Dear Health Science freshers;
This week you are about to commence the much-awaited journey to university.
Feeling overwhelmed, tense, confused, scared, excited, and a million other similar thesaurised words? Welcome to university life, that feeling never really goes away. However, fear not, as MHSA are here to hold your hand along the way.
Some of you may have still not received your acceptance letter, please be patient. A few may drop out in the last minute and there is a possibility that you may still get accepted. This is completely normal within our faculty. It’s all part of the exciting world of health care, right?
Campus:
Freshers’ week is one of the most awaited weeks in university life, and unless you decide to change course in the future (which is of course, absolutely fine), this will be a once in a lifetime experience. Be sure to make the most out of it; talk to as many people as you can, visit all stands, enjoy the freebies, attend freshers’ events and participate in competitions.
Our faculty is, in a way, special. Meaning; our main campus (therefore the majority of your lectures) is in Mater Dei (MDH if you want to be fancy).
Getting around uni is hard enough, but some of us still turn the wrong way down the corridor when heading to lecture rooms or the staff canteens. MHSA will be organising faculty tours for each health science course so that you can familiarise yourself with the lecture rooms and main areas. Apart from this, be sure to visit our stand for some really cool freebies, useful information, membership applications as well as participate in this year’s competition.
Timetables:
By now, you should have all received your timetable. If not, it should be available sometime this week. These are accessible from the resources page on the faculty page on the university website. Again, delays are normal.
Some lectures change on a weekly basis and hence you need to make sure you always have the latest timetable at hand. It is also normal to receive an email that your lecture is cancelled the day before or even worse, on the same day… or whilst you’re sitting in the lecture room waiting for your lecturer; Welcome to uni life!
You will have a range of shared study units that you will be seeing other students from other courses in. There will often be those units in which you struggle to find the relevance of them to your course. We’ve been there. You’ll get through this.
University Life:
As mentioned before, like health science students, we are privileged to make use of Mater Dei Hospital (“MDH”) and the university grounds. Most of your lectures and placements will be held at MDH and therefore you should make the most of your time at university.
Each course has lecture rooms allocated specifically to them at the faculty of health sciences. There is also a library near the medical school where most students tend to focus on their studies and assignments in a quiet area, normally peaking during the exam season.
For this reason, you might fall into what is known as ‘the health science student trap’ in which you spend all your time up at MDH and never come down to the main campus. The trek up or down the hill in the blazing sun or pouring rain can be disheartening… however, you will truly miss out on the many good potential memories at uni if you hermit away at MDH all day long.
Quad is home to many fun events, we cannot encourage you to go down to uni in your frees more to join in on activities such as Christmas on Campus, any fundraising, the legendary student fest, and of course; any MHSA events you’d like to help out in!
Anatomy & the Bible:
Anatomy is our bread and butter.
There are some really good online sites, including ‘kenhub’ and ‘teachmeanatomy’ that offer amazing, interactive, learning techniques. We also recommend trusty YouTube.
Having the study units database for all the units in this semester handy is a good way to start preparing for your lectures. The database includes the study unit code, title, number of credits, a description of what to expect from this study unit, the method of assessment and some texts and readings that may come in handy.
You may find some books in downloadable format. We do recommend purchasing one of the recommended anatomy bibles… Grays Anatomy or Snells. One is enough. Don’t be the person who shows up with both!
WTF is an MCQ?:
Long gone are the days of essay writings during exams… (well not entirely). You will soon find that most of your lecturers are going to start hammering on about MCQs… multiple-choice questions. These are how much of our faculty’s exams are presented.
A question in which you choose the best answer out of 4. It sounds easy, but if we’re being frank, they will mess with your head and even make you doubt your own name. But don’t worry, you will find many students in the same position trying to comprehend this new method of studying.
Don’t get disheartened if your results are not what you want for your first set of exams. MCQs are truly a science of their own, you’ll soon figure it out!
The important stuff… Snacks:
As for food, most of you will make use of MDH staff canteen, which can be accessed with the MDH card (you will be informed about how to obtain this later). Here you will find a variety of food ranging from salads to main courses to pasta but do not expect anything close to fine-dining! Espressos come in handy at times to get you through some days.
Of course, if you have time, you can always walk it to university (or if you’re lazy and don’t feel up to it, just order delivery or catch a bus!) – there are plenty of outlets near uni to choose from.
You may have heard of the sugar cut in MDH. This is in fact, a real thing. Most of the food offered around the hospital is healthy. So if you need to stock up on your chocolate, take this as a friendly reminder to think ahead.
Although the university is a quantum leap compared to the sixth form years, many students admit that they are the best years of their life, so make the most of it!
Your student organisation, us, offers you a range of experiences from international trips, to live-ins, to parties, to quiz nights. Don’t look back at your uni days and have your best friend be Gray’s… there is so much more uni has to offer!
Huge good luck to all the freshers and those continuing their studies at university. Wishing you a very successful year. As always, do not hesitate to contact us. We are more than happy to help.
Upcoming Events not worth a miss:
- MHSA @Fresher’s week
- Pub of the Day
- Code Red
