Hi, it was really good thanks! I was suprisingly impressed by UEA. Organisation wise I felt it was very well put on. The welcome talk that we went to at 9am (not great timing for those having to travel!) was really interesting as they had 2 students talk about UEA, one was a 4th year med student and the other a 2nd year biomedical sciences student who missed her medicine offer but is hoping to et this degree and the apply for their graduate scheme which they started this September. They favour local students on their grad scheme, so could work well for her.
We then checked out the sport facilities which were really good, and then caught the shuttle minibus to the West Campus where the hospital and research park are based. We drove past quite a few fields and open spaces on the way which was nice! We also saw loads of buses heading to the city centre, so whilst you are out of the centre it looks easy enough to get into the city.
The medicine talk was relaly good. The Dean opened it and he was pretty inspiring I thought. He said that all UEA final year students had passed their final exams which he thought put them top in the country for this latest year, but he was still waiting for GMC to confirm. He also gave a statistic about them being 3rd in the country for best prepared doctors (I think it was, can;t quite remmeber exactly what he said) but apparently they were only <1% behind Exeter who were second, and Swansea were first, but they only train graduates, so he said that gave them an advantage as the graduates would be older with more life experience. Anyway, he made it sound pretty good, in a very non-arogant and sincere way.
After the talk we went round a clinical skills room where they the students try taking blood pressure and testing 'urine' and sticking a tube down a dummy's throat. Then we went for the research tour and that was fantastic! We looked round the lab and then DD and another girl got to have a go at a practical task in lab coats and gloves, and DD really loved that. She was saying how much she'd like to get involved research, which I wasn't expecting. The mum of the other girl told me this was the first visit they had done where they'd be shown the research lab, and they'd been to Cambridge, KCL and I can't remember the others now 😬
We then looked round the accommodation - they were saying it was cheaper than many other unis. I think all first years are guaranteed halls and quite a few later years students get them too - quite a draw having heard of so many students not getting a place in campus this year from other social media sources. DD asked the student showing us round the accommodation a medicine specific question which I thought she wouldn't be able to answer - but turns out she was a graduate just about to start her first year on their A100 medicine course! She hadn't qualified for their new grad programme for some reason. I found all the staff and students incredibly welcoming and helpful, more so than Southampton, though maybe Southampton was a less good experience for us as we got there later in the day, whereas we got to UEA at 9am.
So I was really impressed and think it's a really good option, especially if you want early patient contact - they are with a GP practice from week 1 and spend a day a week there. DD did 3 days wex at one of the GP practices they use, and really enjoyed it. I think that is for years 1 and 2 and then they're in secondary care after that. The only down side for us was that it is quite stuck out on a limb on the side of the UK.
Looking forward to seeing Nottingham next week, even though it's doubtful as an option for DD. What I am seeing though is that the more of these we do, the more she is opening up and talking to the students etc - she really needs to gain more confidence in talking to people she doesn't know and this is helping. We didn't come across any other year 12 students while we were there as all those we spoke to or heard talking were year 13.