Why I Chose Online & Part-Time Medical School

Hello, my name is Róisín! I am a qualified Podiatrist and an incoming first year student at the University of Edinburgh studying HCP-Medicine. I am very passionate about widening participation and encouraging people to consider a career in healthcare!

Finding the Right Medical School

Choosing a medical school can be an incredibly difficult decision with many different universities and routes to choose from. Ensuring you meet the entry requirements is key, but then determining the course style, location, university life etc., is important in finding the right fit for you. Spending time researching early in your application cycle is very worthwhile and will make your selection process much easier when reaching the UCAS deadline.

Every student will not follow the same path but the variety in options can aid in widening access and provide alternative routes for those who may not have the grades at the end of sixth form college or secondary school. This also means there are plenty of ways to access medical school at any age for people who may not have initially considered medicine.

Common Course Types:

• Standard Entry Medicine

• Graduate Entry  Medicine

•  Medicine with Foundation Year

•  Medicine with Gateway Year

Standard entry medicine is the route that the majority of medical applicants take and is open to all students including those with previous degrees.

Graduate Entry Medicine

Graduate entry medicine is designed for applicants who have already obtained an undergraduate degree. It is highly competitive due to the high number of applicants in comparison to the small number of spaces available, however this may change in the coming years with greater number of places becoming available. For example, Ulster University at Magee Campus will welcome students in the academic year 2021/22 for the first time for their new graduate entry medicine course. It is likely that more universities will continue to offer this route due to its popularity.

To learn more about the different course types including Medicine with a Foundation Year and Medicine with a Gateway Year, check out the Medical Schools Council Website and the BMA for details on course design, entry requirements and support.

HCP-Medicine

HCP-Medicine for healthcare professionals is a new and innovative course designed by the University of Edinburgh. It is a 5-year medical degree and is mostly part-time and online for the first 3 years and the final 2 years are full-time with the undergraduate MBChB programme. This route is designed specifically for experienced healthcare professionals interested in training to become doctors. Please see the University of Edinburgh website as linked above for entry requirements, application process and further information relating to the course.

I chose to apply to HCP-Med due to the level of flexibility in comparison to a traditional undergraduate route. I felt it had increased flexibility due to the course structure and the focus on online learning. The online learning includes a mixture of pre-recorded lectures, podcasts, live synchronous sessions which are ran with live tutorials and discussion forums. Medical Schools all had to make changes to their curriculum due to COVID-19 and became mostly online. This is likely to continue with some move to in-person teaching in a reduced capacity, therefore, this point is not necessarily specific to HCP-Med at this time.

Furthermore, there is not currently any other university in the UK that offers learners the choice to study part-time which is something many students, particularly those with disabilities, caring responsibilities and from widening participation backgrounds have reported they would greatly benefit from. This course follows a longer academic year, but as it is part-time I felt it would help minimise financial pressure with the ability to continue with part-time employment. However, this is not to say students in full-time medical degrees cannot work part-time; many do have to work and feel they are able to balance this with their studies. It is all about what is going to work for you and your own personal circumstances.

I also felt continuing in my employment would allow for the maintenance and development of my current clinical skills whilst expanding my knowledge base and clinical opportunity through the longitudinal placements in general practice. I have a keen interest in general practice and this link from the early stages seems very exciting.

I felt being in a class of people from various healthcare backgrounds would provide a unique learning experience. There are many healthcare professionals who opt for graduate entry medicine or standard entry medicine, but this new pathway may help to ease many burdens that are faced by students today.

The first cohort reported feeling incredibly supported and this is something that was very important to me in my journey as I change career pathways. This academic year is the second ever cohort and I felt as a whole the staff at the University of Edinburgh in the HCP-Med team are genuinely excited about this new development within the university which was very appealing as an aspiring student.

All of the reasons I have provided may not be individual to me and there are other more personal reasons that helped push me towards making this decision. Ultimately the path you choose will not change the quality of doctor you will be, but it is important to consider the different routes, depending on your circumstances, and how they may fit with your current life and commitments.