Calling 1st Year Med Students in Edinburgh

cotsvale

Hi

My daughter has a conditional offer for Medicine this year.
I have some questions - what kind of hours do you work to include lectures & independent study. Is it 9-5 or shifts or what? To have some idea would be really helpful.
How much do you need to live on in Edinburgh?

many thanks

spl2nh

Although I am not a med student I do study at Edinburgh. The cost of living is very expensive and I pay £300 per month for a single room in a shared house. A months bus pass is about £30-40 depending on age. However, if the cost is not overly significant I would highly recommend Edinburgh as it's just lovely. It has a friendly atmosphere (the city) and the university is excellent and scores very highly in the league tables.

This is kind of an informed opinion as this is my third uni but most definatley my first choice.

Hope this helps!

cotsvale

spl2nh wrote: »

Although I am not a med student I do study at Edinburgh. The cost of living is very expensive and I pay £300 per month for a single room in a shared house. A months bus pass is about £30-40 depending on age. However, if the cost is not overly significant I would highly recommend Edinburgh as it's just lovely. It has a friendly atmosphere (the city) and the university is excellent and scores very highly in the league tables.

This is kind of an informed opinion as this is my third uni but most definatley my first choice.

Hope this helps!

Thanks - the cost is worrying. I was asking about workload in case there was any chance of fitting in a little bar work or something but I guess with Med students that's kind of not a realistic hope.

tkane

ignore please

DrFluffy

I'm a London medical student, and much of the above is true - it's true for a lot of my friends at other UK schools too. At 'my' school, the timetable for years one and two is not 9-5, but it isn't stable enough to get a regular hours week day job either.

3rd year hours are somewhere around the 7.30am-6pm mark, but can often be longer, then you need to add travelling time on top of that... I have a friend in clincals at Manchester who has a 40 mile commute each way to their current rotation...

I know that at BL for years one and two - you always know what lectures you have the next week. Lectures ALWAYS happen at the same time each week, as do PBLs. Practical sessions vary depending on the practical in question...

lechat

Im studyin in London too. The 1st an 2nd year is lecture based, and so timetabled 9-5. usually with free spaces which vary week to week. There is certainly enough time to have a part time job. Wed afternoon is also a compulsory free afternoon.. mainly for those who want to do sport, but your daughter could work on a wednesday afternoon if she wanted ( ithink the wed afternoon thing sis nationwide!) or else use the time to study and then work at the weekend.

Medics manage to socialise nearly every night apart from near exam time so I dont see why one of those nights couldnt be used for a job! I used to do waitressing for an agency. friends work in the union bars, restaurants... loads of stuff!

if you google newmediamedicine forum, and post a question on the Edinburgh medical school page: http://www.newmediamedicine.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=33 they will be able to help you more, and the info on timetabling may be up there already..

lechat

i forgot to say in all clinical years ie yr3 onwards it will be more difficult... more travelling around, greater workload, shorter holidays, so hard to earn money then...
Earning lots in the pre-clinical holidays is the way forward!

bargaindoctor

your daughter will have a great time there. it's also alot cheaper than london but more expensive than glasgow.

bargaindoctor

part time work wise - she WILL have time to do part time work. i know alot of medical students that did. However I would suggest giving her a couple of months to settle in the pace. There are lots of place near the medical school - bars, restaurants, cafes... that she will get work. I used to work weekends even in my clinical years, travelling to London and even abroad for that matter...!!

cotsvale

Had a proper look at her finances today. She is going self catered to save money. After rent is paid she will have £39 per week over 37 weeks to live on ie cover everything else and that includes our contribution. If she takes out an overdraft with her bank that will give her an extra £10 PW. She does not qualify for a maintenance grant as our income is too high but that does not mean we can afford to support her, we have a large overdraft as it is and this year Mr Tesco is paying for a youth hostel holiday for us through refunds and clubcard and he is paying for some of our meals too. I don't understand why she can't borrow the maximum living costs loan ....it's a loan...it's not going to cost her any less to live than a student from a low income family is it?

LegalEagle

My friend is currently a 4th year medic at Edinburgh, and I do know that she chose not to work during her degree at all. However, she has the benefit of being Scottish and having tutition fees paid for her which makes quite the difference.

Have you looked into student accounts specifically for medical students? I am fairly sure that there are banks that cater to this.