I understand how in america you go to college for 4 years, and the med school for 4 years. How is it different in England>
Other - United Kingdom - 2 Answers
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1 :
Medicine in this country isn't split into pre-med and medical school. In this country, when you apply to university you do so to study one subject and when you get there that is all you study, whether it be, for example, maths, history or medicine. Therefore, when our medical students turn 18 they go to university and study medicine from the get go and nothing else. As a result they spend 5 or 6 years (the length of the course differs according to the university) studying medicine as part of one continuous course before qualifying as a doctor.
2 :
I'm currently in the business of applying for this at the minute. So in the UK you finish compulsory education at 16, you can now legally go and get a job but most people carry on to take their A levels at a 6th form, college or academy. This takes two years. You then apply (well, you actually start applying during the second year of A levels) for university. You can apply to four medical schools, and the process is pretty similar to applying for any other degree (except there are a few more hoops to jump through, for example, extra tests like the UKCAT or BMAT). If you want you can also apply for one other subject which many people do so they have a back up as getting into medical school is very competitive. If the schools like your application they may invite you for interview, they may then make you an offer of a place (which is usually conditional, eg. if you get AAB in your A levels you can have a place). If you get the grades, no problem, you're in - if not, they may still take you or you resit and try again next year. I'm sure like in the US grades are not the only requirement, they also look at your conduct, hobbies, volunteer work, character etc. etc. before making their desicion. Overall the degree is 5-6 years, depending on if you intercalate (take another degree in the middle, for example, have a year of for medicine and get a BSc in neurology or something) or if you do a foundation course (for students who didnt have the oppurtunity to take the right sciences at GCSE or AS/A level). Pretty much everyone then does the first two years of clinical practice near where they qualified so you can be looking at staying in the same place for up to eight years.
