Pros and cons of your med school?
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Reply 540
19
Original post
by Anonymousill get comfy. not OP but saw it and decided it was worth the throwaway
1) im in third year but the rumour is we are entirely online next year bar 2 days placement (maximum) a week - what is that???? its not even live lectures its apparently just recycled lectures from two years prior. no justification over covid. its just a new course and they haven't worked out how to do it, why couldn't they have told us that when we applied?
2) ridiculously draconian professionalism my friend got told her blouse sleeves were too short and got 'professionalism' points for it and when she pointed out that wasn't part of the dress code and it was perfectly smart, she got two further professionalism points for answering back.you can fail the year for failing professionalism.
3) literally 0 care for what students think - we have complained about so many aspects of the course time and time again and just get met with the fact that the university dont think its problem, or statistics they've twisted, or the fact its a work in progress. they treat students like dirt. anyone that complains online gets threatened. people genuinely dont even complain when something completely unfair happens because they're scared of getting in trouble if they complain to the university?
4) they lie my friend in fourth year in his exam got invigilators mess the exam up, apparently screamed at them for being stupid and people all started at different times. the exam was so bad that they offered everyone a first attempt retake. the same day the head of studies tweeted publicly what a roaring success the exams were and how proud they were of the invigilators.
You see the toxic atmosphere thats created? bad teaching, bad student experience .... but not allowed or too scared to complain.... banned from saying anything online.... but they get to tweet about roaring successes that are made up? and no ones allowed to say its a lie because they'll get in trouble? there was some incident about a fifth year or something, im not really across the detail about it so all I know is the university responded with a lie and got shown up for it. on reddit some people say stuff on throwaway accounts because they're so scared (guess im on too now)
its not like I want to run a one man hate company against my own uni because I dont, but it makes me almost miss year 12 where it feels like even college listened to us more? I dunno what its like at other med schools but want people considering Newcastle to see this so they can consider somewhere else.
1) im in third year but the rumour is we are entirely online next year bar 2 days placement (maximum) a week - what is that???? its not even live lectures its apparently just recycled lectures from two years prior. no justification over covid. its just a new course and they haven't worked out how to do it, why couldn't they have told us that when we applied?
2) ridiculously draconian professionalism my friend got told her blouse sleeves were too short and got 'professionalism' points for it and when she pointed out that wasn't part of the dress code and it was perfectly smart, she got two further professionalism points for answering back.you can fail the year for failing professionalism.
3) literally 0 care for what students think - we have complained about so many aspects of the course time and time again and just get met with the fact that the university dont think its problem, or statistics they've twisted, or the fact its a work in progress. they treat students like dirt. anyone that complains online gets threatened. people genuinely dont even complain when something completely unfair happens because they're scared of getting in trouble if they complain to the university?
4) they lie my friend in fourth year in his exam got invigilators mess the exam up, apparently screamed at them for being stupid and people all started at different times. the exam was so bad that they offered everyone a first attempt retake. the same day the head of studies tweeted publicly what a roaring success the exams were and how proud they were of the invigilators.
You see the toxic atmosphere thats created? bad teaching, bad student experience .... but not allowed or too scared to complain.... banned from saying anything online.... but they get to tweet about roaring successes that are made up? and no ones allowed to say its a lie because they'll get in trouble? there was some incident about a fifth year or something, im not really across the detail about it so all I know is the university responded with a lie and got shown up for it. on reddit some people say stuff on throwaway accounts because they're so scared (guess im on too now)
its not like I want to run a one man hate company against my own uni because I dont, but it makes me almost miss year 12 where it feels like even college listened to us more? I dunno what its like at other med schools but want people considering Newcastle to see this so they can consider somewhere else.
