My intercalation was a complete contrast to what I was expecting after my first two years in medicine. From learning research skills, to meeting new people, to dealing with a pandemic; I was in for a rollercoaster of a year! I chose to intercalate in Zoology because I love animals and tropical medicine so the flexibility of choosing my own modules allowed me to fulfil both passions.
We kicked off the year with a field trip to southern Spain and from the outset I realised how stimulating this year would be. One of the key challenges of intercalation was learning to think in a more academic manner; to behave as researchers rather than clinicians. Coming up with our own research questions and learning to design experiments was a daunting prospect at first, but a week of chasing grasshoppers in the desert to investigate crypsis (camouflage) was quite a way to break us into it.
Despite my initial trepidation around meeting new people, I quickly discovered how friendly the older students were and a lot of them were in the same boat as us. Vets, evolutionary biologists and people returning from a year abroad were all thrown together, and we quickly bonded whilst cliff diving in an oasis or drinking under the stars in Urra.
My advice to anyone choosing a subject for intercalation would be to pick topics they are passionate about and not worry too much about whether it links closely to your future career path, or even to medicine at all.
Picking a research project you’re interested in will make the hours sifting through scientific papers or analysing pages of data far more enjoyable. My dissertation examined the diversity of insect assemblages in Catsear galls, so I had a lot of fun collecting data whilst hill walking.
The beauty of research is that every thesis is unique in its own way, but all guided by scientific method so the skills you learn are transferrable. As such, working hard on a topic you’re passionate about will help you become excellent researcher in the future, regardless of the field you decide to pursue.
Zoology was a refreshing change of pace and has made me more excited to come back to fourth year with a new skillset to apply to my medical studies.
