Notts or Leeds?

[Divin_doc]

oh yeah! almost forgot..when it comes to choosing room type i wouldnt bother with an ensuite unless you have serious issues (lol), i have a shared bathroom which is with one other person and that is fine, we have never had to argue over using it and she's mostly not even awake when i am! Apparently they are charging different amounts for the 2 types of shared bathroom u can have this year. Basically the more expensive one is a case of a bathroom in between the rooms with access only from those rooms. You also get a sink each so only have to share a bath and toilet. The other cheaper one (which i have) has the bathroom in a teeny corridor thing with the rooms off the ends...therefore it is accessible to any old joe bloggs wandering past, and you have to share everything.
Alternatively you can share a bathroom with 4-7 others which im told is fine too, there are usually 2 of everything i think. Also a plus side is that you get a larger room, although i find my room to be pretty big as it is.


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[rozzy]

Hey Divin_doc thanks for that insight, was great! I really can't wait to start Uni now, if I choose Notts though I'll be there in 2008 as I'll be on the Lincoln course first!

It does sound pretty intense, I can tell theres a lot of self directed learning involved, kind of scared now! Roughly, how many hours a day do you spend studying except from lectures/seminars/clinicals and stuff? In between lectures do you go to study too? Or can you go back to your room, or is it a bit of a trek to be going back and forth?

Do you find it difficult mixing with the non med students? You said you're usually the first up and working to the latest, so how do you find the time to go out clubbin and everything at night with everyone else?

4 gp and 4 hospital visits throughout the entire year sounds very little to me! I'd want as much patient contact as possible from the start to keep me motivated. What other things motivate you on this course, as the heavily based lecture teaching will become boring and tiring for many people, and less of a chance to interact with others? On average how often are you able to go for a gp/hospital visit? Every month or so?

Also, how many PBL sessions do you have roughly?

lol sorry for all the questions, thanks so much

[JP_62818]

(not to encourage a bad work ethic...otherwise JP will be after me!!!)

Oi! Lol.

Yeah Divin_doc's put some really helpful stuff here, I pretty much agree with all that, nice one Bex! Although in terms of which department works the most, I'd have to argue that we're only second-most, to the Architects (who are flippin insane, and appear to do all-nighters of work fairly frequently when a coursework deadline approaches!) But na, that all seems really helpful.


If I can jump in and try and answer a couple of Rozzy's Qs in that last post for a bit?
Rozzy, with regards to the clinical visits to GPs and Hospitals, I swear this seems the perfect amount at this stage. Bearing in mind the truth that we probably don't know a huge amount of medicine, I think that anything more that we did would fail to be useful, and I've heard one of my friends from another uni who does do more clinicals argue the same thing. It gives enough time to work on the patient contact a bit- with the GP's we have to go off and tape-record an interview and do a tiny bit of coursework on it, and the hospital visits are more about history taking or basic exam taking. For me, anything less would- as you say- risk losing motivation, but I think anything more would exceed usefulness. Obviously that's just how I feel on it, others might feel differently.
PBL- minimal. One of our Semester1 modules (called Behavioural Sciences) has a 30% PBL-type project, where you do a presentation with a group (of about 11 people) based on 1 of 2 case-studies. But that's really about it. There's a handful (maybe about 2 or 3 a term) of seminars based on answering set questions based on what you've learnt, and I've heard those described as "Problem-based", but to me that seems different to PBL in itself.

In terms of mixing with non-med students, it's a fair issue (which I was interested in finding out about on the lead up to uni), as I think there are some pretty well-established med societies such as MedSoc or some of the Medic's activity societies (e.g. sports, music), and as such it probably is possible to get into a medic's bubble, by only doing medic's parties or medic's activities. BUT, I don't know anyone who actually does that. If you actually WANT to spend time with non-medics then it's easily done, bearing in mind that most people will have friends based in halls who aren't medics. While we're busy, we don't work ALL that much, and even when you do feel you need to spend most of an evening working, there's still some time- e.g. if you work til half9 then wander around halls and see where people are. Or whatever.

The main factor on whether people stay in QMC all day or go back to halls is how close they are to halls. Personally, I'm about a 20/25min walk away, so I don't go back unless it's more than a 2hr break, but I occasionally do. And some people who are only about 5/10 mins away (Bex! :P) will possibly go back a bit more. With amount of self-study, it so hugely depends on the people involved. Personally I don't find it hugely easy to work in the middle of the day- perhaps if we've got a 3hrs worth of breaks in a day then I'll work for an hour-and-a-half of them or something, but I tend to rely more on the parts of the week that are completely free, like Wednesday afternoons, (especially now that anatomy's now on Thurs or Fri), or maybe a bit on Saturday. Basically the simple answer is I'm not sure what's the right amount of time to spend working, and depends on who you are as to the best times to do it. It's generally about trying to limit the amount of revision you'll need to do leading up to exam-time, so however much going-over-lectures seems helpful in a week.

