in. This is because half of our modules are taken in the Faculty of Psychological Sciences.
We had a choice of biochemistry, body systems (which is basically anatomy), and one other module as our optional unit in first semester.

I'm afraid most of the degrees have anatomy in them because the first year is similar for most life science students. However, you can always choose your optional modules to avoid any anatomy so you can do more things that you enjoy (Definitely avoid the anatomical sciences degree then lol)