I try to be as honest as I can be within this blog - although my opinions change the more I grow and learn (e.g. I've had to tweak my post on league tables for medical schools because I think I was a bit too negative towards them - my current opinion is that they are still not much use in terms of choosing where you want to apply, as everyone is different and they are filled out by students who've come to the end of 5 years of a course that's probably changed since they started, however they are there for a reason and should be considered if there isn't much else to choose between unis - if with a pinch of salt) - so I don't know whether my opinions now will still be my opinions in 5 years time, but if I manage to keep this blog going that long I'll try and post every year to let you know! I've said before that I was an idiot when it came to applying to Bristol, as I'd looked into my other choices in far more detail - so I think tonight (for as much time as I can type without drifting off on my keyboard) I'll tell you some of the basics about the course (mainly first year) that I wish I'd have known about in more detail.
The first year at Bristol, in my opinion, is very well rounded. When I'm asked for feedback I come across as such a sycophant because I just go on for ever about how much I'm enjoying it all - I'm an eternal nerd. It's split into two main sections up until just before Easter: Molecular and Cellular Basis of Medicine (MCBoM) and Human Basis of Medicine (HBoM). Also included in first year are Epidemiology and Primary Care, and towards the end of the year we start Systems teaching which carries on into second year.
I'll start with MCBoM.
MCBoM is everything you'd expect from a first year medical course - the sciencey stuff. It's split into 9 teaching elements:
- Element 1 - Anatomy.
I finished Anatomy back in December and it is honestly one of the best parts of the course so far - everyone (that I know of) loves it! Anatomy is taught as cadaveric prosection (pre-dissected specimens that you handle), which before I came here I was a bit apprehensive about as I wanted to dissect, but now that I've done it I'm glad it wasn't dissection as you start with no knowledge at all and I wouldn't want to be cutting up a body as I wouldn't have a clue where to start, I might make mistakes, and I feel like you learn so much better when the dissection is done for you so when you start out you can see exactly where everything is. You do, however, have the option to do dissection as an SSC in 2nd year if you come in the top 30 in 1st year for Anatomy (this is bc places are limited). The anatomy lead is brilliant - they get straight to the point with their lectures and keep them fun, and the anatomy demonstrators that help you in the dissection room get to know you quite well and give you loads of extra knowledge (they're all qualified doctors) even if some of them can be a bit patronising sometimes! Every week you do an interactive spot test with voting keypads, and every week is centred around a different body part/organ system. I loved anatomy; I get to do it again in a couple of weeks for Systems.
- Elements 2&4 - Biochemistry & Metabolism. These felt like one continuous element by the end, involving a lot of pure science lectures as is standard in first year, given by the same lecturers that you get to feel like you know (until you pass them in the hallway and realise they don't know who you are haha!). It's taught well, and there are lots of accompanying practicals to supplement the lectures.
- Element 3 - Physiology. This is primarily given by one guy, who is just a brilliant character. You'll understand if you end up coming here. ;) We got accompanying tutorials and practicals for this element along with the lectures, which I found slightly less challenging than Biochem because a lot of it was A-Level revision, like synaptic transmission etc etc.
After these four, we have January exams examining us on them (which few people seem to fail) after which we finish MCBoM with:
- Element 5 - Pharmacology. I thought I was going to hate this element, as it didn't sound like something that interested me, but it was actually taught really well, and even though there were some bits (as with every course) that were a bit of a drag to learn, I ended up enjoying this part of the course, and there are lots of accompanying practicals and tutorials.
- Element 6 - Genetics. This was taught by the same people as taught Biochem, which was nice for continuity as we got used to their style, and consisted of solely lectures. It got a bit repetitive but was generally enjoyable.
- Element 7 - Nutrition.
As you'd expect, this was fairly monotonous, and a lot of it was obvious, but it was taught by lecturers you'd had before which was nice and it was a fairly short element. - Element 8 - Infection and Immunity.
The big daddy. This element is massive - I'm currently in the middle of my easter holidays and have just finished going over it - it's a beast. A lot of people moan about element 8 but I enjoyed most of it, especially lectures at the beginning where we were briefly given PBL-esque scenarios to tackle, as it felt a lot more like I was a medical student and not a science student, and overall the content had more of a clinical slant, which was awesome. - Element 9 - Cancer Biology.
This was possibly my favourite element, full of new knowledge and taught by people who are doing the cutting edge research they're telling you about themselves, which was brilliant. This element (in my opinion) was really really interesting, as applying the science knowledge we'd accumulated to disease biology was exactly what I wanted to do.
Overall I enjoyed MCBoM; as I finish the year I've discovered that I much prefer the clinical stuff we do in Systems, but it's obviously crucial to have that core science base from the start, and I feel like I've been taught well. As you can see by the differing time frames within this post I have, yet again, been sidetracked for like a month and forgot to post! Because of that and the fact that if I carry on on this post with the entire course it will never get posted, I'm going to split this post up, starting with this one as Part One. I promise you I will get better at writing - I'll try my best! Anyway, as always feel free to ask me absolutely anything at all, and let me know if you're coming to Briz next year! Who knows, one of my friends could be your medic parent - and that's a whole other post for another time.. ;)
Tash x
