What to expect as a medical student?

Studying medicine at different universities will mean of course the curriculum is slightly different, but the general principles are the same. It is more than likely than you will have to work longer/harder than your friends/flatmates on other courses, so you will have to manage your time well. There is normally time to balance other interests (jobs, sports, societies etc), but you will have to be disciplined.With any medical course, there is likely to be some sort of anatomy/physiology involved. Anatomy is the study of the body, and physiology is the study of how the body works. Anatomy can be quite fun (doing dissections) but requires a lot of work, as there is a huge amount of content. There is also likely to be an element of pharmacology, which is learning about how drugs work in the body. Other things you will look at are pathology (cause/spread of disease), biochemistry, endocrinology etc (the list is endless!) A sometimes forgotten aspect of medicine is the behavioural and social sciences (BSS). This looks at topics such as non-adherence to medication, risk-taking behaviours and health belief. Along with this, you will learn about ethics and law, which is an important topic. Another aspect is communication, where you learn how to structure a consultation and ask the right questions. These are often supplemented by GP and/or Hospital visits.I've missed huge amounts out, but there is a brief summary of what sort of things you learn about in the first few years at medical school. Medicine can be really fun, but it is important that you know what you are signing up for.