Graduate Entry Medicine: 2016 Entry

Original post by sampowell92

The problem is I won't have any savings after paying that £3500 for the first year! How do you find time to work and study? Is it common for GEM students to work part time and do you think you could survive without working?

On top of lcsurfer's comments, I didn't apply for 2014 entry just because I couldn't have afforded to go. I've spent an additional year working and saving to help me fund it. I get 6.5k loan in my first year and I'm expecting just about 7k a year for the NHS funded years when I'll get the maximum amounts.

I've swapped my graduate natwest bank account back to a student account and that has just made my overdraft interest free (£2k). I can also claim back a chunk of the tax and student loans I've paid so far this year from April as my total yearly income will be lower. I'm not planning to work in my first year because of this (for every £1 I earn, I would probably have been able to reclaim 29p if I hadn't worked) but that's because I've gone a little bit overtime mad so far this tax year.

Reply 963

Original post by M150

On top of lcsurfer's comments, I didn't apply for 2014 entry just because I couldn't have afforded to go. I've spent an additional year working and saving to help me fund it. I get 6.5k loan in my first year and I'm expecting just about 7k a year for the NHS funded years when I'll get the maximum amounts.

I've swapped my graduate natwest bank account back to a student account and that has just made my overdraft interest free (£2k). I can also claim back a chunk of the tax and student loans I've paid so far this year from April as my total yearly income will be lower. I'm not planning to work in my first year because of this (for every £1 I earn, I would probably have been able to reclaim 29p if I hadn't worked) but that's because I've gone a little bit overtime mad so far this tax year.

Is 6.5k a loan for the year not enough? That's roughly what i was getting at undergrad and it was enough to live relatively comfortably

Reply 964

Brachioradialis

18

Original post by sampowell92

Is 6.5k a loan for the year not enough? That's roughly what i was getting at undergrad and it was enough to live relatively comfortably

Average house rental seems to be around £320 inc bills, so after that you have about £220 a month to pay for food/socialising/societies/travel. Soon adds up but it's doable definitely. The hardest thing is that you're normally around for 12 months a year rather than just 9 as in undergraduate, where most (but not all) people **** off home again during the holidays :P

Reply 965

M150

Original post by sampowell92

Is 6.5k a loan for the year not enough? That's roughly what i was getting at undergrad and it was enough to live relatively comfortably

It should probably be ok in terms of money to live on but I would have struggled to get the £3.5k had I not spent the extra time working, I ended up being really lucky at work for the past few months so I've managed to grab loads of overtime. I also had to pay off all of my debt from my MSc before I could afford medicine which was high as I self funded using a PCDL. If it had just been a case of have £6.5k to live on it would have been fine.

Having spent the extra time working though I now have more savings which should help as a buffer. I'm renting a flat outside Swansea so I'll also have commuting costs on top of rent during my first year which won't affect most people. I also have to keep my car on the road so extra costs there.

Reply 966

Zorg

18

lcsurfer, I would hate to be working 25 hours alongside KCL's preclins. From what I gather they really pack it in. Props to you :smile:

Original post by sampowell92

Is 6.5k a loan for the year not enough? That's roughly what i was getting at undergrad and it was enough to live relatively comfortably

Original post by MJK91

Average house rental seems to be around £320 inc bills, so after that you have about £220 a month to pay for food/socialising/societies/travel. Soon adds up but it's doable definitely. The hardest thing is that you're normally around for 12 months a year rather than just 9 as in undergraduate, where most (but not all) people **** off home again during the holidays :P

Rental costs differ greatly depending on where you live and study. Ignoring London and the extra allowance, rental costs in Oxford are approximately £450pcm - £500pcm, Bristol is ~£400pcm and Derby, and similarly Swansea, is £250pcm - £300pcm.
That alone can make a huge difference to your budget. Whilst I was studying in Bristol and London, I had to work there was no other way around it. Now, where I'm going is cheaper and I've saved up for a contingency plan. For the first time since GCSEs, I won't be working and studying concurrently. Something I'm very pleased about.

One thing which I know I will struggle with is the readjustment to student life. No more outings for lunch/dinner everyday. No more classy food and drinks, unless it's bought on Groupon 4 months in advance or MSE post up an epic voucher. But that's fine, because when I'm a **** hot doc, I'll be scrawling with a Montblanc and ballin with a Breitling :rofl:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 967

Hey,

I'm sitting my UKCAT in 49 days, currently practicing a lot but timing is a massive issue, and even with longer, I'm still getting questions wrong!!

For the DA, wight he questions that provide the english statement first and you have to choose the most appropriate coded answer, does anyone have any suggestions on how to tackle that? Are people working out each code and matching it to the statement, or making their own code from the statement and comparing?

