WHAT IS IT ? Intercalation is when a medic suspends their study for a year to join another 3rd year Bachelors Degree or a Masters .

WHAT CAN I INTERCALATE IN ? There ' s a list of Intercalated Degrees on the Med School website . If nothing takes your fancy at UOL then drop other universities a message to see what they have on offer . WHY DO PEOPLE INTERCALATE ? Intercalation will equip you with many skills that medicine doesn ' t give . From essay writing to managing your time with greater liberty than the 9-5 placement hours allow . Intercalation will also give you extra points for FPAS

BSC PHARMACOLOGY AT LIVERPOOL by Alice Ismail I chose this course because I have always found pharmacology interesting and it is related to my career interest in anaesthetics . I chose the course at Liverpool because I was very interested in completing a lab project and this is offered to all the students at Liverpool . For intercalating students , Liverpool offers a lab skills introduction week which I thought would be beneficial to me as I did not have much previous lab experience PROS : Lab work , opportunity to make friends outside of medicine , the course involves two smaller dissertations rather than one large one , which I preferred so that I could study two topics in depth rather than one CONS : The exams are very difficult and you do get thrown in the deep end , so you should be prepared to work hard if you choose this course TOP TIP : Not everyone in your module actually does pharmacology degree , so majoirty of people are in the same boat as interecalators so don ' t worry if you ' re confused

BA IN MUSIC AT UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL by Ioan Wardhaugh I ’ ve been really fortunate to have had exposure and access to music throughout my life , and it was a real toss up for me in sixth form as to whether I would do music or medicine ! I have absolutely no regrets in picking medicine , but when it came to intercalating I thought ‘ why not try music ?’ and took a punt and emailed the Music Department – and here we are . PROS : It ’ s amazing to have a completely different year , on a completely different timetable ( no more 9-5 !) with completely different skills . In the first couple of months , it ’ s really made me think about synthesising my own opinions rather than just learning the facts – which I think is something we ’ re all slightly guilty of in medicine ! CONS : Starting 3rd year of a degree was strange at first but I found my feet quite quickly and now I feel fully immersed and confident TOP TIP : It may be worth your time asking a different department whether or not they would explore setting up an intercalation with you . It was a bit more effort to sort than applying for a pre-made intercalation programme – but if it ’ s something you love it ’ s no task at all ! Feel free to message me with any questions about this !

ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY By Oli Khendek I thought it would be good to revisit some anatomy and the biology side is all very research angled . Just get stuck in its a great opportunity to see a different side of the medical world whatever angle you choose to look at . I wanted to pursue some of the things that placement doesn ’ t give you time to and work in building some good habits PROS : Good to get a taste of research side of medicine , able to learn a lot of things that don ' t get taught in medicine , also an opportunity to learn some diseases in greater detail than I would ' ve otherwise CONS : • The pressure of deadlines is a big change of speed from medicine and maybe a bit too much of the course is essay based - I feel that i work better towards exams TOP TIP # 1 : Be honest about why you want to do it , what sounds interesting about the course that you want to get involved in ? TOP TIP # 2 : The course directors love medical students on their courses so be enthusiastic !

BSC TROPICAL DISEASE BIOLOGY AT UOL / TROPICAL SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HYBRID by Fru Bako I wanted to learn more about tropical diseases and public health which this course covers but I didn ' t want to do a Masters ( because masters can be expensive ) PROS : School of health and life sciences let you rank your top five choices for a dissertation and mine is about public health , paeds , obs + g and education which were four of my five choices- I was incredibly lucky ! CONS : Work pace isn ' t like medicine , there are constant deadlines that count toward the final grade instead of one big exam at the like medicne . TOP TIP : If you ' re considering intercalation I would really recommend that you do it ! It ' s given me so many new skills such as essay writing and how to conduct research and not dread research !)

MASTERS OF LAW AT LIVERPOOL by Sean Gill I picked it for two reasons - wanted a change of pace after a pretty hectic 4th year and i enjoy essays writing and it definitely delivered on both ! PROS : a proper break from medicine and placement - nice and flexible timetable so lots of spare time to do things / get a part time job etc , can choose to do you dissertation on any area of medical law you fancy so really customisable if you have a career in mind , really interesting to read controversial cases and see the reasoning behind them and how the law has shaped our medical practice CONS : lots of reading and essay writing , very little contact time so really self directed TOP TIP # 1 : Get stuck in and ask lots of questions ! TOP TIP # 2 : Try to keep up with the reading for seminars , you ’ ll enjoy them so much more when if you have a good understanding of the topic .

costing ( roughly ) £ 4,500 , more free time and getting published is likely ! CONS : You need to motivate yourself to work , lots of self directed study ( which can be a pro ) and everything relies on one big assessment at the end TOP TIP : If you have a passion for something then this is the degree for you !

MPHIL IN CHILD HEALTH AT ALDER HEY - DKA by Charlotte Rugg-Gunn Learning new skills from my supervisors , who are experts , is fantastic ! I ’ m learning how to

CONS : you ’ ve got to be organised as no one is going to chase you up if you ’ re not getting anything done- if you don ' t like self directed study then perhaps something with more structure may be more suited to you . TOP TIP : Get in touch with potential supervisors early- they love it when you ' re keen to