Tell me about your medical school

I applied to nottingham Leicester Cardiff St Georges. And i want to know what they are like. What's the schedule like. How do you learn anatomy? How is the med society. Opportunities to intercalate? How it's like? Id like to know anything you can tell me. Even accommodation stuff as well? I know there is a thread like this but the answers are old. Even though it's targeted at students at Leicester Cardiff St Georges and Nottingham, anyone can answer for other schools. Thanks in advance guys

These are probably things you should have found out before applying to these universities.

I applied to nottingham Leicester Cardiff St Georges. And i want to know what they are like. What's the schedule like. How do you learn anatomy? How is the med society. Opportunities to intercalate? How it's like? Id like to know anything you can tell me. Even accommodation stuff as well? I know there is a thread like this but the answers are old. Even though it's targeted at students at Leicester Cardiff St Georges and Nottingham, anyone can answer for other schools. Thanks in advance guys

hello!!!

I am a first year Cardiff medic and would be happy to answer your questions as I understand what is on the cardiff uni website is very basic and often glossy.

CARDIFF IS AMAZING BTW! i cannot reccomend it enough. our facilities are amazing (we have a new building consisting of a new health library, a state of the art simulation centre for clinical skills and amazing facilities such as an anatomy centre) and the staff are really really helpful!
Cardiff is a leading city in cardiology (the cardiology wards in UHW are ranked very highly) as well as cancer and genetic research!

the Schedule changes very often. a typical week in first term consists of a 9am lecture most days. monday we have anatomy for 3 hours (and sometimes a lab for 3 hours). tuesday we have clinical skills for 2 hours and small group sessions for 3 hours. wednesday is always a half day usually filled till 1pm with lectures or small group sessions. thursday is anatomy again for 3 hours and often a lab for 3 hours. then friday is much like tuesday with clinical skills and small group sessions.
so it is very full on, but you so have time off.
in second term and all the way through second year this changes and becomes more free, so you mostly have half days and one full day of being on placement in a GP surgery or clinic or ward.
third year is longer days on placement as if fourth and fifth year.

we learn anatomy only in first term (so its very fast paced) and we learn it via full body dissection for the upper limb, lower limb, thorax, pelvis and abdomen. and then we learn via pro-section (already prepared specimens) for the head and neck. its a great experience but it does require a lot of external research and note writing!

MedSoc is great here. they have med sports teams (which aim to fit around placements and our packed schedules) and they put on great events such as bar crawls, balls and afternoon tea parties. they also made a mum and dad scheme. so in the year above you, you will have a mum and dad (or 2 mums/2 dads) who will be your mentors. they are so helpful and really do put your mind at rest when your worrying about how stressful first term is.

you can intercalate here, but not everybody can and i think its based on rank in the year. you do though do student selected components within year 1 and 2 which are like research projects where you get to look at things which interest you in more detail!

there is a great support system for anyone who is in need. I visit medic support for problems I have had in first term and they are so accommodating! no worry is ever to small and they are always looking out for your health and wellbeing.

the med school is large with around 300 students in a year, so its like a huge family!

accommodation wise talybont is great and fairly cheap compared to other universities! (most expensive is £4800 a year and cheapest is £3500 a year for ensuite at talybont). everything is within walking distance!

I dont know what else I can tell you really. if you think of anything else let me know!

Hey! I'm currently a 3rd year studying biochemistry at Nottingham and the accommodation options are exactly the same for medicine. We're also based in the Queen's Medical Centre (the med school). What I can say is that the place is absolutely fantastic. Most of the accommodation is of a very good standard and the price of private housing is relatively good (a good option for 2nd year onwards).

The facilities are of a very high standard - a whole new medical library was built a year ago, complete with mock examination rooms and the labs are also very good. The staff are generally extremely approachable (again, most of the lecturers teach across all life sciences and medicine) and very enthusiastic. The QMC as a hospital, as opposed to a med school, is pretty respectable and to top it off, Nottingham is a great city with plenty to do. Having spent almost 3 years there, I have grown very fond of the place. I hope this helps you, feel free to ask me anything else. You are right to ask for people's opinions because even if you go to open days, you don't get a sense of what it is like to live and study there. Good luck with your application!

