University of Sheffield Medical Student (+Intercalated BSc)- Ask Me Anything!
Hi everyone!
I'm Alicia, and I am currently in my final year of Medicine here at the University of Sheffield! I am in my 6th year of University, having taken a year-long break from Medicine in my 4th year to complete an Intercalated BSc in Medical Research Sciences. In my research year, my project looked at Coeliac Disease and Thyroid Disease and it was super interesting!
While at University, I also:
- Am part of Medics Women's Football Club- and in previous years I have taken on roles on committee including Charities Sec and Club Captain.
- Often am found in Goodwin gym (the Universities own gym!)
- Have been a part of several medics-specific academic societies, including GPSoc and Peer Teaching Society (and have held roles on both committees previously).
- Lived in Froggatt, Endcliffe in my first year. I have since lived in local shared housing.
- Have been in receipt of a scholarship with the Global Opportunities department, in which I went to the Netherlands in 2nd year for 2 weeks to study Dutch at Utrecht University.
- Was diagnosed with dyslexia in my 2nd year of Uni, so I am quite familiar with Disability and Dyslexia Support Services.
- Am very passionate about Widening Participation as a WP student myself (first in my family to go to University and from an area with a low 'going-to-uni' rate) 🙂 I was also a previous student on the Access to Sheffield (Medicine) course in Y12/13.
My favourite thing about Sheffield has to be the food scene here- there are SO many amazing restaurants and cafes, lots of which are independent! The peaks being on the doorstep is a huge bonus.
I’ll be online every Monday to answer questions on any topics (whether related to my degree or something far more general like University Life!). If you need an answer sooner, there are lots of students available to chat via the TAP platform which can be found here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/study/chat.
Looking forward to speaking to you!
I'm Alicia, and I am currently in my final year of Medicine here at the University of Sheffield! I am in my 6th year of University, having taken a year-long break from Medicine in my 4th year to complete an Intercalated BSc in Medical Research Sciences. In my research year, my project looked at Coeliac Disease and Thyroid Disease and it was super interesting!
While at University, I also:
- Am part of Medics Women's Football Club- and in previous years I have taken on roles on committee including Charities Sec and Club Captain.
- Often am found in Goodwin gym (the Universities own gym!)
- Have been a part of several medics-specific academic societies, including GPSoc and Peer Teaching Society (and have held roles on both committees previously).
- Lived in Froggatt, Endcliffe in my first year. I have since lived in local shared housing.
- Have been in receipt of a scholarship with the Global Opportunities department, in which I went to the Netherlands in 2nd year for 2 weeks to study Dutch at Utrecht University.
- Was diagnosed with dyslexia in my 2nd year of Uni, so I am quite familiar with Disability and Dyslexia Support Services.
- Am very passionate about Widening Participation as a WP student myself (first in my family to go to University and from an area with a low 'going-to-uni' rate) 🙂 I was also a previous student on the Access to Sheffield (Medicine) course in Y12/13.
My favourite thing about Sheffield has to be the food scene here- there are SO many amazing restaurants and cafes, lots of which are independent! The peaks being on the doorstep is a huge bonus.
I’ll be online every Monday to answer questions on any topics (whether related to my degree or something far more general like University Life!). If you need an answer sooner, there are lots of students available to chat via the TAP platform which can be found here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/study/chat.
Looking forward to speaking to you!
(edited 1 month ago)
Reply 1
How's your life life as a medical student, and how is an intercalated year different to normal years?
Reply 2
I'm really interested in your research topic, as I suffer from both. Are your research project findings available to the public?
Reply 3
Original post
by how_to_exist?How's your life life as a medical student, and how is an intercalated year different to normal years?
Hi @how_to_exist?
Medical School has been an amazing experience so far! The first 2 years at Sheffield Medical School are pre-clinical, so are lecture and small group style teaching on physiology (how the body works 'normally' in healthy people), followed by pathophysiology (how the body 'goes wrong' in medical conditions). Following that, the latter 3 years become more clinical, where you are based in hospitals or in GP on placement and seeing patients. One of my favourite things about Sheffield Medical School is the early patient exposure right from first year, so you start getting familiar with talking to patients very early on!
Though the course has a lot of contact hours (and a lot of hours outside of that spent self-studying!), you can definitely find a balance. I have a part-time job outside of Medicine, play football as part of a society, and still make time to do some social stuff with friends. Sheffield put a lot of emphasis on balance and I think this is really important- you can really make your University life your own with some careful time management! 🙂
An intercalated year is where you take a 'year out' of Medicine, to complete a BSc/ Masters/ BMedSci in another degree. This can be done at the University you are already at, or at a completely different University. I chose to intercalate in BSc Medical Research Sciences at Sheffield but some of my friends chose to do different Intercalated degrees at other Universities. They don't necessarily have to be directly Medicine-related either- some people opt explore a different interest such as Humanities-based subjects.
My intercalated year was clinically based, so I spent time attached to a local hospital analysing clinical data for my main research project, while completing additional modules in Ethics and statistics. Other intercalated courses will vary largely so if its something you wanted to consider I'd definitely recommend speaking to the existing students!
Some people do intercalated years to experience something different to Medicine. Others intercalate to pursue a personal interest, or gain an additional degree. I intercalated because I wanted formal experience in research in a topic that I was interested in, and to see if research was something I wanted to include in my future career plans 🙂 Whatever your reason might be, I gained so many new skills from intercalating and I really would recommend it if it was an option that made sense for you!
I hope this answered your question. Is there anything in particular that you were thinking about intercalating in?
-Alicia, MbCHb Medicine (final year) + BSc Intercalated Medical Sciences Research
Reply 4
Original post
by BendisI'm really interested in your research topic, as I suffer from both. Are your research project findings available to the public?
Hi @Bendis
Thanks for your interest in my research! I am sorry to hear that you suffer from both conditions but I hope you are managing well.
Unfortunately my research project findings are not yet available to the public as the publication process is relatively long. This is in the works though and I'm hoping with some luck that it will be published sometime in 2026.
If you're interested in existing literature related to Coeliac Disease and Thyroid Disease, there's lots out there! A quick search of both terms on Google Scholar or PubMed will bring up lots of great existing research that I referenced in my final dissertation. 🙂
I hope this is helpful. Please let me know if you have any more questions that I can help with!
-Alicia, MbCHb Medicine (final year) + Intercalated BSc Medical Sciences Research
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