Hope some of that helps, rozzy. And Bex, if you want to add anything more or clarify/correct stuff then you're more than welcome.

Jamie

[rozzy]

Ahh thanks a lot Jamie! You've really cleared up a lot of things for me, and hopefully others that may have had the same questions as I did

Ohh just can't wait until I start now!

I can be a bit of a slacker at times so I want to change that when I get to Notts and keep up to date with things, the amount of stress at exam time is horrible lol!

Yeah I can imagine the architects and other art students being workaholics! Doing Art A level was a nightmare, constant coursework and day and night work

Ohh just another question, I hope the OP doesn't mind me hijacking their thread like this!

The BMedSci that you get at the end of your third year, instead of having to intercalate for another year like other universities, how useful is it really? I have heard that although a BMedSci degree is good, it's not viewed in the same light as a normal BSc, and that a BSc is better! Also, although not necessary to get a BSc, it does help later on in your career if you decide to do some research or teaching, so I was just wondering, does this apply for a BMedSci too? I have read somewhere in this forum I think, that in fact most hospitals, especially around the Nottinghamshire area do not count the BMedSci as an extra degree as they are aware that all med graduates graduate with that automatically. So if this was the case, what would be the point in that degree? Wouldn't it be better, like other unviersties, to intercalate and get an ordinary BSc then? Also, do you think this extra degree included in the 5 years has made the course at Notts more intense with more work and a busier schedule than other universities? In TSR, this has been brought up a little and students from other universities think that the BMedSci is of no importance and requires little or not much extra work involved in obtaining it, they just see it as a free degree that's thrown in and given to you as you've completed 3 years, and another way to lure applicants in choosing Notts! ( I might open a new thread on this actually as some people I know have the same question but may not be reading this thread!)

Lol sorry for that longwinded question, I tend to drag things out a bit!

Thanks a lot again, I think thats why Notts appeals to me so much, the course really does have a good mix of everything

[Divin_doc]

lol Jamie...

About the BMedSci, i doubt we are the best people to ask, maybe some 2nd years could help as we dont know that much on the topic at the mo.

Going back to the mixing with non-medic thing, thats easy peasy, i go out all the time with my non-medic friends and only really spend time at the QMC with medics (no offence jamie!!!). I suppose it depends on what ur hall is like, personally our block are really close as a group and there are about 15 of us who do most things together and none of them are medics!

Other than that I agree completely with the wonderful JP lol. Dont worry about the amount of work, I was surprised it wasnt more, although i dont tend to do that much during the weeks and instead leave it until the holidays e.g. now to do everything. Not the best idea, but my way of learning is properly long-winded e.g. write it out until it is ingrained in ur head...so i find this is the best for me...plus I dont half get pestered by my hall mates to go out/use my room as a home cinema system hehehe

Oh and yes i do get to go back to halls more than most

[lozzj]

Hey! Thanks everyone for all the advice, its all been really helpful! Jus cant wait 2 get there now! Hehe n hope 2 c u all the in Sept xxxxxx

[Natalie C]

With regards to the BMedSci, I haven't a clue how it is seen by employers, but it really bugs me that people think they are given automatically. The preclinical course is designed so that it forms a stand alone degree in itself, and in fact some students who decide against medicine can graduate with a BMedSci and leave at the end of the third year without deviating significantly from the course that the rest of us follow.
To get the BMedSci you have to do a 3 month research project which is at an equivalent level to any other honours year project (not done at other medical schools unless you intercalate), and we also take higher level modules that require you to read around current research in the subjects in order to achieve the highest marks.
I haven't been to any other medical school so I dont know how Nottingham compares, but friends in my year with friends at other medical schools seem to think that we fit in more stuff in the first 2 years so that the third year or 'honours year' as it is referred to is feasible.

[rozzy]

Thanks a lot Natalie!

So you would think that Nott's first too years seems to be more intense than other med schools in order to have that 'honours year' in the third year?

[Natalie C]

Eurgh I wouldn't like to make that statement as I'm likely to be lynched by students from other places, and I cant really make a fair comparison, but that is the impression I'm under, yes.

However I would say that its as intensive as you make it- if you just want to pass you can do the bare minimum and get through to the next year. If you want to do well, you have to put a bit more effort in.

Edit: Just been thinking about this a bit more re: how employers view the BMedSci. Until recently your first job was in your medical school's deanery- therefore all the Nottingham students were going for the same job so the BMedSci was irrelevant. Will be interesting to see whether the BMedSci is given more consideration if Notts students go for a job elsewhere in the UK against applicants who haven't intercalated?

[rozzy]

Thanks Natalie.

Yeah that would be interesting. Yeah I did read somewhere on this forum that those applying in the Nottinghamshire area, their BMedSci was irrelevant. Not sure about outside this area! Anyhoo, I doubt theres that much a difference right?

Thanks again