Does anyone have any good resources for QA too? Been looking at gcse bitesize and it's a bit naff.

Cheers

Rich

Reply 968

liam__

7

Original post by Richardjamesford

Hey,

I'm sitting my UKCAT in 49 days, currently practicing a lot but timing is a massive issue, and even with longer, I'm still getting questions wrong!!

For the DA, wight he questions that provide the english statement first and you have to choose the most appropriate coded answer, does anyone have any suggestions on how to tackle that? Are people working out each code and matching it to the statement, or making their own code from the statement and comparing?

Does anyone have any good resources for QA too? Been looking at gcse bitesize and it's a bit naff.

Cheers

Rich

49 days!? Christ, be careful you don't run out of resources. That's way too soon to start revising in my opinion, but to each their own.

For DA, you have enough time to fully translate the code on the paper you are given. From there you can just look at the possibilities and choose the best match.

For QR, medify was the best resource I used.

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Reply 969

Original post by Richardjamesford

Hey,

I'm sitting my UKCAT in 49 days, currently practicing a lot but timing is a massive issue, and even with longer, I'm still getting questions wrong!!

For the DA, wight he questions that provide the english statement first and you have to choose the most appropriate coded answer, does anyone have any suggestions on how to tackle that? Are people working out each code and matching it to the statement, or making their own code from the statement and comparing?

Does anyone have any good resources for QA too? Been looking at gcse bitesize and it's a bit naff.

Cheers

Rich

Yeah 49 days is way too long to start revising, you might not run out of resources but you'll probably run out of steam!

For the DA questions with coded answers, I write out 'ABCDE' and then go through each one in my head, crossing out the ones that don't match the phrase. That's the quickest way I found anyway..

For QR I used Medify and the Kaplan book, both were very good. Don't use the 600Q book it's 10X more difficult than the real thing

Reply 970

Original post by sampowell92

Yeah 49 days is way too long to start revising, you might not run out of resources but you'll probably run out of steam!

For the DA questions with coded answers, I write out 'ABCDE' and then go through each one in my head, crossing out the ones that don't match the phrase. That's the quickest way I found anyway..

For QR I used Medify and the Kaplan book, both were very good. Don't use the 600Q book it's 10X more difficult than the real thing

Yeah I know it's very early. But I did the ukcat last year, didnt revise much at all and failed miserably. The way of thinking in the ukcat doesn't come naturally to me sadly, so gotta work for it. I'm pretty determined so I know I won't run out of steam ;-).

Ah thanks yeah, I'll give that a go. Yeah the 600 question book for qr is ridiculous! And what about for vr? For the harder style questions where it's not true false can't tell. I think I'm going to guess those ones, flag them and come back if I have time as they take ages! That sound like a pants idea?

Rich

Reply 971

Original post by Richardjamesford

Yeah I know it's very early. But I did the ukcat last year, didnt revise much at all and failed miserably. The way of thinking in the ukcat doesn't come naturally to me sadly, so gotta work for it. I'm pretty determined so I know I won't run out of steam ;-).

Ah thanks yeah, I'll give that a go. Yeah the 600 question book for qr is ridiculous! And what about for vr? For the harder style questions where it's not true false can't tell. I think I'm going to guess those ones, flag them and come back if I have time as they take ages! That sound like a pants idea?

Rich

Yeah that's not a great idea as they make up the majority of the VR questions. For those, the best idea is to read the question first, choose a keyword from each answer (or one keyword if all the answers have it in), and skim read the passage.

You'll get a lot faster with practise so don't give up!

Reply 972

Great thanks. Aiming for 750! Fingers crossed

Reply 973

ali.s1002

6

Is anyone here applying in their 3rd year of their undergraduate degree? I feel so overwhelmed by mature students haha.

Reply 974

Original post by ali.s1002

Is anyone here applying in their 3rd year of their undergraduate degree? I feel so overwhelmed by mature students haha.

I graduated a few weeks ago so definitely not a mature student! As far as I'm aware, the majority of GEM applicants are finishing/just out of uni..

Reply 975

HCAssistant93

7

Original post by ali.s1002

Is anyone here applying in their 3rd year of their undergraduate degree? I feel so overwhelmed by mature students haha.

I graduated in 2014 so I'll be 23 when I start hopefully!

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Reply 976

tw781

6

Original post by ali.s1002

Is anyone here applying in their 3rd year of their undergraduate degree? I feel so overwhelmed by mature students haha.

I graduated a few weeks ago too and I'll be 22 when I start if I get in :-)
Personally I prefer mature students so I'm looking forward to not starting a course with a load of 18 year olds!

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Reply 977