course intensity - question for current students

**redspider** · 03-05-2012, 12:19 AM

Can anyone provide any info about the intensity of the course, such as rough hours per week (including what one will need to spend studying on average).. considering the graduate 4 year course, which is much more appealing as I am an older applicant but I also have a family to consider and don't want to not have any time to spend with my son. Interested in hearing about both phase I and II. Phase II looks a bit of a nightmare with minimal holidays! Thanks.

**Profanius** · 03-05-2012, 12:40 PM

Hi Redspider

I think Olimorgan is the best person to answer that one as he's currently at WMS, but I think he's doing finals right now. As it is there have been a couple of threads in which people talk about workload at Warwick.

Info on GEP

How Medicine is taught at Warwick?

The general impression I get is that if you are used to working a full time job and squeezing in family time then Warwick shouldn't be too much of a culture shock for you.

P.S. Are you on the facebook group? Moving from Sweden with a young family sounds very much like someone on there :-)

**Martigan** · 03-05-2012, 04:18 PM

RedSpider

I don't know the course at Warwick, but if comparable to the SGUL course, its manageable with a family. However you will have to skip some of the social side.

By being focused with my work the gaps between lectures and weekday evenings, I can keep the weekends free for my family. I only tend to use the Sunday evening for uni work, as its good to have things fresh for the Monday morning PBL sessions we have.

I still get some weekday evenings free, depending on that weeks demands this can some times be more than one.

However it also depends on your work style. I found the first term the hardest, as a) I had to learn the appropriate study skills gain, and familiarise myself on how to best use the resources available. but also b) we had to learn the right depth to go into without wasting time on unnecessary detail or side issues.

**redspider** · 03-05-2012, 07:14 PM

Profanius, the fellow skydiver? :-) yes am on the group, you know who! Have accepted the place but feeling very guilty about uprooting a family from a fairly idilic life here. I do work full time but in Sweden we have a lot of parental leave and long long holidays so plenty of time to spend with family. Thanks for links, useful.

Martigan, thanks.. are you on the 4 year course there? Good to have some reasurance from someone in a similar situation that it can be done.

**Profanius** · 04-05-2012, 01:33 PM

Hey Redspider

Yep, that's me :-)

Sweden certainly sounds quite idyllic. Although if you have photo-allergies and enjoy water-sports then England is a veritable paradise right now.

I know some GEPs like Imperial are very intense in the 1st year as you're cramming two years into one, so you can join in the regular degree at year 3. I don't have kids myself but there's about 101 things I want to do while at Uni and my free time will be quite precious. Part of the appeal of Warwick was its GEP only focus and a more gradual approach to teaching medicine. Part of the trick is to live closer to campus (e.g. Coventry, Stoneleigh, Kenilworth, as opposed to Leamington) so you don't waste 2 hours of every day sat on buses or at bus stops. How old is your littl'un anyways?

**redspider** · 04-05-2012, 11:51 PM

Profanius, planning to live as close as possible, kid registered with local nursery so don't want to be too far away. He is just coming up to 2. Been very lucky with time to spend with him so far and don't want to loose that completely, especially whilst he's so young. At least it seems that the hospitals warwick send you too are all in fairly close proximity (at least I think so)!

**olimorgan** · 05-05-2012, 11:21 AM

Can't be too much help as the course is changing next year (2013 start) and everything is being moved about and rejigged. So not sure about holidays etc, certainly it's gonna be a lot easier to pass as most of the exams are going formative!

But if stuff stays approximately the same:
Phase I - ~ 9-5 Mon-Fri + however much extra work you do in the evenings/weekends (I did 1-2 hours per week max until revision time)
Phase II - Supposedly the same but most days are probably 8-2 or 10-5 depending on speciality/cons etc + some nights + some weekends
Revision for Finals = I only saw light the other day for the first time. Trust me when it comes to you revising for finals warn your family you wont see them for about 5 months and will also be a miserable, grumpy, anxious git

**alismith** · 07-05-2012, 03:18 AM

I'm just started final year, and my youngest was 3 when I began the course. I've found it fine most of the time. In Phase 1 I had a lot more time off than I expected, and Phase 2 you can also find yourself with a fair amount of free time though it varies block to block. For me the main headache is logistics (my timetable changes every 8 weeks, and I never know 'til day 1 of a new block what it's going to be) so that makes childcare difficult to plan properly - so it depends a lot on your partner/childcare arrangements. But I find I can do enough to get by without sacrificing weekend/evening time with the kids (and as they're all at school now, I don't feel like I'm missing that much time with them during the day). Hope that helps, and good luck!

**saintgermain** · 22-07-2012, 12:20 AM

My feeling is that the course intensity varies hugely by individual depending on how hard they find things, and their level of motivation. Phase 1 (doubtless now arcane terminology but the first 18 months in any event) is more structured and tends to be 9-5pm with the occasional afternoon/morning off. Obviously this doesn't include preparing for group work (amount of preparation varies from none to obsessive) and the usual blinding panic when exams roll around...

Phase 2 varies much more considerably and is (on the whole) pretty flexible. You can attend all day every day and out of hours or you would fall between the cracks and never attend. Both types of student get signed off one way or another at the end and most (I imagine) occupy the middle ground.

The new curriculum will look different on the face of it but I imagine the workload remains the same.

Formative exams are a potential obstacle... without the pressure of regular summative assessments (i.e. one that is genuinely pass/fail), bad students will con themselves into believing they can catch up later. I don't think this will help the overall pass/fail rate.

Lots of students manage the course with families in tow but that's not to say they find it easy...

**redspider** · 23-07-2012, 12:41 AM

Thanks all for the information, alismith good to hear from someone is a similar situation. Husband is a shift worker so not ideal but we will find a way! saintgermaine, still phase I and II ;-) thanks for the post... fully intend trying to stay on top of it all! famous last words....