The start of another academic year means it’s the time where I start getting questions from people about intercalation. After all, I have been intercalating for over three years now and still have some time to go before I’m due back in medical school! I’ve written about intercalating in the past but my views on it have changed over time, especially with the changes going on in postgraduate medical training. See this post for a general post on intercalating as an international medical student and this post for MB-PhDs. 

What is intercalation? 

To intercalate means to take time out of medical school to pursue another degree. This is an option I’ve only seen in UK medical schools, usually done after the 2nd, 3rd or 4th year of a medical degree. Some medical degrees in the UK already include this as a compulsory component, but some medical schools keep this optional. When it is optional to intercalate, most people seem to do it after third year because doing it after fourth year means going back to final year after the intercalated degree, which is quite intense. 

Which subject, where, what tyre of degree? 

You can intercalate in almost any subject as long as it is available as a course. I have seen programmes in the sciences, humanities and even music. You can choose to do it at your university i.e. apply internally, or apply externally. My university specified that if the course I wanted to do was available locally, I could only apply to do the same course externally if it was a backup option in the case that I did not get a place on the local course. 

Intercalated degrees can be done as a one-year programme if you do a Bachelors (you’d do the final year of the degree) or a Masters (this can be an MA, MRes or MSc). This blog post explains the different types of intercalated Bachelors and Masters degrees very well. 

The other, less common option is to do an intercalated PhD (what I am doing). Most institutions do not offer this option, and the existing institutions that do offer them may not be open to external applicants. If you’re interested, my previous blog post on intercalated PhDs includes a list of existing intercalated PhD programmes. 

Why intercalate? Why not? 

Intercalating can be a good way to get more experience in a specific specialty, or if you are interested in doing research. Intercalated degrees also used to count for points in specialty applications, but that is no longer the case. However, any outputs from your intercalated degree e.g. publications, presentations and prizes may still count! 

There is the extra cost of intercalating to also consider. That is at least one more year of tuition fees to pay, and further delay before you start earning a full-time income. If you’re an international student like me, this also adds to the visa costs! It can also be a big time commitment especially if you decide to go for a PhD. 

I started my intercalated PhD before a lot of the changes causing intercalated degrees to no longer count for applications came along and my PhD is also fully funded meaning I didn’t have to pay tuition fees for the PhD. I also have a stipend for my living expenses therefore in my case, the decision to intercalate (and do a PhD) was a case where the pros outweighed the cons. 

Applying to intercalate + resources 

Generally, the application to intercalate will involve the usual application materials: a CV, personal statement and references. Make sure to start thinking about who you might ask for a reference while in medical school. I think it can be really tough to find appropriate referees if you’re on placement and haven’t had the time to build a relationship with people! Some programmes might also interview you if you have been shortlisted. 

When I applied to intercalate, the last application I properly did was when I applied for medical school, so safe to say that my application skills were very rusty. I made it through in the end but if I went through the process again, I would recommend that you: 

1. See whether your university careers service offers help with elements of the application. At Manchester, there is a lot of information on the Careers Service website and you can also book appointments to get someone to look at your CV/personal statement. 
2. Speak to student reps and alumni for the intercalated degrees you are interested in. If you don’t know anyone personally, you can start by contacting the administrative team for that programme. There might also be students in the years above who have done the programme, I often saw people posting in the MedSoc group asking if anyone who had done a specific intercalated degree were happy to chat about their experiences. 
3. For the interview, practice practice practice! Even if you’re just running through interview questions with a friend, this will really help with sounding smooth on interview day. 

That is it for this post, I hope you found it informative! Feel free to get in touch if you have further questions and until then, see you in the next post!