I will be honest: this was kind of a chore. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from reading this book if they're really interested in learning about life in medical school, but I just found that I had so many problems with this book that it made the reading experience almost unbearable. I was just waiting for it to end.

The thing I dislike the most about this book is how redundant and boring it is. I have a pretty low attention span as it is, but my mind went to Mars and back while I was going through this thing. It was honestly equivalent to taking NyQuil. I think the main reason why that is is that it has 30 students answering the same questions set out to them by the authors (What was the application procedure like? What did you love/hate about medical school? What were your most valuable and least valuable experiences? Etc.) The worst one was the "Life as a(n) X year Medical Student" question. I just couldn't care less about the minute details of the various course structures as they varied widely between universities. Sure, I am interested in what I will be learning in medical school, but the course structure will be provided to me once I get there, and it will probably differ pretty heavily from what I read here as this was book was released many years ago and gathers information from students in many different universities. If I'm being honest, I would have much preferred it if the authors read the individual contributions from the students and made a sub 100-page summary providing all the useful information. After reading "it's important to do extracurriculars and have a good work-life balance" for the 700th time, I think it's safe to say that I got the point.

That brings me neatly to my next point: the editing. Good lord, the amount of spelling and grammatical errors in this thing are downright criminal. I feel quite certain that a lot of the students wrote this stuff down in an hour and sent it to the authors without proofreading. Unfortunately, the authors just slapped their contributions into this book without ironing out the writing, and it really shows. There is one student in particular whom I'm not even certain is a medical student because of how bad her writing skills are. Practically every single sentence of hers is a run-on one. It was quite shocking, honestly.

While it was quite a chore getting through this book, I will admit that I definitely did come out of it more knowledgeable about medical school. I mean, it's only expected given that I just went through over 200 pages of medical school-related information, but whatever. The common themes were also definitely solidified due to the redundancy of this book. I already mentioned how practically every student talked about the necessity of doing extracurriculars; some other common themes included "Determination is key; the massive volume of information might overwhelm you at times; paperwork sucks; medicine is an extremely rewarding career; medical students work hard and play hard; medical school becomes much better during the third year onwards when you have more patient contact as opposed to hours of lectures; there is a great sense of camaraderie between students; etc."

I wish I could think of more to say here, but I kind of just want to end this review early so I can go and play Pokemon. Sorry. I'm just exhausted from reading and thinking about this book. ( )

I will be honest: this was kind of a chore. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from reading this book if they're really interested in learning about life in medical school, but I just found that I had so many problems with this book that it made the reading experience almost unbearable. I was just waiting for it to end.

The thing I dislike the most about this book is how redundant and boring it is. I have a pretty low attention span as it is, but my mind went to Mars and back while I was going through this thing. It was honestly equivalent to taking NyQuil. I think the main reason why that is is that it has 30 students answering the same questions set out to them by the authors (What was the application procedure like? What did you love/hate about medical school? What were your most valuable and least valuable experiences? Etc.) The worst one was the "Life as a(n) X year Medical Student" question. I just couldn't care less about the minute details of the various course structures as they varied widely between universities. Sure, I am interested in what I will be learning in medical school, but the course structure will be provided to me once I get there, and it will probably differ pretty heavily from what I read here as this was book was released many years ago and gathers information from students in many different universities. If I'm being honest, I would have much preferred it if the authors read the individual contributions from the students and made a sub 100-page summary providing all the useful information. After reading "it's important to do extracurriculars and have a good work-life balance" for the 700th time, I think it's safe to say that I got the point.

That brings me neatly to my next point: the editing. Good lord, the amount of spelling and grammatical errors in this thing are downright criminal. I feel quite certain that a lot of the students wrote this stuff down in an hour and sent it to the authors without proofreading. Unfortunately, the authors just slapped their contributions into this book without ironing out the writing, and it really shows. There is one student in particular whom I'm not even certain is a medical student because of how bad her writing skills are. Practically every single sentence of hers is a run-on one. It was quite shocking, honestly.

While it was quite a chore getting through this book, I will admit that I definitely did come out of it more knowledgeable about medical school. I mean, it's only expected given that I just went through over 200 pages of medical school-related information, but whatever. The common themes were also definitely solidified due to the redundancy of this book. I already mentioned how practically every student talked about the necessity of doing extracurriculars; some other common themes included "Determination is key; the massive volume of information might overwhelm you at times; paperwork sucks; medicine is an extremely rewarding career; medical students work hard and play hard; medical school becomes much better during the third year onwards when you have more patient contact as opposed to hours of lectures; there is a great sense of camaraderie between students; etc."

I wish I could think of more to say here, but I kind of just want to end this review early so I can go and play Pokemon. Sorry. I'm just exhausted from reading and thinking about this book. ( )

Consisting solely of medical students’ testimonials, this ‘“warts n all” rough guide’ to life as a medic is structured sensibly with each chapter linked to the year of study. Under headings such as ‘What I love/hate about medical school’, the contributors are encouraged to give a balanced reflection. Many of the students have applied as graduates so this is a useful book for those considering medicine as a second degree. Each person reflects on their experience of the application process so you can pick it up for some UCAS tips.
Available in both Careers Service information centres, shelved in the Yellow section.