Cambridge Medicine Students and Applicants

Wow you're at trinity! Well done, what's that like?

Thanks for the help

Hello everyone, I have just(ish) started stage 2 and was wondering weather all I need in order to cover most of the 'chemical pathology' syllabus can be found in "Clinical Chemistry" by Marshall? It seems to be quite popular, and there are about 12 copies of it in the library...

There is a list of suggested books on ERWeb. I used Lecture Notes on Clinical Biochemistry, which I found really good, but I think the one you mention is also meant to be alright. Why don't you have a look at a few of them and see which style you prefer?

Also, it's VERY early to be thinking about this sort of thing!

I'm not sure - you may be able to stay in medicine if it's what you really want and you have an understanding DoS. I hope that things work out ok for you. Medicine exams are really scary and it sounds like you've had a rough year but most people do manage to get it together in time, despite most people also being convinced they're going to fail horribly. I had glandular fever in first year which wiped out a large portion of Lent term - I did go to lectures and practicals but would just come home and sleep afterwards (and slept through a reasonable number of renal lectures too ). Coming into exam term I really felt like I'd missed huge chunks, but by some miracle it all worked out ok in the end, despite locking myself in the bike shed on the morning of my anatomy steeplechase!

You were right. I passed tripos! scraped a II but still have to resit the 2nd MB exams - but plenty of time and i've already started to revise so I'm confident

I'm glad things worked out ok! I hope that the resits go alright and you manage to have some fun this summer as well!

Just a quick question i will be glad if anyone can help. When applying for clinical school in the third year do the universities see the second mb results only Or do they see the entire break down and the tripos class.

Hi,
I've just got my offer for medicine in cambridge confirmed (Caius) but now am having second thoughts on whether or not it's for me, not because I don't want to do medicine but because I realised my favourite subjects at school were physics and math.

So my question is, is there any room for math in the medical course (i.e. mathematical modelling of biological processes/disease)?
Also, I have quite a big interest in synthetic biology, is there (in a current students opinion) any way that after the third year one would have sufficient knowledge in biology/chemistry to do a post grad course in systems/synthetic biology?
Finally, would it be possible to switch to natural sciences immediately upon arrival (if it makes any difference I would probably do chemistry, physics and biology of cells)?
Again, just in case it makes any difference I did the IB, with Higher level (equivalent to A2) math, physics and chemistry and biology at standard level, with 7s in all and 43 total.
Thanks for your time, any help would be appreciated.
Edit: Posting in general forum as well in the hope of more replies

Having just finished my sfirst year, one of the things I've really missed is maths! there are basic calculations in biochemistry, physiology and epidemiology but it is very simple. As to part II (third year) options, I would be interested in doing some epidemiology, but it isnt an option as far as i can see. the closest I think you would get is genetics (which has a lot of maths as you get further in)

If you really want to be a natsci then they will most likely let you swap without issue. If you do it later in the year then you'll have to degrade and start again a year later, but i know people who swapped at the beginning (and are regretting it). However, there's no turning back

Cam

i'm going to be resitting the 2nd MB exams for anatomy. does anyone have any useful tips? the fear is setting in (even though I don't even know when the exams are).

The repeats seem to have quite a few of the same questions as the original exam has. However, that may change this year. If you can remember the exam we sat, then try and go over a lot of that stuff

Also, anatomy resits are on the 20th of September

I'm having some trouble getting a BCG jab in my area, as it's not available for non-recent immigrants in my area. Any medics out there with experience of this?

Don't worry if you can't get it- the university health service will sort it out for you when you get there. Might be best to call them and check though.

If they wont give it to you of the NHS you might have it privately. You are meant to send in vaccination forms so you might need to do this so for entry. Otherwise you could just leave the BCG bit empty and wait til you get there. You have an occupational health appointment at the start and they check your blood levels and immunisation records. If you require any vaccinations or boosters, they provide them for free

i'm going to be resitting the 2nd MB exams for anatomy. does anyone have any useful tips? the fear is setting in (even though I don't even know when the exams are).

Have you come across the website instant anatomy? It's Robert Whitaker's site and I found learning from his pictures and in particular, his podcasts very useful indeed. His book is great for last minute revision too (also called, Instant Anatomy). You've probably heard of all that stuff before but if not then check it out because it helped me tons with Anatomy!

Cheers,

--Dave