Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Which medical school?

I am lucky enough to have offers to study medicine from UEA, Barts, Southampton and St George's but am really struggling to pick. I would really appreciate any help or any information on your personal experiences if you go to one of these unis. All of the offers are AAA so there's no academic advantage to any of them.

Reply 1

username2950308

Barts is considerably better than St George's imo, but I don't know about the others. How do you feel about living in London (and can you afford it?) If you decide on whether you prefer London or outside London first, you can narrow it down and then just decide between two.

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Reply 2

theresheglows

Barts deffo imho. Friendly, teaching quality is excellent, QMPlus is pretty good (the online system where you can download your timetable to google calenders, get lecture slides, view lecture recordings etc), the royal london as a teaching hospital (enough said).
(yeah... totally unbiased opinion here... ahem)

Take another look at and compare course structure and content, area, whether you can pursue sports/hobbies easily, how easy it will be to get to and from home (trust me, for holidays you do not want to be taking a bus, a 6 hour long train, walking across half a city then another train and all with heavy suitcase/s haha).
Make lists of pros and cons for each.

(I still think barts is the clear winner here tho :smile:

)

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 3

Mrs House

I chose UEA over a london medical school because I wanted a cheaper, more friendlier environement to live in and a smaller year group. UEA also has a good balance of PBL, lectures and clinical contact with patients from first to final year. We do a systems based curriculum where we learn one system at a time and then we go to the wards and GP and consolidate our learning.

Well done on getting 4 offers, that's really impressive :smile:

Reply 4

The Medic Portal

Original post by jade_farlow

Hi there!

Congratulations for receiving all four offers!

Our best advice would be to pick the school that appeals most to you - there isn’t really a 'better' medical school as all schools result in GMC approved degrees, so our best advice would be to choose where you’d like to go most, taking the following into account:

- Which course do you prefer?
- Which city do you prefer?
- Would you like to live and study in London?
- What is the Student Union like? Are extra-curriculars important to you?

You might also find it useful to look at our blog on 4 Things To Consider When Choosing a Medical School!

Ultimately though, this is a nice problem to have, so choose where you’d most love to study!

Good luck!
The Medic Portal

Reply 5

nexttime

London vs not London is a huge financial variable here. Definitely something to consider.

Reply 6

University of East Anglia

Official Rep

Original post by jade_farlow

Hi Jade,

Congratulations on getting so many offers! Sounds like you have a tough decision to make.

Have you visited all the universities? We recommend attending your applicant day, or a mini open day so you can get a feel for the vibe on campus. It's important to think about what will make you happiest: location, course make up, etc.

You might be interested to know that UEA came 2nd for student satisfaction in Medicine in English mainstream universities according to the National Student Survey, so we've got lots of happy students! :smile:

You might also like this article about what it's like to study medicine.

Good luck making your decision and do get in touch if you have any questions.

Rowan

Reply 7

MonteCristo

I agree with University of East Anglia about visiting all four medical schools as 5-6 years is a reasonably long time to spend in one place. I think it's probably also true that the majority of medics choose to settle in the region in which they studied. There is absolutely no reason why you should do that (applications for the next stage are blind to which medical school you attended) but 5-6 years is long enough to start putting down roots (friends, partners, etc). Your personal finances might also play a role as, although London is an excellent place to experience, it is much more expensive than anywhere else.

The good news is that, whichever course you choose, you will almost certainly think it was the right choice when you look back in 10 years time.

Congratulations on four offers!