Five things worthknowing before youapply

Every year a handful of students withdraw during the first two terms. When we ask why, the answers are consistent enough to write down in advance.

It is a full-time course, in the literal sense

Timetabled hours run four and a half days a week, and practical sessions cannot be caught up from notes. Students who plan to work more than about eight hours a week alongside it generally find they cannot.

This is the single most common reason for withdrawing in year one, and it is the one we are most often accused of underselling. So: four and a half days, plus the clinic from year three, plus a thesis from year four.

You will be touched, and you will touch people

Practical sessions are taught on each other. From the second week you will palpate a classmate and be palpated. People who are uncomfortable with that discover it in week two rather than in the prospectus.

There is no way to train for this profession without it, and no version of the course that avoids it.

The anatomy volume is genuinely large

Not conceptually difficult — large. Most students underestimate the sheer quantity in year one and try to learn it the way they learned for the baccalauréat, in concentrated bursts before assessments. That does not work across five years, and the students who thrive are usually the ones who accept this in the first term rather than the third.

It costs a lot and the money is real

Nine to ten thousand euros a year for five years. We publish the whole table with a note about what is and is not included, because the alternative is people discovering the clinic tunic and insurance costs in year three.

If the fees are the only obstacle, write to the office before you decide. There are regional grants that people routinely do not know about.

Nobody can tell you if you will be good at it

We are asked this at every open day and the honest answer is no. The interview and the practical assessment are reasonable filters, not predictions. Some students who struggle for two years turn out to be excellent clinicians; some who palpate beautifully in year one never quite learn to talk to a patient.

What we can tell you is that the work is slower, more repetitive, and more physical than most applicants imagine, and that the people who last tend to be the ones who found that appealing rather than tolerable.

Come to an open day and watch a consultation. It answers more than this page can.