- It's really daunting
when you first get to see the cadavers.
Because they keep face covered,
for kind of modesty purposes,
and you just peel back the sheets
and just see this dea body effectively lying there.
And it is quite scary at first,
but by the end of the two years, you're in there so often
that you just get used to it and it becomes really normal.
Hi, my name's Chloe,
and I'm a forth year medical student studying at UCL.
I looked at applying at Edinburgh, and Leeds, and Cambridge.
The reason I wanted to come to UCL was because
I wanted to be on a campus based in central London,
and you have such great teaching opportunities
and learning resources.
I have no regrets coming to UCL over the other places
because I'm having such a great time here.
During your six years here,
you're split up into different sections of studying.
So, your first three years are pre-clinical,
and are all based in, sort of,
lectures and small group work.
So, your first two years are all around the central campus,
learning about the core science and pathology of medicine.
In the first two years it's really great
that you have anatomy sessions.
So these are, you get given a cadaver per about six students
and you are learning how to dissect,
learning about the anatomy, in such small groups,
and I think that's a really great opportunity
and really well taught.
In your third year you do your specialist BSC subject.
And then in your forth, fifth, and six year
you're on clinical rotations in hospitals.
Everybody has to do a BSC in their third year.
So basically, a science degree in their third year,
which gives you so many great opportunities
to go and work with your supervisor
and do a dissertation project on your choice.
My supervisor last year was called Dr. John Hurst,
and he's a really important guy in COPD research,
so it's a really great opportunity
that I got to work with him.
I'm really enjoying forth year, to be honest.
It's a great way to kind of put into practice
all the theory and the knowledge
that you've learned over your first three years,
and actually see it in real life patients.
I think all of the rotations are meant to be quite good.
I think some of the hospitals are good for different things,
and are bad for different things.
I think the rotation that I like the most so far
has been anesthetics.
It's a really great, hands on opportunity
to see what being in theater's like.
My current base is at University College Hospital,
the big green glass building, opposite Euston Station,
which looks really spunky and new.
I have a four month placement there.
In forth, fifth, and final year,
you get examined in practical examinations called OSCEs,
which is something that we haven't done before,
it's a new thing, so I'm gonna be a bit nervous for that.
And these are basically clinical scenarios
where you'll have about thirty second to read a scenario.
For example, Mr. X has come into hospital with tummy pain,
please examine him, and speak to the examiner
about what you find.
And you'll have about ten minutes to go into the station
and examine the patient, chat to them,
and then present your findings to the doctor.
So, I've got that coming this year,
which can be a bit nerve-racking.
I wanted to study medicine
because I really liked the combination
of learning a scientific topic in depth.
But also you get the human interaction
and working within a team.
So I think it's quite competitive to get into UCL,
I think there's about
15 hundred to two thousand applicants per year,
and only about three hundred places.
When people are looking at doing the BMAT,
I think they probably need to make sure
they have a good scientific understanding
in all of the four main sciences and maths.
And then also have a, kind of, topic of interest
in some sort of humanities subject
that you could think about writing an essay.
For prospective students looking to come interview here,
I definitely say to read up, or look out for
recent junior doctor stuff that's been in the news,
that's been really big recently,
with the new junior doctor contracts being imposed.
I'm from Newcastle, which is in the northeast of England,
so, when I first came to London, it was quite a big step.
You know, a lot of my friends
lived about an hour train away,
so they could go home quite easily.
Whereas for me it was about a four hour train journey,
and also really expensive.
So, I didn't get to go home much in the first term.
But I think in a way that was good,
because it made me stay and make friends and be sociable.
And now it's perfectly fine,
I don't really miss home at all.
So, I think what really helped
with the difficult transition from school,
is that you get a moms and dads event.
So, you get paired with a medic parent,
who's able to offer you advice
about what sort of parts of the syllabus you need to know,
what to worry about, what not to worry about.
Earlier this year, I got to scrub in to a surgery.
Which is where, you basically spend
about seven minutes washing your hands
and you have to hold them up like this,
and then you put your gown on, and your mask, and so on.
And then I got to help out with the surgery
by kind of just holding some tongs
and sort of spreading the skin apart.
Sorry, I sound a bit gross.
But that was really cool,
because I felt like I was actually helping
and actually getting involved with something.
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