kings or bristol for medicine?

•

Bristol is a beautiful city with so much culture and gorgeous spots and it feels very safe

•

It is quite pricey but it is just slightly cheaper than London

•

It can be a challenge to find your people, but you will - it helps to better understand the accommodations because each one attracts a different type of person and it's where you'll meet most people in the first year

•

The uni course itself is great in my opinion - it can be a bit wishy-washy at points but it is actually quite nice that they encourage us to be creative

•

The majority of our summative assessments are once/twice a year multiple choice exams and then in clinical years OCSEs too - it honestly hasn't been very stressful at all

•

In the clinical years we can be sent to hospitals that are outside of Bristol (out-placement) and they can be quite far which means you have the option to stay in hospital accommodation while placed there, which comes with a host of things to consider

•

You will be spending your weeks living with a random group of people from your year - it has been all good in my experience as most people I've met have been so lovely and easy to get on with

•

If you don't drive, you'll need to catch lifts back to Bristol on the weekends and some of the hospitals are not walking-distance to shops and train stations etc so once you're there, there's not loads to do (this isn't so bad if you have a friend with a car or you're with people you don't mind being stuck with all week)

•

In years 3 and 4, you spend half the year in one hospital before moving to the next, so if you are on out-placement but you are renting in Bristol, you might be paying for half a year's rent on an empty room - you can sublet the room while you're away but then you'd need a place to crash on weekends if you want to come back to Bristol in the meantime

•

Some of the hospital accommodations are alright but some are pretty rubbish and it can be tiring to be in final year and living in what feels like university halls

•

However, if you have a whole year on out-placement, you can save on a year's rent by living in the free hospital accommodation (something many of us are doing in later years but it means that you are in Bristol less and if your friends do the same thing, they are there less too and it can be quite challenging to see them if you're all on in different cities)

•

^this does sound like a whole host of negatives but it weirdly works quite well, and if money isn't so much of an issue, I'd recommend renting in Bristol each year because you don't have to worry about all of that as much, and if it is, it still works out - there are always solutions

•

Also the teaching in the hospitals we have is amazing! The doctors are very friendly and there are some quite highly rated hospitals for foundation doctor satisfaction in our deanery