Medicine 2021 - Part 4

[MaddieElla]

Fingers crossed for those final offers coming in!

Hope no one minds me starting the new thread...

Thanks ,much appreciated .

The NHS bursary and reduced maintenance loan in England works out at £2-3k less than the maintenance loan @Halifaxgirl. Tuition fees are paid and travel costs to placements can be claimed too. For example, the full maintenance loan in London is £12382 but the full NHS grant, NHS bursary, maximum NHS payments for extra weeks over 30 weeks, and reduced student loan add up to £9921, so a shortfall of £2461 and barely enough to cover rent in London.

At my DS's uni, they have very generous bursaries of up to £5k per year during the first 4 years for students whose parents earn under £60k, which helps a lot to put something away for years 5/6.

It's something that is worth considering when applying to med school - whether the NHS bursary will cover the cost of living in the location. The bursaries are means tested on parents' income just like the student loans.

Thanks chesirecat99,. I suspected it would be less .Her university city is not cheap !

@chesirecat99 why DD never looked at London sadly. Her loan and bursary will be almost identical luckily.

It depends on medical school. Some provide accommodation for placements. DD had two "away" and one "home"placement for her final two years. She really only needs 6 months accommodation in her University town. She says that the Med School are understanding and that those who have finance issues can be offered priority for away placements.

There is a level of swings and roundabouts. MN loves emphasising the disadvantages of London. I am not sure they are so clear cut. DD has had a car since the second year and it has been really useful in getting to placements and GP sessions. None of her peers during her intercalation in London have cars, or would even want them.

Just can't afford London even though it's my home town 🤷‍♀️. Love the place but it's stupidly pricey these days.
DD's Uni provide all accommodation for placements and petrol if near by. And give bursaries. Definitely a criteria when choosing. DD starts 4th year on 23rd July so has no long summer and we factored this in as means her loan has to last a lot longer.

Rents are falling quite sharply in London to the extent that Bristol, where the University is located in a very pricey part of town, is possibly more expensive. (I am a landlord in London and wish I could achieve the sorts of rents DD and her friends pay in Bristol.)

My advice is to choose the course you like most and then make it work. The teaching during DDs intercalation year in London has been first rate. Placements are within commuting distance and no car is required. The University offers perhaps the best bursaries of any in the UK, and are definitely worth enquiring about.

The major cost differences are obviouly between the five and six year degrees. And there, to some extent it depends what sort of doctor you want go be. Stating the obvious, but a six year degree gives you six years of learning, or more specifically, three years of pre-clinical.

I teally dont think it is worth getting into the length of summer vacations. University vary a lot and it is hard to work out the
pros and cons of the different approaches. In practice those that need to earn work as HCAs in both term time and holidays and try to sort out placementsso they don'tneed to pay for accommodation. Vacations vary. DD had relatively short ones at the end of her first, second and third years as teaching went on go the bitter end and they had three week placements before the next ter started. This summer she gets three whole months, but faces finals this time next year. There won't be time to revise during clinical training so she plans to tackle the bulk of it now.

I was not aware that mumsneedwine lived in London. For many, especially young people, London is a great place to live, and there is a lot that students can do without spending much money. Each to their own, but please dont rule out some excellent medical schools based on an idea that London is unaffordable. Not least those applicants with a very academic profile may find their chances of gaining a place are higher at schools like UCL, QMUL, and Imperial than they might be elsewhere.

London born and bred me. Love the place, it's my home, but even the rubbish bits are now expensive. Bristol rent costing me £125 a week next year - not sure anywhere in inner London costs that. Cheapest we heard of near RVC was over £200 for a tiny room. Notts costs £80 a week so much easier to afford.
London in my favourite place, the Unis are amazing. But lots of people just can't afford it.

As a landlord I can assure you, you are wrong. I don't know which bit of inner London you live in, but a studio in Pimlico is not much more than £200 a week. (The estate agents window I was looking in had three.) However most students share and aim for cheaper areas.

