I’m a 3rd Year Medical Student and I have 4 Jobs at Uni, AMA

OP

Original post by Anonymous

How many hours do you have a week with medicine? And are your jobs flexible to your hours at uni, or do you have problems with shifts and stuff needing to be changed with your uni schedule?

Hiya, thanks for the question!
So depending on the week the amount of hours I do changes. If It's a typical week and I'm at uni with lectures, I'm in teaching for about 25 hours each week? That isn't including travel time e.g. to GP placement, or breaks in the timetable, so with those it'll usually be about 30 hours instead. If I'm on my secondary care placement, though, at the hospital, I just count the entire days, so usually about 9-5 each day except on Wednesdays where we have the afternoons off. It's definitely harder to do work around that time, though!

That said, my jobs are all with the UEA in some form. With three of my jobs I only pick up shifts that I want to and can do, so there's a lot more flexibility around my timetable, however the fourth one, the social media job, is very much set hours each week, but again, I can do them in my own time.
Depending on the time of year, I sometimes have issues where the shifts that are offered are during the day, and I just can't do that unless I skip lectures which isn't ideal, but there's never any issues for me if I do have to cancel. I do know people, though, that work outside of the university, and that's where you tend to get issues with schedules clashing!

Does this answer your questions? :h:

Reply 3

Leslie Knope

20

Original post by George- student at UEA

My name is George, as the title says I am a 3^rd year medical student at The UEA, and I’m originally from near Manchester (UK).

University has honestly been one of the best things for me, giving me so many experiences and opportunities, which has led to me, on top of studying a medical degree, having four jobs at my university, having a healthy social life with my friends, and being part of clubs and societies doing sports and volunteering, all while maintaining a passing grade.

So with my four jobs I do a wide variety of things, from creating content (like making video blogs for example) to working the open days, helping with interviews and even going out into local schools as part of our outreach effort!

Because of the ongoing global pandemic this has changed the dynamic and roles I carry out as a part of these jobs, but also changes the way that my degree is carried out, and also has led to me applying to more jobs (I just apparently don’t know when to stop :colonhash:

). If you do have any questions about COVID-19 I would also be happy to answer them (although within reason please, I’m just a lowly medical student), and tell you my experiences of how life and university has changed!

If you have any questions about applying for medicine, what it’s like to juggle working as well as my uni workload or questions about university life (in general or how it is now), I’m happy to answer and be of any help whatsoever!

So go on, AMA, you know you want to!

George

Did you have a back up option incase medicine didn't work out (for whatever reason).. ?

Reply 4

OP

Original post by ayyyy.x

Did you have a back up option incase medicine didn't work out (for whatever reason).. ?

Hi @ayyyy.x!
I actually didn't have an official back up option, I only applied to four universities! My thought process was that I can only really see myself studying medicine, it's what I want to do and there's only a few outcomes for what I did:

1 - I am successful and get an offer AND make the grade necessary - This was obviously the goal, and I was fortunate in that it was the outcome too
2 - I don't make the grade, but I'm in retake range- In this case I thought I'd rather take a year out, retake some exams, apply to the places where they accept students who are re-taking A-levels, and hopefully get in that way
3 - I don't get any offers but I make the grade - In this case I thought I'd reapply the next year with increased experience and my grades behind me. In this situation I also thought I could get a job as an HCA or something, earn some funds, maybe take some time to travel, relax academically, that sort of thing
4 - I don't make the grades, and they're not within retake margin - I know when I was applying, that retaking students had to have at least ABB on their first attempt, I don't know if this is still the case, but I thought that if that was the case, I'd rather take a year out, consider my options, get experience

For me, my back up option would never have been something relevant enough that I could use the same personal statement. I didn't want to study BioMed, or something specialist like that, it just didn't appeal to me personally. The back-up courses I was looking at instead were more creative, and I didn't think I could apply at the same time.

TLDR; I didn't really have a 5th choice as a back-up option, and I thought the likely scenario was that I would be left with no offers but still able to reapply, so that was what I chanced with.

