Hello, my name is Sid and I have just finished my first year of medical school in Edinburgh, and it has without a doubt been one of the best years of my life!
I remember being very excited to move into my flat, as I always remembered people describing university as “the best years of your life”. Nevertheless, I felt anxious to be on my own in a new city, having to manage money myself, having to cook and clean, and make new friends – all on top of studying!
This can be a lot to manage all at once, so I hope I can give you an insight into my experience to help you with your time in Edinburgh.
You will make friends wherever you live
I applied to stay at three catered and two self-catered accommodations, and was allocated to a five person flat in Brae House. I was initially worried about this, as I knew I would have to cook for myself and I was also far away from other accommodation. However, within a day of moving in, I knew I was in the right place!
Being in self-catered accommodation means that you will have a flat to share. This creates a completely different social atmosphere, as you became very good friends with flat mates and this is also a great way to meet people outside of medicine.
Many of my friends stayed in catered accommodation at Pollock Halls. This allows you to socialise in a different way, as you can spend mealtimes with your friends in the canteen.
I think the take-home message about halls is not to worry about where you are allocated. Everyone is in the same boat at the start of the year and you will make plenty of friends wherever you live.
Don’t worry about remembering everyone’s names
Welcome Week can be very hectic. There are so many events arranged and it can be difficult to choose what to attend. In addition, people tend to go out almost every night, so it passes very quickly!
Be sure to attend the freshers fair and have a look out for things you might like. Many people also choose to try something new – for example I participated in Medics Badminton which I really enjoyed.There was a wide range of skill levels and it was very relaxed so it worked nicely around my other activities.
I ended up signing up for so many societies during the fair but eventually cut down most of them. It is important to give everything a try, but as a medical student you will have a lot of academic work to do as well, so pick and choose carefully!
It’s also worth mentioning that you will meet hundreds of people during freshers week – some of these people you will never see again, while others will become best friends for life. So don’t worry about learning everybody’s names in the first week!
Adapting to new study methods
You would’ve have already heard that medical school is very different to high school. You will be taught a lot of in-depth content quite quickly and this can be quite daunting at first.
Perhaps the most significant change is going from being spoon-fed to having to do a lot of extra work on your own. This gets a lot easier with time; once you find out what method of note taking and revising works for you, everything starts to settle down.
For me, I found annotating slides during the lecture to be the most practical method. Afterwards I would supplement my notes with information from other resources. I would highly recommend using the Royal Medical Society notes and the Accessibility in Medicine notes. These can help to simplify concepts and are real lifesavers when exam time comes.
Living in Edinburgh
As a city, Edinburgh has lots on offer for students. Whether it be shopping on Princes Street, beach days at Portobello or enjoying the city’s nightlife, Edinburgh has something for everyone. Being the capital city, it attracts a lot of tourists so you will find plenty of fun things to do.
I would also consider costs of living, as Edinburgh is definitely one of the dearer Scottish cities to study in.
A final note…
With all that being said, I cannot stress enough the importance of taking time out to relax. Medical School can at times be extremely stressful so don’t forget that you need to enjoy yourself!
If you ever find you are struggling to keep up with everything, don’t forget you have your peers, tutors and seniors to help you out. They have all been through the same thing!
Six years is a long time to be in one place so it’s up to you to make the most of it.
I hope this has been useful if you are a prospective or new student of Edinburgh – please feel free to look me out – I would be delighted to answer any questions you have.
