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Some advice for those considering studying at Manchester

As it's that time of year I thought I might pass on some tips for people considering studying at Manchester. My aim here isn't to start a Manchester bashing thread, rather to help point of some of the problems at this particular med school and better prepare students for making a really important decision.

OK, first of all, If you only get the one offer for med school - and it's Manchester - then there’s no issue - you have to go with what you’ve got.

BUT… for those with more than the one offer, please carefully consider your reasons for accepting Manchester. This could save you a great deal of heart ache in a years time when you are ‘stuck’ with your decision.

If you are thinking of firming Manchester because of its location, please consider very carefully the fact that you may be sent to Preston to study for the majority of your course. Likewise, if you are thinking of firming Manchester because of sport / societies / social-life please consider the fact that you may be forced to give these things up in your third year. Hospital allocations have just been given out and plenty of people who didn’t fully consider these fact are now waking up to the realisation of what being sent to Preston means to them.

If you are thinking of firming Manchester because of its teaching, please please please take time to consider the type of teaching used and its standard. PBL is a bit of a ‘marmite’ thing - people love it or hate it. So I’ll leave that to one side after saying - but please consider carefully whether you’d enjoy it or not.

BUT… aside from PBL… please take time to investigate the frankly appalling student satisfaction rates at Manchester. As a previous graduate I can honestly say that I have been shocked at the exceptionally poor level of teaching and curriculum structure at Manchester.

Everything about Manchester reeks of poor quality and money saving in the giant production line that it is… The use of non-medics shoehorned into PBL tutor roles, the use of very jnr dr’s lacking the specialist and med-ed skills to teach clinical skills and anatomy, portfolio tutors drafted in from other sections of the Uni who have nothing to do with medicine and haven’t got a clue what’s going on… The semester 1 curriculum is a complete shambles - there’s just no coherent structure to it. Little to no didactic teaching - it’s pretty rare here to get to speak to an actual medical specialist!

To be frank about it… there are many who won’t really be affected. I think if your ultimate goal is to just to put the minimal effort into a medical degree, squeeze through each year with a mediocre pass, and drift into whatever medical career you can muster - you’ll be fine at Manchester.

The people who really get penalised at Manchester are those who strive to go the extra mile and really do something in medicine… Whilst other med schools are teaching anatomy through specialists, giving 1st class didactic teaching through specialists, and backing that up with a solid core curriculum and great teaching methodologies, Manchester is actively pushing further toward a do-it-yourself medical course. That’s great for churning out mediocre F1s with ‘just enough education to perform’ but it sure isn’t going to help Manchester graduates compete for highly competitive specialities. Speaking to many consultants in the area there is a very clear distinction in ability between St Andrew’s students and Manchester students - I’ve lost count of the number of derogatory comments I’ve heard.

My opinion is just one of many - I’m sure you’ll find many positive opinions about Manchester too. BUT… the fact remains that Manchester routinely gets annihilated in ratings. So I would simply recommend any potential Manchester students to investigate them fully. They may not affect you… but you might just end up spending 5 yrs bashing your head against the stupid system at Manchester and living in a part of the country you never dreamt you’d end up!

Think very carefully before firming Manchester.

Reply 1

Ronove

Coming from someone who is from near Preston - I second the point that you don't want to be spending any considerable amount of time there. :colone:

Reply 2

Secret.

Original post by Ronove

Coming from someone who is from near Preston - I second the point that you don't want to be spending any considerable amount of time there. :colone:

Is it really bad as a city? Or is it because it's quite different from Manchester?

Reply 3

asif007

I'm a 3rd year medic at Leeds and I've heard continually that Manchester Medical School is the stuff of ridicule, but I didn't realise it was as bad as you described. Must be pretty awful to be stuck in that situation, not being able to progress adequately and having to do the bulk of work yourself. Pre-clinical Medicine is hard enough even when you have it all spoon-fed and in a fantastically well-organised curriculum (as it is at Leeds). I can only imagine that PBL must be very draining and not even very productive - I still have no idea why Manchester and Liverpool introduced PBL because it's just an awful system. As one of my friends here quipped: it's like paying £9K a year to teach yourself Medicine. :s-smilie:

I know one guy who had unconditional offers for Medicine from both Manchester and St Georges (he applied off a gap year), put Manchester as firm and now regrets his decision to do that. I've quite often heard that Manchester is a fantastic university overall, but the med school is poor. Sorry to hear about those awful experiences you've had - I hope things will pick up in the future. :smile: