HELP! Need Some Advice On Choosing Insurance For Biomed, Cardiff or Southampton ?

[It Will Happen]

Soton is my firm for med, but realistically getting the grades will be hit or miss so I am preparing for the worst... if I miss the offer (AAB) by a grade or two and I ring them up to see if they will still take me, will they be more likely to do so if my insurance is at soton rather than Cardiff.

I'm in such a dilemma because if I don't get in now and have to go graduate entry then Cardiff would be better since it will be cheaper because of subsidised tuition fees and is rated slightly higher but I think I would enjoy soton more because of having lived in Wales i've been to Cardiff so many times I think it would take the shine off going to uni, argghh! Also if I study at soton for biomed then apply for med post grad will I be more likely to get into soton because of already being a member of their uni? Would be extremely grateful if anyone could help me with some advice or just give me their opinion please !

[j_mason85]

Firstly, if you don't get the grades you are very unlikely to get into medicine anyway just by ringing your firm choice up, as med schools give out more offers than places due to the fact that they know some people won't make the grades/ decide go to else where etc....

As far as the biomed goes - it has to be Cardiff. I know I'm biased but at least hear me out. If you're going to do biomed (which is bascially biochem, infact you dont' do any med stuff until 3rd year), then you should want to do that in an A class institute, of which Cardiff is that and more - it was the place where Sir Martin Evans discovered stem cells. So yep, all you people who used stem cells as your recent advancement in medicine, well they were discovered in Cardiff - not recently either, back in the 1980s! This bloke also developed the experimental technique gene knockout, which is basically the basis of all out understanding of modern molecular genetics.

That's the biggest accolade Cardiff have (or probably anywhere could have) but there are loads more - i.e. Prof Harwoods work on alzheimers and omega-3-fatty acids, Prof Wynford Thomas's work on colon cancers (HNPCC), plus it's the site for the super computer that holds every mutation known to occur within genes!!! There are loads of other reason - but I guess you get the right impression.

Oh, and the lecturers!!! Everyones favourite lecturer Dr. Glen Sweeney, he is truly a god, and you'll never fail his exams, likewise with Prof. Rob John, who is this really old and old school protein chemistry lecturer - but awesome!

I can sort of understand that you don't wanna be so close to home, but Cardiff is such a great place that it more than compensates for this (remember the cheaper fee's too!)

Hope this had helped you decide anyway1

[Louise Cooper]

Hiya,

Personally I think you have made your own mind up without realising it as you listed way more advatanges of going to Southampton than you did Cardiff.

I didn't apply to Liverpool because I knew I wouldn't enjoy being so near to home and even though Lvpool is a really good university and everyone from my college (even ppl with crappy p.s and scores etc) got an offer and I still don't regret it because I knew I wouldn't be happy being so close to home.

Tbh I think you are also probably right about getting into the postgrad. med course at Southampton if you did Biomed there.

And I know people say Cardiff is a better quality university, you may not think it is and reputation really won't matter to Southampton when you apply there for postgrad. Hmm, however your class of degree will but I think it has a lot to do with how much work you're willing to put in as well as the quality of the course.

Plus every uni has good research facilities and has discovered something wonderful of one kind or another.

I applied to biomed at two unis that have postgrad. degrees thinking it would be easier to not have to move again and start a new uni once I had finished my biomed degree and it may on the off chance give you an advatage that you already know and love the uni you are at.

At the end of the day it is upto you!1

Hope you can decide. Anyway, I'm sure if you work hard you'll be fine come summer and won't even have to worry about this kinda thing .

Good Luck.

Lu xxx

[It Will Happen]

Firstly, if you don't get the grades you are very unlikely to get into medicine anyway just by ringing your firm choice up, as med schools give out more offers than places due to the fact that they know some people won't make the grades/ decide go to else where etc....

Yeah I kinda agree with you, but when at the soton open day, one of the 4th years were like "if you don't get the grades don't worry too much they are likely to take you if you only miss your offer by a grade or two". so do I go by what he said or stick to what I think?

[It Will Happen]

Just another quick question academically where does Cardiff stand in the league tables for biomed compared to soton, is cardiff one of the best in country, do most people get 1st or 2:1's?

[j_mason85]

Cardiff is either numer 6 or 7 in the research league tables, which is what they always use in their prospectus.... personally I don't really pay attention to league tables anyway - I know they play a part in funding etc, but as far as students go I think it's mainly your public school boys/girls who are that fussed about them.

As far as the student saying that if you miss it by a grade or two... well that's up to you, it woudln't fill me with massive amounts of confidence, and I wouldn't make any big decisions based on it at all.

EDIT: I would say most people come out with 2.1s, a few people do get firsts, but this isn't down to teaching - biochem is just a pretty hard degree - lots of difficult principles to get your head around, and loads to remember for exams.

[Elsbeth]

If your problem is the grades, wouldn't it be safer to put down the lowest offer (Soton)? Although your predicted grades are good so it probably won't come to that anyway!