@Needmoresleep 🤷‍♀️ I've never found a place near a Uni in London that we can afford. Yes in Zone 3/4 but if living in the suburbs it's going to cost more in travel.
Hopefully as a landlord you can give realistic rents to students. Be lovely if it was affordable to more people.
We don't have the money to be landlords so watching every penny makes London pricey. I love the place and my kids have grown up knowing it's their parents home town. Let's hope rents continue to fall so it becomes accessible to all. That would be fantastic as there are great Unis there.
Unfortunately for a lot of people cost of living has to be factored in to Uni choice and going North is cheaper.

@mumsneedwine a friend's DD at Southbank has just booked a very smart new build 2 bed flat in central London where they are paying £165/week each. Central Bristol university en suite is a similar price.

blackkatz.com/london-se1-6hd--uk_30605r.htm

@Monkey2001 that's fantastic. Glad to know there are some places cheaper. But £165 a week is still a lot. For halls you know they will be pricey (& not for whole year), but after that rent is usually much cheaper. My DD will be in a 7 double bedroom massive house, 10 mins walk to Uni and a dishwasher for £125 a week. Still a lot but just about manageable. The extra £40 a week is £2,000 a year which we just don't have.
DD in Notts pays £80 a week. I wish money was not a factor but for many people in the squeezed middle it has to be taken into account.

@mumsneedwine yes, student funding is toughest on the squeezed middle. The highest loan is £3k extra in London and bursaries available, minimum loan £1.7k extra in London, so it is comparable with Bristol, but both are more expensive than Newcastle, Sheffield, Nottingham.

I struggle with this thread now, most of the posters DCs have not even started yet at medical school. Worry about funding in later years once they are in.

@Ginprincess a question was asked and answered with a tiny bit of debate. By people who have tried to help this year. Apologies if this annoys you.

@Ginprincess - I thought this thread was for dc starting in September - I'm a bit confused.

I am sorry @Millylovespuddles and @ginprincess, didn’t intend to derail or upset . I used a similar thread as my “go to”when my daughter was applying to medical school . The collective support and knowledge was so helpful .Good luck to your young people .

I'll go away then as this is only for applicants this year. Sorry.
Sometimes conversations occur, like they would in real life, that change the focus for a while. No one has to read them 🤷‍♀️

@mumsneedwine please don't go. You have been so helpful to all of us applying this year. This has always been a really friendly and helpful thread. Yes it is about advice for this years applicants but it wouldn't have been the same without the advice from you and the other regulars that have already gone through the process.

@mumsneedwine please don’t go - we all appreciate your help and I hope you know that

It’s a thread created for DC hoping to start in September but I for one am happy to read anything that relates to the course, whether it’s something to be aware of now or for the future. The thread moves on, from entrance exams, to where to apply, to, interviews, offers - it’s so helpful and I have gained a lot from it.

From the recent posts I’m now more aware of things I wouldn’t have been. DD is not going to a London Uni, however should she wish to intercalate there I now have some views on costs that I wouldn’t have had.

Also thanks to @Halifaxgirl question I have some insight into the later years which will help us plan financially.

So please don’t apologise @Halifaxgirl as far as I am concerned any questions on the thread are more than welcome. I hope your DD is loving her time at medical school.

I hope everyone is coping ok with the assessments and that all our DC soon can have some time to relax. It’s a rollercoaster of a process isn’t it!

Thanks @ LaLaFlottes for the lovely comment .Yes she loves her course .Her experience had been very positive despite covid .
Thanks for your help @mumsneedwine .

This thread has been one of the few good things about this rubbish year. I have found it to be so supportive throughout this stressful application process. It's been great to have been able to connect with others going through the same thing but the contributions of @mumsneedwine and others who have come out the other side have been of huge value for moral support, advice and just to help me keep some perspective. It's great to have a bit of variation on the thread too with other posters asking questions about things that are further down the line for us. I too found the funding issue raised by @Halifaxgirl and the ensuing discussion about London really interesting as DS may well intercalate in London. Please no one go anywhere!

I agree with @opoponax and @LaLaFlottes! All the different perspectives and experiences are invaluable, even if it’s not directly relevant right now, it’s good to know about the challenges ahead if dc are successful in getting into medical school.

DD is out of the game for 2021 admission but I've still found the various discussions on this thread to date very useful assuming that she decides to re-apply for medicine so thanks to all those sharing information of all kinds.

Forewarned is forearmed and all that !

@SATSmadness I really hope your DD does decide to reapply next year. Also hope the assessments are going well for her.