Is imperial med school worth it?

Context - currently applying to med schools but I recognise that going to imperial would be financially difficult for me as i believe I dont qualify for bursaries or scholarships and won't be getting any financial aid from my parents so it'll be entirely on me to manage it. Is the imperial medical course worth the higher cost of living?

Reply 1

TazmeenX

18

i mean i feel like with med schools, reputation isn't actually that important since you'll all end up in the same job anyways. its more about whether you would like the teaching style they use, course structure (e.g they would allow you to intercalate/do a research project or something) and factors like finance and accommodation. so if you have your heart set on imperial mainly because of its reputation, then maybe consider other options after looking more into their course

Reply 2

username6042973

20

Original post by VKJ

Context - currently applying to med schools but I recognise that going to imperial would be financially difficult for me as i believe I dont qualify for bursaries or scholarships and won't be getting any financial aid from my parents so it'll be entirely on me to manage it. Is the imperial medical course worth the higher cost of living?

Yh as poster 2 said the reputation of your med school doesn’t matter at all and makes no difference when applying for specialty training.

Reply 3

VKJ

OP

5

Original post by TazmeenX

i mean i feel like with med schools, reputation isn't actually that important since you'll all end up in the same job anyways. its more about whether you would like the teaching style they use, course structure (e.g they would allow you to intercalate/do a research project or something) and factors like finance and accommodation. so if you have your heart set on imperial mainly because of its reputation, then maybe consider other options after looking more into their course

Would going to imperial offer me more in terms of networking if I end up going private or is it negligible?

Reply 4

username6042973

20

Original post by VKJ

Would going to imperial offer me more in terms of networking if I end up going private or is it negligible?

Wdym? Which med school you go to makes no difference to your medicne career path regarding specialty training/ selection etc

Reply 5

TazmeenX

18

Original post by VKJ

Would going to imperial offer me more in terms of networking if I end up going private or is it negligible?

anyone feel free to correct me if im wrong but medicine is one of the few careers where networking is not that needed. i mean if you wanted to go private, you'd need a lot of experience first and while yes networking would be useful to an extent in the sense that you would be able to get to know people who work at practices you want to work at but i'd say it wouldn't offer any substantial leg up as opposed to going to idk kent and medway.

Reply 6

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by VKJ

Context - currently applying to med schools but I recognise that going to imperial would be financially difficult for me as i believe I dont qualify for bursaries or scholarships and won't be getting any financial aid from my parents so it'll be entirely on me to manage it. Is the imperial medical course worth the higher cost of living?

If your plan is to work as a doctor in the UK it literally doesn't matter which medical school you graduate from, as in the NHS foundation post allocation is now essentially random I gather, and specialty recruitment is blinded from your medical school to ensure no bias. While some medical schools have better higher first time pass rates on some of the postgraduate exams, passing on the second time (which for most is very likely if they don't pass the first time - I gather a lot of them use a fixed question bank and you end up seeing most of the questions the first time you sit it anyway), this doesn't usually affect your progression, although could save you time, money (as they're often expensive) and stress.

If you're an international student though the cost difference is likely to be trivial compared to tuition fee differences for somewhere like Imperial. If you're a home student then it's probably equivocal (although bear in mind you will be earning money as a junior doctor by the time you take those postgraduate exams vs limited earnings potential while in medical school).

If you're planning to work outside of the UK it may matter - you will need to see whether the medical schools in question are accepted by the country you want to work in. I think some countries don't recognise all UK medical schools automatically and may require additional time and cost for them to validate your medical degree if so. Also for countries where private practice is a big part of the medical system, the "prestige" angle may make more of a difference. Although generally if you aren't aiming to work in the UK as a medic, you are best off applying to a medical degree in the country you eventually want to work in.

Reply 7

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by VKJ

Would going to imperial offer me more in terms of networking if I end up going private or is it negligible?

You're not going to work privately until you're a consultant anyway in the UK as I understand it (unless you go into cruise ship medicine or something, where networking doesn't matter regardless), and you'll develop more networks as a consultant (and possibly while training) than you would at medical school I anticipate.

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 8

username6042973

20

Original post by artful_lounger

You're not going to work privately until you're a consultant anyway in the UK as I understand it (unless you go into cruise ship medicine or something, where networking doesn't matter regardless), and you'll develop more networks as a consultant (and possibly while training) than you would at medical school I anticipate.

You can go private as a locum doctor, which you can do at any stage of your medical career

Reply 9

VKJ

OP

5

Thank you all so much for the quick and incredibly helpful replies! My application is due tomorrow and imperial and Cambridge were the two uni's that I've thought about for the longest time and are the reason I've delayed my application by a few days. Is the general consensus to not apply to imperial then as I can benefit from the same opportunities elsewhere while also ?

Is imperial med school worth it?

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