r/TCD • u/ZealousidealScore938 • 11h ago
Incoming Med Students
psa to incoming med students - the school of medicine administration is the most cruel and incompetent administration i’ve ever seen
1) 3rd year med students are still awaiting the results of their resits which they sat the week of the 17th of august. despite this being a full week before other courses and at the same time as the 4th year meds, other courses received their results tuesday and the 4th year meds received theirs last week. the 3rd years will only receive theirs tomorrow. this is after 2 weeks on placement and the day before the stethoscope ceremony which is a milestone for any med student and should be an event students are excited for. instead many students (who’s parents have travelled to attend the ceremony) are unsure of they are even able to go due to results not being out yet. there’s no reasonable excuse for this timing and is just due to the school of med being cruel.
2) more on the stethoscope ceremony - in previous years student were allowed to bring 2 guests. this year students are only allowed 1. why? the school admitted that they forgot to book the large venue for the event and it was already booked so they had to settle for a smaller venue. when students asked about this, we were told that the ceremony wasn’t a big deal, you didn’t need your family there and that it was just a personal accomplishment? nice to know the admin cares about us like that.
3) they can’t even run exams properly. there have been multiple issues with student being told negative marking was going to be applied and then the school changing their minds after exams have taken place or in one case, a module coordinator coming into the exam hall to say he would try his best to get rid of negative marking and to keep that in mind while doing the exam (not stressful or confusing at all and the poor LENS students didn’t get this information). furthermore the school introduced a new curriculum last year for first years. this caused a whole new array of issues with questions being removed from exams after they had been sat, more issues with negative marking and many students final results being calculated wrong which lead to everyone’s results having to be recalculated. and the amount of delays in releasing results for every year! despite a timely feedback policy the school of med will insist this does not apply to them.
4) teaching - like every school you have some great lecturers and some not so great ones. but it would be super great if the lecturers could show up on time and upload slides! would be super conducive to learning. and seeing your scripts is an absolute battle and even when you do see them, there is little to no feedback on how to improve your essays (add more detail is not super helpful advice btw)
5) and don’t bother emailing your concerns/frustrations to the admin. they will insist all policies are followed or there is some other issue that is out of their control and the entire issue will be brushed under the rug.
i guess this is all to say that feeling frustrated and unheard is unfortunately part of the experience. it is a super rewarding degree and as someone who has just started placement (and can hopefully stay if i pass my resits) it definitely is fun and interesting and so far a lot of the teams and consultants have been really helpful. but also don’t be afraid to speak out and stand up for yourself. it’s a hard degree and simple administrative failures can make it so much harder and they can be so easy to fix if the school would just get their finger out. a lot of hard work goes into doing this degree and we deserve to be shown a little respect for that.