Leeds interview

[Junaid]

intercalating in anatomy, unfortunately isnt that anatomical, lots of neuroscience (which is medics are grossly underprepared for) and some cancer biology. The one anatomy module i do is fun, and the medic blitz it, however the other stuff can be quite tedious.

Its been a harder term than any of my last 3 years of medicine. Lots and lots and lots of work. and i am currently revising for 4 exams in jan. But i do think that when i come out of it i will know a lot more basic scientific prinicples and it will be useful. for example i can now tell u all about NFkB in cancer - wow

if u are thinking of intercalating, think carefully, only do it if u really want to, and are prepared to work, it aint the doss-a-bout its advertised as!

I was actually thinking of intercalating (in something like anatomy or physiology) myself, even though it's a long time until we decide (I'm a first year).

Many medics have said that because of the competition for placements, it does help to intercalate. Do you think this is the case?

If you're hoping to go train in areas where there is a lot of competition, do you think it would help?

Another 4th Year Medic I was talking to said that intercalating isn't harder, but different. The main point that he made was that it entails a lot of reading!

[yeliab_cram]

I was actually thinking of intercalating (in something like anatomy or physiology) myself, even though it's a long time until we decide (I'm a first year).

Many medics have said that because of the competition for placements, it does help to intercalate. Do you think this is the case?

If you're hoping to go train in areas where there is a lot of competition, do you think it would help?

Another 4th Year Medic I was talking to said that intercalating isn't harder, but different. The main point that he made was that it entails a lot of reading!

we are in a time of much unceartanty RE: first jobs and medical and surgical trainaing. In the past a BSc was a very notable addition to your CV, however the importance of it is currently being somewhat undermined. The general consensus is that it will still be useful in highly competetive jobs, but as the application system changes, it is likely to have less of an impact in the future than it has in the very recent past.

It depends what your motivation to intercalate is, and what you are intercalating in, in terms of how hard it is and how useful it will be. For example, if you are going to enter the surgical melting pot with an intercalation in Medical Ethics it is not likely to help you v much, whereas something with a good research project may be useful.

In terms of difficulty, my friends doing ethics, health management, international health, etc, have all found it quite different, but no more challenging than medicine. Those of us doing the intense science degrees - anatomy, physiology, neuroscience, clinical sciences etc have found that our basic knowledge through the medical course is not always enoug, and at times we lag behind. Coupled with the fact that it is a totally different way of working and the emphasis is completely different, i would say it is a) a very different way of learning and b) harder for a medic compared to medicine!

The thing is, by the end of your third year you have pretty much got the hang of how to 'do' medicine at leeds. the 3rd year BMS students have a pretty good idea how to do BMS. When we step into thier world, we are in a very strange place, and for many of us it appears much harder than medicine. I am sure however that if you put a third year BMS student in theatre in Jimmy's and he got a grilling off a surgeon, he wouldn't know the best way round it either!

its all relative you see! the generall point is this: its not an 'easy' year for a medic, its hard work, and sometimes seems very far removed from medicine, and your eventual career. and yes, it involves lots and lots of reading, lots of odd and time consuming bits of coursework, and a severe lack of organisation compared to medicine.

[Junaid]

Thanks for the information. It's given me a lot to think about! I guess I'll have to see what the situation is like in a couple of years.

My main motivation for intercalating is that I'm able to go deeper in certain areas of the course - I've felt throughout the course that we don't go into enough detail, and because of that, you lack "real" understanding of certain areas.

However, if you do try going into depth in certain areas, you're wasting time, as there's a lot of areas to get done! I'm finding that problem whilst trying to revise everything we've covered in this first term!

Incidentally, let's say you applied for a placement at the end of the second year and failed to get in (I've heard lots of stories about the competitiveness!). Are you allowed to reapply at the end of the third year?

[yeliab_cram]

Thanks for the information. It's given me a lot to think about! I guess I'll have to see what the situation is like in a couple of years.

My main motivation for intercalating is that I'm able to go deeper in certain areas of the course - I've felt throughout the course that we don't go into enough detail, and because of that, you lack "real" understanding of certain areas.

However, if you do try going into depth in certain areas, you're wasting time, as there's a lot of areas to get done! I'm finding that problem whilst trying to revise everything we've covered in this first term!

Incidentally, let's say you applied for a placement at the end of the second year and failed to get in (I've heard lots of stories about the competitiveness!). Are you allowed to reapply at the end of the third year?

A few things:

firstly, when people refer to 'competitiveness' they are not referring to hospital placements but to F1 jobs. You get arbitrarily put on placements in 2-5th yr medicine!

secondly, your thought process sounds similar to mind a few years back; however a BSc does not pick up on aspects of the medical course and fill in the gaps. Instead it focuses on very very very specific things, and you go into cutting edge/current research levels of detail. It is, in fact the polar opposite to medicine in that respect. I agree, medicine does not provide you with enoug basic science knowledge, however, BMS does the general stuff in years 1 and 2, hence a intercalated BSc (3rd year of normal degree) is past the basics and onto the in depth stuff.

thirdly, dont worry too much about first year: after xmas you start some anatomy and physiology and things start to become a little more relevant. Its not all like year 1 term 1!

if you want to know anything else, let me know!
all the best.

[Junaid]

I missed out a bit in the last paragraph of my last post! I meant "placement on the intercalated degrees" instead of "placement" ... sorry for the confusion!

I'm glad to hear that things are going to get better! Some of the stuff this first term was just torture! Heck, I've heard many medics have forgotten most of the stuff in the first term by the time we come to the clinical years!

[yeliab_cram]

lol, no worries, and yes - most of the stuff you have just done goes straight out of the window. Not because you dont need to know it, just because no1 can ever remember it, and quite frankly its craply taught!

have a nice xmas break!