Thursday 9 February 2012

University of Leicester Open Day!

Well, I went to the University of Leicester last month...




And you may have seen my tweet about how pointless it was... If only I'd have known that before actually getting there! Would've saved me a wasted journey!


The presentation on Medicine itself was in incredibly high demand! There were only two talks: one at 2pm and one at 3pm. I thought it would be better to go for the earlier talk, but ended up queuing for half an hour before the talk started, in a massive crowd of people (all of whom looked younger and far more intelligent than myself), to be told when we all got in to the talk, that there basically wasn't much point in me bothering to apply there - I'd be far, far better off taking GAMSAT and applying to either St. George's or Nottingham...


Basically the reason that it was so pointless was because they're bringing in a new system (at least I think it's new) where they'll be point scoring potential candidates on their previous academic qualifications i.e. GCSEs and A-Levels, as well as their degree classification...
Which means I've got NO chance!


I already knew it was a long shot because of the year long paid work experience requirement, but still, I thought it was at least worth a look!


I must admit that I was particularly reluctant to like the city of Leicester - back in the day when I was browsing Universities for my first degree, I went for an open day at Leicester's other University, De Montfort, and wasn't that impressed. And also knowing that a 'kind of' ex had moved to the city made me even more reluctant to go there! But I have to say that when I got to the area that the University of Leicester was in, I was a lot more impressed than when I went to DMU (which is on the other side of the city)!


Everything about the University is nice, the people seemed relatively friendly, and certainly welcoming. The Uni was neat and looked shiny and new (although the same can't really be said for the Medical School building - which apparently is going to be replaced by a newer and shinier building in the near future). See the shoddy picture below for a glimpse at the Med School building...






This is also another shoddy picture of the Medical School from the side (at least I think it's the Medical School - but don't hold me to that!)








I don't really think there's anything else that I can say about it - It certainly doesn't look like I'll be applying to study there, but that's not to say that I don't like the University, because I do.


Oh, and one of the taglines of the University, which you will be utterly bombarded with if you go and visit is:
"Elite, without being elitist". 
Trust me, you will see it absolutely everywhere! It's been drilled in to me now!


I would recommend that people check it out, of course! You can't take my word on which Medical School to study at!


Next time I'll be telling you all about Keele University!


Thanks for reading! xx

King's College Open Day!

So, so sorry for neglecting my blog like this!
Last summer, I went to an open day at King's College London... As the title says.



To be honest, I'd never really been to that area of London, and I didn't even know whether it was Guy's Hospital or King's College Hospital that I had to go to. Turns out, after following the map, that it was Guy's after all.

It absolutely threw it down on the day, which usually equals a very bad hair day for a certain frizzy-haired wannabe medic.


My soaked umbrella!

When we got there, I was impressed by the exterior of the buildings. But, to be honest, it's what's inside that counts, isn't it? However, I liked the inside too.


The Campus

We had an introduction talk, in which my phone loudly went off... Embarrassing...

We then went to a Pathology lecture with the prestigious Professor Sebastian Lucas, which I thoroughly enjoyed! 
Although I wish someone would have warned me that there was going to be slide in the presentation with a picture of diarrhoea with blood on it!
It was kind of a good job that I didn't have time for lunch beforehand!

We then got separated for tours, which mainly consisted of walking around the interesting Gordon Musuem:

Which might have been better if our tour guide hadn't walked off without us.
Still don't know where she got to...

And probably would have been even better if I hadn't have walked, loudly, straight in to a metal bin, in a room where I was surrounded by silent, revising medical students... Yet again, embarrassing...

But, for the remainder of our tour, we joined another group, most of whom were sixteen or seventeen year olds with great innocence and faith in themselves. That's the thing about being a prospective Graduate Medicine entrant, you feel a bit inadequate when faced with all these fresh faced geniuses... Or maybe that's just me.


Even though we got separated from our tour guide, it really isn't every day that you get to walk around a place and see pictures of dead bodies in the process of decomposition, or get to see actual craniopagus siamese twins pickling away in a jar...

We then went to get a free drink and snack, where my Dad knocked his coffee over. Which went all over the floor, the chair, his jacket, and some papers... Embarrassing!
So all in all, we both made fools of ourselves!



A Bridge
Here are a couple of facts about King's College London:
  1. It's apparently the only University campus in the UK with a McDonald's restaurant built in to it.
  2. It's also overlooked by probably the biggest building that I have ever witnessed!

    The massive building!

I enjoyed my trip there, and also the sightseeing afterwards, yet I feel that the fact that KCL is UKCAT entry it has to go slightly lower down on my list of Medical School preferences. Ideally, I wouldn't like to take UKCAT and GAMSAT together.


The view from Millennium Bridge

If you look on my 'Plan' page, you'll see that KCL does make an appearance!


Now, I promise that I'll be back soon with tales about my trips to Leicester and Keele!
xx
Random Shiny Balls in the Street... Ahh London.