I know not all people will agree with me, but university is a big commitment to make, so you really want it to be a personal choice. What do you think? I'm assuming you're planning to or have applied to study medicine, what did/will you do?

Reply 5

stereotypeasian

21

why did you pick UEA's medical school ?

Reply 6

Basma18

3

Hello, I’m currently in year 13 and I just applied to study pharmacy at UEA and excited to start in September. I just wanna ask you about the general atmosphere at the uni and how does it feel like to study away from home!!Also can you change from one course to another at the start of the course? For example if i would like to change from pharmacy to medicine would that be possible? Thanks :smile:

Reply 7

OP

Original post by stereotypeasian

why did you pick UEA's medical school ?

Hi @stereotypeasian! Love this question!

So for me there were loads of reasons why I chose it! As we know, when applying to get into medical school, it is pretty competitive, so I really wanted to be clever about how I applied, I had like a whole spreadsheet and everything and I did loads of research about the different medical schools and their entry requirements so I knew that where I would be applying, I had a shot at interview. I then also looked at the style of medical school I just did NOT want to go to a traditional school, I really wanted it quite a hands on degree, and I didn't want to be too close to home.
From this shortlist, UEA was one of the options. I felt I had a good shot at interview based on my grades, UCAT score, etc, and looking at the med school itself it is an integrated course, meaning that you do placement throughout, it had PBL, meaning it wasn't so lecture heavy, and looking further into it, I realised just how much placement we do (Literally I'm at the GP for a day every week and at the end of each 8 week module, I do 4 weeks in the hospital). It really suited how I wanted to learn, and the statistics seemed to back it up (consistently top 3 for FY1 preparedness and student satisfaction!)
Then I started going to open days, obviously I went to one of the UEA ones and it just felt right. I don't know how else to explain it, but I knew I'd be especially happy here, people seemed friendly, it felt comfortable, and speaking to the academics and students, they all seemed genuinely enthusiastic. I knew from that moment that I really wanted to be here to study, and I achieved it!
I hope this helps?

Original post by Basma18

Hello, I’m currently in year 13 and I just applied to study pharmacy at UEA and excited to start in September. I just wanna ask you about the general atmosphere at the uni and how does it feel like to study away from home!!Also can you change from one course to another at the start of the course? For example if i would like to change from pharmacy to medicine would that be possible? Thanks :smile:

Hi @Basma18! Honestly the atmosphere is super friendly. Like it's very relaxed, people are lovely and it just feels comfortable at UEA. In terms of the atmosphere outside of people, there's loads of green space on campus too, you have loads of places to escape and relax, and then there's everything you need on campus too, it's actually ideal.
Studying away from home really depends on the person, where is home for you? For me, I absolutely love it, It's really nice to be able to explore somewhere new, away from where I was known and where I knew people, as it forced me to make the most of it here and really do whatever I wanted to do and put myself out there, and I think there's no better opportunity to do that than at university?

I know you can change courses once you get there if you don't get on well with your course, however, I don't think it's usually possible to transfer from other courses to medicine! It could be worth emailing our admissions team ([email protected]) to get a concrete answer, as there may be ways around that, but I think because there are strict limits on how many students we can admit, they can only allow people onto the medicine course if they apply directly to it? Again, if you want a concrete answer on that, best to email us!

Reply 8

S_x_x

13

I'm a first year medic and the only question I have is... how!
And
How did you get involved in the interview process. Are you permitted to interview candidates when you are a third year?

Reply 9

OP

Original post by S_x_x

I'm a first year medic and the only question I have is... how!
And
How did you get involved in the interview process. Are you permitted to interview candidates when you are a third year?

@S_x_x I totally understand that question aha, sometimes I really question myself too! That said, I think when I was in first year it was an absolute process figuring out how best to learn, and that took up a lot more of my time, but most my jobs I got end of first year/start of second year onwards, when I had sort of figured out how I learnt at uni, and how I wanted to work, it was a lot easier to fit in working :smile:

I will say as well though, I'm personally not aiming for top decile, while it would be great, I have different priorities for myself, and as such I don't aim to learn absolutely everything in massive detail, I'd rather spend more time working, socialising, relaxing, at the sacrifice of the highest scores. That is just my priorities though, I know it's not the same for everyone, I'm helped that I'm not too interested in doing my FY1/2 in a competitive region!
That said, I do more than the bare minimum in terms of work, I'm not aiming to just scrape by, I do have to work for it, for I don't work too hard. I guess it's just working tactically, rather than trying to learn everything!

With the interview process I can only speak for UEA, are you a UEA medic, or do you study elsewhere?
I don't interview candidates, I help with signing them in, bringing them to the interview area, briefing them, etc. So I guess it's less exciting than it sounds, but it gives me an insight into the whole interview process, what stations we have, and who the interviewers are!
This may not be the same at every uni though, I'm pretty sure that when I had my interview at Dundee Medical School, that there were students helping with actually interviewing us? That said, I'm not 100% on that!

Does this answers your questions? :h:

Reply 10

Sanghera12

1

Hi I’m in year 12 and got BCD in my mock results. I was relying on future exams and assessments to bring my grade up however due to the lockdown teachers will be forming predicted grades using these which is unfair because I know that AS exams/year 12 exams would have brought it up to at least AAB/AAA. I want to apply for medicine. What would your advice be?

Reply 11

OP

Original post by Sanghera12

Hi I’m in year 12 and got BCD in my mock results. I was relying on future exams and assessments to bring my grade up however due to the lockdown teachers will be forming predicted grades using these which is unfair because I know that AS exams/year 12 exams would have brought it up to at least AAB/AAA. I want to apply for medicine. What would your advice be?

Hi @Sanghera12! Sorry to hear your results weren't quite what you wanted. Great news that you think you can get AAA.
With medicine you're not applying until mid October, maybe even later with the COVID-19 situation, and in that period of time if you can prove to your teachers that you will and are attaining high grades, they may be more confident to predict you higher grades, especially if you explain the situation. However, they may not want to predict you higher grades because of your mock exam results. In this case, see if you can find any medical schools that would still offer interview with those predicted grades. This may not be possible, and in that case it may be better to take a gap year, use year 13 to focus on getting the grades you need instead, and preparing to apply for the next year.

Gap years, while it may not sound ideal now can be absolutely great, giving you a break academically and a chance to earn some money!

That said, that's just my advice, but I hope it's helpful. What do you think you'll end up doing?

Reply 12

singh703

9

Original post by George- student at UEA

My name is George, as the title says I am a 3^rd year medical student at The UEA, and I’m originally from near Manchester (UK).

University has honestly been one of the best things for me, giving me so many experiences and opportunities, which has led to me, on top of studying a medical degree, having four jobs at my university, having a healthy social life with my friends, and being part of clubs and societies doing sports and volunteering, all while maintaining a passing grade.

So with my four jobs I do a wide variety of things, from creating content (like making video blogs for example) to working the open days, helping with interviews and even going out into local schools as part of our outreach effort!

Because of the ongoing global pandemic this has changed the dynamic and roles I carry out as a part of these jobs, but also changes the way that my degree is carried out, and also has led to me applying to more jobs (I just apparently don’t know when to stop :colonhash:

). If you do have any questions about COVID-19 I would also be happy to answer them (although within reason please, I’m just a lowly medical student), and tell you my experiences of how life and university has changed!

If you have any questions about applying for medicine, what it’s like to juggle working as well as my uni workload or questions about university life (in general or how it is now), I’m happy to answer and be of any help whatsoever!

So go on, AMA, you know you want to!

George

Thanks for spending your time George to answer our questions!

(1) How big a step is it, from studying and preparing A-levels than studying and preparing for university courses in medicine.

