Tom Medicine and Surgery (Accelerated Programme) MB BS Honours
Course dates: 2008 - 2012
I studied engineering at Imperial College London and worked for the NHS as an engineer for two years before applying to Newcastle for graduate medicine.
Choosing Newcastle
Newcastle is my home town and having lived in London after graduating and working as an engineer, I was ready to come back to familiar ground to pursue graduate medicine. Before applying I was aware of the University's ground breaking stem cell research and the international reputation of Newcastle's medical school.
Studying
Newcastle's accelerated medicine course is intelligently structured so that students experience clinical years sandwiched between lecture based years. The course is loosely based on problem based learning, but manages exceedingly well to compromise between the benefits of problem based learning and traditional learning styles. From the second year, the graduate medicine course is currently tuition fee free and an NHS bursary is available, which will help me to worry less about my financial commitments.
Facilities
Newcastle's Medical School has a brilliant clinical skills laboratory that is well equipped and accessible at vital revision periods. The computer network is speedy and there are many clusters dotted around campus so that a PC is always available. The students' Union is very close to the centre of town and has a brilliant freshers programme every year.
Living
Newcastle is a beautiful city with a fantastic nightlife, a blossoming arts and culture scene and some of the best countryside in the UK. I live in Fenham near Leazes Park and have bought my own home, yet I still pay a third of what I was paying to rent in London! I am able to cycle to and from University through the park which is really pleasant and I live near the best curry houses and cheapest fruit and vegetable shops I've ever visited.
Spare time
Being in my accelerated year, I don't have copious amounts of time for extra-curricular activities. However, I made a point of joining YogaSoc in order to have at least one activity per week that got me away from my desk. The group is very relaxed and offers great value for money and I would thoroughly recommend getting involved with at least one society. The Uni gym is really cheap and offers very good facilities.
Your future
I am hoping to secure a place as an F1 doctor working in the Tyne base unit which includes the RVI, General Hospital and Freeman hospital. I am still undecided as to which area of medicine I will specialise in, but this is the beauty of studying medicine - the range of careers is huge.
Anything else
I have had the benefit of experiencing two universities and can honestly say that Newcastle has provided well above and beyond what I had became accustomed to during my undergraduate degree.
The Learning Support Environment (LSE), which is is a web-based learning tool for medical students, provides video lectures that help to revisit topics during revision times, example questions to help gauge the level of knowledge needed for the exams and online videos to show what is expected in clinical scenarios.
My first set of exams were marked within two days and I received three pages of feedback which I found remarkable. The library has all the books I need and the quiet study area is ideal for focussing the mind.
Mature Students
Having been out of academia for two years, I did find the initial workload difficult, but I reached equilibrium soon after the first round of exams and could then naturally gauge how much work I needed to do to pass my exams without compromising on outside interests.