King's College London vs University of Manchester for medicine

Hey guys,

I'm trying to decide which medicine offer to firm between KCL and Manchester but am struggling atm. Any advice from current students from either place would be great!! what are your opinions of these unis?

Any further information as to what you think you want from university? What style of teaching you would prefer? Are you from either of those places?

Hey guys,

I'm trying to decide which medicine offer to firm between KCL and Manchester but am struggling atm. Any advice from current students from either place would be great!! what are your opinions of these unis?

London shits on Manchester js

loooool, you mean as a city or unis?

Nothing that fancy right now apart from becoming a doctor haha. I would say i'd be okay with both intergrated and PBL, but lots of lectures can be tedious and not knowing exactly what I need to learn could be hard . Nah i'm not from either place. Would you say the first year OSCE at Manchester is as hard as it sounds? How exactly are the clinical year placements set up each year? If you have any ideas about this it'd be amazing!

I did my three pre-clinical years at St Andrews, so don't know much about first couple of years at Manchester. Having experienced both lecture-based learning and PBL, however, I can say with 100% confidence that I would never recommend true PBL to anyone. I think even the universities start to pick up on it a bit and at others and Manchester too the course is slightly different now(?), though they probably won't admit to it and still defend PBL. Maybe some like PBL (?graduates) but most I know dislike it. Generally whatever medical school you go to by the end you'll have a similar experience. Manchester you get put into one of four teaching hospitals (MRI/Wythenshaw/Salford/Preston) but will often get sent out to DGHs (Bolton/Wigan/Oldham/Crewe/Stockport/etc depending on base) and far away GPs at times (heard someone went to North Wales). I would assume King's is the same but sending you out to various parts of suburbia SE London/Kent from your base in central/South London. Transport probably better in London though accommodation much, much cheaper in the North West.

I did apply to King's a few years ago but beyond something about case-based learning, I wouldn't be able to say much more. Other than my university days, I've lived in London though so can say that the teaching hospitals attached and associated with the university are well renowned though that doesn't always translate to better teaching. It may, however, translate to better chances of building contacts who - with some luck - may provide research/presentations opportunities. Though equally Manchester has some very good hospitals with leading experts in their fields, some great departments, etc.

If you were from either place I would have suggested going to the other place if you could afford living out as the experience away from home is worth it. I prefer London to Manchester as a city (biased as I'm from there?). However I feel London would feel a tad daunting as a student - just too big you can't tell who is a student and who isn't? Manchester definitely feels more studenty/young vibe. Then again I'm the type of person that chose St Andrews (tiny town, three streets, no clubs) so I enjoyed the small town/big school vibe and in hindsight would always choose the smaller place to be as a student before returning to the bigger city to work.

Any specific questions I may be able to answer, let me know.

Hey,

Thank you so much for that response. Its definitely the type of info i've been after! Lots of good advice in there. You've covered a lot of important stuff but I do have a couple more questions..

You said in Manchester they could make you go to far off DGHs and GPs. How would this work exactly? Where would you live? (when split between two places) How would you cover the cost of travel/accommodation? Is having to go far off places inconvenient to your studies?

I also wanted to know exactly are the clinical years assessed in Manchester. How many exams would you have and when? How did you find them?

So you're based at one of those four teaching hospitals and generally probably 50% of your clinical attachment will be based there. If you start in Manchester then you can continue to live there just commute to your base (Preston is the exception as it is far away and becomes almost a separate medical school. Even with the odd teaching sessions throughout the year where the three Manchester base hospitals come together, Preston doesn't. Pretty much only see that cohort for exams.)

The other ~50% you are based at various DGHs. Each base has it's linked DGHs. For instance if at Salford Royal (NW of Manchester) you could be sent to Bolton or Wigan (think they have also now added Blackburn or Oldham? Not sure) - both also towards the NW of Greater Manchester. You wouldn't be sent to Crewe, or others in the South. Now it varies each year (as it's that hospital not the medical school that dictates this) but you usually get some form of help. For instance at Bolton you used to be able to choose either £5/day travel money and free parking or free accommodation and parking on-site. Wigan only allowed you to choose accommodation, there was no travel bursary. So basically if you're placed far enough away you're guaranteed accommodation on-site. I chose to live nearer my base hospital (and not in the student hub of Fallowfield where most students continue to live after living there 1st and 2nd year) and have a car meaning I could therefore drive to both DGHs and all the GP surgeries I have been placed at in 40 minutes or less (except one GP coming home always hit rush hour traffic taking about an hour to drive) depending on the place. But my priority was to live where I was renting. Others don't mind the on-site accommodation (as you live with others, can wake up later, get wifi, some offer free gym access too). Either way, you're generally covered. I have never felt inconvenienced or felt commuting has disturbed my studies. I have only heard a couple of "horror" stories of people being placed in a far away GP who don't own a car and no on-site accommodation was available for that site. In those situations you can appeal or the person I knew lived with a friend they knew nearer the site. Also I think the new curriculum involves Fridays back at your base site for teaching (and allows you to get back for the weekend).

Clinical years are assessed with two exam sessions per year (approx after Xmas time and before Summer time). Each sitting has a progress test (125 multiple choice questions; a test all students years 1 - 5 sit and therefore you should go from knowing nothing [20% guessing] to something acceptable-ish for a to-be FY1 doctor [think like a ~63% pass mark]. The other exam is an OSCE which for first two clinical years is based on the specific semester just done [e.g. Paeds and Obs & Gynae] and for final year is everything. There's also an additional EMQ paper for finals). How I found them is a bit of an irrelevant question as everyone will have different thoughts. I personally like MCQs and have always typically done above average. I dislike OSCEs and have always scrapped an average mark. Having said that everyone always tends to say that as long as you cover the patient's ideas, concerns and expectations, and are safe in an OSCE then you can pass. Maybe, but oversimplifies it a little and certainly feels a lot more nerve wracking just before/during it.

The way a medical school does an exam shouldn't affect your decision towards going for it though.

Thank you for that response. It was exactly what I was after! I've definitely got a lot to think about now. Hopefully I make a good decision haha. Good luck with your exams and everything you're doing too!