Medical Schools - Brief Overview

As promised a post glancing over medical schools, in this I'm going to include whether Universities accept resits, whether they interview and who's on the interview panel, their attitude to Gap Years, and if they include dissection on their course.

In another post after this I'll do a run down of A-Level requirements, and even later I'll do a post on the BMAT and UKCAT and which places require what :)

Aberdeen = Does not accept resits, interviews, 2 Admissions selectors including 1 clinician on the interview panel, Gap Years are fine if used construtively and declared on application form, and prosection is used as opposed to dissection
Barts and Queen Marys = Does not accept resits, interviews, Clinical Medical Student and Medical Scientists on interview panel, Gap years are fine, and prosection is used as opposed to dissection
Birmingham = Resits are considered in exceptional circumstances, interviews, Admissions Tutor, two staff and a clinical student on the admission panel, around 10% of students take a gap year, so I'm guessing you need to be doing something pretty good for it to be allowed, and prosection is used as opposed to dissection
Brighton and Sussex = BSMS policy is to accept re-taken grades or modules without penalty, interviews, A member of BSMS faculty, a GP and a health professional on the interview panel, gap years are accepted as long as they are to do with Medicine and dissection is used
Bristol = Does not accept A2 resits, interviews, a group of academics on the interview panel, gap years are accepted if they are worthwhile, dissection is not used
Cambridge = Resits only considered in exceptional circumstances, interviews, the interview panel varies from college to college and 2-4 interviews may be required, gap years are accepted but it needs to be checked with each college individually and dissection is used

Cardiff = only accepts resit applications with exceptional circumstances, interviews, GP's, Scientists and Medical staff on the interview panel, considers a gap year to be a "personal choice" but thinks it should be used productively and uses dissection
Dundee = Resits only considered with exceptional mitigating circumstances, which can be verified, interviews, member of the faculty of Medicine on the interview panel, gap year applicants will be considered (sounds a little ominous, maybe not for gap year students here then :S) and it uses dissection
East Anglia = 6 subjects with at least grade A including the core subjects (core subjects = English and Maths)
Edinburgh = 8-11 A*'s, with at least B's in core subjects
Glasgow = A's in core subjects and the sciences
Hull York = At least 6 subjects at grade C, A's in the core subjects and B's in the sciences
Imperial = A/B grades in all subjects
Keele = Grade A in a minimum of 4 subjects, and B's in core subjects and the sciences
Leeds = B's in at least 6 subjects with a range of good grades, this presumably means nothing below a B and certainly no fail grades
Leicester = C's in all core subjects and the sciences, even though GCSE grades are yet again not specified for this University, I'm guessing you need a bit more than all C's
Liverpool = At least B's in the core subjects and sciences, and a scoring system. A*/A = 2 and B = 1, in this scoring system you need at least 15 points. Which works out as mainly A/B's in all subjects
Manchester = Grade A in a minimum of 5 subjects, with B's in core subjects
Newcastle = A's in the sciences, and a minimum of 5 passes (I'm quite surprised by the relatively low grades, seeing as Newcastle is another good Medical school, so do expect most other applicants to have higher grades than this)
Nottingham = Grade A in the sciences and at least 6 subjects
Oxford = Minimum Grade A in the sciences, minimum 8A*'s
Peninsula = Grade C in at least 7 subjects
Queen's Belfast = Uses a point scoring system, 4 points for an A*, 3 for an A etc. Makes competition quite high because all GCSE results are taken into account in the final point adding
Sheffield = At least 6 A grades required and B's in core subjects

Good Luck!!

Choosing Your Medical School

I am going to fly past the fact I haven't posted anything for about 3 months and get on to a important topic for prospective Medical students, which Medical School?!

Choosing the right University and course for you is especially important with Medicine as you could be spending up to 6 years there!
So here's a couple of things to think about, an in the next post I'll do a summary of each medical school

• Interview - most places will interview, with a few exceptions such as Belfast, Edinburgh and Southampton. However you will more than likely to be called for an interview so you might want to think about what type you think you'll excel in. Some, for example Sheffield, conduct "coffee table" interviews, which only last 15 minutes or so and are meant to make the candidate feel as comfortable as possible. Others, such as Cambridge, have a interview for Medicine and ethics etc and then another interview about purely about science. I guess it depends on your nerves! Also different places will have different types on people on the interview panel. It can range from simply 2 admissions selectors and one clinician (Aberdeen) to a member of the medical faculty, a GP and another health professional (Brighton and Sussex Medical School). So whether you respond better to peers or member of authority should be taken into consideration.
• Teaching Methods - how you learn is important. There are 3 main types of teaching; a discipline based approach, a system based approach or Problem-Based Learning. The discipline based approach is quite a traditional teaching style and tends to be lecture based. You are taught the disciplines of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology etc as separate modules. Systems based is also quite traditional and involves being taught each body system e.g. cardiovascular system, endocrine system and then you would be taught the anatomy, physiology and pharmacology within these systems. PBL is very different from both. You instead are in small groups and given a "case", you discuss this, go away and gather information about the condition, treatment etc and come back to compare. People seem to love or hate this method so I recommend doing some personal research into it before deciding if it's for you.
• Type of course - Integrated vs. Traditional. A traditional course involves the first 2-3 years being lecture based learning, and then the last years of white coats and stethoscopes in hospitals. Integrated (as the title would suggest) involves a less separated approach and has clinical contact with patients earlier on in the degree. The traditional courses may suit you more if you are interested in research, or have a very scientific grounding and wish for a bit more knowledge before being let loose on real people. The integrated course may be better for you if you are very hands on and confident! More info can be found on individual university websites :) Also course length needs to be taken into consideration, some are 5 some are 6! Often the 6 year courses include an intercalated degree, more on this now
• Intercalated degree - many universities offer students the chance to take an extra degree between their second and third year in medical school. In some places (Oxford, Cambridge, UCL) it is part of the course and mandatory. An intercalated degree is very useful as it teaches extra skills and can boost the CV, as most junior doctors will have very similar ones. However if you are more keen to get on with being a doctor, or if you think 5 years is long enough, an extra degree might not be for you.
• Location - There's a lot to consider here, how close is it to home? Town vs City? Do I want to spend 5/6 years here? Night-life? Housing- is it provided or do I need to be able to find cheap accommodation? Cost of travel - it's going to cost more to travel from Belfast to London than it is from Leeds to Manchester, and rather importantly do I want to work here? Research has shown that, apart from London, most graduate Medical students end up working in the immediate area of their Medical School. So you really need to like where ever your going! Visit on open days and have a nosy around, not just where the happy students take you! When you've decided on your final 4 maybe take one last visit there, and possibly take a friend or someone for a different perspective, remember this is 5/6 years!! That's over half a decade!
• A-Level Requirements - This is important when choosing the right medical school, do you crack easily under pressure? Or excel in the challenge? Even though there is a general consensus that you need "AAA" for medical school, this is not true. Some places (Aberdeen, Bristol) only ask for AAB, and on the other end of the spectrum, Cambridge has started asking for A*AA. So you need to do your research and see where's best for you! I'll be doing a post later on A-Level requirements, so you could just be lazy and wait for that :)

Even though there are obviously other points to consider, I think these are the main ones, but of course I don't know what's important to you! You could be an avid sportsman who's main priority is access to the gym, or may have a significant other who you don't want to live too far away from.

Choosing where you want to go is vital, so give it some thought :)