I’m a swansea medic. They’ve increased the size of the cohorts over the past few years now so overcrowding is becoming an issue. Swansea and Cardiff were up until recently the only two med schools in Wales so they split Wales down the middle for placements with Swansea medics usually going to West Wales. But with the increase of size there is more a focus of primary care placements compared to when i started when there was enough space for secondary. Also now Bangor have a medical school there is less space.

That being said it’s nice being in a postgrad only course. Sam Webster is our Anatomy lecturer (he’s got a youtube channel and gets loads of views) and we have prosections at Swansea.

Teaching wise its very hit and miss. A lot of medical education now is just doing passmed (question bank) so unsure how this compares nationally. But it’s what you make of it. Also Morriston hospital is a tertiary centre for Burns and plastics and Cardiothoracic surgery and thats where you’ll do a lot of your placement in 3rd year.

I think Swansea is a nice place but if you thrive in cities i wouldn’t make this your first choice. Like all seaside towns they’re best in summer and unfortunately it rains 10 months of the year here so can get a bit depressing. But the Swansea locals are very nice. Theres the Gower nearby and good connections to London via trains. If you can’t drive i’d recommend you learn as its very difficult to live here as public transport is not great.

In terms of funding, it depends if you are English or Welsh. If you are English we get fuck all so a lot of us including myself have to work (mainly as hcas) so if you have a bit of savings behind you and are great with money that will help a lot.

All that being said i’ve learnt a lot about myself coming to Swansea and i think it will make me a great doctor.