I'm just about to start my final year in human biosciences at Plymouth. I've done research placements in both an academic lab and an NHS lab and my dissertation will be on cancer immunology. If you have any questions or need any help/advice about anything let me know below
Hi!I am starting my first year at Plymouth doing human biosciences! I have only visited the uni once and I was wondering how you travelled to the PU PSMD all the time? Also, roughly how much contact time you had? Thank you!
Hi! Do you mean the Derriford Research Facility? PUPSMD is based on the city centre campus, the John Bull building, and the DRF, the last two of which are up by the hospital. The DRF is a new addition this year, but as far as I know all of your lectures and practicals in the first two years of the degree are on campus. You won't need to worry about travelling at all if you're in halls - the furthest one away is maybe a ten minute walk max. I lived in Francis Drake in my first year and I could leave my flat with five mins to spare and still be on time. As for contact hours, itll start out being between 15 and 17 hours of lectures a week with two or three practicals every fortnight (give or take). The lectures themselves won't be longer than two hours and the lecturers usually give you ten minute breaks in the middle there's plenty of time to schedule things around, and if you do a sport every Wednesday afternoon is set aside for the sports societies. In second year that goes down to maybe one lecture a day (with more info) and practicals get much more comprehensive. Now I'm in final year, I only have a couple of lectures on Mondays and Tuesdays, but my dissertation is very full on so you won't get bored! Hope that helps 😁
That really helps! Thank you so much, I was just worried because on the website it says human biosciences is "Delivered by the School of Biomedical and Healthcare Sciences in the faculty Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry (PU PSMD) and enhanced by links with healthcare professionals." So I assumed I would be taught in that building? Not to worry, that helps a lot!
No worries that basically just means that some of our lecturers teach on the med programmes, all of them carry out their own research on various diseases and cells, and we get guest lecturers every now and then who are usually biomedical scientists or medical researchers. we don't really have our own building to be honest - not like Babbage has all the maths students, music is Rolle, art is Roland Levinsky, etc. My lectures were all over campus, but they were all on campus (thankfully)
Hi, I have an offer to study Human Biosciences this September. I was wondering what kind of job you planned to go in after you finished the course and how you find the course in general.
Hi, I have an offer to study Human Biosciences this September. I was wondering what kind of job you planned to go in after you finished the course and how you find the course in general.
Hi! Really sorry about the delay in replying. Personally I'm looking to go into a career in research. I'm not sure yet whether in academia or industry, but I'm applying to Master's degrees at the moment (in immunology). Everyone else I know has done really varies stuff from teaching to postgraduate study (Master's and PhD) as well as graduate medicine or dentistry. Some have gone into the police force or got a job straight away as a lab tech. One of my closer friends even went into acting (but I think she's very much in the minority!) It will probably sound cliche but you can pretty much do whatever you want to with a biology degree.
As for the course itself, it starts out fairly straightforward with human anatomy, biochemistry, genetics, etc and in the second year it gets quite a bit harder (there's a jump in difficulty but not as much as GCSE to A level, but more than first year A levels to second). I personally dropped the ball in second year and am having to work harder now to make up for it, but it's not impossible and I think most degrees have that. The final year is probably my favourite just because it feels less like studying and more like research especially with my project being lab based. There's a lot of scope for really going into detail on the stuff you enjoy and getting rid of the topics you don't which is great.
Overall it's definitely a learning curve but ive loved every minute of it.
Hi, you can get pretty much every book at the library so I wouldn’t worry about it. They are all recommended as well, not compulsory (Original post by aichie_ortiz)Hi I just wanted to ask how much your course textbooks cost?
Hi, you can get pretty much every book at the library so I wouldn’t worry about it. They are all recommended as well, not compulsory (Original post by aichie_ortiz)Hi I just wanted to ask how much your course textbooks cost?
Hi Amber,
I am a second Human Biosciences student here at Plymouth. For the books I have bought they have tended to range from around £20-£50. However, at the end of lectures the Lecturer tends to provide a reading list with books that are known to be in the library.
If you have anymore questions don't hesitate to ask! Even after starting the course.
Hi! Do you mean the Derriford Research Facility? PUPSMD is based on the city centre campus, the John Bull building, and the DRF, the last two of which are up by the hospital. The DRF is a new addition this year, but as far as I know all of your lectures and practicals in the first two years of the degree are on campus. You won't need to worry about travelling at all if you're in halls - the furthest one away is maybe a ten minute walk max. I lived in Francis Drake in my first year and I could leave my flat with five mins to spare and still be on time. As for contact hours, itll start out being between 15 and 17 hours of lectures a week with two or three practicals every fortnight (give or take). The lectures themselves won't be longer than two hours and the lecturers usually give you ten minute breaks in the middle there's plenty of time to schedule things around, and if you do a sport every Wednesday afternoon is set aside for the sports societies. In second year that goes down to maybe one lecture a day (with more info) and practicals get much more comprehensive. Now I'm in final year, I only have a couple of lectures on Mondays and Tuesdays, but my dissertation is very full on so you won't get bored! Hope that helps 😁
Hi runlikeapenguin
Thank you so much for being such a brilliant student ambassador. It’s great to see that our students are actively helping to seek others through student platforms such as TSR. As a University it’s great to see that our students are passionate about helping others J
Hi I just wanted to ask how much your course textbooks cost?
Hi aichie_ortiz,
Great question! We actually have a free eTextbook scheme for first years – these are free eBooks that are available to you forever and embedded into your course by lecturers J You can find more information, here: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/student-life/etextbooks