Medicine 2020 (part 2)

[Monkey2001]

This follows on from the first thread - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3380915-Medicine-2020

Sorry to butt in (and well done to those with offers :D) - but I just wanted to second the encouragement to take up Sheffield’s offer of accommodation for their offer holder day. We did it last year, I went up with Dd, we had adjacent (en-suite) rooms and it was a really good way for her to pick up on the ‘vibe’ of the place and picture herself there. She didnt end up at Sheffield as she put it as insurance, but it really reduced the stress of results day, knowing that if she didn’t get the grades for her firm choice, then she would have been happy at Sheffield x

We went last year too, including the accommodation offer. Would definitely recommend (we'll probably go again this year!) As well as getting a feel for the course it helped us to decide on accommodation (Sheffield allow you to chose where you want to be down to the room, flat, block, hall and gives you the opportunity to get to know your flat mates too). I only wish I had taken a few photos to help plan for what DS would need to take with him. DS is being vague about dates at mo so not sure when we'll be going (prob March).

Hi, we're a bit confused as have had offer for sheffield but not invite to offer holder day yet.... DS has logged onto account and has offer day for back up biomed but no mention of medicine yet. Do we book biomed or be patient? Are they on same day? Any others received invite for medicine day? Sorry to fuss.

Hello medic mums. Hope it's ok to drop in. I skim the medic threads every now and then (brings back the agonies and ecstasies of year 13 ) I was you 3 years ago and ds chose Sheffield. He's very happy there. I noticed the pros and cons of Sheffield vs St A's so I'd be happy to try and answer questions from a Sheff perspective.
Funnily the points which were St Andrews pros also seem to match

• everything is SO near everywhere else within the town Ok, not true for sheffield city but Sheffield 'studentland' is a very small bubble with the halls, hospitals and med school all close. DS has found that an advantage of Sheffield compared to his friends at other unis is that the hospitals where the later year placements happen are nearly all travelling distance of the city so the upper years are still all around and mingling with the others
• very strong links between different year groups, so very good sense of community -this has been true for ds in Sheffield. Can't compare to other places obviously. They have a 'parent' system of upper years mentoring the lower. DS has lots of friends from other years in particular through his medics sport team.
• bragging rights about being 2nd best uni in the country according to some league table Sheffield can't compete there but medicine does well on student satisfaction scores
• students are very proactive in organising parties, balls etc - social life seems to be non-stop if you want it, and cheap Oh yes. I'm guessing that probably goes for many med schools. They like a good social those young docs
• full body dissections Yes Sheffield does. DS thinks it helped him learn more than he would have done any other way
• fresh air - Sheffield has the Peak District on the doorstep and everyone seems to be a climber
• beach, of course . Can't compete there!

Good luck to all your dcs. There were several people in ds's year who didn't initially get offers and ended up getting in eventually.

@chickpeamad no invite here yet either - I've had DS search emails and Muse (I guess this would explain DS's vagueness!)

Thank you, that's reassuring.

I can also echo @Amoamasamat as my DS also at Sheffield in second year. Also from a mums point of view it is a lovely city and feels safe. I love visiting him - lots of lovely restaurants and so easy to get out walking in the Peak District. My DS had choice of 3 and chose Sheffield after the open day as he loved it so much

We got the e-mails about offer holder days etc for Biomed. We had already booked accommodation for the night of the 20th, we are planning to switch from Biomed to Med. DS has been out so I don't know whether he has had the med invitation yet.

Warm congrats to all the offers collected to date and the recent Sheffield offers, its lovely to see people popping back from last years thread to give a bit of feedback. Here’s mine - overall very very happy. Access to qualified counselling therapy via NHS (should your DC ever need it) - totally rubbish....you have to try and sort yourself out.
Refunds on travel costs from uni - not good. This has raised our maintenance payment for DD significantly. Sorry but, I’m going to make these points for others to chew over in their deliberations.

@Tinkobell sorry to hear it has not been a smooth path, hope counselling is good now if still needed. Has your DD needed to do much travelling in the first year? I assumed that would come in the placements in later years.

Hi Monkey - nope, 6 months in, no formalised NHS counselling set up. Now this might be part of a bigger national crisis for accessing talking therapies and it’s bad everywhere. But if anyone’s thinking it’s fast and easy in Sheffield, I’m afraid it isn’t.
In the first year they just do one day every 2 weeks in a GP practise. In addition, they have patient visits (case study) and a full week placement in specialist unit. So actually, the travel costs can rack up. Many students are sent to Doncaster, Rotherham etc. Sometimes, they can grab/share lifts with one another ...but not always. The specialist placement week added about £30 in travel. If they don’t make a packed lunch everyday then there’s the added cost of a canteen lunch too.
This hasn’t been a deal breaker, it’s just irritating for us when others (Nottingham) do reimburse travel more fully.

DD is our eldest. As an inexperienced parent, I think I probably believed that uni students were somehow dealt with in a separate system for talking therapies to the rest of the local population. The uni does have very well advertised helplines etc with counsellors. But should your DC require any clinical input (from a clinical psychologist as opposed to a general counsellor) it was shock to me to discover that certainly at Sheffield, they’re just referred into the local NHS services and waitlists - and it seems that those waitlists are long.

