Subject Information
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Medicine
IntroductionThe medical course at Cambridge is described in detail in the University Admissions Prospectus. It begins with a three-year Honours degree course which includes work in the basic pre-clinical subjects, and a specialist subject of the student's own choice. Subsequently, the student may remain in Cambridge for clinical work or proceed to a clinical school elsewhere. The college teaching system is superimposed upon the lecture and practical class programme offered by the University. It is at the level of college teaching where individual colleges vary greatly in their academic provision for medical students, and so the choice of colleges is of considerable importance when a student applies to read any subject at either Oxford or Cambridge. Yet it has (rightly) been pointed out that it is difficult to obtain specific information about the strength of a college in any particular area, and so often the basis for a choice of college is guesswork and hearsay. These notes attempt to clarify to a prospective candidate what Murray Edwards College has to offer (in an academic sense) to help enable a medical applicant to make an informed choice. The comments apply only to Murray Edwards College and not necessarily to other colleges, to whom you should write directly if similar points of detail are desired. The Supervision SystemIt is the supervision system at Cambridge, and the tutorial system at Oxford, provided by the colleges, that is unique to these universities. A student reading medicine at Murray Edwards College will have around three supervisions a week. A supervision is a weekly hour in small groups of one, two or three, in which students have a direct opportunity to discuss problems and ideas concerning each of their major subjects. This is the most delicately balanced aspect of medical teaching. A supervision should not just provide yet another lecture, nor should it attempt to retain any hierarchical distinction between teacher and taught. The student brings her ideas and questions, and often written work. The supervisor may attempt to clarify misunderstandings, fill in omissions, or offer alternative explanations and approaches to the problem being discussed, but, at its best, the aim of the exercise is not to apportion praise or blame. Rather, it should be a joint endeavour between individuals working in a similar subject, with different things to contribute, mutually trying to make sense of a particular area of learning. Medicine has been described as an Art based upon a Science, and so it is perhaps this form of instruction that best encourages the fundamental skills of clinical and scientific judgement that are needed later to deal with the novel, and frequently difficult, situations that arise in a doctor's career. Although an attractive form of teaching and learning, it depends entirely upon the relationship between student and supervisor. The supervisor requires the confidence of the student as someone who is working in the student's interests; the student needs to convince the supervisor of her wish to make material contributions to the discussion at hand. It is perhaps for this reason that the supervision system works best when the supervisor is in the same college as the undergraduate, as part of the same academic community. Certainly such an impression is borne out in practice at the level of observable examination results. Thus, over the past few years, Murray Edwards College has been rated in its examination performance close to the top, if not at the top, amongst Colleges in Medicine. Teaching StaffThe most fundamental requirement in teaching pre-clinical medicine concerns provision for all the major medical subjects at college level by individuals also active in their research or their clinical careers, who would consequently be capable of discussing material at the standard required by the Medical Sciences Tripos. There is also the more general, but equally important problem of conveying the clinical implications of the various subjects presented in order to lend them interest and meaning. The latter has become of particular relevance given current reforms in medical teaching in the University of Cambridge in response to the recent General Medical Council initiative "Tomorrow's Doctors". Students also require information about openings in medicine after qualification. Subject coverageThe first provision indicated above can be assessed simply by inspecting the staff list for that college in the college's own prospectus. The major subjects that need to be covered in the Medical Sciences Tripos are:
A college has to find teaching in each of these subjects. It may do so either from the ranks of its own Fellows, or failing that, it 'farms out' its students for supervision either by a postgraduate or post-doctoral student on a piecemeal basis, or to a Fellow of another college, provided that the college has capacity left over after fulfilling its own requirements. The success of the latter arrangements is variable. It remains frequently the case that the most satisfactory situation from the point of view of the student is to be taught by someone from her own college who consequently will have an explicit commitment to her academic success. The list of teaching staff indicates that, at present, Murray Edwards College fulfils all its teaching needs in medicine from within its own Fellowship, and so the need for 'farming out' is minimal. It will continue to do so with the current revisions of the Cambridge Medical Course, having anticipated and made arrangements for these changes beforehand. The second and third requirements given above are related to the presence (or absence) in the college of teaching staff who are medically qualified in addition to being scientists. There is a need to include not only supervisors with a strong primarily scientific background but also those with at least a minimal amount of clinical experience if the clinical applications of what students are learning are to be presented in a credible manner, and if they are to be able to emphasise those areas that are directly relevant to the student's later practice. It is true that a number of colleges function without any medically-qualified staff. However, the latter situation has been commented upon in the past on more than one occasion by the General Medical Council concerned with standards in medical