Cambridge Medicine Students and Applicants

It's possible you might understand it, though I've never been to one so I can't say for sure. However, it's pretty likely that the lectures would clash with your medic lectures, except perhaps the one they have on Saturdays.

Hi Helenia!

I see you very frequently on the Medicine-related threads. So I have a few questions. Can you please take the effort to answer me?

Actually, I am about to do medicine in a university which is not in the UK. I had always wanted to do medicine in Cambridge but the international fee is really horrifying and scholarships are available only for the pre-clinical years which are very scarce. Now I am about to study medicine with full scholarship in this uni which is very good. But I want to know what is the difference between the books that cam. med. students use and med. students outside the UK use? I mean how are you supposed to know what type of books med. students outside the UK use but do you think there's a difference in the quality of the books that they use? Do students in Cam. use books that are only available in Cam. uni or they use books that can be found outside Cam? For example, Gray's Anatomy is a very good book to learn Anatomy and it is also available on the internet so do Cam. Med. students use ths book for Anatomy or they have their own books by Cam Uni?

I am really sorry if you are not the right sort of person to ask but if anyone can answer my questions, I will be very grateful. Thanks dear.

1st year medic at Cambridge, We use normal textbooks prublished by lots of places and widely available. These are supplemented by lecture notes etc. but the information is all freely available online.

What college are you at - if you don't mind me asking ?
And how are you finding Medicine at Cambridge?

Catz. It's a lot of work but most of the time it's a fantastic experience. Having said that my exams start on Monday so at the minute I'm a caffeinated stress bomb.

1st year medic at Cambridge, We use normal textbooks prublished by lots of places and widely available. These are supplemented by lecture notes etc. but the information is all freely available online.

Hi Helenia!

I see you very frequently on the Medicine-related threads. So I have a few questions. Can you please take the effort to answer me?

Actually, I am about to do medicine in a university which is not in the UK. I had always wanted to do medicine in Cambridge but the international fee is really horrifying and scholarships are available only for the pre-clinical years which are very scarce. Now I am about to study medicine with full scholarship in this uni which is very good. But I want to know what is the difference between the books that cam. med. students use and med. students outside the UK use? I mean how are you supposed to know what type of books med. students outside the UK use but do you think there's a difference in the quality of the books that they use? Do students in Cam. use books that are only available in Cam. uni or they use books that can be found outside Cam? For example, Gray's Anatomy is a very good book to learn Anatomy and it is also available on the internet so do Cam. Med. students use ths book for Anatomy or they have their own books by Cam Uni?

I am really sorry if you are not the right sort of person to ask but if anyone can answer my questions, I will be very grateful. Thanks dear.

So you mean that medical students outside the UK can also have access to some of the resources that are used by Cambridge med. students? If this is true, I am very glad and I would like to have links to the online resources that you find useful as a first year medic.

And is the content of the lectures also available online?

Oh wow I wanted to apply there possibly!
Oh gosh good luck with those!! How many exams do you have?

So you mean that medical students outside the UK can also have access to some of the resources that are used by Cambridge med. students? If this is true, I am very glad and I would like to have links to the online resources that you find useful as a first year medic.

Can you also link me to some of the textbooks that you use? Also do you guys use whatever textbooks that you personally find helpful or do you get recommendations by your tutors/lecturers? And is the content of the lectures also available online?

What A/L gardes did you get btw? I have taught myself the whole A/L course, took my exams privately and achieved A*AB in Biology, Physics and Chemistry respectively and an A in AS Pure Mathematics. Teaching myself without any guidance was really a very big challenge in itself.

Thanks a lot for the info btw.

I'm not Helenia, but I'll try to summarise what most med students use here.
For FAB (anatomy):
-There is a very good dissection handbook, issued by the University, which is used for dissections. This is not available outside the University.
-Many also have a photographic atlas, and I have the impression that McMinn's is especially popular.
-For supervision essays quite a few use "Clinically oriented anatomy" by Moore (this is also a good anatomy textbook in itself). From time to time also specialised literature and PubMed, but really Copy&Paste from Moore's seems to do the trick for many.
-Gray's for students is good, but has too little detail for supervisions and too much detail for exam preparation. Not many buy one. (but then probably because you can always borrow one from the library, should you need it.)
-I also use Moore's Clinical embryology to complement anatomy and for supervisions, and I personally quite like this book. (though this was not a recommendation - saw it in the library

For MIMS (biochemistry):
-Biochemistry by Voet. Really a must-buy, because i) lecturers refer to this every other second and ii) very useful for supervisions because of its detail. Quite difficult to follow though.
-Essential biology of the cell. Parts of the book follow the course, parts don't. I've got it before starting at Cam because, for a textbook, it's quite interesting and gives some starting point for essays.
-There are also the handouts.

