Intercalation: What you need to know
Trying to decide between a 5 and 6 year medical course? This is all the information you need to understand the difference
What is it?
Intercalation is an extra year normally between the 2nd - 3rd or 3rd - 4th year of medical school. In this year students will study for another degree and either get an additional Bachelors's or Masters's degree. This is separate from their medical studies and will not affect their overall degree when they finish medicine. There is a wide range of course options students can study including science (anatomy, neuroscience, primary care, intensive care etc) but also non-science (some students can do law, medical history etc). Some universities run a mandatory 6-year degree where every student will intercalate and some universities run a 5-year degree with the option to take an intercalation year (but non-mandatory).
Why does it matter to you right now?
Well, mostly it doesn't matter. We want to stress how we feel that you should not choose your medical school based on intercalation or not. Every university will offer you the option to intercalate and many students will transfer to a different university for the year and then return to their university to complete their medical degree once they finish. We recommend you choose your university based on where you have the best chance of getting in, as well as course type and location. Take our quiz to see where you have the strongest chance of getting in.
Students generally choose to intercalate for many different reasons including:
Want to have a stronger application for surgery or other competitive jobs
Enjoy the course and want to learn about it
Don't want to graduate yet or want an extra year before the responsibility of being a doctor
Even if you feel you do/don't want to intercalate right now this may change by the time you come to studying it.
But overall, some students will strongly not want to intercalate or take the extra year and will decide to apply for a 5-year course instead, so it is sensible to bear this in mind if you have strong feelings either way.
Thank you for reading this article! If you have any suggestions on how we might improve, or any questions, please get in contact!