education, and by the Chairman of the University Grants Committee (now the Higher Education Funding Council): "It is widely agreed that in pre-clinical teaching to medical students, phenomena in human subjects and their relevance to clinical medicine should be emphasised to an extent that would not be appropriate or practicable in a pure science department... The desired orientation can be given only by medically qualified teachers and a nucleus or core of such is essential in the full-time pre-clinical staff." The number of clinically qualified staff in any given college again can be assessed by examining the prospectus. There has been a steady decline in the number of such pre-clinical medically-qualified staff in Cambridge colleges, and in British universities in general. Murray Edwards College has so far maintained a balanced mix of staff between those whose backgrounds are primarily scientific, and those who are additionally fully-qualified doctors. This is a conscious college policy which, given the availability of resources, we intend to continue. At all events, this college has succeeded in avoiding the eventuality of a student not having a medically-qualified person to turn to for advice or assistance concerning her employment or career. Indeed, our graduates continue to find access to career advice after they have left the College. Finally, Murray Edwards College maintains the Tyars and Timson-Welbourn Funds to assist clinical students who did their pre-clinical work at Murray Edwards College for their periods of elective study. Teaching Staff at Murray Edwards College by subject in the Medical Sciences Tripos
* denotes medically qualified Admission ProceduresThe medical Fellows at Murray Edwards College are particularly concerned that accessibility to medical places should be as open as possible with the fairest set of admissions criteria applied consistently to candidates whether from the maintained or the private sectors of education. We welcome first choice candidates with Scottish Highers who are proceeding to Advanced Highers, and European and International Baccalaureate, as well as A-level candidates. We welcome the additional breadth that will develop with the increasing popularity of subjects at AS level. At the same time we realize that it is necessary to remain flexible, and to make accommodation for particular needs and interests. Admission for pre-examination candidates is based on conditional offers. Seventh term candidates enter through a similar procedure, that is, they may be offered a place on the basis of their examination grades. The particular subjects a candidate is to offer are governed by the pre-medical requirements; within these limits the College will impose no additional subject preferences on its first choice candidates, but would like in particular to encourage those with ability in the physical sciences and mathematics who, at perhaps a comparatively late stage, have begun to think in terms of a medical career. In addition, we have frequently offered places to first choice candidates who have included Arts subjects among their A and AS-level subjects. In addition to assessing examination performance and school reports, candidates will be invited to interview. The purpose of the interviews is to make as wide an assessment of the candidate as possible. Both scientifically and medically qualified individuals, the latter including practising doctors, will be involved. At interview candidates will normally have two subject interviews and one general interview. The subject interviews reflect the scientific nature of the Cambridge undergraduate course. Current scientific knowledge will be explored, as will ability to apply this knowledge to problems that are unfamiliar. Emphasis is placed on a candidate's ability to think about the science they have covered rather than on detailed knowledge. Within the general interview candidates will usually be interviewed by two interviewers, one of whom will be a practicing medical clinician. The interviewers will be assessing intellectual and emotional maturity and ability to reflect intelligently on experience of medical issues. All Medical and Veterinary applicants to Cambridge will be required to take the Biomedical Admissions Test BMAT. The number of medical places in the University as a whole is regulated by a fixed quota, as is the maximum total number of first choice places permitted to each college even if any one college is over-subscribed in that year. As it has a favourable teaching staff position, Murray Edwards College will fill all these permitted medical places. The number of available medical places at Murray Edwards College has recently been expanded significantly reflecting its substantial commitment to medical education. The above procedures and policies do not necessarily apply to candidates applying to first choice colleges other than Murray Edwards College and candidates should make the appropriate inquiries should they require such details. Accordingly, your best chance of securing the benefits of a medical education at Murray Edwards College is to apply as a first choice candidate and therefore enjoy the benefits of the more thorough pre-Christmas assessments available both to first choice candidates and those open applicants who are allocated to this College. Making an Informed ChoiceThese notes have given what we consider to be the major priorities in organising college teaching in medicine, and what we have done to cope with them. In summary, the major academic features one might look for in making an informed choice of a college in which to read medicine at Cambridge might be:
These notes represent the views of one college only, and other colleges may have different priorities. Nevertheless the variations between the different colleges in both Oxford and Cambridge have been held to be one of the strengths of these two universities. Anne Williams ScholarshipOverseas students hoping to study medicine at Murray Edwards College may be eligible for the Anne Williams Scholarship, a bursary given to overseas medical undergraduates on the basis of both academic potential and financial need. For more details on this bursary and others offered by the college please go to our page on bursaries. What students do nextOther web pages show more about the careers of students from this College who studied your subject in the past. Professor Chris Huang, Director of Studies Checked by ER, August 2011 |
