Is it harmful that the GMC have allowed medical school cohorts to get so big?

Myself and a few of my friends attend some of the larger medical schools in the UK, and from speaking to fellow medical students that attend smaller medical schools (both in the UK and US), we're convinced that the standard of education just cannot be up to scratch when schools become really big.

I understand that there is a severe doctor shortage atm, but if cramming students into medical schools until the doors don't close leads to all of them not receiving a decent medical education, then surely it is more harmful than helpful?

The only other places I've seen with medical schools as large are some of the 'cash cow' institutions in Eastern Europe and the Caribbean that are infamous for providing a poor-quality education.

Might sound ridiculous but this has started to really worry us and we're concerned that it will be an uphill battle to be good doctors when we come out at the end of this. :/

Myself and a few of my friends attend some of the larger medical schools in the UK, and from speaking to fellow medical students that attend smaller medical schools (both in the UK and US), we're convinced that the standard of education just cannot be up to scratch when schools become really big.

I understand that there is a severe doctor shortage atm, but if cramming students into medical schools until the doors don't close leads to all of them not receiving a decent medical education, then surely it is more harmful than helpful?

The only other places I've seen with medical schools as large are some of the 'cash cow' institutions in Eastern Europe and the Caribbean that are infamous for providing a poor-quality education.

Might sound ridiculous but this has started to really worry us and we're concerned that it will be an uphill battle to be good doctors when we come out at the end of this. :/

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We need more and bigger medical schools, with more jobs at the end for the graduates.

The problem with this increasing urge for medical schools to ask students to "self-direct" themselves, is that I'm often wondering, will there be a point where we'll push back and ask: "If we're going to self-direct everything, why do we need you?"

The second problem is that the medical schools are increasingly removing focus on the scientific/academic process of being a doctor that is much more strongly emphasised in other countries, it creates an issue where we're training students to fill jobs in the NHS rather than to be a doctor in the real sense of being capable to advance the field and develop things beyond the scope of their studies.

I'll clarify here:

I am NOT saying "Small good. Big bad". I'm exploring the idea that some of the recent large cohort increases without corresponding changes in facilities, faculty size and clinical educators are not ideal. A very small medical school that suddenly adds 10 students without increasing the size of its infrastructure is going to be worse than a very large medical school that adds 100 students but also makes the necessary additions to ensure the standard of education isn't compromised.

Like I've said, this is how me and my friends have been feeling based on conjecture, so I don't have peer-reviewed evidence to refer to, hence why I'm exploring this as a question on TSR, as opposed to stating it as pure fact. I've spoken to some the older students at my university and they used to have 5 of them around the dissection table; in my cohort, there are at least 9 of us. Our tutorial group sizes have apparently doubled. I have even heard of a lot of patients refusing to engage with student teaching during on the wards because they've just been pestered by too many

We're beyond grateful to have gotten to medical school and we worked really hard to get here - I guess we just sometimes worry and want to be the best doctors we can be.

The problem with this increasing urge for medical schools to ask students to "self-direct" themselves, is that I'm often wondering, will there be a point where we'll push back and ask: "If we're going to self-direct everything, why do we need you?"

The second problem is that the medical schools are increasingly removing focus on the scientific/academic process of being a doctor that is much more strongly emphasised in other countries, it creates an issue where we're training students to fill jobs in the NHS rather than to be a doctor in the real sense of being capable to advance the field and develop things beyond the scope of their studies.

How do you know they have't done the necessary changes? How do you know wether they are always working at maximum capacity- maybe they have the ability to accept more students?
Smaller can be better, but bigger isn't necessarily worse- you get the opportunity to here from more opinions and voices which can actually be more beneficial, particularly in tutorials. Body to student ratio will depend on number of bodies that have been donated to science.......

Some patients may find 1 student talking to them too much. It's very situation dependent.

after 3rd year most medical schools have SDL. Not because they CBA but to teach us how to do it ourselves and manage with clinical specialities. exactly how you'll have to revise as a doctor preparing for speciality exams later in life...

Thanks for your response - this is kind of what I wanted to discuss.

I find this quite interesting as were told at secondary school that, although most of our university teaching would probably be in lectures, it would be the concentrated nature of small group practicals and tutorials that would really define our learning.


I'm aware that the number of donated cadavers can vary year on year - I was just surprised that the group sizes increased that much.

Thanks for your response - this is kind of what I wanted to discuss.

I find this quite interesting as were told at secondary school that, although most of our university teaching would probably be in lectures, it would be the concentrated nature of small group practicals and tutorials that would really define our learning.


I'm aware that the number of donated cadavers can vary year on year - I was just surprised that the group sizes increased that much.

How do you know they have't done the necessary changes? How do you know wether they are always working at maximum capacity- maybe they have the ability to accept more students?
Smaller can be better, but bigger isn't necessarily worse- you get the opportunity to here from more opinions and voices which can actually be more beneficial, particularly in tutorials. Body to student ratio will depend on number of bodies that have been donated to science.......

Some patients may find 1 student talking to them too much. It's very situation dependent. Also you mention you think we need bigger medical schools with more staff etc. But hospitals aren't going to grow in terms of patients to accommodate these extra medical students- so they would get more annoyed. Other options is sending students further for placement but students don't want this as it is more inconvenient for them.

Thanks for your response - this is kind of what I wanted to discuss.

I find this quite interesting as were told at secondary school that, although most of our university teaching would probably be in lectures, it would be the concentrated nature of small group practicals and tutorials that would really define our learning.


I'm aware that the number of donated cadavers can vary year on year - I was just surprised that the group sizes increased that much.

You know, if class sizes did not increase, there's a good chance you (or some of us) wouldn't even be in medical school right now.

Having said that, it does seem you have fair grievances with your med school, maybe it's worth raising it with them directly if you haven't already?