Semester dates in Years 3-5

**LumiGrrl** · 24-03-2008, 11:36 PM

Hi,

I have firmly accepted my Edinburgh offer for September and would like to know the approximate semester dates for Years 3 through 5. Tried to search for them online on the university website but could only find the general undergrad (Years 1-2) semester dates.

Does anyone here know what the semester dates are for the clinical years? I'm guessing there will be less time off than in the pre-clinical years...

**sarah-louise** · 31-03-2008, 03:54 PM

Hey I'm in first year at Edinburgh and we just got our dates for next year, which also had the dates for all the other years. There's a lot less time off after second year!!
Year 3 starts in early September and finishes at the end of May with 3 weeks off at Christmas and 2 weeks at Easter.
Year 4 starts at the end of June(4 weeks off in the summer) until the beginning of June the next year with 2 weeks off in October, at Christmas and in February.
Year 5 begins at the start of July until the next June with 2 weeks off in October, at Christmas and in March.
Hope this helps! Sarah

**LumiGrrl** · 01-04-2008, 12:09 AM

Thank you for the information! Do you know what happens rotation-wise in Year 5? Does everybody go on their elective at the same time?

**Meg01** · 01-04-2008, 01:00 AM

Hiya - there are slots all over the year for the electives, so you'll get allocated a certain slot, although most people switch and choose, and pretty much everyone gets to go when they want, so that's pretty fine. If you have a certain reason for doing placements in a certain place and time (and it's a good reason) they will be flexible. If you want to pm me with your email address I can send you the semester dates which will apply to your first year and a rough idea of 2-5. Meg

**LumiGrrl** · 01-04-2008, 02:09 AM

Hi Meg,

Nick (aspirant doc) got to me first, and emailed a pdf of next year's semester dates. But thanks for asking!

I'm glad switching around is possible - I've heard that student support is pretty good at Edinburgh. I've been looking into doing my elective period in the States and quite a few places want you to have done paediatrics first (it's a 3rd year core rotation in the US). Afaik, child health is a 5th year rotation in Edinburgh, so it would be useful to do it before the elective period.

Say I got assigned to do a paediatrics rotation in Block 1 (7 July -29 August), before going on my elective. Do you think it would be possible do my paediatrics rotation right after my 4th year (June-July), provided I had good reasons to back up my request?

**Meg01** · 01-04-2008, 02:13 AM

Ah Nick doesn't miss a thing!

And I was say almost certianly yes those are the sorts of reasons which would justify an arrangement which would accommdate that. I cant say for sure of course, but I've asked an awful lot of less pressing things, and they've been pretty helpful! Who knows, it might all be different by then, but I think you can reassured that it''ll be ok!

**LumiGrrl** · 02-04-2008, 12:35 AM

Great, sounds good.

Thanks for the info! Very helpful. It's nice to know they are supportive in general - can't wait to start med school in September.

**edinburghmedic** · 17-06-2008, 04:32 AM

Lumi - chill! You are stressing way too much.

Years 3 -5 has longer hours but it is usually 9-5. It is not harder work, just less reading and spending more time in the wards getting involved.

You don't need to chose elective for your 5th year - most places don't accept more than 1 year in advance. You will get a talk on how to plan electives towards the end of Year 3.

Also for clinical years, you can request which group you want the year before - so you can request to do Paeds as your first rotations. You don't need to justify - it's a first-come-first-served allocation scheme where you e-mail requests for groups in between 2 certain dates.

**aspirant doc** · 20-06-2008, 05:54 PM

Originally Posted by edinburghmedic

Lumi - chill! You are stressing way too much.

Be careful here, edinburghmedic, you're about to enter a minefield of tricky issues here! I won't bore you with dull details of 30-something life as medical students, but we do have other things that weigh on our mind and things that actually do make rotations in 3 years time truly very relevant right now!

Take it easy my friend.