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IMPORTANT: St George's No Longer Offers Medicine Transfer From 2023

KoalaBear2001

Commencing 2023, St George's will be removing the clinical transfer route into medicine for the below reasons:

"1) The programme aims to prepare students for a variety of careers in science, healthcare, and medicine. The limited number of places on the medicine Clinical Transfer scheme created an excessively competitive environment that negatively affected the culture of the programme and student satisfaction, unduly shifted the emphasis of the programme towards medicine, and no longer serves the best interest of the students.

2) After much consideration and through extensive consultation with the Students’ Union, staff, and students, and as part of the 2021 NSS (National Student Survey) Summit, the decision was taken to remove the transfer scheme.

3) We want to support our graduates pursue careers or further study both in science futures as well as those with aspirations to go into medicine. The removal of the Clinical Transfer scheme will allow us to rebalance the course and provide students with the knowledge and skills to progress on to a broad range of careers. From working in biomedical research, science policy or regulation, to specialising in areas such as forensic medicine, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, as well as preparing students further master's or medical study."

This information has been posted to the SGUL biomed website too (https://www.sgul.ac.uk/study/courses/biomedical-science-bsc) and will not affect those entering the 2022 academic year.

As this popular route has been removed, you will need to rethink your options for graduate medicine, or backups.

I am a biomed student in SGUL who deeply regrets my decision to come here and I can tell you now that hundreds of students come in and only 25 get the spot for the transfer. It's very demoralising when you don't make it, and whilst the chances are there, the advertisement of the course as a 'transfer to medicine' by the general public is detrimental so I fully support this decision. If SGUL were to accredit their biomed course, it would be great too but for whatever reason it is not accredited.

Just bear this in mind in future and letting budding medics know.

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 1

KoalaBear2001

Yup, precisely.

Unfortunately I didn't think things through when I went for it because I was the first year affected by COVID and got a lower predicted than I knew I could get. Since I already repeated a year because I moved house and schools, my parents didn't want me to spend four years doing A Levels so I was pushed into uni instead of doing the autumn exams. Big mistake. Should never have listened and just done them. I regret my decision to do a course I never wanted to do every single day, and as SGUL rightly said, the competition here makes you miserable. Several students in my year attributed depression and anxiety to the transfer as well as COVID (studying online) and a few attempted suicide.

It just isn't worth it, especially for such a small chance of making the transfer. It's better to take a year out, as you said, or resit your A Levels and get in than slave away at the transfer. Graduate medicine is still an option for me, but I'm planning on applying to two undergraduate courses too next year. Of course, for the rest reading this thread, this also means that the funding will be difficult too. So unless you're applying to a local university and get a good maintenance loan, you will have to save up for the degree.

Is there anyway you can make this information more public, ? Maybe include it in the megathreads or sticky it somewhere? The last thing I want is for future generations to mistakenly apply and have a similar unpleasant experience with the competition or worse, do the course with the aim of getting into the transfer when it has been closed.