TCD’s iconic campus and its clinical training sites are in different parts of Dublin. This thread explores what that geographic split means for student life, how students manage the transition from campus to clinical years, and what the culture is like at TCD’s major clinical affiliates.
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just got my offer for TCD medicine and one of my first thoughts was wait am i actually going to get to experience that beautiful campus or will i just be in hospitals the whole time. would love to know what the day to day actually looks like across the different years
so first two years you are very much on the main campus. lectures in the biomedical sciences building, labs, tutorials, the whole thing. you get to live the TCD experience, library, the squares, the student bars. its genuinely lovely and you feel like a proper college student. then third year hits and you are suddenly in st james’s most days and it feels like a completely different life
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the transition to st james’s was a genuine culture shock for me. like one day youre walking past the campanile to your lecture and then suddenly youre in a massive busy hospital trying to figure out where the surgical ward is and not getting in anyones way. the hospital is brilliant for learning but it takes a while to feel comfortable there
i actually work at st james’s and i see the TCD students come through every year. the ones who settle in quickest are the ones who are proactive and introduce themselves to the teams early. the culture at st james’s is quite welcoming to students but you do have to show initiative because the teams are busy and they wont always come to you