Biosciences and medicine preparation
Welcome to the School of Biosciences and Medicine.
What to expect
One of our programme leads interviewed three current students who had just finished their Foundation Year in the School – they discussed advice around starting studying within the School of Biosciences and Medicine.
What we recommend
Whichever course you have chosen, there are few things we recommend you do before starting your exciting journey.
1. Textbooks and digital books
We recommend that you wait until you arrive at the University before purchasing any of textbooks. You will gain digital access to five or six important textbooks through our virtual learning environment (SurreyLearn) which are important to several modules – the list of these will be released shortly. Those provided digitally to all programmes for the last three years are as follows:
- Nelson, D. L. (David L. et al. (2021) 8th edition. Lehninger principles of biochemistry
- Alberts, B. et al. (2022) 7th edition. Molecular biology of the cell
- Tortora, G. J. & Derrickson, B. (2021) 16th edition. Principles of anatomy and physiology
- Tortora, G. J. et al. (2021) 13th edition. Microbiology: an introduction.
Of course, some students prefer to have hard copies of these and will, therefore, still want to purchase them. However, we would still recommend that you wait until you arrive to decide which ones to buy – some module leads will describe the pros of the recommended books and which ones are best suited for the modules. In addition, several of these will be available through the University library. In the meantime have a look at some of the topical reading and videos suggested by the programme teams.
2. Discover more about your course
Explore course-specific information, including how the accreditation or endorsement by a professional, statutory or regulatory body (PSRB) ensures the your learning is aligned with professional skills and standards required by your prospective employers.
3. Explore placement opportunities
You may (or may not) be expecting to spend your third year out of university on our Professional Training Year (or PTY) – you can change this right up until the summer before the placement so no need to worry now if you are not sure. We thought, though, that you might like to hear from a selection of students that have completed a placement. View their videos below.