Medical Degree

Jack: I'm Jack and I studied Human Sciences at UCL. 

Modryen: My name is Modryen and I studied Biomedical Sciences at King's College.

Jazz: I'm Jazz, I studied Applied Medical Science at UCL in my undergrad.

Amma: My name is Amma I studied Biomedical Science at the University of Kent.

How are you finding the course so far?

Jack: I'm loving it at the moment it's um it's intense but a good intense like, I'm excited to actually stimulate my brain in a way that haven't before. My degree didn't have a career at the end of it like an exact, it wasn't a feeder almost so I'm happy to be able to actually know that what I'm learning is going to be applied later on.

Modryen: I'm enjoying because this was kind of like a different way for me to get to Med. It was an opportunity that don't really find very often and it also allowed me to experience that moving away from home feeling. Even though I'm no longer first year I can still have that experience again, so I enjoyed that and I enjoyed the course because as much as it split, now we kind of get straight into things. We get placement from in two weeks time and that's something you don't really get so quickly anywhere else, so I'm happy with that.

Jazz: It's broken up nicely, I don't feel overwhelmed, I feel like everything that we have learned like you learn, you go back, you have stuff on Keats to the then go check on when you get back home so I don't think it's overwhelming.

What's it like studying in Portsmouth?

Jazz: I would really really recommend. I was even say quite um reluctant when I first moved here nervous I would say. I was very adamant I wanted to stay at home and study medicine and i'd say it's the best thing that I could have done. Like I really really enjoy being here, making so many nice new friends. One of my friends came with me and yeah, I couldn't recommend it enough.

Amma: Yeah same, I would say like one thing she said about like lot of us want to stay at home and study, but trust me when you come here, you're where you live is like 5 minutes from where you study so it's like everything is so close together and you're not really wasting a lot of time commuting, you're always being efficient with your time which is very important.

Jack: So I've already love the city and it's great to be around similar age people, because I think we're the similar maturity level, similar interests and we obviously all really want to do this as we've had the time and a lot of effort to get here.

Modryen: I've enjoyed Portsmouth as well. I'm from London so this is kind of like a different experience for me, especially because my first degree I lived and I commuted, so this has been a time for me to move out, experience living other people and also have that that starting again without actually having to start again. We're all the same age so as much as I'm starting again I don't feel like I'm starting from zero. I kind of feel like people are similar to me, wanting to be here and it's not like I'm completely at zero so I feel quite welcomed in that sense.

What's it like being a KCL student at the University of Portsmouth?

Amma: First of all Kings College is Kings College, like it has that reputable name so um I knew that I'll would get the same quality of education here as in London. I think also moving to new city which is Portsmouth which is smaller which I said before makes it quite easier in terms of like being able to focus on your studies and not being distracted by. Like London is a city and there's a lot to do in a big city like London, but being here makes it more smaller, it allows us to be more focused as students.

Mondryen: In London because there's just so many students in general, we are the only medical students in the anywhere so as much as we do have placement things, there's so many of us that it's very easy to just to skip a step I feel like, because it's like oh but you kind of missed that bit, but we're the only ones so we're the ones that get everything. We're kind of the focus of the whole city so I think we that's a really great opportunity for us.

Jack: Yeah it's like no hiding place, but is that a pro or a con, depending on the day.

What's the teaching like on the course?

Jack: We're so focused cos we're such a tightknit group, there's a big focus on us and like you'll get a lot of eye contact with your professors and lecturers which I think in a big lecture hall where there's 450 people, which would be if we're in second year, um we wouldn't really get that um so it really does keep your focus. The smaller groups that we split off to each day I feel like is very hands on.

Amma: One thing I like about the teachers or lectures here that they really take their time and they really ask do you understand, can I move on to the next one, before they move on to the next one, which allows everybody to move at the same pace and like we're traveling together, like you're not leaving anyone behind which is really good.

Jazz: I think for me, I've never experienced anything like that before like it's always been very lecture based, sat down for three hours, a load of information thrown at you and I've never learned any other style. I found coming here has really helped like the learning style, the practicality of it getting straight into it, like how you would do with [...] getting straight into like the anatomy but also like having some lectures, some practical as well has been really fun, I've really enjoyed that and the teaching.

How does case-based learning work?

Jack: So you're basically given a scenario, like a case study, and you'll then have to go learn kind of the lifestyle choices in one room um and how that can affect their pathology and then go and maybe examine them as well, and then investigate other causes um and other exams.

What advice would you give to someone thinking of applying to study medicine?

Jazz: It's probably is better than undergraduate medicine, I think undergraduate is very like it's focused on your qualifications realistically. Postgraduate medicine I found is more focused on what you bring to the table as a person and again with your personal statement, I think like rather than saying like  I've followed a consultant around for the day and I've followed around then this person in A&E for the day, talk about what you've learned from it how you've reflected and what you've learned from the experiences, I found that was really helpful and also what you've been brought to the community as a person.

I think that in the personal statement shines so much more than saying I followed someone around for the day so I'd say that was probably my best advice for applying.