Current medical students and doctors: What's studying medicine like & advice?

UKCAT can be done anytime from July to September (but double check, I did mine 7 years ago in August). Doesn't take longer than 3 weeks to prepare. The BMAT itself has a set date with everyone sitting it at the same time.

I have never gone to an open day..



I've passed my finals and currently in final year.

For the UKCAT and BMAT, did you use books or online resources like Kaplan and Medify?

Just books but I've heard the Kaplan course is good.

UKCAT can be done anytime from July to September (but double check, I did mine 7 years ago in August). Doesn't take longer than 3 weeks to prepare. The BMAT itself has a set date with everyone sitting it at the same time.

I have never gone to an open day..



I've passed my finals and currently in final year.

What's it like to study medicine and what advice would you give to med applicants? Also, how did you go about the whole application process? Thanks

The only worthwhile advice I can give without being too biased is speak to people on the courses you like. The courses are not the same, necessarily, as they appear in the manifestos. And when I say speak to people, avoid student ambassadors. Speak to people who aren't payed to give you a biased opinion.

What's it like to study medicine and what advice would you give to med applicants? Also, how did you go about the whole application process? Thanks

I have just finished (and thankfully passed) my second year at Cardiff university and will start clinical years in September. I am happy to answer any questions you have but here is a run down of what its like:

Application process:
When I decided I wanted to apply for medicine I did the following things to maximise my chances of gaining a place (I got in first time around to my first choice school):
1) Experience: The first and most important thing to do is get experience. It shows you have researched the career and will give you lots to talk about both on your personal statement and at interview. I would say get some good caring voluntary work behind you. I used to volunteer for a charity which took disabled young people out to do sports activities once per week, I also before this volunteered in a hospital and they both gave me great experiences to talk about. I then also undertook a week of clinical work experience at a Cancer tertiary hospital near my home. These three things gave me great stuff to talk about on my personal statement and at interview. Get researching in your area for things to do to gain experience. Email and call doctors and look for voluntary schemes which you can take part in.
2) Bump up personal statement: I think its important to have things to talk about other than medicine on your personal statement and at interview. The admissions tutors like to see you have a life outside medicine such as skills, clubs, societies, hobbies and things you like to do in your spare time. You need a mix of academic and non-academic interests. I personally was part of the medical society, I was part of a choir, enjoyed going to the gym and did an open university course on genetics which added to my personal statement to bulk it up a bit.
3) UKCAT/BMAT prep: I personally would'nt invest in paid courses for these, just because most of them are a waste of money and you can find all the materials online. I personally for the UKCAT only invested in a medify subscription for 3 weeks prior to my exam and I got a 675. Practice makes perfect here. also dont be disheartened if your score isnt as good as you wanted, its all about luck mostly and there are still options (often you feel your score is worse than it actually is like I did).
4) write personal statement far in advance: I did countless number of drafts and this is the most important thing, it will take you time so start it now. Attack it paragraph by paragraph with each having a them. I did why medicine as my first paragraph, then went into work experience, then into extra curricular then into other extras and ended with another why medicine/motivations paragraph. Everybody is different and make sure it shows you off as a person with your personality. different admissions tutors will love it and others will hate it (as i found) but its important to stay true to you.
5) DO YOUR RESEARCH: This is one of the most important. Ensure when looking at medical schools you assess them all in turn. take 3 highlighters, highlight in orange the ones you will not likely be accepted at based on your grades etc. In orange highlight medical schools which you are unsure you will be invited to interview either because your stats aren't that strong for that university (but are above the minimum required) or because you are unsure on their cutoffs if they vary each year. In green highlight the schools which you are likely to get an interview. Disregard the red schools and then go through the green and orange schools and research them further, rule out the ones whose course/university/city you do not like and then visit the ones you do like. This will leave you with a smaller list, from this list I would choose at least 2 green options (to ensure you get to interview as thats all that matters, a medical degree is worth the same no matter where you get it from) and a maximum of 2 orange options (basically the more green the better the chance you have of getting into medical school).
6) Interview prep: if you do get an offer for an interview ensure you know your personal statement inside out, read around the NHS news in that area, know the training scheme for a doctor and what it entails, have a read around current issues in healthcare and be confident. Do not be afraid to say you dont know, but always offer to talk about something do not just go silent.

Medical school:
Studying medicine is great, but very different dependant upon where you study and the type of medical school you go to.
I study at Cardiff university, we have a very large year of 300 students and we study a Case based learning style in years 1 and 2. This involves us doing cases which are 2 weeks long based on a clinical scenario, then we attend labs, lectures, dissections and community placements to learn about the science. We then share this info in case groups to fulfill our learning outcomes. I personally found this style of learning great for me, I personally hate lectures they are didactic in nature and I find them useless to learn from. The CBL style gave me ample time to do independant learning outside of the classroom at my own pace which I loved.
In terms of contact hours I had very few (15-25 each week) compared to other medical students at other universities, but I also had a lot more clinical contact (1 day each week) and clinical skills teaching in my first and second year compared to people at other universities which makes me feel much more prepared for clinical practice when I begin the clinical years in september.
There is a lot of studying to be done in medical school because there is a lot of broad knowledge to be learnt, but if you keep your head down and work throughout the year it is doable, you definetly cannot cram for an exam and get a good grade in medical school.
I have had loads of opportunities to learn things outside of the core curriculum in med school which is great to develop your interests. I have done SSCs in emergency medicine, cancer research, antibiotic resistance, genetic testing and next year I have organised an 8 week placement in a sexual health clinic to do a project. This has allowed me to develop my own interests and is a great way to learn.
Outside of med school I have joined societies, i'm on a committee next year for a sexual health charity and love the socials and spare time I have at university. Its not all work work work.

In terms of placements I have only done 1 week and they love you to get involved by taking histories, examining patients and performing clinical skills. Its a great way to learn and you begin to feel like a member of the team the more you get involved. Next year at Cardiff I have 4 weeks surgery, 4 weeks oncology, 8 weeks of general medicine and 8 weeks of A&E and emergency medicine. My 8 weeks of general medicine is based in a GP practice where i get to see the patients myself a lot of the time and then be reviewed by a GP who is observing me to develop my knowledge and skills first hand.

Medical school is fab and I hope this advice has helped you, let me know if you need any more help or have any more questions.

Honestly thank you so much for this! This info has given me much more of an in depth and I'm now much more aware of how to go about everything. This is so helpful ((:

What's it like to study medicine and what advice would you give to med applicants? Also, how did you go about the whole application process? Thanks

Hey I've started a blog to help everyone with the application process. Just search The Travelling Medical Student (blog spot) into google and you'll probably find me