I heard that it's a big step. Natural Sciences degrees or Humanities degrees are not as big as you are essentially studying "further" what you learnt at A-levels, but in medicine, it's not only entirely new subjects but massive amount of content per subject too! A-levels share so much thing in common to GCSEs and they are very light, if you know what I mean,

(2) I am a med student myself (but not in the UK). Do your professors teach entire syllabus that's on your exam? Or are you expected to self-study things that are actually on the final exams?

(3) What books did you use for your exams for:
(i) Anatomy
(ii) Physiology
(iii) Biochemistry

(4) And lastly, how do you know how much content from the books you use is there in the final exams? I mean any university book has great detail and depth compared to A-level books be it Physiology or Medicine or Anatomy or Pathology, right?

Thanks and kind regards,
Yashveer

Reply 13

OP

Original post by singh703

Thanks for spending your time George to answer our questions!

(1) How big a step is it, from studying and preparing A-levels than studying and preparing for university courses in medicine.

I heard that it's a big step. Natural Sciences degrees or Humanities degrees are not as big as you are essentially studying "further" what you learnt at A-levels, but in medicine, it's not only entirely new subjects but massive amount of content per subject too! A-levels share so much thing in common to GCSEs and they are very light, if you know what I mean,

(2) I am a med student myself (but not in the UK). Do your professors teach entire syllabus that's on your exam? Or are you expected to self-study things that are actually on the final exams?

(3) What books did you use for your exams for:
(i) Anatomy
(ii) Physiology
(iii) Biochemistry

(4) And lastly, how do you know how much content from the books you use is there in the final exams? I mean any university book has great detail and depth compared to A-level books be it Physiology or Medicine or Anatomy or Pathology, right?

Thanks and kind regards,
Yashveer

Hi @singh703, thanks for the questions!

1 - For me I found it to be quite a big jump, in the sense that it felt less clear exactly what I had to know? A lot more was on me now, and while I had learning objectives, there aren't official textbooks that cover the entire syllabus, and if you just learn them you'll be fine, if that makes sense? So I did struggle a bit, I felt I had to change my learning style, and obviously there is just so much content, I could no longer rely on just learning absolutely everything.
I think you're quite right in that what you cover in A-Levels doesn't necessarily continue into the degree, however they're definitely useful. I've found a lot of the content I did cover in Biology has come up in my degree, so has made it easier when studying the kidneys, heart, lungs, and some other bits too!
I do think it is all manageable though, it's not an impossible leap, and some find it a lot easier than others. I think one of the difficulties as well is adjusting to a completely new place and environment, not only do you have to study, but you're also independent, cooking food for yourself, completely taking care of yourself, while also exploring what university has to offer in the clubs and societies, as well as a new city (in my case!), I think that makes it more difficult, but conversely so so worth it!

2 - Where do you study, if you don't mind me asking? In response to your question, though, kind of yes, kind of no? We are given learning objectives each week, and we're given learning objectives when we're at primary care, and then we're given separate learning objectives for when we do our secondary care placement. Within lectures, while they might cover the basics of something, it's very much up to the interpretation of whoever is leading the lecture, and dependent on who it is, you may feel you haven't covered the learning objective in such a way that you want, so there's always more depth to it that you can do yourself, and they don't tend to teach as much the conditions in terms of presenting complaint, management, side effects, as one overall lecture, so I tend to find myself connecting those dots myself.
I think at UEA, if you do attend all the lectures and just learn from those, you should do alright, but it may not get you the top scores, if that makes sense?

3 - So, my exams are probably quite different to yours. Where UEA does an integrated course, we don't study anatomy as one block, or physiology as one block, etc. it's all integrated into the clinical setting, so we study by clinical speciality, so we'll learn the relevant physiology and anatomy at a time, and we don't tend to end up doing too much biochemistry! Our course is very clinical!
In terms of anatomy, I tend to switch between Gray's Anatomy For Students, I think it's so extensive and has everything and more than I need to know, and then I use it in combination with the amazing resources that the anatomy team at UEA create. TeachMeAnatomy is also such a useful website, and you can always find useful youtube videos too. With physiology, again, I learn it in the clinical context, so I kind of just use the speciality-related textbooks and learn them from there, and then if I have any questions, I'll consult google and good youtube channels too such as Armando Hasudungan.
I guess that probably wasn't the most useful answer, sorry!

