Hi there,
I’m an S5 (year 12) student and will be applying this year - I can’t tell you much about the medical school but I have lived in Edinburgh all my life so if you have any queries about the city in general then I am happy to answer. All the medics I have met at events/work experience have been rly nice. You definitely wouldn’t be the only one coming from outside of Scotland because out of about 30 medical students I’ve spoken to there have been two Scottish ones. Maybe it’s just a fluke, but from my point of view there seem to be a lot of students from England in particular.
Edinburgh is ranked highest out of the five medical schools we have in Scotland. If I didn’t live in Edinburgh I would definitely be applying, but I like the idea of moving away. All the students I have asked are rly enjoying it. They all seem to like how you do all the science based learning in the first couple of years before moving onto clinical placements, because they felt more ready. The only clinical placement, as far as I’m aware, is with a GP in first and second year. Edinburgh and Glasgow are the two big go-to hospitals, so you will probably see a range of conditions and cool stuff from across Scotland.
If it makes any difference, the NHS in Scotland is in better condition than in England and - I might be wrong - but I think if you go to uni in Scotland you get first dibs on Scottish FY1 jobs, so that might be something to look into!