Questions for current students

[waterstone]

Hi there,

Thanks a lot for taking the trouble to read this post. Theres a fair bit of chance that I might be going to UWS next year so I have got couple of questions for you guys, if you could kindly share your knowledge and opinion.

1. How much of dissection did/would you do at UWS ?
2. Can you afford to work while studying?

Cheers.

 

[Daisy 6]

Hi [MENTION=18546]waterside63[/MENTION] .

It's only early days for me in UWS med, but I don't think the UWS course involves dissection at all- just examining the specimens that have been pre-dissected. UNE med has anatomy dissection weekends though, which would be really cool.

As for question 2, I don't work but I know plenty of people who hold down part time jobs while they study. I guess it just depends on your time management skills. Also I imagine it's a lot easier to work in the pre-clinical years, once you're in the hospital all week then it might be hard to find a job that can fit in around it.

 

[miss_universe]

[MENTION=5638]Havox[/MENTION] has experience at UWS so he can answer Q1.
As for your second question, we are actually having a discussion about it on another thread at the moment..(If I find link I will post)

Otherwise, use the search function to find the threads related to it (there are heaps)

 

[Havox]

1. Nope.
2. Depends on how organised and how motivated you are to work. In general, nothing significant.

 

[waterstone]

Do any of you think that will have an or any effect at all in your future training years especially if you aspire to train as a surgeon?

Cheers guys.

 

[chinaski]

Do any of you think that will have an or any effect at all in your future training years especially if you aspire to train as a surgeon?

Cheers guys.

No.

/topic

 

[JeremiahGreenspoon]

Do any of you think that will have an or any effect at all in your future training years especially if you aspire to train as a surgeon?

Cheers guys.

I highly doubt it, but you'd be surprised at the number of people that complain about how little anatomy we do. They're all worried that we don't learn enough about this, that and the other. It's true that UWS is quite light on anatomy compared to some other schools, but that's in terms of scheduled contact hours. It's entirely up to you how much you do or don't learn. A lot of people just give up on the subject and fail, others (particularly those with surgical aspirations) put plenty of time into it and are streets ahead.
As with anything, it is what you make of it.

(As for working, preclin yrs 1 and 2, lots of time but you'd want a reasonably flexible work roster as lectures can be pretty here and there week by week)

 

[waterstone]

I highly doubt it, but you'd be surprised at the number of people that complain about how little anatomy we do. They're all worried that we don't learn enough about this, that and the other. It's true that UWS is quite light on anatomy compared to some other schools, but that's in terms of scheduled contact hours. It's entirely up to you how much you do or don't learn. A lot of people just give up on the subject and fail, others (particularly those with surgical aspirations) put plenty of time into it and are streets ahead.
As with anything, it is what you make of it.

(As for working, preclin yrs 1 and 2, lots of time but you'd want a reasonably flexible work roster as lectures can be pretty here and there week by week)

Hi, do you think its going to change any time soon? What sort of response did you get from the school regarding this?

 

[JeremiahGreenspoon]

Hi, do you think its going to change any time soon? What sort of response did you get from the school regarding this?

The general feedback was that the anatomy teaching is adequate and that there is a wealth of resources students can access in their own time. Compared to a lot of unis, UWS is not big on contact hours, they leave a lot of the learning up to you. I completely agree with this approach.

Having said that, in response to the feedback I do believe that the anatomy labs were opened for several hours a week for self-directed learning with cadavers as opposed to text books, which wasn't done in the past (though it's always surprising to note that those who complained then never used this time).

 

[dobes]

Having said that, in response to the feedback I do believe that the anatomy labs were opened for several hours a week for self-directed learning with cadavers as opposed to text books, which wasn't done in the past (though it's always surprising to note that those who complained then never used this time).

The anatomy lab was open for 3 hours last Friday, so they are still doing that. They had text books there as well, so you could identify the relevant organs/vessels etc at your own pace & your own way, plus discuss it with others there. I found it really useful, so hopefully they keep doing it this semester.

 

[JeremiahGreenspoon]

Yeh I have a feeling they will keep it up, and if anything escalate it (i.e. this year the plan was to have some 3rd years come in and help direct some of the learning for 2nd years, but it didn't really work out very well). I'm not sure if they'd done it in the past though, I have a feeling not.
One good thing about UWS is that being a new course, they're always listening and looking for feedback on ways to improve.

 

[qickin]

no need to disect anything at all over.
uws has a really breezy course
tonnes of time to work. i swear i played on my comp 10+hrs/day during sem (not in exam time)

 

[Kyle]

It's a few years ago now, but I worked more than 30 hours a week through the first almost 3 years of med school. It's much more doable in the preclinical years.

 

[Daisy 6]

Wow [MENTION=948]Kyle[/MENTION], that's extreme... *impressed*