Cheers for this very informative and insightful post. We need more people like yourself to detail exactly what goes on behind closed doors at these institutions. The corrupt, hypocritical, draconian behaviour of medical school staff, the abuse of students, and the deplorable organisation - everything, warts and all. My advice to you is to soldier it out until you graduate - then as soon as you get your GMC registration, you go to war with Newcastle. Everything you've written here and everything your colleagues will corroborate you on, needs to come down on them like a ton of bricks. Every medical defence union and every media outlet in the country needs to be publishing this. It's demonstrative of British medical school culture that other students will be reading your comments having had identical experiences at other institutions. It needs to end, and one by one we will take them all down. People waiting in the wings will support you all the way.
Reply 541
Update on Warwick Medical School since I've seen a few posts requesting - so here's my two cents:
Pros:
- Excellent teaching for the most part (anatomy in particular is taught brilliantly at Warwick, with other modules being mostly good and professors always happy to help with any questions)
- I personally like the course structure and how different elements are integrated throughout the blocks (e.g. one week will be all the biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology and anatomy on the heart, with some epidemiology and law/ethics thrown in which really helps puts things into context)
- Early clinical exposure through bedside teaching (though as we were a COVID-19 cohort things were still a bit iffy but I imagine this will be better for upcoming year groups). You also get weekly clinical skills teaching so you're taught examinations right from the get go which other courses don't really start till much later on.
- I feel the medical school really take on feedback well and are always asking for student input on where improvements could be made
- With this being a graduate-entry only intake (and the largest in the UK) there is a really good mix of students and makes for a diverse, well-rounded cohort
- Really good MedSoc, tons of societies and medic sports clubs
- Would say that the medical school itself tends to attract generally lovely people
Cons:
- First year is rough. I didn't quite fathom how hard it was going to be but genuinely, the first year at Warwick has really made me question my academic abilities at times.
- Hospitals are a ***** to get to in general if you don't have a car - BUT having said that there is usually always someone to carpool with so isn't too much of an issue
- Coventry isn't exactly the nicest place to be in (although Royal Leamington Spa is only a 15-20mins bus ride from main campus, and the actual Warwick campus itself isn't too bad)
- CBL might not be your cup of tea, I didn't mind it but others did find it to be a dull waste of time (though it is only twice a week so you learn to put up with it)
That's everything from the top of my head so far, will add if I think of anything else. Bottom line is that I've had a great time at WMS so far and would really recommend to anyone (if you're willing to put in the work!)
Pros:
- Excellent teaching for the most part (anatomy in particular is taught brilliantly at Warwick, with other modules being mostly good and professors always happy to help with any questions)
- I personally like the course structure and how different elements are integrated throughout the blocks (e.g. one week will be all the biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology and anatomy on the heart, with some epidemiology and law/ethics thrown in which really helps puts things into context)
- Early clinical exposure through bedside teaching (though as we were a COVID-19 cohort things were still a bit iffy but I imagine this will be better for upcoming year groups). You also get weekly clinical skills teaching so you're taught examinations right from the get go which other courses don't really start till much later on.
- I feel the medical school really take on feedback well and are always asking for student input on where improvements could be made
- With this being a graduate-entry only intake (and the largest in the UK) there is a really good mix of students and makes for a diverse, well-rounded cohort
- Really good MedSoc, tons of societies and medic sports clubs
- Would say that the medical school itself tends to attract generally lovely people
Cons:
- First year is rough. I didn't quite fathom how hard it was going to be but genuinely, the first year at Warwick has really made me question my academic abilities at times.
- Hospitals are a ***** to get to in general if you don't have a car - BUT having said that there is usually always someone to carpool with so isn't too much of an issue
- Coventry isn't exactly the nicest place to be in (although Royal Leamington Spa is only a 15-20mins bus ride from main campus, and the actual Warwick campus itself isn't too bad)
- CBL might not be your cup of tea, I didn't mind it but others did find it to be a dull waste of time (though it is only twice a week so you learn to put up with it)
That's everything from the top of my head so far, will add if I think of anything else. Bottom line is that I've had a great time at WMS so far and would really recommend to anyone (if you're willing to put in the work!)
