Catrin is taking a year out of their MBChB degree to intercalate in Medical Humanities. Find out what a day as an intercalating medical student looks like.
As an intercalation student, my days can look quite different to a medical student on placement. An intercalated degree is when you take the year out of medicine to do a separate degree within one year, in an area related to medicine. I’m completing a BA in Medical Humanities this year which means I’m on campus a lot more and have a lot more flexibility in my working, as the majority is independent work. Have a look at what I got up to in a day of my life!
I have a lot less teaching this year compared to medicine, so I’ve come to enjoy the times I do get to go in for lectures as it adds variety to the day. Today it was a lecture on green spaces and how they link to wellbeing, which was really interesting to think of mental health from a new perspective.
A major benefit of intercalating is that there is lot’s more time in the day for hobbies! Realising I had more time and flexibility this year compared to when on placement I decided to sign up for a marathon (quarter life crisis, I know). I would have struggled to fit this training around placement last year, especially during the winter nights, so I am very grateful I get the chance to do it this year.
The most important time of the day! My housemate is also intercalating so we make sure to meet up for lunch as often as we can to keep each other company. There are loads of nice lunch spots in the local area or on campus! The accommodation villages and the student housing areas are close by so we often just pop home for some lunch.
My housemate and I walked back over to campus to get our heads down to do some work. This semester is dissertation semester. This means less modules, so less teaching, but a lot more writing. I find it helps so much to go work with someone when trying to write a big assessment, as it helps to motivate each other to not leave things last minute. There are loads of spaces to independently study in the Medical School and on campus such as the library.
After a few productive hours of studying, we headed back to meet our other housemates who had finished up from placement. This is always my favourite time of the day, as we all have such different schedules now so it can be really funny to swap stories of the day.
In the evening, I often get to join up with my friends from MedSoc, a student led Medical Society for all students studying a healthcare degree. Tonight was the MedSoc Dance class which was Contemporary. Still doing MedSoc societies this year has been great to keep me updated with my friends whilst I’m doing my intercalation year. And after an afternoon staring at a laptop, it’s so nice to have a bit of movement and a laugh.
After dance, I headed back home to have dinner with my housemates and watch a bit of TV (junior bake off is our current favourite). From here, I started to wind down for bed with a bit of reading, ready to do this all over again tomorrow!
I hope you enjoyed coming along with me for a day in my life! The day of an intercalation student can be very varied, sometimes there’s a lot more work to do with lots of essays to write before a deadline. And some days you have no teaching at all. This can all be very strange from the high amount of in person teaching in medicine. But you quickly get used to it and it’s becoming one of my favourite years, both for teaching and lifestyle! It is a really good way to follow your interests and spend a year taking a break from your degree doing some extra research.
My name is Catrin Hurley and I am currently taking a year out of my Medicine and Surgery MBChB degree to do an intercala...
