St Georges GEP v Swansea GEM

[runnerbean]

Hi all

Perhaps you can help me out - I have been incredibly lucky to get an offer for graduate courses at Georges and Swansea but cant decide which one. I never expected to have a choice and am very grateful but its been really difficult to choose. Does anyone else have a dilemma like this? its a good problem to have but its 4yrs and i want to make the right choice

Georges has a good reputation and is a really established uni but I loved the people at swansea and the seaside location. The panel at my Georges interview were pretty cold and unfriendly but maybe I just had a particular set of people who were not representative of Georges generally? Money will be tighter in London but i live here already so would be a lot less hassle. Anyhow, I am rambling. Sorry! I'd be interested in your views people... are there Georges medics out there who can tell me more about what its like studying there and also, what the electives and clinical attachments are like - I see they are based at hospitals in surrey direction...do people like working at these particular hospitals?

Cheers

[emily1983]

No Brainer. Go to St Georges....if you want to spend the rest of your life in tears, that is.......St. georges is in tooting, which is like being in the middle of the 3rd world and is actually a TB hotspot! my boyfriend is asian, but step outside the uni and you can smell the sweat, masala and cheap perfume....it's not multicultural it's mono-cultural...i love indian food, but i hate being in the middle of hundreds of people..it's simple overcrowding, there's no space to breathe...anyway, all that probably stresses out the professors and they in turn take it out on us.......Or maybe they're just total bastards :-)... there are a few good ones, and honestly I didnt think we had it that bad until I visited an old school friend at Swansea................Again, there's so much more space that everyone is nicer to each other...I went last summer and it turns into a sfurf town! Was like a welsh baywatch (but without David Hasselhoff!)...Anyway, if I were you there's no desision at all...just post the same question in Swansea forum and have a look at the results....

[tallulah]

Gosh emily1983, sounds like you're really unhappy. I'm really sorry to hear that. Aside from your dislike of Tooting itself, could you say more about the course and the staff? Would you say many of your fellow students are unhappy with the course? What year are you in? I'd also be interested to hear from any other SGUL GEP students about what they think of the course. Also, what's the travelling like for clinical placements? Someone was telling me last night that this might get onerous.

runnerbean - I found the panel at my interview for SGUL really friendly, so I guess it does depend on who you get.

[FlyingDutchman]

Runnerbean, I'm not sure that the reputation of the SGUL graduate course is that good. Dig around on the forums. Swansea.

[Nurse_to_doctor]

runnerbean,

It depends upon how much you like living and working in London – travelling can be a pain at times. Swansea would have better (and cheaper) accommodation, than Tooting. I have always worked in London, so this would not be a problem for me. However, you might hate living in London…

I think I’m right in saying that the programs are slightly different. SGUL goes in for the full PBL experience, while Swansea tends to use what they call LOCS. They might help you deciding which to go for.

[runnerbean]

Thanks guys. I love London and Wales so its less about location I guess and more a question of how the experience at those unis would compare.
You're right NtoD - its LOCS v PBL!

[Nurse_to_doctor]

By the way, I meant to say:

Congratulations for getting 2 offers

[runnerbean]

thanks v much - i am delirious with joy just confused

[Jax77]

It would be good to read some positive comments about georges - so far its been quite negative. I dont have a choice and am just very happy to have an offer for 2009.

[Nurse_to_doctor]

Jax77,

I have only spoken with 2 students, on different occasions, on the 5 year course – both halfway through. They are very happy with St. Georges, but said that the GEPs work really hard and put the school lever entry to shame! It is also rumoured that SGUL is trying to go for a 50-50 split between graduate and ‘A’ Level entry. I think all medicine courses should be graduate entry, anyway.

SGUL is a large London teaching hospital - so, it's number 1 in my book