While comparing and contrasting various medical schools, there were a few factors I took into consideration:- League table rankings and personal testimony.
Here are the factors I did NOT take into consideration, which I should have:- Location and international student intake.
It is crucial to consider your university choices carefully because you've only got 4 choices so make 'em count.
I ended up choosing Birmingham University, Oxford University, Queen's University Belfast & Aberdeen University
I chose Oxford because studying at Oxford was and will always be a dream of mine. In 2015, when I was 16, I had the opportunity to take part in the Kingdom Education Summer School Programme and spent a week at St Chad's College, Durham University and Queen's College, Oxford University. This was my first exposure to British Universities, and two prestigious ones at that, and I was naturally shook to my very core. I found Durham quaint and beautiful, but Oxford left such a lasting impression on me that upon my return to school, there was a renewed sense of purpose within me to set Oxford as my goal.
As you probably have already guessed by now, I did not make it into Oxford and honestly? The disappointment only lasted a second because come on, it's Oxford. My BMAT (Biomedical Admission Test) score was pretty average and if I had known that, I wouldn't have even attempted to apply.
Good news is that students can now sit for the BMAT in September BEFORE they submit their UCAS, the same way the UKCAT has been implemented, which in my opinion should've been the case donkey years ago. Like I said, I wouldn't have applied to Oxford if I had known my BMAT score would be this average, so as to save that extra slot for another university that I actually have a shot at getting into.
In fact, this is why I didn't apply to Edinburgh University- the fact that I knew my UKCAT score wasn't in the highest percentile. In case you didn't know this- this university doesn't do interviews, so offers are made solely on UKCAT and forecast results (+ personal statement I guess). I read that those who get offers each year usually obtain 3000+ for their UKCAT, so I knew better than to execute this suicide attempt. Also, 50000-pound tuition fees? Really? Who was I kidding?
Next, I chose Queen's University Belfast (QUB) because one of my teachers did his masters there and this university came under his strong recommendation. Also, I checked its ranking, and while I don't remember it exactly, I know that it was in the top 20 and is a Russell Group University. While I did not manage to attend QUB's open day, and I strongly advise you to attend the open days at ALL of your choice universities, if you can, because you never know until you see it for yourself, my family and I did make a trip to Belfast and we had a peek at the university. I love Belfast, the friendliness of the locals and of course the fact that everywhere in Belfast looks like a Game of Thrones film site. I'm the only one in my family who watches GoT so it was a pilgrimmage, baby.
Aberdeen University I had not heard of my entire life up till the point I met a friend from the hospital I was interning at who was a soon-to-be second year medical student at this institution. He spoke quite highly of this university, and coupled with the medical liaison's comments that a few specialists from the hospital studied there, I applied there despite not knowing ANYTHING about Aberdeen. This is not smart, I repeat, not smart. Please apply to unis that you either have visited and are familiar with or have come under strong recomendation by MULTIPLE trusted sources. I was fortunate in that I found Aberdeen University to be a spectacular place to study (the Sir Duncan Rice Library had me in fits of excitement), and while I must admit it is bitterly cold in Northern Scotland, the school is fantastic! I could learn to live with the blizzard. But you see, there are so many factors that I had overlooked, like, what the weather is like in Aberdeen because bearing in mind that I am the one who would have to endure 5 years of unbearable weather. Hence, it isn't wrong to consider factors like the weather, the price of living etc.
Also, if you are as blissfully ignorant as I was, and if you are an international student as I am, you would appreciate this- uhm, it's really hard for us to get into UK medical schools, especially the top ones. I mean, it's difficult enough for the rest of the world, but it is especially impossible for us due to the 8.5% (approx, as quoted from the Aberdeen website) quota imposed by the General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK. So..applying to Aberdeen wasn't really 'smart' because the yearly intake is around 160 which means around 13 international places per year. Can you bloody imagine? Hundreds of applicants competing for 13 places? The message definitely hit home when the 4th year medical student at Aberdeen informed us of this prior to the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI). Perfect timing, I know. I remember my eyes widening infinitesimally , but the interview was over before reality sank in so hey ho.
Applying to Birmingham University was a mistake, for me at least. I chose this university because it came under high recommendation from another one of my teachers who lives in Birmingham. Also, it is ranked in the top 20 too. Additionally, I have visited Birmingham on several occasions because it is relatively near to my school and while I did not find anything particularly interesting about this place, I did not find Birmingham that abhorrent either. I did intend to visit Birmingham Uni's open day but my mom had flown all the way from KL to London that weekend so that plan flopped. As a result, I had no idea what the university looked like until I went there for my MMI.
I wasn't exactly unimpressed, but I suppose because I had seen so many other spectacular universities so my bar of expectation was raised. I did on numerous occasions watch videos touring Birmingham Uni but I was unprepared for the throngs of students I saw at the medical faculty. I was a bit overwhelmed. I liked the Queen Elizabeth Hospital which is next to the medical school so great proximity. But that's all I liked about the med school. I was not impressed by the student who took us on the tour around the school because he had this air of lackadaisicality about him and did not seem like the kind of student who is passionate towards medicine. I met a few other applicants who were there for the MMI too and I was a bit horrified when they informed me in a matter-of-fact way that the interview questions had been leaked (WHAT?) and they asked me if I wanted to take a peak at them. I laughed and said no, where's the fun in that? Of course, they started running through the questions and discussed them among themselves. I tried to tune them out. Yes, I'm not gonna lie, I was not impressed by the students I had met during the interview.
