Medicine 2021 - Part 3

[SATSmadness]

Hoping for interviews and offers all round, now and well into next year !

MaddieElla same here. It was a surprise to me that had to firm insure and reject at the same time. No issue at all with older ones uni choices so I didn't know. I'm thinking it'll work out ok. It's DD's first choice but she needs to wait. She's not bothered about bathroom situations though and not bothered about longer walk to med school.
Truthfully all I'm worrying about now is if she gets her grades

This refers to Nottingham btw

@WithIcePlease DD waited until end of March to accept Nottingham and ended up on campus with a shared bathroom (between her and one other girl). Huge room with view of the downs. Was other side of campus but still only 20 minute walk. And what a walk. It's such a beautiful campus.

Hi everyone,
My DD has an offer to study Medicine at Bristol and needs advice on halls! Can anyone help?

@Aperolspritz70 fantastic news. Mine is doing vet med at Bristol and us in OH I the city. She has friends at Courtrooms, Churchill and Hyatt Baker, all v happy. Don't think you can go too wrong with any hall. Depends whether want catered or not .

Thanks so much. She's getting in a tiz because her first thought was OH as it's near the campus and hospital but she's worried that it won't be as sociable as the halls further out and she is so looking forward to having fun again after the last year! That really helps, thanks.

@Monkey2001 thank you for your help so far! We’ve had a look at accommodation and DD was pretty set on self catered as she’s vegetarian and also likes to cook and bake!

However I’ve just found the menus and the vegetarian food looks amazing!

Can I ask, if they are on a catered agreement, do they all still have use of a kitchen in case every so often they’d like to cook? I guess they must do as I don’t think there are evening meals on the weekends.

Also, do you know roughly how many share a bathroom please if they don’t have an en suite?

@Aperolspritz70 OH has been v sociable this year, even in lockdown. In fact it's been perfect as walking distance to Spoons (so they were first in Q), has a large open courtyard so they could mix outside last term. DD has made some fantastic friends, loves the city and walks everywhere and walks up the hill to campus on days she has stuff. Obviously there have not been huge flat parties this term but I think they are planning them for after June 21st.

@Aperolspritz70 my dd also has an offer for Bristol. She is currently waiting to hear back from a couple of others so no decisions have been made yet, but if she were to choose Bristol she likes Orchard Heights and The Courtrooms and would most likely put those first.

My DD is in Wills Hall but has friends in OH and Courtrooms. Wills is all catered and have a lovely dining room, normally they have formals but nothing this year because of C19. Wills has lots of green space and is very sociable, she has found the walk/bus into the city absolutely fine. The SB halls are nearer to the sports facilities. I haven't heard anything negative about any Bristol halls to be honest from DD.

Apologies for going off on a tangent but DS's eighteenth is coming up and close family friend wants to buy him a great medical reference book to mark the occasion. Friend is looking to buy Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice (42nd Edition - 2020). There is also a Gray's Anatomy for Students (4th Edition) but this looks a bit more like a study textbook. Being a non-medic, I don't really have a clue and don't want him to make an expensive mistake. Advice please!

@opoponax I'll ask DD ASAP. Not sure she's bought many books as so expensive

@opoponax - It's worth finding out what textbooks he'll have access to via his university library (physical copies and online access) before anyone spends lots of money on one. Most medical schools will have paid for students' access to various online anatomy learning resources, and many will provide their own as well. Most of our first- and second-year medical students have never bought a book; all of my lectures (not anatomy) have links to relevant online textbooks in them, and most of my colleagues would also include links to relevant book chapters, review articles in journals, etc.

Also, his anatomy teachers might routinely refer students to content in a different textbook from the one she has acquired before starting. (I don't think our anatomy team ever refer to Gray's.) This might make him feel a bit left out, as it will be difficult for him to justify to himself buying another textbook when his family friend has so generously given him one.

There are books that most students seem to use from third year onwards, and some use before that to relate basic medical science learning to clinical practice. The most popular of these is Kumar & Clark's Clinical Medicine - www.amazon.co.uk/Clarks-Clinical-Medicine-Feather-FAcadMEd/dp/0702078689?tag=mumsnetforu03-21. Your son should see whether he can contact a current student to find out whether this would be useful. Does his university use a system like Unibuddy that prospective students can contact current students through?

The latest edition of Gray's Anatomy costs about £135. Depending how much early skills training & clinical contact his medical school offers, he might prefer a stethoscope, a manual sphygmomanometer, a tendon hammer, or something like that.

Sorry for referring to your son as "she". It's sometimes hard to remember that we do have some male students.

Thank you so much @NoNotHimTheOtherOne. I'm so glad you told me that before he bought it as I think it could have been a bit of a red herring and £135 is rather a lot to spend on a book. No problem about the 'she' label - when I started on this thread I frequently referred to him as DD as I wasn't au fait with Mumsnet speak. Joking aside though, in his close friendship group, there are a number of the girls applying for med and hardly any boys. Thank you too @mumsneedwine for offering to ask your DD.

Hi @opoponax. I nearly bought Gray's, glad I didn't as there were loads of copies in the Uni library when DD arrived. Also as others have commented the med schools vary on text book requirements.

All the books are available free on like. They don't even need to go to a library.

Regular poster here who has changed username to say I have a medical student DS at Bristol too. Loves it. 👋

@LaLaFlottes Other mums who say their DC are picky said they have been happy with food. I think about 10 students share several (3?) shower rooms, will check with DS. They are cleaned every day.

Yes, there are kitchens, but the one DS has is not great, just like a large broom cupboard and he says the rings on the oven don't work well (he is in the Lumsden bit of University Hall). There is also nowhere to sit and eat other than the corridor or your bedroom, so it is fine for once or twice a week, but you would not want to cook for yourself regularly. You could ask the others on the St Andrews thread what their kitchens are like, it is a lovely thread and they will all be happy to answer from different perspectives - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/4103843-St-Andrews-into-2021-new-thread and may b

@opoponax my DS has not needed any books either. He did need a stethoscope and a lab coat (@LaLaFlottes St Andrews require a "Howie style" lab coat which were sold out in normal sizes almost everywhere when we were looking - just XS and XXXL left!). Some medical schools provide those though or give the student a voucher.

Another thing which could be a pretty cool gift is a skeleton like - www.anatomystuff.co.uk/mr-thrifty-flexible-skeleton-model-with-spinal-nerves.html. @NoNotHimTheOtherOne what do you think?

I got him an anatomy colouring book as a joke present which was surprisingly useful!

@opoponax - my d (second year, imperial) said her most used resource has been the Netters flashcards. Also depending on which uni he’s hoping to go to, they might get the other stuff given. D had a (littman’s cardiology) stethoscope, white coat and iPad issued by the med school. Scrubs were useful though - partly for pub crawls!

Oh - and she just bought theatre clogs for placement

Thank you @Monkey2001

I think since seeing the menus DD is coming round to the idea of catered - I'm not surprised as the meals look delicious!

I will put a note on the other thread just to ask the question about kitchens. Thanks for the heads up about the lab coat too. Much appreciated.

A bit of a silly question - but does you DS use a bike to get around or just walk?

@LaLaFlottes St Andrews is tiny! The walk from most halls to medical school is less than 10 mins. If your DD likes to go for bike rides for pleasure/exercise she could take a bike, but you don't need one in any of the halls.

@Monkey2001 thank you! It's been many years since I've been to St Andrews and I wasn't sure!