4 - It's sort of a guessing game really. I know personally that I won't be able to learn everything, so I try to prioritise what I believe is most important and relevant. You're right that textbooks tend to have more detail! I'm quite simple, and I try put things in the context of what I would want my doctors to know so I don't go too in depth or overboard, unless I know it's being stressed by the medical school as important for exams. Again, my exams may be a bit different to yours, so I don't know how transferable this would be, but that's just my experience!

Reply 14

singh703

9

Original post by George- student at UEA

Hi @singh703, thanks for the questions!

1 - For me I found it to be quite a big jump, in the sense that it felt less clear exactly what I had to know? A lot more was on me now, and while I had learning objectives, there aren't official textbooks that cover the entire syllabus, and if you just learn them you'll be fine, if that makes sense? So I did struggle a bit, I felt I had to change my learning style, and obviously there is just so much content, I could no longer rely on just learning absolutely everything.
I think you're quite right in that what you cover in A-Levels doesn't necessarily continue into the degree, however they're definitely useful. I've found a lot of the content I did cover in Biology has come up in my degree, so has made it easier when studying the kidneys, heart, lungs, and some other bits too!
I do think it is all manageable though, it's not an impossible leap, and some find it a lot easier than others. I think one of the difficulties as well is adjusting to a completely new place and environment, not only do you have to study, but you're also independent, cooking food for yourself, completely taking care of yourself, while also exploring what university has to offer in the clubs and societies, as well as a new city (in my case!), I think that makes it more difficult, but conversely so so worth it!

2 - Where do you study, if you don't mind me asking? In response to your question, though, kind of yes, kind of no? We are given learning objectives each week, and we're given learning objectives when we're at primary care, and then we're given separate learning objectives for when we do our secondary care placement. Within lectures, while they might cover the basics of something, it's very much up to the interpretation of whoever is leading the lecture, and dependent on who it is, you may feel you haven't covered the learning objective in such a way that you want, so there's always more depth to it that you can do yourself, and they don't tend to teach as much the conditions in terms of presenting complaint, management, side effects, as one overall lecture, so I tend to find myself connecting those dots myself.
I think at UEA, if you do attend all the lectures and just learn from those, you should do alright, but it may not get you the top scores, if that makes sense?

3 - So, my exams are probably quite different to yours. Where UEA does an integrated course, we don't study anatomy as one block, or physiology as one block, etc. it's all integrated into the clinical setting, so we study by clinical speciality, so we'll learn the relevant physiology and anatomy at a time, and we don't tend to end up doing too much biochemistry! Our course is very clinical!
In terms of anatomy, I tend to switch between Gray's Anatomy For Students, I think it's so extensive and has everything and more than I need to know, and then I use it in combination with the amazing resources that the anatomy team at UEA create. TeachMeAnatomy is also such a useful website, and you can always find useful youtube videos too. With physiology, again, I learn it in the clinical context, so I kind of just use the speciality-related textbooks and learn them from there, and then if I have any questions, I'll consult google and good youtube channels too such as Armando Hasudungan.
I guess that probably wasn't the most useful answer, sorry!

4 - It's sort of a guessing game really. I know personally that I won't be able to learn everything, so I try to prioritise what I believe is most important and relevant. You're right that textbooks tend to have more detail! I'm quite simple, and I try put things in the context of what I would want my doctors to know so I don't go too in depth or overboard, unless I know it's being stressed by the medical school as important for exams. Again, my exams may be a bit different to yours, so I don't know how transferable this would be, but that's just my experience!

Very informative. Thanks!

I study at a local medical college in India (in the state of Gujarat).

