Medicine 2022 - Decision time!

[Monkey2001]

Support thread for aspiring medics.

We want all our DCs to succeed, whatever their school type. We share knowledge to help them to achieve their goals, celebrate success and support if things don't go well.

Lots of interviews now done, fingers crossed for lots of offers, but we know it is a tough year and that most applicants will have a bumpy ride. Best of luck everyone!

Previous thread - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/a4358647-Medicine-2022-entry?msgid=114590369#114590369

2023 applicant thread - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/4459778-Medicine-2023-Entry

DD told yesterday that accomm. during Bristol academy placements is free - so a student could keep their house in Bristol and head back at the weekends.

Ds2's experience in Sheffield is that 4th year students are still very much involved in their activities/ social lives.🙂 He's currently juggling a complex diary of a&e placement shifts with sports tournaments and social engagements - not much sleep involved but he's loving it all. Accommodation at placements in sheff is free in the hospitals furthest away (if a bit grim) but most placements are commutable from the city so most students stay in their student house and share lifts.

Hi all with DC already at medical school (or who know people who are and have asked the question). Somebody asked precisely the question we want to know on this thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/4514445-How-do-todays-uni-students-take-notes-in-lectures?pg=2

Except that medical school is/might be a bit different. So can any of you chip in as to what technology your DC have to take notes and what you would recommend? In our case, DS will not be that close to the medical school (Nottingham) in first year (Broadgate Park) as he wants to go self-catered and yet be as much in the thick of things as he could for first year (he has accommodation booked already, as they had an early accommodation window for those who have deferred) - meaning he is a good 20 minutes walk (I think) from the medical school (although I also think there is a public transport option that is slightly quicker) - so I am assuming (maybe incorrectly) that he will take his technology with him and work most of the day, between lectures etc, in one of the libraries near the medical school. Evenings/weekend presumably in his room.
So any tips on what technology to get? It feels potentially like quite an outlay, so we don't want to get this wrong. We have also never used Apple products in the past, so a bias towards anything that is not Apple.
Any help appreciated (although @mumsneedwine your input would be especially valuable given the Notts location of your DD).

Hi monkey - DC is choosing between Manchester and Bart’s (leaning towards Manchester at the moment). Has your DS been happy with Manchester so far? Are they told in year 1 when they will spend Yr3-5? 🙏

Sorry, not regular poster. Had meant to reply to @Monkey2001above…

Kingscote. Bristol is lucky to have a good selection of placements.

Accomodation is provided for "out" placements but many students retain accommodation in Bristol and return at weekends. The medical school is quite flexible, and is willing to arrange "out" placements for those who have less money (the NHS bursary is a lot less than the SF loan) allowing students to live rent free for their fourth and/or fifth years. There are always lifts on Friday and Sunday nights to and from placements. We are helping DD with accommodation costs this year, partly because she had 18 months stuck at home during lockdown, so wanted her to have a final year in Bristol. To balance things out she plans to live in placement accommodation next, sleeping on friends' Bristol floors when necessary. (I understand this is common.)

DD was playing University sport, but obviously stopped during lockdown. She has switched to medic sport, which is pretty casual. It would be quite hard to maintain a training schedule, especially if commuting and they don't seem to get their Wednesday afternoons off so availability for away fixtures become problematic.

More generally it is hard to say. A lot of societies are struggling as the second year who should be running them, never joined. She has been co-opted onto the Committee of one society that has by necessity ended up dominated by fourth year medics, as they try to recruit a new generation, but generally they seem to have outgrown University stuff. (Or perhaps this is just DD who with a gap year and an intercalation year is quite a lot older than freshers.) Fourth year is a busy year as Bristol has finals in June, so both placements and revision, so there is not much time. DD is spending a fair proportion of her weekends in the library. (Other medical schools seem to have finals in the autumn, which at least gives you the summer.)

@Medichopeful I don't have one at Manchester yet, but DS1 is at St Andrews and had a choice between Manchester and Barts for his clinical years. He chose Manchester because the cost of London is so oppressive, you generally can't afford to live near the medical school so spend a lot of time travelling. We are buying a lovely 2 bed flat in Manchester with funds from down-sizing grandparent - she gets good tenant, he gets good landlord, and there are plenty of 2 bed flats for around £1,000/month in very central locations. The 3 main hospitals are within 30 minute commute, which will have a really big impact on quality of life.

There is the risk of Preston though! They are allocated randomly, Manchester students find out in the first year. At St A you can't express a preference for any hospital unless you WANT Preston, but less than 10% go there, so it is a manageable risk. DS will still live in Manchester if he is allocated to Preston as he wants a city life after St A, but if your DS has the first two years in Manchester he may be more willing to live in Preston later.

I think the courses have a lot of similarities, so it really comes down to whether you want to be in London or not.