Sorry to hear that, that sounds like it could be very disruptive if she has not got something running until it is almost time to go back home for the summer. We have a friend with a DD doing medicine at Sheffield and she has been well supported by the medical school through problems. She is currently taking a break from the course, but I think they are holding her place open, which a lot of medical schools would not do. Hope it gets better for your DD soon.

Your description of the complicated time they have makes me think DS would probably be happier at St Andrews which is (I think) very much campus based for the first 3 years.

Thanks @Monkey2001 ....I don’t want to do Sheffield a disservice in what I’m saying because for all I know it might well be exactly the same scenario country-wide. Is the ethos there supportive? Absolutely! Do they make reasonable course adjustments? Definitely! What I’m talking about it the nuts and bolts of actually accessing a pretty basic level of specialist support in a timely manner; and that hasn’t been easy.
Medicine is a stressful course over 5 years and MH issues are sadly higher and very common amongst this group of students. Because they are often natural “copers” in a role of treating and aiding others I think a lot of students are reluctant to disclose their MH issues. Mine very bravely has and is getting support of her own back.

There are travel expenses at QM too - getting from halls to lectures, practicals, clinical skills - all split sites, plus in the first year I think 12 or so GP placement sessions which can be some way away - travel only refunded beyond zone 3 I think. I don’t know whether travel to clinical placements from year 3 onwards is subsidised at all, but likely only if they are outside of London I expect. So it adds quite a bit of expense but the plus side is that they get a vivid picture of the realities of the medical profession, for good and for bad. It’s hard but when I asked my DD is she wouldn’t rather have gone to a smaller, “cosier” for want of a better word med school, she said that she couldn’t imagine being anywhere else as she loves being able to travel all over by tube! So there you are! If it suits, it suits!

@Baytreemum ....that’s lovely that she enjoys it so much! DD GP placement is excellent. The specialist unit placement was not well organised with the consultant frankly barely acknowledging the students which was a shame.....but probably horses for courses within the overall 5 year picture. I think we are considering a small car from Year 2/3 as the placement hours ramp up. Geographically most placements are c30mins by car but if you’re tied to trains / buses can be up 2 hrs each way.

This may seem a silly question, but is all work experience meant to be written in the PS? Otherwise how do the med schools know? So what you did and how long for e.g x years working as waitress,a week clinical shadowing etc?
That could take up a lot of space on the PS.
And as reflection is important, where does that fit into application?
If they've done a few diff things, this could end up as whole PS?
And some uni's don't use PS?
I know that Keele have a separate form, something like roles and responsibilities but what about the others? Just list it all in prose with a bit of reflection and linking it to qualities it taught you, eg teamwork?

That was meant to be on medicine 2021 - sorry!!

@Tinkobell - a car sounds a great help - the clinical placements in later years do sound awfully strenuous so anything we can do to help.....
@abitoflight - I would work on using work experience to illustrate skills and competences your DC has learned - try to compress them like that.

@abitoflight....pertinence and insight gleaned from any relevant work experience has got to be key. Most med schools recognise the huge variation in the types of work applicants have been able to secure. But showing hands on caring-type tasks, dealing with people, listening and learning as well as handling any messy stuff in a mature manner are all very worthy of outlining in a PS. How this experience might have peaked future curiosity to learn within the field of medicine would be good too. Some unis though, Sheffield is one, claim not to assess PS, so depends on the Uni. Bristol weight PS quite highly I think. Either way, it’s a good exercise to go through as the content of PS is bound to be pulled apart further down the line at interview.

Just to update Tinkobell's information, Bristol used to use personal statements but now selects for interview entirely on UCAT score. Very few medical schools read personal statements before interview (Cardiff and Imperial do; I'm not sure where else), and often only one interviewer on an MMI circuit will even have seen the personal statement.

I agree about the importance of using experiences to demonstrate the applicant's personal attributes and motivation for pursuing medicine, rather than just listing places and dates.

By the way, it's "piqued", not "peaked". Sorry if that was just an autocorrect.

St Andrews also use PS to select for interview, but only to make sure you have explored medicine. Cambridge use it. I think Leeds read it but don't score it.

Sheffield don't look at it, Newcastle just check for red flags.

Maybe we should make a list of those which use it for selection, those which just read it and those which ignore or just have admin review and the ones which give you their own form (Keele, Nottingham, Manchester?) - would be nice to know for future applicants worrying the PS.

@Monkey2001 as a parent of a DD hoping to apply for 2021, a list regarding the PS would be of great help. However, I appreciate this would take a lot of time to put together.

Just also wanted to take a moment to say how helpful the information here is.

Thank you

Just to update. DD got an offer from Keele today - her favourite and she is so happy. Just AAA as well which is great - though of course still a high enough bar. She is happy to waiting for news from UEA and Nottingham now!!

Excellent Piggy. Well done to your DD.