Compulsory Intercalation?

Hi, I’m looking at different med schools, some of them offer optional Intercalation and some compulsory Intercalation, do you think it’s a waste of a year to go to a school that offers compulsory Intercalation when it’s not something I specifically want to do?

I’m looking at schools like UCL and Imperial, has anyone done Intercalation at these places they can tell me about as well?

Reply 1

Democracy

Original post by Wombatsalamander

I don't think it's a waste of a year. If you're otherwise really keen to go to UCL or Imperial I don't think intercalation should be a dealbreaker.

Reply 2

Wombatsalamander

Thank you,
I don’t feel particularly for or against Intercalation, it’s hard to know until I get there really I guess.
if I like the look of the school otherwise, should this put me off?

Thank you

Original post by Wombatsalamander

I study (and intercalated last year) at Imperial. I'm biased, but I obviously think it's a good idea to intercalate. It's pretty good for things like networking if you get a good supervisor and otherwise, it's made me strongly consider a career in Academic Medicine too. I didn't think I'd enjoy research before but I really ended up enjoying it.

Reply 5

nexttime

Original post by Wombatsalamander

My personal view is that I really enjoyed uni, the student lifestyle and not having responsibility. To be able to spend an extra year at uni (and intercalation was a very light year in terms of work where I was) was a huge positive! Whereas others are clearly really keen to start earning the £££, so for them intercalation is a big negative. Just depends.

Certainly it does help for speciality applications, as they stand. This may be more important in the future, with the relaxation of immigration rules meaning very experienced overseas doctors can compete with inexperienced UK applicants. Its hard to tell. I do think it is relatively significant positive though.

The experience with research arguably makes you a better doctor. That is the point of it, after all, and the NHS wouldn't pay your tuition otherwise. Hard to confirm or quantify though.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 6

junior.doctor

I opted to intercalate - in a uni where there was competitive application and only a few students were able to do it. I really enjoyed mine - was definitely a slower paced year (and I did some extra things too that I couldn’t normally fit around placements, like evening language classes at uni). I picked a medical humanities area that I found interesting, and definitely acquired some skills eg dissertation writing, qualitative research etc. I didn’t do it for the FP points and think I’d have been a bit miserable if that had been my only motivation.

Reply 7

1234567890xyz

At some unis, you get a BSc or BA after the third year of medical school. If the uni is good, what would job prospects be like, and in what field (if any)? This is assuming I have lost interest in persuing medicine as a career and want out
Thanks in advance

Reply 8

Democracy

Original post by aroundanaxis

The same as with any other undergraduate degree i.e. teaching, graduate schemes, postgraduate study/training etc. What did you think would be different?

Reply 9

1234567890xyz

Original post by Democracy

The same as with any other undergraduate degree i.e. teaching, graduate schemes, postgraduate study/training etc. What did you think would be different?

Oh thank you

I was told getting a BSc from a medicine course is different from what you would get if you did a science-based one, and therefore worse

Reply 10

Democracy

Original post by aroundanaxis

Oh thank you

I was told getting a BSc from a medicine course is different from what you would get if you did a science-based one, and therefore worse