Looking for integrated medicine courses

[Elizabeth648]

Dd is in year 13 and will be applying for medicine courses very soon but is currently struggling to find universities which strike the balance between traditional and PBL/CBL that she’s looking for as she finds all universities like to emphasise their ‘early patient contact’ and ‘integrated learning style’ on their websites when this perhaps doesn’t reflect the course structure in real life. Any ideas for universities which have a real element of pbl/cbl but not as extreme as Manchester would be greatly appreciated.

I could be wrong but I think PBL may be going out of fashion.

I don’t want to be harsh but your Dd really can’t be too fussy about where she applies to. She has to be very strategic & look at where she has the best chance of getting an interview. At the end of the day it really won’t matter too much where she has studied in terms of her career but of course it has to be a city/town that she will be happy to live in for 5/6 years.

She is in a very fortunate position where she has top GCSEs and managed to secure a very good ucat. While it’s a blessing in one sense, it has meant that she can be fussy which has led to lots of umming and ahing

Which universities are in contention OP?

She’s pretty sure she’ll be putting Bristol, Nottingham and Leeds (will be doing the bmat for it) down and is trying to find a 4th

Does she have a favourite?

If as you say she has top stats and she's very happy with one of those choices, and can see herself enjoying life at the other two, then she shouldn't waste too much energy on fretting about which fourth.

Dd is at Leeds & very happy. Birmingham was another she applied to. Has your Dd considered it? I always think it’s good to study in a reasonably big diverse city where you will come across a variety of interesting diseases etc.

Looks like your DD is choosing which medical school to go to, OP. Maybe I've lost touch with the present application process but it wasn't like this in my DS's days when everyone had top GCSE's, A-levels, BMATs and UKCATs etc - barring a few jokers, of course. I remember telling him then he'd have to go to the University of Land's End or University of Timbuktu if required... in the event, he managed to get into the University of Our Backyard where he was extremely happy and thoroughly enjoyed himself and the course.

goodbyestranger think Bristol and Leeds come out on top of Nottingham but she’d be very happy to go to any of these
dechorate She’s had a look at Bham but the course seems very traditional
peteneras I mean if she has to pick 4 universities to apply to surely it would make sense to pick the 4 that you like best (assuming you have a high chance of getting to interview there of course)

I have a friend at York/Hull and she’s had one day a week patient contact from the first term. No idea about their PBL content.

I don’t think nottingham has much early patient contact unless things have changed very recently.

Nottingham has early contact. From first term you get allocated a GP and do placement days there. You also do 3 hospital days on wards relating to the system they are studying. Do full body dissection and variety of different learning styles. And you get an extra degree without doing an extra year.

Sheffield might be a good fit too.

Then if nottingham is of interest remember that Lincoln nkw has a medical school which is linked to nottingham.

If she likes Bristol's course, she might also like Cardiff. Bristol based their new course on Cardiff's. DD has just started 3rd year there

DD is at Bristol. There seems to be a good mix of academic and practical, and the area covered includes urban and rural and just about everything else. She found she enjoyed her placement at a smaller hospital as much as the one at one of Bristol’s big teaching hospitals as people went out of their way to support and educate.

She is currently taking advantage of the option to intercalate elsewhere, and is at the UKs leading research centre for the subject, which seems to be a huge plus. Not all medical schools offer this.

MN always makes a big thing about full body dissections, which Bristol does not offer. DD was never bothered and says the alternative ( not sure what it is called) saves time.

London is not too far away and not too expensive by coach, which has meant that DD has been able to attend conferences, which inter alia have helped clarify the areas she is most interested in.

Has she looked at Dundee Uni? Excellent reputation with human anatomy taught by full body dissection

I would second that re Dundee. Very hands on and a high rating from students. My son went there though he had offers from Edinburgh and Aberdeen as well. He just liked the place and felt a good fit. They do stations where you go from one to the next as part of your interview process. Or they did, time passes. He loved the place, he did dissecting in his first year in his first term. They went on shifts with the ambulance service to see how it operates, visits to an undertaker and even a funeral service for the people who allowed their remains to be dissected by the medical students. To be honest visit the medical schools, the prospective student will get a feel of the place.

Yes OP, I agree: with top stats in hand your DD can afford to be selective and choose four that she reckons she'd really enjoy. That's exactly what my own DS did, with pretty much flawless stats and a very good manner, - somewhere between confident, funny and polite - which was always going to help at interview. Top stats won't help if your manner is that of an arrogant little so-and-so whose parents and/ or school have said you're the smartest thing since sliced bread.

Yes, how about a Scottish Uni?

Given that you haven't mentioned them, I assume she's discounted Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and Imperial, even though she's sitting the BMAT?

Cardiff

Alright, Elizabeth648, I was a bit sarcastic there and I apologise. It's events like this when you may have 4 straight As in your A-levels coupled with 11 GCSE As plus 1A and still don't get an offer that makes you think academics is just one part in the whole process of medicine application. When my DS was applying around this time, all we wanted was just 1 single offer; doesn't matter which type, BMAT or UKCAT (as it was called then - he had interviews in both) and we never gave a monkey's what course structure they might be or where the school was. The logic was you move around like a nomad anyway once you're at the proper course structure (DS was all over the south of England only coming back to London occasionally for exams and other important events) and if you're worth your salt as a medical doctor, then it doesn't matter what teaching style your school may adopt because at the end of the tunnel when you finally emerge, you're expected to be proficient in all aspects of medicine.

Well, quite unlike a couple of schools I might add where the tendency is one of in-breeding and don't much look outside except of course, coming to London to have their students finally made a doctor.

peteneras it's always been blindingly obvious that grades are only a part, albeit a critical part. But the point OP makes is that given the grades, why not choose four unis that you'd like? If the DD lacks other competencies which are shown up at interview, then she won't get a place - but given her grades, she might as well opt for places she likes.

That's what DS did. Fortunately, he was fine in all his interviews too. He went to uni with masses just like him - top grades, and the other competencies too.

The whole point is that all top contenders have more than good enough academics. Places you like, you may not have the other attributes (besides academics) that the school is looking for and therefore, may not give you an interview. It's been said over and over again to apply to schools that look for qualities that you have.

In terms of getting an interview I know that Leeds purely looks at grades/BMAT now and does not look at personal statements at that stage. Whether they look at them in conjunction with interview performance I don’t know.

But I do agree that stellar academics is no guarantee. I know two young people who had straight A* at GCSE, excellent UKCAT, good work experience and both just had one offer (but obviously one is all you need). They were very glad to get in and there was certainly no sense of being able to pick and choose.

I'm surprised that you are feeling confident that DC will be in a position to pick and choose to be honest. Unless your DC is at private now with a tradition of Oxbridge post sixth form?

She is in a very fortunate position where she has top GCSEs and managed to secure a very good ucat. While it’s a blessing in one sense, it has meant that she can be fussy which has led to lots of umming and ahing

My word, you’re smugly confident