The Student Room Group

Medical school - Glasgow or Aberdeen

Hey all! I have just received all of my offers for medical school and I have narrowed it down to two - Glasgow and Aberdeen. Every single day it gets harder to choose between the two, so I would appreciate more insight from medics who are at these unis or have been.
Context: Scottish home student, want to go into emergency medicine (at the moment), would like early clinical contact.

So far, here my pros and cons for both:
Glasgow
Pros:
early clinical contact, including a&e
2 electives
lots of hospitals and clinics - QEUH, Beatson etc.
Dissection
Big range of student societies, many I am interested in
Huge for music (I'm a musician and DJ so this is REALLY important)
Good area and lots of things to do outside of medicine

Cons:
More expensive
I have heard the course can be disorganised, is this true??

Aberdeen
Pros:
Seems very focused on early clinical contact
More peaceful
Cheaper cost of living
Friendly atmosphere and staff when visited (haven't visited Glasgow as much to get a feel but the staff and students there were quite friendly)
Very supportive of students with medical problems (again I don't know anything about Glasgow's support system so this may be a deciding factor)

Cons:
Less to do as a musician/DJ than in Glasgow
Less to do outside of medicine than in Glasgow
More limited range of hospitals/clinics in clinicals

Some words of wisdom would be much appreciated! I would mainly like to know how supportive Glasgow is of its students who have long-term health conditions, incase they ever become a problem for me in my studies.

Thanks!

Reply 1

Hi, this is the University of Aberdeen rep account. Apologies for not seeing this post until now! It certainly seems like a hard decision weighing up between the two, but if you are still looking to speak to people with first hand experience we offer the opportunity to talk to some of our current students through Unibuddy here: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/student-life/chat/
There are a couple medicine students on there who would be happy to give you their thoughts on the course and the city. Glasgow will likely have a similar service so that might be worth looking into also.

I just want to say also that I think it's great you've factored in all of these pros and cons into your decision! I think taking things into account like living situation, your impressions of the city, and availability of recreation activities you're interested in (music and DJ'ing in your case) is really important. These are factors people can forget to consider when so much of the concern with medicine can be about rankings.
Anyway all the best in coming to a decision if you're still picking between the two! If you have any questions about our university that I can help with please just ask.

- Matthew, Enquiry Team
(edited 2 weeks ago)
Original post
by kirstiin
Hey all! I have just received all of my offers for medical school and I have narrowed it down to two - Glasgow and Aberdeen. Every single day it gets harder to choose between the two, so I would appreciate more insight from medics who are at these unis or have been.
Context: Scottish home student, want to go into emergency medicine (at the moment), would like early clinical contact.
So far, here my pros and cons for both:
Glasgow
Pros:
early clinical contact, including a&e
2 electives
lots of hospitals and clinics - QEUH, Beatson etc.
Dissection
Big range of student societies, many I am interested in
Huge for music (I'm a musician and DJ so this is REALLY important)
Good area and lots of things to do outside of medicine
Cons:
More expensive
I have heard the course can be disorganised, is this true??
Aberdeen
Pros:
Seems very focused on early clinical contact
More peaceful
Cheaper cost of living
Friendly atmosphere and staff when visited (haven't visited Glasgow as much to get a feel but the staff and students there were quite friendly)
Very supportive of students with medical problems (again I don't know anything about Glasgow's support system so this may be a deciding factor)
Cons:
Less to do as a musician/DJ than in Glasgow
Less to do outside of medicine than in Glasgow
More limited range of hospitals/clinics in clinicals
Some words of wisdom would be much appreciated! I would mainly like to know how supportive Glasgow is of its students who have long-term health conditions, incase they ever become a problem for me in my studies.
Thanks!

HI there,

Sorry, I just saw your post. I am a Business and management student myself, I asked one of my friends who does the Medicine course in the uni. It was for another person on the Student room but I will share it with you too. My friend told me that," there is not as much clinical exposure early on but the visits consists of a hospital ward, A and E visit, and then you visit your tutors GP practice a handful of times. In year 2, it is GP focused visits. However there is many sessions on simulated patients that occur at the medical school including history taking and examinations. It is primarily dissection with a decent amount of prossection especially later in phase 2. Only one day typically in a week is 9 to 5 timetabled and you get one day off (not for all cohorts though) but most days you will need to work that much to stay on top of online content etc. Although there is more flexibility in year 1.I really enjoy the course overall. I'd just think about your learning style and whether it matches up more to Glasgow or Aberdeen teaching methods. But they are both good universities!"

Hope that helps in answering some of your questions.
Let me know if you have any other questions.

All the best!

Nainika
UofG Rep

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