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Russell group unis vs St georges

I've applied for medicine to st georges and the rest to russell group unis. One of the many factors for going to St georges is the fact its London based, however the campus and facilities are small and there are only medical related subjects being taught there. Whereas the russell group unis that I've applied to have students from all subjects with much larger campuses and are ranked higher on the league tables.

Any advice?

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 1

Democracy

20

Original post by feckmateen

I've applied for medicine in st georges and the rest for russell group unis. One of the many factors for going to st georges is the fact its London based, however the campus and facilities are small and there are only medical related subjects being taught there. Whereas the russell group unis that I've applied to have students from all subjects with much larger campuses and are ranked higher on the league tables.

Any advice?

The advice is that it doesn't matter. The Russell Group doesn't have any significant in medicine. Go to whichever uni you like best.

Reply 2

GANFYD

18

If you are lucky enough to get a choice. Go for the one you like best - nobody else can tell you what you are looking for in a uni

Reply 3

feckmateen

OP

5

I just feel that going to a Russell group uni will give me the opportunity of have a more diverse group of friends as well as being able to take part in more extra curriculars

Reply 4

GANFYD

18

Original post by feckmateen

I just feel that going to a Russell group uni will give me the opportunity of have a more diverse group of friends as well as being able to take part in more extra curriculars

Then choose based on those reasons, not whether a uni is RG or not, as that means nothing in medicine

Reply 5

Spencer Wells

12

You'll have access to all of the ULU societies as a SGUL student, so there will be opportunity to meet non-healthcare/bioscience students via that (although the ULU building is a way away in Bloomsbury)

I went to one of the Russel group London medical schools. All of my friends were and are medics. It's part tribalism and part artefact of being together for more contact hours per week than most other students and for 5/6 years instead of 3. Realistically whatever your intentions you are likely to end up socialising with more/mostly/only medics wherever you go - unless you are lucky to live with a good random bunch that you get on well with.

Reply 6

Democracy

20

Original post by feckmateen

I just feel that going to a Russell group uni will give me the opportunity of have a more diverse group of friends as well as being able to take part in more extra curriculars

That's not a Russell Group thing so much as a "not SGUL" thing :tongue:

Chances are whichever university you go to you'll still end up hanging around with other medical students most of the time.

Reply 7

nexttime

22

Original post by feckmateen

I just feel that going to a Russell group uni will give me the opportunity of have a more diverse group of friends as well as being able to take part in more extra curriculars

If you've done your research and that's what you've found as upsides/downsides, seems like a legit reason to consider.

I agree that outside of Oxbridge medics tend to be very cliquey anyway. I was under the impression London was worse (even having medic-specific sports teams sometimes), but I have no experience to draw from.

Reply 8

Spencer Wells

12

Original post by nexttime

(even having medic-specific sports teams sometimes),

Goodness yes. The London med schools have their own medics bars/union buildings, sports teams (for the major stuff, rugby, football, rugby, rowing) and other societies (medics drama/music etc.) as well as course-specific socs. (anatomy/surgery/EM/IM etc.)

Reply 9

nexttime

22

Original post by Spencer Wells

Goodness yes. The London med schools have their own medics bars/union buildings, sports teams (for the major stuff, rugby, football, rugby, rowing) and other societies (medics drama/music etc.) as well as course-specific socs. (anatomy/surgery/EM/IM etc.)

Wow.

Anyone know if its like that at any non-London unis?

Otherwise I have to conclude OP's point is definitely legitimate!

Reply 10

JoeTSR

22

I went to George's (paramedic, rather than medicine). I liked it. Small is nice - you actually know people, and pretty much anyone in the uni you'll have at least one mutual friend with. I don't need to know 20,000 people. Yes, everyone's in healthcare, but at least at SGUL I can be friends with physios, paramedics, pharmacologists, biomeds, medics, healthcare scientists. I've asked the question at other uni's open days of 'how much do you socialise with other courses' - the answer is generally zero for medicine (outside of sports).

As for societies and sports - the EM society (which I was part of) did a big conference last year bringing in students from every medical school in London. For sports, you have competitions between all london medical schools occasionally, and much more regularly have competitions between all UL teams (and there's a lot of them, see here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_London#Member_institutions but scroll down a little, RVC and others aren't listed in the first list in that section) as well as plenty of socials with them where we'll all go out, eat somewhere, drink somewhere, go on a bar crawl, etc.

You've also got the whole of London - plenty of parties, clubs, things to do, people to meet - it doesn't all have to be people who happen to go to the same university as you.

Reply 11

Realitysreflexx

22

Original post by Democracy

The advice is that it doesn't matter. The Russell Group doesn't have any significant in medicine. Go to whichever uni you like best.

Not exactly true, the RG was founded as a group of universities with medical schools lol. 😂 But what you meant to say is; standards are equivalent across medical schools, meaning there is no low quality medical school in the UK.

Reply 12

Democracy

20

Original post by Realitysreflexx

Not exactly true, the RG was founded as a group of universities with medical schools lol. 😂 But what you meant to say is; standards are equivalent across medical schools, meaning there is no low quality medical school in the UK.

Going to a RG medical school still holds no significance in medicine and medical careers, which is what I said.

Reply 13

nexttime

22

Original post by Realitysreflexx

Not exactly true, the RG was founded as a group of universities with medical schools lol. 😂 But what you meant to say is; standards are equivalent across medical schools, meaning there is no low quality medical school in the UK.

Yeah, not true I'm afraid!

It was originally just an informal meeting in a Hotel (Hotel Russell) prior to the big government funding meeting so that they could get their story straight and act like a guild to protect each other's interests! I don't think its really known when it started... the formal group was 1994 but that's not when these dubious meetings began for sure!

The most prestigious unis tended to also have med schools. It is good for research. There is no other link.

Reply 14

Realitysreflexx

22

Original post by nexttime

Yeah, not true I'm afraid!

It was originally just an informal meeting in a Hotel (Hotel Russell) prior to the big government funding meeting so that they could get their story straight and act like a guild to protect each other's interests! I don't think its really known when it started... the formal group was 1994 but that's not when these dubious meetings began for sure!

The most prestigious unis tended to also have med schools. It is good for research. There is no other link.

They were originally all uni's with medical schools. Warwick wasn't originally one...and we can't count LSE as it's a specialist uni. Idk read it on Wikipedia lmao.

I'm aware they met at the hotel right next to Russell square tube stop, i actually went to private foundation next to there at UCL lol. And ultimately progressed to the Russell group! Yeahh i went from Russell Square to a RG! Not many can say that!