Turned down Oxbridge for Barts - will it matter?

[Geoffrey]

Hi,
I turned down a place at Cambridge to take up a place at Barts. This was for graduate entry medicine. This was due to personal circumstances. I am now freaking out that I have wasted the chance of a lifetime. I wanted to be reassured that this will not matter one bit...
Any thoughts? Does it matter where you go for med school? Is Oxbridge an advantage?
Thanks!

[Martigan]

From everything I have heard, when it comes down to it, once you have gradated, where you qualified makes little difference, it's about your log books etc.

So really its about what's going to be the best student experience for you.

For me, I was really impressed by Cambridge, its wasn't the snobby place I has assumed it would be, and the town, seemed like a great student place. (Better that Tooting, anyway...). The student support, pastoral, financial and educational seems amazing.
However, the course teaching was *very* traditional. I don't think the style would suit me, in several ways. Plus being in it nice comfy cocoon isolates the students from some of the sad realities of life with a job like medicine, needs you to be able to relate to (even if you don't agree with/accept them).

So to me its more about where you fit and how it would fit with you. I wouldn't have regretted going to Cambridge, as its an amazing place, but I also don't regret going to SGUL as I think the fit is better for me.

[rennstimpy]

Also Geoff, being a Cambridge grad myself (and fellow med applicant to graduate programmes, and knowing various Cam-graduated medics) it can actually be associated with rather negative connotations also....I think some docs think that they are "too academic, unrealistic, not practical enough" which in the majority is ridiculous...but how it is - basically medicine is one of those careers where you make it what you want to be - people will respect you based on how hard you work and how much you know - all students have access to the same books and medical knowledge - so no reason why you couldnt get as much knowledge in Barts as Cambers - also as M said, it's horrificly traditional - and I'm saying that as someone who essentially did the first 2 years of my degree with the medics - you would have been writing bi-weekly essays on enthalpy and redoc reactions - and you have about 3 and a half minutes in grad-entry per year for hols as they try and fit all the tripos teaching into a smaller part of time - in some ways - lucky escape! Just make most of what you have at Barts - I know notghin about it but I'm sure its a great school - best of luck! Also, be glad you got in somewhere - many people on here don't.........