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

Question to ask at open day

Hello,
It summer so I want to visit univeristy open days. I want to know what types of relevant question people ask to get a good understanding for the medicine course. How do you compare one uni to another in terms of medicine?

Reply 1

StationToStation

The most important thing to consider when picking med schools is whether you’d actually get in. You need to apply to places where you are a strong applicant. But putting that aside for now, here are some other things you might want to consider:

- Course structure (do you want to learn through lectures/PBL/more varied teaching, do you want early clinical contact and practical skills training)
- Location (do you want to live in a city, do you want to live close to home, what kind of area you’d generally want to spend 5/6 years in)
- University (do you prefer a big or small year group, do you want to belong to a multi-faculty university, are research opportunities important to you)

In terms of the questions, you should think what things matter to you and then ask about them. The med school websites are generally speaking pretty useful though and personally I felt like they answered the vast majority of my questions. You might want to just first go through the websites and then visit the unis you're interested in to get a general feel of the places and, if necessary, ask any questions you felt that the websites didn't cover.

Reply 2

nexttime

Try to go in well prepared. It will make the day more valuable

Whatever you ask, remember that if they're current students they will be biased. And if they're staff they're even more biased. Don't be afraid of asking why they think what they do.

Reply 3

6med

Hey :-) As a general principle, just ask as many questions as you can about things that you genuinely want to know, you're much more likely to regret not asking a question than asking a question! StationtoStatinon has given some good pointers, always enquire about the structure of the course, where the placements are, the hours, how early is patient contact, what do the students like most their uni, what do they dislike they most/want to change about the uni etc.

Alex, 4th year UCL medic
6med

Reply 4

redhelen

Goid qusetions to ask your student guides are why they applied there, what they like about it , what work experience they had and what the interview was like. My daughter applied for dentistry and the guide at Cardiff offered loads of information and was very forthcoming with his opinions (Good and bad!) about the course and uni

Reply 5

redhelen

Oh and make notes/ get the handouts about what they want from your personal statement- Leeds uni were very explicit and it really helped my daughter to be spot on when she did her PS. Good luck!