Year 6 student Coco shares her highlights from six years of medical school.
Hi! I’m Coco, a final year medical student at the University of Edinburgh. The six years of medical school have gone by faster than I could imagine. Here’s my top highlights and memories from my time at Edinburgh.
RMS pub crawl
My medical school experience was kick-started by the Royal Medical Society pub crawl during Fresher’s Week, where all first years donned a white lab coat and spent the night meeting other medics, signing names on each other and exploring the pubs of Edinburgh. Some of the people I met that night are still good friends to this day.
Medical School Council (MSC) balls
My first ever ball was the Medical School Council (MSC) ball in my first year. After attending once, I could not miss out in the subsequent years. The atmosphere is always lively and you will meet medics from all years, as well as non-medics. I remember devouring hog roasts while trying not to get any drippings on my dress, taking silly pictures in the photo booth (which I’ve kept to this day) and dancing under the beautiful McEwan Hall ceiling until my feet nearly broke from being in heels too long.
Fight night and club trips
Surprisingly, not all my time at university was spent at the library, and I had plenty of time to try out the long list of clubs and societies that the university offered. I picked up kickboxing for the first time in fourth year and by the end of the year, I participated in fight night against Aberdeen (and got pretty beat up!)
I also joined the medics netball club and enjoyed the annual trips to other Scottish universities for a weekend of sports – and partying in a club other than Big Cheese, which is a weekly ritual during pre-clinical years.
Peripheral placement
My first peripheral placement was in the Borders in Year 5. After spending a whole year in central Edinburgh, I was very wary about spending a month in an unfamiliar place. However, this ended up being my favourite placement. The Borders is a beautiful, vast place with quaint villages and lovely hills that are perfect for a day or weekend trip. The double beds in the accommodation are comfier than you can imagine and, even better, the hospital is right outside, so you only need to roll out of bed. The hospital is smaller than the ones in Edinburgh, meaning you have more involvement in the team. The O&G team even invited us to go on a canoeing trip with them!
Graduating… twice
Graduating from my intercalated degree was an unforgettable experience, especially in the beautiful McEwan Hall. One of the pros of studying medicine at Edinburgh is that you get the opportunity to graduate twice. So, if you don’t like how your photos turn out the first time, then you’ll get a second chance! I am looking forward to graduating again and becoming a doctor very soon.
Exploring the city
While Edinburgh Medical School has given me plenty of memories, I could not forget to mention the city. From the cherry blossoms in the Meadows in spring, the bustling energy of the Fringe Festival in the summer, the dark academia vibes of the streets in autumn, to the cosy Christmas markets in winter, there is no other city like Edinburgh!
