UKC

So the daughter finally got accepted to St Andrew's and Aberdeen. Still waiting on Dundee. I know the city's well but just wondering if the UKC collective have any opinions on their experience of having gone to Uni in any of the above, particularly the Medical course?

In reply to Father Noel Furlong:

A long time ago when I was at Raigmore most of my colleagues were from Aberdeen, with a few from Glasgow and Edinburgh; they were all pretty on the ball and seemed to have been well trained. However, the St Andrew's grads I have worked with subsequently have been uniformly excellent: certainly back then clinical training for St Andrew's students was always elsewhere (usually Oxbridge or London) after local pre-clinical courses. So some disruption but more flexibility from St A's. Not sure if this is still the case...

b

In reply to ben b:

Thanks. I know St A's do 3 years there and 3 elsewhere. Which i think sounds good as that gives her two experiences of Uni. Also means she might get to spend time in Glasgow who rejected her (no 5 As!). However it's a 6 year course so takes longer.

In reply to Father Noel Furlong:

My niece did her training at St. Andrews and Manchester and loved St. Andrews.

In reply to Father Noel Furlong:

Daughter is at St Andrews and hates it. It's a very small town and it can be very isolating, apparently a lot of students end up in relationships/getting married because there's nothing else to do Also there's not enough student accommodation and the landlords really rip them off.

St Andrews did an awesome selling job on the open day and really made her feel wanted where the other Universities were much more impersonal but the experience on the course is nothing like as good. She's left it too late but she really wishes she'd gone with her offer from Edinburgh or Glasgow.

In reply to Father Noel Furlong:

They are all excellent universities, so if her choice gets stressful, remember that she'll ultimately be very happy at any!

If I were in her place, I'd be going to St Andrew's..... *sigh* ......

In reply to Father Noel Furlong:

Aberdeen is pretty clinical from the start, with lots of patient exposure from first year which keeps it interesting. Helps having the largest hospital site in Europe next door (or so I'm told)...

Some of the St Andrews students some and join Aberdeen in the 3rd year

In reply to Father Noel Furlong:
I am third year student doing medicine at St Andrews, I am leaving to go onto manchester. I love it here. The teaching the medical school is fantastic and the facilities particularly dissection are among the best in the country. I have many friends at other top medical schools (Oxford, St Georges etc) and the facilities we have available to us here sound much better. The support from the staff is fantastic, I am currently writing my dissertation and can go into see my supervisor whenever I want with endless annoying questions

I saw the comment earlier about it being a small town and there not being much to do. I personally have not found this to be the case. Being a keen climber I am often out climbing whenever I can, however there is loads of other stuff to do. There are the fantastic beaches and I regularly get out surfing in my lunch break (at least once a week normally) and go for fantastic runs and swims. There are also loads of really good clubs that always have stuff on, normally running trips every weekend. The climbing club always have a trip on at the weekend to some great places often staying in hard to get huts. Not to mention the fab medical societies that have plenty on such as surgical workshops etc. I am very rarely sat around bored.

Obviously I have a very biased view but I love it here and glad I didn't go anywhere else. However with any university I think it is very much what you make of it and I am sure she will have an incredible time wherever she decides to go. Feel free to get in touch with any questions.
Joe

In reply to tom_in_edinburgh:

Yeah. It's got a real chocolate box image but i did wonder how quickly you would get bored of it. Call me shallow but if she hooks up with a rich American i'll be ok with that


Thankfully don't have to worry about that as both Edinburgh and Glasgow gave her a knock back. Although with Medicine she'll transfer in 4th year to somewhere like Glasgow

In reply to climbwhenready:



Me too.....is it wrong to be jealous of your kids?

In reply to Joe Barlow:

Thanks for this and for the offer of more help. I'll PM you if she comes up with specific questions. I did the tour with her when she had her interview at St A's. I was really impressed with the facilities although obviously have nothing to compare them to.

She's not a party animal so i actually think the social structure in St A's might suit her better than one of the bigger cities. She has a friend at Aberdeen who's turned into a bit of a pisshead. Nice girl but don't think she'd be a good influence when it comes to my girl getting her head down.

Good luck woth your studies and i may well get back to you later

In reply to Father Noel Furlong:

Most med schools have a bit of a drinking culture although I suspect less so now than previously. "Stand alone" schools with their own campus tend to be quite insular and while the med students tend to stick together anywhere, I suspect a wider range of students is no bad thing.

The Aberdeen grads were interesting - very focussed on pints of 80/. As a london grad, and a vegetarian who read books at that, I might as well have turned up in a smoking jacket and pretended to be Oscar Wilde. It was good fun though and while the others went clubbing at Blue or the '45 I could get across to Skye for a weekend of misery with midges!

Good luck

b