{"id":10262,"date":"2020-02-08T14:04:18","date_gmt":"2020-02-08T14:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/?p=10262"},"modified":"2020-11-24T12:03:08","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T12:03:08","slug":"how-to-choose-medical-schools-and-what-about-your-5th-ucas-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/how-to-choose-medical-schools-and-what-about-your-5th-ucas-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"How to choose medical schools and what about your 5th UCAS choice?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So you’ve decided you want to apply for medicine? FANTASTIC! So first step: start thinking about which medical schools you want to apply to! Note: this may change<\/strong> as I will explain later in the blog! I will also share more reasons why I chose Cardiff as one of my choices as well, developing on from my previous blog, “Journey to Medicine!”<\/a><\/em>. This blog will be extensive as there is a lot to cover, so please take the time to read it and can come back to it as many times as you like!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once I was firm in my decision to study Medicine, I actually started looking for medical schools to apply to very early on because I was simply so excited and it gave me motivation to keep on working hard in my A levels! With that being said, the research took me a long while! Currently, there are over 30 medical schools, yet on UCAS <\/a>you can only choose 4!<\/strong> So, how are you meant to cut the choices down? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Well actually, there are so many ways to approach looking for medical schools and everyone has different preferences, so for me, the best way to start was using comparison tools<\/strong><\/a> online (I’ve added a link to a great website that I used, which I will refer back to in later blogs as it was useful for advice on other stages). <\/em>I also made my own personal table on a Word document where I could write down key points that I found<\/strong>. This was great because it meant I could save links to websites to save me having endless tabs open! I put the 6 main points highlighted below as my headings in the table and then medical schools as rows. However, please find a way that suits you to make notes<\/em> (I dedicate this style to my mum who introduced me to the world of tables and my medic friends can account for me that I LOVE to use them in my notes even now!). Either way, having all your notes in one place is great so that you can go back to refer to them when you hopefully become an offer holder and need to decide what to firm or put as insurance, which I will discuss in my next blog!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Course features<\/strong><\/p> Course structures<\/em><\/strong>
The first thing I realised when doing my research is that no medical school is the same. Don’t worry you will hopefully end up as a doctor wherever you go to! Learning at university is very different to A levels and you are making the commitment to study a long course, so it is truly important to look into the learning style which will suit you. I’ve added a link to a BMA page explaining the differences in course structures<\/a><\/strong>. For example, some are more traditional<\/em> in the sense that the majority of teaching is lecture based in the first 3 years with very limited exposure to patients. This is different to Cardiff where there is early patient contact from Year 1<\/strong>! <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Cardiff have been running their <\/a>modern C21 curriculum<\/a><\/strong> since 2013. Their teaching style involves a course type known as “case-based learning” which is used in the first two years of the course. I’ve enjoyed this type of learning style as it begins to prepare you for later clinical stages by using a series of patient cases to build on the basic science knowledge you learn in your first term to common clinical conditions. It is also known as “cake-based learning” as most case groups have a cake rota going! <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Course opportunities<\/strong><\/p>There are some factors you should consider when researching how the courses are taught<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n