For Homeostasis (histology+physiology):
-Guyton for physiology. Got everything covered and is also quite readable.
- Histology: you technically can do without a book, though I used a German textbook written by a somebody I know personally. I also borrowed Kerr's for the pictures (Text's rubbish though, wouldn't recommend buying it).

There are other courses, such as statistics, etc., but I would never even dream of getting a book for those. If something is unclear, Wiki first and then clarify the rest at the supervision perhaps.

In the end I would recommend to wait until your course starts. Your lecturers will recommend books for you, which will follow your course closely, and perhaps some of them are even written by your professors! A book that follows the medical course here is not necessarily the best option at a different university. I doubt your recommendations will be of lower quality then the books here.

Also, congratulations on your offer! Where will you be studying medicine?

You'll need a raven login for this (basically an email address you get when you start here). Handouts are not available freely, probably due to copyright reasons.

It is a great place, just a bit stressful. I guess everywhere has it's good and bad points which once I get through exams I will be more than happy to put some thought into explaining.

Warfarin basically answered this one. People do tend to use the same textbooks. I got A*AA in Biology Chemistry and Physics with A in As Maths, learning it without a teacher is impressive, not sure I'd have the work ethic to do that.

Oh I see. By the way, what A/L grades did you get?

Actually, as told you before I wanted to study medicine at Cam but due to financial reasons I wasn't able to so now I would like to ask you if I can do my specialization in Cambridge Univeristy after I complete my medicine here?

What is the procedure of doing specialization if I want to specialize in, say, Cardiac Surgery or Neurosurgery?

You are having your exams right? All the best dear.

By the way, do you think I must still anyway apply to cambridge with these grades just to see if I can get an interview invitation or would you recommend me to finish my medicine here and then do specialization in the UK?

I did Maths (A*), Further Maths (A), Physics (A), Chemistry(A*), Biology (A) and German (A*).

Concerning specialisation, I think there is very little of it during the clinical years. As far as I know, specialisation begins in the Foundation Years, ie after finishing university. I think it might be possible to come to Cambridge for the clinical course though, either for the normal course or the MB/PhD programme.

I wouldn't apply to Cambridge just to see whether they'll invite you for the interview - Cam interviews a high percentage of applicants, so (statistically) chances are high they will invite you. Also you would have to prepare your PS and references, as well as pay for UCAS and the BMAT, and honestly I think the aim doesn't justify the means.

However, if you are set on attending Cambridge, by all means give it a try (and attend the interview). You also could apply to the other place; they interview a much smaller proportion of initial applicants, so if they invite you for the interview, you'll have a higher chance of getting in, as compared to Cam. It's much harder though to get an interview at Oxford.

But medical students studying in medical schools outside the UK cannot continue their medicine course by directly joining the clinical course at Cam. Inorder to hoin the Cambridge clinical school, we should have studied our pre-clinical years in a medical school within the UK. So my question is that after I finish my 6-year long medicine course here, I would want to specialize in some field so can I specialize in Cambridge? If yes, what is the procedure of doing so?

But medical students studying in medical schools outside the UK cannot continue their medicine course by directly joining the clinical course at Cam. Inorder to hoin the Cambridge clinical school, we should have studied our pre-clinical years in a medical school within the UK. So my question is that after I finish my 6-year long medicine course here, I would want to specialize in some field so can I specialize in Cambridge? If yes, what is the procedure of doing so?

I guess yes, but this would mean working as a doctor at Addenbrookes and honestly Addenbrookes is not the best option for specialising.

If you want to do specialist training after qualifying as a doctor, you can do it in Cambridge, at Addenbrooke's hospital, but it has nothing (really) to do with Cambridge University.

The procedure for UK graduates is to do two "Foundation Years" rotating through various specialties, and then to enter specialist training in whatever field they want to go for. Application is competitive, some specialties more than others. As an overseas graduate, especially if you do not have any claim to UK citizenship, you will be at a disadvantage, but it's not impossible to get in.

Specialist training is usually done within one area but in a number of different hospitals - so even if you were based in Cambridge you would be sent out to other nearby hospitals for some of your training.

I think that the other members have already answered the questions about textbooks better than I would have been able to, so I won't go into any more detail!