Student reviews
What is studying medicine at Brighton & Sussex Medical School actually like?
The interview gets you a place; these reports are about the five or six years after that. Gathered from current student and recent graduate forums, weighted by how many independent sources agree. These are unverified community reports, not official university information.
6 reports · 2 widely reported
Phase 1 (years 1-2) teaching is predominantly lecture-based with smaller group tutorials, delivered across two separate university sites (science modules based at Sussex, clinical practice teaching based at Brighton), which current students rate well but which means navigating two institutions' systems and locations rather than one unified campus.
Widely reported · 3 sources(spans several cycles)
Phase 1 (years 1-2) teaching is predominantly lecture-based with smaller group tutorials, delivered across two separate university sites (science modules based at Sussex, clinical practice teaching based at Brighton), which current students rate well but which means navigating two institutions' systems and locations rather than one unified campus.
"predominantly-lecture based with some smaller group teaching"
Life of a Medic - real BSMS student account (Eleanor Deane, 3rd year)"Clinical practice taught at University of Brighton; science modules at University of Sussex"
BSMS MedSoc Student Survival Guide (current-student-written)"Lectures are brilliant"
Whatuni student review, October 2024Exams sitting at the end of each of three 10-week terms means students never have to revise over the holidays, a genuine quality-of-life win, but the workload step-up each year is real: year 2 is described as harder-content than year 1, and year 3's shift into consultant-assessed case-based discussions and OSCEs is demanding, offset by a strong peer medic family support culture.
Widely reported · 3 sources(spans several cycles)
Exams sitting at the end of each of three 10-week terms means students never have to revise over the holidays, a genuine quality-of-life win, but the workload step-up each year is real: year 2 is described as harder-content than year 1, and year 3's shift into consultant-assessed case-based discussions and OSCEs is demanding, offset by a strong peer medic family support culture.
"exams at the end of each of the 3 ten-week terms, which means you never have to revise for exams during the holiday"
Life of a Medic - real BSMS student account (Eleanor Deane)"working harder than last year because the content is a little more challenging ... there is a lot to do"
BSMS MedSoc Student Survival Guide (current-student-written)"Can be a little stressful at times, with the different assignments. However the community is good"
Whatuni student review, October 2024Full cadaveric dissection starting in week two of year one is a standout feature students explicitly value as rare among UK medical schools, but the med-school-run survival guide has a genuinely practical insider warning: think twice before a big night out before a dissection session, since dissection is unpleasant if you're hungover.
Several reports · 2 sources(spans several cycles)
Full cadaveric dissection starting in week two of year one is a standout feature students explicitly value as rare among UK medical schools, but the med-school-run survival guide has a genuinely practical insider warning: think twice before a big night out before a dissection session, since dissection is unpleasant if you're hungover.
"Going out clubbing works for some people, and can be a good way to relieve stress, though make sure to think about what you've got to do the next day (dissection is not a pleasant experience if you are hung over)"
BSMS MedSoc Student Survival Guide (current-student-written)"cadaveric dissection, prosection, living anatomy and ultrasound sessions"
Life of a Medic - real BSMS student account (Eleanor Deane)Regional clinical placements are spread across Sussex hospitals (Chichester, Eastbourne, Hastings, Haywards Heath, Redhill, Worthing) up to about an hour's drive from Brighton, which worries some applicants, but BSMS reportedly reimburses travel including taxi fares and provides onsite accommodation for regional attachments; placement quality itself is inconsistent, rated as improving noticeably from year 1 to year 2.
Several reports · 2 sources(spans several cycles)
Regional clinical placements are spread across Sussex hospitals (Chichester, Eastbourne, Hastings, Haywards Heath, Redhill, Worthing) up to about an hour's drive from Brighton, which worries some applicants, but BSMS reportedly reimburses travel including taxi fares and provides onsite accommodation for regional attachments; placement quality itself is inconsistent, rated as improving noticeably from year 1 to year 2.
"full reimbursement even of taxi fares for placement visits ... onsite accommodation provided for regional attachments (paraphrase from search snippet)"
The Student Room - travel support/placements threads (aggregated)"secondary care placements are so much better than first year, like A&E and ITU ... The experience varies from hospital to hospital and from term to term"
BSMS MedSoc Student Survival Guide (current-student-written)The years 1-2 Falmer campus sits physically apart from central Brighton, which some students say makes it hard to get to; combined with a small cohort of around 200 per year, this creates a tight-knit medic family support system that several students also describe as an insular medic bubble segregated from the wider student population.
Several reports · 2 sources(spans several cycles)
The years 1-2 Falmer campus sits physically apart from central Brighton, which some students say makes it hard to get to; combined with a small cohort of around 200 per year, this creates a tight-knit medic family support system that several students also describe as an insular medic bubble segregated from the wider student population.
"Falmer Campus is too far away and it is difficult to get there"
Whatuni student review, October 2024"We are in our own medic bubble...segregated from the other two universities"
Whatuni student review, October 2024"not in the city, it is a 10 min train/ 20 min cycle/ 30min bus from the city centre"
Life of a Medic - real BSMS student account (Eleanor Deane)Intercalation is flexible (any UK university, typically between years 3 and 4), but current-student guidance explicitly cautions against intercalating purely to pad an FPAS score, since it is a genuinely harder year of essay-based academic work rather than an easy CV add-on; separately, students who leave after passing third year can exit with a formal unclassified BSc in Medical Sciences.
Several reports · 2 sources(spans several cycles)
Intercalation is flexible (any UK university, typically between years 3 and 4), but current-student guidance explicitly cautions against intercalating purely to pad an FPAS score, since it is a genuinely harder year of essay-based academic work rather than an easy CV add-on; separately, students who leave after passing third year can exit with a formal unclassified BSc in Medical Sciences.
"intercalating solely to boost your FPAS score may not always be worth it. A year can be a long time if you don't enjoy what you're doing"
BSMS MedSoc Student Survival Guide (current-student-written)"if you pass third year you can drop out and receive an unclassified BSc in Medical Sciences (paraphrase from search snippet)"
The Student Room - intercalation/dropout threads (aggregated)Get into Brighton & Sussex Medical School
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