Course summary

Throughout your studies, you’ll be based at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, which will give you access to clinical areas from day one and develop your understanding of how modern healthcare operates. With around 160 students in each academic year, the size and structure of our medical school helps you get to know your peers and the academics and clinicians teaching you. You'll feel part of our community from the start - especially as you'll be interacting with real patients from early in the course. The curriculum starts with an eight-week foundation block which explores the fundamental science that underpins the field of medicine – this will help you start to think like a doctor and begin clinical problem-solving. Our spiral curriculum helps you build on knowledge in relevant areas year-on-year – you won’t be expected to learn everything in one block and then remember it forever. We’ll revisit topics to help your knowledge become second nature. For the first three years, you’ll learn about body systems, examining normal and abnormal function before exploring clinical cases. You'll also learn anatomy by dissection. We use Thiel-embalmed cadavers which retain life-like tissue quality. This experience is as close to examining the anatomy of a living person as possible, and will give you an experience and understanding that no other medical school in the UK can offer. After your pre-clinical years, you’ll have the option to intercalate and gain a BMSc in a range of subjects, but whether you decide to do this or not, in Levels 4 and 5, you move into clinical training. This is a series of placements that will give you a well-rounded experience in a number of clinical areas, and enable you to put your training into practice at the point of care for real patients in real healthcare settings.