london medical school hierachy

[hellosally]

does anyone know,more from a tradition point of view,rather than current league tables,which London medical schools are the most prestigious?
Also what type of candidates have been previously favoured, eg sports, public vs state school, etc
my niece is thinking about medicine and none of us have a clue!

Prestige is completely irrelevant to med school admissions. What is important is targeting your med schools based on your strengths. If you aced the admissions tests but have less than stellar GCSEs for example, pick schools that weight accordingly. And don’t limit to London. There’s a poster called mumneedswine or similar who is a bit of a med school guru.

I will say that sports teams and private schools make no difference at all, rightly so. Work experience in relevant area is very useful though, so care home, working with disabled adults etc.

I've never ever been asked what uni I've been to (except by med students comparing sign off requirements) by anyone since I graduated 10y ago. It has no relevance to life so don't use it to decide applications. That and think v hard if it's the right decision for uni fullstop

Agree, apply to your strengths and it’s important to have a medical school place and doesn’t matter which university you went in the long run.

For the same reason that you cannot get a first at medical school (just pass/fail) except for an intercalated degreee. There really isn't a best......if she is capable and compassionate and hard working and really wants to be a doctor (not just for prestige/glamour (Haha)) then the mst important thing is to find a med school/uni that suits her.
A scholarly academic would suit a more traditional course where sciences are taught then applied to practical clinical skills. A more people focussed person might find an course where clinical and scienctific knowledge are taught together as an integrated course better. A shy person will need more communication skills teaching, a philosopher might need a gentler environment with access to medical humanities..

this is all good to hear that things are more equal. I remember a friends boyfriend getting into med school which was favoured by him being really good at rugby and was privately educated. cant remember where though and we wondered about older staff views

I know from my friends kids that Imperial and UCL are the hardest to get into. Followed by Kings then Queen Mary then St George’s. Only point in applying to UCL or Imperial with mostly 9s at GCSEs at A*s.

If your niece is at at state secondary school, she might be eligible for the KCL Extended MBBS programme, which is six years instead of five so that students from state schools who didn't get great science teaching at school have longer to get to grips with the basic science before they start the clinical training. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/extended-medical-degree-programme-mbbs#:~:text=Key%20information&text=Our%20Extended%20Medical%20Degree%20course,of%20Realising%20Opportunities%20across%20England.

Not sure if other London medical schools offer anything similar, but all universities these days give contextual offers, which just means that they look at what kind of school an applicant has gone to. Those who went to grammar schools and fee-paying schools would generally be expected to get higher grades.

Aberdeen is currently rated #1 in the uk which rather knocks the "prestigious" question into touch. All uk medical schools teach to the same GMC standards.

When my brother was at medical school and for a few years thereafter, there was a lot of competition / banter between the schools. "Oh he only went to St. George's" type of crap. I think the hierarchy is more strongly perceived among those taking part in medical degrees than any one of us outside that sphere.

thanks- this is exactly the kind of stuff we wondered about that is "insider" knowledge and often takes years to filter out.

some really helpful suggestions on this thread, thanks all

The world has moved massively on from thirty years ago when jolly good chaps went to Thommies aided by being a really solid rugby players. No need to think about state vs private or sport etc.

having said which for those who do look at London schools that way, the comments above about Inperial and UCL are probably right. St George’s have always been a bit different. But “prestige” hunting (and see comments above about relevance and medicine) shouldn’t be why one would apply to Inperial - it has a more traditional science lead teaching set up (not as extreme as Oxford, say) and a particular social vibe etc. plus remember that London can be expensive.

have a good browse on the annual medical chats which are a treasure trove of info. Make sure you and your daughter understand the strategic application method. Be clear that applying for medicine isn’t like other subjects - it may be that the other high achieving children in your daughter’s (or your!) set are all applying to a fairly narrow group of universities (Oxbridge, imperial, LSE , UCL, Durham, Edinburgh, St A, etc etc) and understand that as a medic she may (will and should) be applying to some very different ones. And get some visits in if practical.

I used to work in a very large London medical school (not on admissions!). When it came to placements, in the early part of the programme ours went to GP surgeries across a fairly wide area and also to several large teaching hospitals. In the final years, however, there weren't enough places available at the local hospitals so some were sent a lot further afield. I wasn't involved in that side of things either, so don't know how accommodation and travel costs were sorted out, but I have the impression there was some kind of assistance provided for those who were based a long way from the campus, as they did sometimes have to come back for lectures, tutorials, exams etc. I imagine all the London medical schools are similar in this respect. Other medical schools might be able to offer all their students a local placement.

The key thing to get your head round with medical school applications is that it's so difficult to get in at all that applicants are rarely in a position to choose between offers. So best as others have said to pick the ones the applicant has the best chance of getting into, and hope for the best!

I wouldn’t read too much into this. It really is just banter and friendly sporting rivalry. Every medical school in London in the 90s had a song about why they were the best and the others less good. (Normally to the same tune). Once you qualify it doesn’t matter where you went.

You aren't expected to "read too much into it". I said exactly that. It was a load of crap and internal competition rather than objective.

I was at Barts and the London 2011-2016 so my thoughts will be out of date but…

Imperial and UCL seemed to be the most ‘academic’ London med schools. Barts seemed to favour ‘well rounded’ candidates , I didn’t have the best grades but had a psychology degree and lots of relevant work experience. On my course there were people from all sorts of career backgrounds - architects, theatre actors, solicitors etc. Barts was big on communication skills and that featured a lot on our course. It was a very sociable medschool and had a lot of pride in its history (note how I call it Barts and not Queen Mary 😅). I would really, REALLY recommend it as a fantastic place to see a big variety of illnesses you wouldn’t get elsewhere in the UK - the uni/hospitals covers some of the most socially deprived boroughs and because of the large community of immigrants locally you see more unusual conditions like tuberculosis etc.

As others have said , no one cares where you went to uni after you graduate. My husband went to a ‘less impressive’ medical school and he is a significantly better doctor than I ever have been