Medicine 2023 Entry - Part 4

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Anyone out there with DC applying or reapplying for Medicine 2023, please join a friendly thread for mutual support and useful advice.

My dd is loving the course, has found some friends and I think going back into halls next year with some of her friends.

Dd loving UEA. She has found a house for next year too.

Looking forward to having her home at Christmas.

DS loves Birmingham and has a house for next year.
@RockyHorrorShow my other DS is in Bristol and the house situation is awful, so hard to navigate and get one. Mad market

@RockyHorrorShow there are quite a few student larger houses on Right Move today. In Redlands. It's a tricky and expensive place to live, but there are places out there. Have to be a bit persistent.

DD enjoying it - she was home last weekend (first time) for a concert with her sister, booked a year ago. Had a big chat and she said "I feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be". Can't ask for more than that

Dd1 is also enjoying life after a bit of a tricky start. She thinks she has found a house - some issue with the paperwork but we are optimistic. She is returning tomorrow for a concert with her sister (similar story to you @Africa2go !). Looking forward to having her around for the weekend. It feels so good to be able to comment on this. I’m watching the 24 thread and feeling their pain and anxiety so acutely.

Hello all! DS also loving UEA, he really likes the course structure - learning about conditions and then meeting patients with those conditions. It is funny as DS1 loved the St Andrews course structure because you did not see patients until you had a lot of scientific knowledge. Horses for courses!

@kackle can I ask how much your DD is paying for rent in Norwich? We are buying a house, in laws have down-sized and we need to do something with the money, we will be renting it out and it would be helpful to know how much people are paying on the open market. We had thought we should do it to avoid the risk of dodgy landlords, but from what I have seen, landlords in Norwich are better than most!

£160 pw inc bills for a rather lovely renovated 5 bed house, all ensuite.

Glad to hear your DS enjoying UEA too

@kackle that sounds great, I don't think there are many cities in the southern half of the country where you could get such a good deal. At St Andrews it was a nightmare, lots of students paying £800/month+ if you could find accommodation at all! Is she living with medics? DS is living with a couple of people from his PBL group.

This is a good FB group if you have a med student at uni in the UK. Lots of information and also people asking questions that you might be able to help with.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ukmedschoolparents/?

Shes living with other students from her halls.

The standard of accommodation in Norwich private sector is much nicer than ds grotty house in Newcastle.

Hi everyone, HNY all. I hope everyone's 2023-entry YP has survived / enjoyed their 1st term at medical school. I think DD has loved it, although struggled slightly at the end of term balancing the need to revise for an exam with socialising with non-medic friends. I guess that's something she'll need to get used to.

Quick question for those with YP in Yrs 2/3/4/5 - is it generally just yrs 1 and 2 that they get (mostly) the same summer holiday as other students (i.e. from the end of Yr 3, they get very short / limited hols)? We have a younger DC and want to plan a holiday for when they finish A levels, just wondering whether DD would be able to come.

In terms of holidays, think it varies from university to university - so your DD is better placed to know that we are (get her to ask those higher up). That is certainly true of Nottingham University, DS knows that this holiday coming up (ie end of Year 2) will be his last proper university one (everybody higher up is telling him to make the most of it), and it sounds like from then on we are going to struggle to include him in any family holidays. But I think some of the others it is very different (also might depend on whether they incalcate or not)

Thank you @Bimkom my DD is at Notts too so that's really helpful.

As an ex Notts parent year 2 will definitely be their last long break. Year 3 is spent doing their dissertation to they get their BMedSci degree. And then you're on placements all over the place. Although no longer have the joys of Boston. DDs favourite hospital was Royal Derby.

@Africa2go don't forget to avoid resit dates (and probably the weeks before) as they won't know if they have resits until the end of term, and it's pretty common. Though my dd looked horrified when I suggested that was possible.

Ah, OK, I had forgotten that - in which case, yes, just end of year 1 and end of year 2. DS is telling me that actually, it is not that he is doing the dissertation to get the BMedSci over the holidays next year, in fact they do that much earlier in the year - just that they are then on placement over the summer holidays to make up for the time that they spent on the dissertation when they therefore weren't on placement. He says if it was just the dissertation, he might be able to sneak away and do some of it from holiday, but because it is placement, he has got to be physically wherever it is that they send him, so we really can't include him in any plans. I don't know if this has changed since @mumsneedwine 's DD did it.

Yes@FedUpOfThisDynamic I did think about that and will avoid. Thanks again @mumsneedwine and @Bimkom

don't forget to avoid resit dates (and probably the weeks before) as they won't know if they have resits until the end of term, and it's pretty common. Though my dd looked horrified when I suggested that was possible.

Good advice. We are endlessly telling students to bear in mind that they might be ill at the time of an exam and therefore have to do the resit, even if they are completely confident they will pass under normal circumstances (which far fewer have grounds for than they seem to believe).

Looks like Nottingham don't put their programme on line - St Andrews, Manchester and UEA all do, so I could update my year planner with their dates.

Here is UEA in case any of the UEA crew have not come across it. I am not sure how they manage, but they get 2 months off for the summer every year. https://www.uea.ac.uk/about/university-information/university-governance/academic-calendar/dates-of-semesters

Hi, hope everyone's DC are thriving in their first year. DD is well. A lot of work and not much socialising going on!

I was flicking through to find that helpful post from @Bimkom about laptops and wondered if your DC are using Endnote? DD is doing her first big essay and thinks it would be useful but it's not cheap. I've had a quick skim of it but interested if your DC have mentioned their essays and the software they're using?

@BungledBundle your dc should check with their university library - they should have access to using endnote or another system like zotero through a Uni-wide licence. No student should need to pay for a citation manager.

And my dd is loving her first year - hugely sociable, training for her sport daily and involved with medics hockey too. Enjoying the course too, got good results in first assessments. I still can't believe she is there!