I think the real cherry on top was the fact that I had to wait for about 4 hours for my MMI. Basically there's a morning and afternoon session and since I was scheduled for the afternoon session, the MMI could take place anytime from 12pm to 5pm. This was very much unlike my other MMIs at Aberdeen and QUB which started promptly at a very specific time slot. The reason Birmingham does the MMI in this fashion is because the school interviews more students than other unis, say 1200 compared to Aberdeen which interviews 800 By the time I was due for the MMI at Birmingham, I was more than fed up: hungry, tired and ready to sleep. The MMI did NOT go well- I remember my head spinning and my speech becoming increasingly garbled. I could not pronounce veterinarian properly, something that I found highly amusing when I thought about it after the MMI. It wasn't that I did not accord this MMI due respect and professionalism, after all, I had arrived early and registered and all that jazz, but at that point in time I just could not muster anymore energy.
To each self their own, just because Birmingham Uni's medical school did not really tickle my fancy doesn't mean that others feel the same. The truth of the matter is that we are all different and will bound to have differing preferences when it comes to what we look for in a school. But, don't do what I did and only realise it too late, on the day of the interview itself, because firstly, you would have wasted a choice, and secondly, your interest or rather the lack of it will be on full display. Unless you can hide it well, just as much as you are not keen on getting into the school, likewise, the interviewers will be just as unwilling to let you gain entry to the school. Contrary to what people may think, a medical interview is merely a conversation between two strangers, where one of them shows exactly how much he/she wants to be accepted onto the course and the other evaluates exactly that. Hence, it works both ways.
Hence, with hindsight, I would not have chosen Birmingham University as one of my choices.
By now, you probably have noticed that I did not apply to the top 10 universities for medicine, apart from Oxford. Truth is, I was trying to play safe because I had been told that I should choose universities with varying requirements and rankings so as to not be overly ambitious and end up having zero offers because I picked all the top unis. I am sure that you have been told by your academic supervisors to choose 1 top uni of your choice and then backup ones.
This practice? Not applicable to medicine. All the med schools in the top 20-30 are highly sought after and extremely competitive to get into so it's a level playing field, in my opinion, with the exception of Oxbridge which is EXTRA competitive but not necessarily more impossible than other med schools because most of them only take in around 10-15 international undergrad students yearly anyway. What I'm trying to say is that it's difficult to get into any medical school in the top 20-30, period. All of them ask for AAA at A Levels,with the exception of Oxbridge and Birmingham Uni and others I may not know of, so it really isn't the case where students choose unis with different grade requirements because they all ask for the same grades.
Hence, if I could choose again, I would not even look at the rankings or be bothered by the fact that the universities I had chosen are in the top 10. I would instead have tried to widen my search circle and consider universities like Newcastle University (which I didn't think of because I have never been there and don't know anyone who has or is studying there), University of Bath (which turns out to be a beautiful place to live, having stayed over at my teacher's who lives in Bath), and even some of the London medical schools which I had steered clear of because I know that EVERYONE wants to go to London. Maybe not everyone, but London is the central hub for medical conferences, teaching hospitals, and other research and internship opportunities so of course medical applicants would be keen on applying there. If I could choose again, I may have chosen Barts & London due to its proximity to the teaching hospital and its high student satisfaction. I would not be deterred by the fact that it is in the top 10 of the league table, because really, it doesn't make a difference anymore. As long as your UKCAT / BMAT score is in the top percentile and you become eligible for an interview, it's pretty much a level playing field for all, save the fact that there are virtually 10+ places for international students. So what's it going to be? It's going to be a stiff competition anyway, something I learned along the way. Applying to the 20th 'best' med school isn't going to increase your chances of entry by tenfold anymore than applying to the 10th 'best' med school will decrease your chances of entry.
All the medical schools in the UK are regulated by the GMC and have high standards to meet. I have been told by teachers and students alike that it doesn't really matter which medical school one did his/her undergrad at. What matters is that he or she graduates (ha ha )and of course, graduating top of the class would be nice, but really isn't a prerequisite to progressing into the next stage- junior doctor recruitment unless you want to do it in London then yeah maybe due to the competition.
Additionally, I would like to add that there are private medical schools in the UK, a concept I got acquainted with further along the way. University of Buckingham, St George's University of London, University of Lancashire and others are just some of the alternatives to consider.
Another alternative to obtaining a UK medical degree is by enrolling at the satelite campuses, a concept Malaysians are all too familiar with. I did apply to Newcastle University in Johor, Malaysia and Queen Mary's University of London in Malta. There are many more similar setups like Nottingham University and Heriot Watt University in Malaysia. The degree parchment is issued by the university itself and will be recognised by the GMC. However, double-check if the degree will be recognised by your home country's medical council because medical recognition and accreditation takes years so some of the newer establishments have not yet been registered with the medical councils in many countries. Trust me on this one, don't mess with medical accreditation-only enrol at universities that are recognised. My experience of appealing to the Malaysian Medical Council on the recognition of the MD from Charles University in Prague has brought me enough grief for a lifetime.
To sum it up, choose the university that is RIGHT for YOU, based on geographical location, medical campus, facilities, student intake, teaching style- problem based learning or traditional pre-clinical and clinical, cost of living, tuition cost (which take any value within a spectrum of 20000 pounds to a whopping 50000 pounds, bearing in mind that medical scholarships for internationals are virtually non-existent nowadays), course duration (5 or 6 years), weather (trust me on this one- it matters), etc.
PM me below if you have any questions!
xxx
Jie Fei