Reply 542
I’d love to hear any recent feedback on SGUL, in post-Covid land and how the course is now with online components etc.? Thanks.
Reply 543
Dunno how it is for others, but I can back up the part with bad education for Newcastle - loads of people failed med first year this time round, and those that passed mostly met the bare minimum. Why? I heard similar things. Horrid student-professor interactions, lack of decent feedback, etc... it's not a great situation, and Newcastle is eventaully going to get called out on it. Can only hope the students aren't affected too badly
Reply 544
19
Original post
by snollama2030Dunno how it is for others, but I can back up the part with bad education for Newcastle - loads of people failed med first year this time round, and those that passed mostly met the bare minimum. Why? I heard similar things. Horrid student-professor interactions, lack of decent feedback, etc... it's not a great situation, and Newcastle is eventaully going to get called out on it. Can only hope the students aren't affected too badly
Good to hear people speaking up about bad experiences that some British medical schools are putting their students through. Read my post #541 above where I mentioned that people reading these posts are likely to have had identical experiences at other British medical schools, not just Newcastle. It happens all across the UK. The only reason we haven't heard about it more often is because the institutions haven't been found out yet. I for one actually want to speed up that process.
That's why we need medical students to call out Newcastle right now, not eventually. The sooner we expose what's really going on at these medical schools that treat students like ****, the sooner we stop it happening to all the other students in the future who will be put through the same things. I would be very interested to read about what's going on in much more detail than you have provided here. I would recommend you or any of your friends at Newcastle to write a longer account. You can do it anonymously if you prefer, like another person did earlier. These conversations need to happen openly and frequently if you want to build a case against Newcastle, and I will certainly help you do that.
Reply 545
wow. things must have really changed. I am a newcastle graduate and have nothing but positive things to say about the course and my own experience there. I stayed in the area for F1 and F2 and don't regret it one bit.
I am genuinely so shocked by all these negative comments and can't quite understand how things could be so different now.
I am genuinely so shocked by all these negative comments and can't quite understand how things could be so different now.
Reply 546
Original post
by snollama2030Dunno how it is for others, but I can back up the part with bad education for Newcastle - loads of people failed med first year this time round, and those that passed mostly met the bare minimum. Why? I heard similar things. Horrid student-professor interactions, lack of decent feedback, etc... it's not a great situation, and Newcastle is eventaully going to get called out on it. Can only hope the students aren't affected too badly
A quick look at your post history tells me that you're resitting A-levels and you're not considering medicine at uni.
Reply 547
I think it was originally just a few individual issues that'd been festering, and didn't really effect most people too badly pre-covid. During and post covid all of those issues probably really took off. It sounds absolutely horrid to do med school online with limited ways to cool off and relax - for most stressed uni students a nice night out, or a nice holiday makes all the difference, but that was entirely blocked off. Then more students turned to teachers and profs for support, which clearly didn't work out for them. I'm sure the staff had a lot on their hands too, but I feel like they really failed in supporting the students in that time and gotten a bit lazy and too lax now that the threat is gone. Thus, more students are noticing it and feeling an impact.
Original post
by Anonymouswow. things must have really changed. I am a newcastle graduate and have nothing but positive things to say about the course and my own experience there. I stayed in the area for F1 and F2 and don't regret it one bit.
I am genuinely so shocked by all these negative comments and can't quite understand how things could be so different now.
I am genuinely so shocked by all these negative comments and can't quite understand how things could be so different now.
Reply 548
Original post
by hungrysalamanderA quick look at your post history tells me that you're resitting A-levels and you're not considering medicine at uni.
I have a bunch of friends that went to Newcastle for Med- I'm referring to them. I guess I didn't make it clear, but when I said I heard things I meant that my friends told me. I live in Newcastle. I'm in contact with quite a few people in the uni, so I thought I'd share my thoughts. I'm Indian, so there is literally an entire community of med/econ/tech students and graduates that I know.