Hi. Thanks so much for your reply. Very helpful. I would like to know which campus accommodation you would recommend for someone in the queens medical centre. I understand that there are about three different halls? Thank you

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I applied to nottingham Leicester Cardiff St Georges. And i want to know what they are like. What's the schedule like. How do you learn anatomy? How is the med society. Opportunities to intercalate? How it's like? Id like to know anything you can tell me. Even accommodation stuff as well? I know there is a thread like this but the answers are old. Even though it's targeted at students at Leicester Cardiff St Georges and Nottingham, anyone can answer for other schools. Thanks in advance guys

Hey, 4th year Nottingham medic. 1st and 2nd year are basically the same schedule (just with different content). Heavily lectured-based. If I remember right you will a 9-5 day every week (usually Monday), and the rest will be less busy but you will still be in for the majority of the day (unless you choose not to go). You will have 1 morning a week (Wednesday) with your GP-led seminar group. You will also have clinical skills sessions every now and then to teach you OSCE stuff. Then there's GP and hospital visits (only like 7 in total per year I think). 1st year, 2nd semester and 2nd year, 1st semester you will have dissection sessions on Thursday or Friday mornings. I think that's essentially years 1 and 2 in a nutshell.

3rd year, 1st semester you will be doing your dissertation as part of your BMedSci (like a pseudo-intercalation). 2nd semester (late Feb/early March) you start clinical phase 1 which runs right through to the end of June. Then you have 2 weeks of summer and then you start 4th year.

The med school is really nice, especially now that they've refurbished it. The medical library is pretty big and there's a student hub which is basically a massive common room. University Park (main campus) is really really nice too; it's on the opposite side of the road to the QMC/med school. The campus is enormous (probably a 25 minute walk from one end to the other).

I thoroughly recommend Nottingham. I suggest you visit (if you haven't already) to get an idea.

Any more questions, feel free to ask.

For self-catered accommodation, Broadgate Park is the biggest and is possibly the best all-round option - there are plenty of facilities on site and plenty of poeple so socialising is easy. The other good option for people based at the QMC is Raleigh Park which is much closer to the QMC but a bit smaller. Broadgate Park is about 25 minutes walk from the QMC and Raleigh Park probably about 15 minutes. Hope that helps, let me know if there's anything else you want to know!

hello!!!

I am a first year Cardiff medic and would be happy to answer your questions as I understand what is on the cardiff uni website is very basic and often glossy.

CARDIFF IS AMAZING BTW! i cannot reccomend it enough. our facilities are amazing (we have a new building consisting of a new health library, a state of the art simulation centre for clinical skills and amazing facilities such as an anatomy centre) and the staff are really really helpful!
Cardiff is a leading city in cardiology (the cardiology wards in UHW are ranked very highly) as well as cancer and genetic research!

the Schedule changes very often. a typical week in first term consists of a 9am lecture most days. monday we have anatomy for 3 hours (and sometimes a lab for 3 hours). tuesday we have clinical skills for 2 hours and small group sessions for 3 hours. wednesday is always a half day usually filled till 1pm with lectures or small group sessions. thursday is anatomy again for 3 hours and often a lab for 3 hours. then friday is much like tuesday with clinical skills and small group sessions.
so it is very full on, but you so have time off.
in second term and all the way through second year this changes and becomes more free, so you mostly have half days and one full day of being on placement in a GP surgery or clinic or ward.
third year is longer days on placement as if fourth and fifth year.

we learn anatomy only in first term (so its very fast paced) and we learn it via full body dissection for the upper limb, lower limb, thorax, pelvis and abdomen. and then we learn via pro-section (already prepared specimens) for the head and neck. its a great experience but it does require a lot of external research and note writing!

MedSoc is great here. they have med sports teams (which aim to fit around placements and our packed schedules) and they put on great events such as bar crawls, balls and afternoon tea parties. they also made a mum and dad scheme. so in the year above you, you will have a mum and dad (or 2 mums/2 dads) who will be your mentors. they are so helpful and really do put your mind at rest when your worrying about how stressful first term is.

you can intercalate here, but not everybody can and i think its based on rank in the year. you do though do student selected components within year 1 and 2 which are like research projects where you get to look at things which interest you in more detail!

there is a great support system for anyone who is in need. I visit medic support for problems I have had in first term and they are so accommodating! no worry is ever to small and they are always looking out for your health and wellbeing.

the med school is large with around 300 students in a year, so its like a huge family!

accommodation wise talybont is great and fairly cheap compared to other universities! (most expensive is £4800 a year and cheapest is £3500 a year for ensuite at talybont). everything is within walking distance!

I dont know what else I can tell you really. if you think of anything else let me know!

What's the social life like for a med student at Cardiff? Are there lots of parties/gatherings/balls for medics?