We get a big box. Like a big Christmas present. That's our Anatomy textbook and we were supposed to remember by rote everything from that. There was though an alternate option --- that is to fail, and rote that box-book again for one more year and then progress to the second year. Same for Physiology and Biochemistry. I remember struggling a lot as I preferred to read from Gray's Anatomy, but it covered a mere 10-20% of what was going to be asked in the exam. Do you really think Grey's Anatomy for students is extensive? Or was that a light joke?

So you don't have separate blocks for Anatomy and Physiology. What exams do you exactly sit for at the end of the 1st year?

Thank you once again George!

Reply 15

OP

Original post by singh703

Very informative. Thanks!

I study at a local medical college in India (in the state of Gujarat).

We get a big box. Like a big Christmas present. That's our Anatomy textbook and we were supposed to remember by rote everything from that. There was though an alternate option --- that is to fail, and rote that box-book again for one more year and then progress to the second year. Same for Physiology and Biochemistry. I remember struggling a lot as I preferred to read from Gray's Anatomy, but it covered a mere 10-20% of what was going to be asked in the exam. Do you really think Grey's Anatomy for students is extensive? Or was that a light joke?

So you don't have separate blocks for Anatomy and Physiology. What exams do you exactly sit for at the end of the 1st year?

Thank you once again George!

Oh wow! Really? For me I do find Gray's Anatomy to be extensive, it goes way over what I'm expected to know, but we mostly learn what is just clinically relevant. A lot of anatomy is very specialist knowledge, and will only come in play more in surgical training in our eyes!
At the end of first year it's just all the content we've done for the year, so we have 3 OSCEs (objective, structured, clinical examinations), one is based solely on our Orthopaedics and Rheumatology module, so we'll have stuff like x-rays, taking an extensive history, spot diagnosis, joint examinations, and then the other two is everything from the year, so in our first year we do a bit more of the basic clinical skills, so it'll then be, as well as stuff not covered in the previous osce (so further joint examinations), it'll be urinalysis, BLS, scrubbing, gloving and gowning, further data interpretation and consultation skills.
Our written exams are just everything we've covered in the year. We're clinical the whole way through, so some may be asking us to interpret x-rays in our first year, we may be asked about specific rheumatological disease, management of different conditions.
Our course at UEA is clinical the entire way through and as such our exams reflect that :smile:

Reply 16

singh703

9

Original post by George- student at UEA

Oh wow! Really? For me I do find Gray's Anatomy to be extensive, it goes way over what I'm expected to know, but we mostly learn what is just clinically relevant. A lot of anatomy is very specialist knowledge, and will only come in play more in surgical training in our eyes!
At the end of first year it's just all the content we've done for the year, so we have 3 OSCEs (objective, structured, clinical examinations), one is based solely on our Orthopaedics and Rheumatology module, so we'll have stuff like x-rays, taking an extensive history, spot diagnosis, joint examinations, and then the other two is everything from the year, so in our first year we do a bit more of the basic clinical skills, so it'll then be, as well as stuff not covered in the previous osce (so further joint examinations), it'll be urinalysis, BLS, scrubbing, gloving and gowning, further data interpretation and consultation skills.
Our written exams are just everything we've covered in the year. We're clinical the whole way through, so some may be asking us to interpret x-rays in our first year, we may be asked about specific rheumatological disease, management of different conditions.
Our course at UEA is clinical the entire way through and as such our exams reflect that :smile:

I enjoyed reading this! UEA is clearly an excellent choice indeed! Even we have a nationwide "integrated course" system but that's for namesake.

Many thanks for giving your time! :smile:

Reply 17

OP

Original post by singh703

I enjoyed reading this! UEA is clearly an excellent choice indeed! Even we have a nationwide "integrated course" system but that's for namesake.

Many thanks for giving your time! :smile:

No worries! It's always interesting hearing how different medical schools teach it!

Reply 18

singzeon

11

I know you mentioned an ortho & rheum module, what other modules did you have for year 3? What modules will you be having for years 4 and 5?

Reply 19

OP