I'm absolutely a uni less bum that is indeed considering resitting a levels for the ?second time i think? due a series of very unfortunate events. Looking to go into Econ with Nottingham since they're solidly accepting resit students
I had considered med at uni too, though I quickly realized it wasn't for me. 2 weeks at the GP practice and 1 week at the hospital, alongside realising the amount of memorization and learning med students have to do had me bolting at first sight lol, I'll stick to computers and economics. Lot more independence in the content I get to learn that way, and I do enjoy the general subject areas too.
I know you must think you're Sherlock, but chill my dude, I'm not out to slander Newcastle uni just cuz i felt like it.
Reply 549
Original post
by snollama2030I have a bunch of friends that went to Newcastle for Med- I'm referring to them. I guess I didn't make it clear, but when I said I heard things I meant that my friends told me. I live in Newcastle. I'm in contact with quite a few people in the uni, so I thought I'd share my thoughts. I'm Indian, so there is literally an entire community of med/econ/tech students and graduates that I know.
I'm absolutely a uni less bum that is indeed considering resitting a levels for the ?second time i think? due a series of very unfortunate events. Looking to go into Econ with Nottingham since they're solidly accepting resit students
I had considered med at uni too, though I quickly realized it wasn't for me. 2 weeks at the GP practice and 1 week at the hospital, alongside realising the amount of memorization and learning med students have to do had me bolting at first sight lol, I'll stick to computers and economics. Lot more independence in the content I get to learn that way, and I do enjoy the general subject areas too.
I know you must think you're Sherlock, but chill my dude, I'm not out to slander Newcastle uni just cuz i felt like it.
I'm absolutely a uni less bum that is indeed considering resitting a levels for the ?second time i think? due a series of very unfortunate events. Looking to go into Econ with Nottingham since they're solidly accepting resit students
I had considered med at uni too, though I quickly realized it wasn't for me. 2 weeks at the GP practice and 1 week at the hospital, alongside realising the amount of memorization and learning med students have to do had me bolting at first sight lol, I'll stick to computers and economics. Lot more independence in the content I get to learn that way, and I do enjoy the general subject areas too.
I know you must think you're Sherlock, but chill my dude, I'm not out to slander Newcastle uni just cuz i felt like it.
Objection hearsay
Reply 550
Original post
by GrandMedicObjection hearsay
Can confirm I have a video of a friend complaining over a MEGA PINT of beer about uni
Reply 551
17
Do ppl have points about HYMS?
Reply 552
Original post
by Rara345Do ppl have points about HYMS?
I've been told it's decent but me saying that is hearsay👀. I dont live in York, so I won't say much about it. Best thing to do is see if there's any open days and ask multiple students, or find a med student on LinkedIn there and ask them
Reply 553
17
Original post
by snollama2030I've been told it's decent but me saying that is hearsay👀. I dont live in York, so I won't say much about it. Best thing to do is see if there's any open days and ask multiple students, or find a med student on LinkedIn there and ask them
Thanks :0)
I spoke to some HYMS students but it was at an open day and all positive- wanted to hear the cons haha
Reply 554
Any one with insight into Buckingham: especially the teaching, and.
pass or fail rates?
Thanks
pass or fail rates?
Thanks
Reply 555
is there an updated version for UEA?
Reply 556
Any updated information about Exeter Medical School ,Please?
Reply 557
could I caution that any advice on this thread will be personal opinion and sometimes people have axes to grind or a desire to big up their own university medical school
perhaps reading advice here has some validity, especially if many people flag up the same issues or praise the same aspects of a medical school course…
but over time I have seen that it is better to speak to people at the school, already, or with very recent experience of it
if you can, do visit the medical schools in person to form your *own opinions*
perhaps reading advice here has some validity, especially if many people flag up the same issues or praise the same aspects of a medical school course…
but over time I have seen that it is better to speak to people at the school, already, or with very recent experience of it
if you can, do visit the medical schools in person to form your *own opinions*
(edited 11 months ago)
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