@Monkey2001 thanks so much for that. All the best to your DS not getting Preston! I have read around a bit and actually it sounds like one might end up with good, hands on, clinical experience at Preston - just a shame to leave Manchester after only two years but, as you say, maybe that’s ok. What a great idea to have a flat in Manchester. Your lucky DS!

@bimkom DS1 got a Surface Pro when he started as you can download lecture slides and annotate on screen as a notebook rather than make full notes, and also use as a laptop. But Covid meant he needs to watch the lectures on the laptop, so he has ended up hand writing his notes. There are loads of Youtube videos where students talk about how they take notes.

DS2 has also got a Surface Pro in case he goes this year. He is more of a tech user and would use it as intended.

@bimkom Broadgate Park is only just off campus and is huge. It has its own social life going on. The walk to med school is about 20 mins DD said (or 5 mins on free hopper bus). It's a beautiful walk and loads of friendships are made on the walk there and back. In the summer the meadows is full of students.
The med school has a big library and cafe area where the students tend to gather and work during the day. DD downloaded the slides and then annotated them during lectures - they all seem to take their laptops in. She started with a chrome book from 6th form but that then died and we got her a MacBook (Apple education discount is v useful).

Let me know if want any more Notts info.

So many emotions, when you’re about to celebrate your 18th birthday, you get another A in your mock exams and another rejection. No offers for medicine now, absolutely gutted for her.

@jenthehen I'm so so sorry. This year has been beyond tough. Take some time and decide if want to try again - loads of gap year offers this year. Huge hugs.

Oh @jenthehen that's dreadful - your poor girl.

@jenthehen I am so sorry. So many gap year success stories but that won't seem much of a consolation to your DD at the moment.

[quote mumsneedwine]@bimkom Broadgate Park is only just off campus and is huge. It has its own social life going on. The walk to med school is about 20 mins DD said (or 5 mins on free hopper bus). It's a beautiful walk and loads of friendships are made on the walk there and back. In the summer the meadows is full of students.
The med school has a big library and cafe area where the students tend to gather and work during the day. DD downloaded the slides and then annotated them during lectures - they all seem to take their laptops in. She started with a chrome book from 6th form but that then died and we got her a MacBook (Apple education discount is v useful).

Let me know if want any more Notts info.[/quote]
@mumsneedwine - but do they use laptops or some sort of ipad (or non Apple equivalent) or both? Is your DD annotating slides directly onto a laptop, or onto some sort of surface with pen? If the latter, does she have a laptop as well? Apparently there are laptops that you can fold down to use like a tablet, but DH thinks that a) they look easily breakable; b) they are expensive; and c) that by being jack of all trades they are master of none. He thinks that it would be better to have a tablet on which one can write, plus a less flash laptop (plus possibly a desktop back at the accommodation, which we have anyway as well as a screen). DS thinks it is a faff to have too many bits, and his instinct is to have one piece of equipment that does everything. DH was wondering if when working in the library, there are screens/docking stations/laptops available to borrow, or whether everybody is just working on the tiny screen of the laptop. DH worries that if you have one piece of equipment, and it is not that robust, and it breaks, then you are really in trouble.
And of course none of this discussion is taking place in the real world, neither DH (who radically actually sent emails when he was at university, but only to other people doing engineering in a select few other universities, as nobody else had it yet) nor DS (who is on his gap year, and nowhere near a medical school) have any clue what and how people actually manage

@jenthehen I'm so sorry. It has been such a tough year. Sending you both a hug.

@bimkom dd uses a surface pro too. She also has a laptop for playing all the lectures (barely anything in person so far) and takes notes on the ipad.

@bimkom she just had a laptop and typed her notes on each slide. Then would re-run lectures at home and add extra stuff. No pen or fancy stuff. Everything has always been recorded.
For dissection she made notes once home. Says full body dissection has been so useful as everyone's bits are in slightly different places.
But she says everyone finds their way.

@mumsneedwine are the Nottingham medical school slides consistently done in microsoft products or are some other products used such as pdfs or google docs?

@jenthehen sorry to hear your news, we are in a similar position, 18th birthday on Sunday and 1 rejection and 1 waiting list from the 2 he could apply to.

But getting As in A levels is now important than getting offers - lots of people who have offers will lose then because they don't get the grades. I'd she gets her AAA this year, she will be in a strict position for applying next year.

Absolutely @Monkey2001 the offers are only part of the story. Wishing your son the very best of luck. Let’s hope their determination drives them on.

@bimkom I will ask her later. That one is beyond me 😊.

Is anyone else waiting for Barts? Offers out this morning - at last!

I have seen other Bart's offer holders on TSR, may have started with gap year and grads last week.

Another one with no offers. It's gutting for them when they have worked so hard and thought the interviews went well.