The ScotGEM Launchpad Checklist is a checklist which you can print out and use to help you to keep track of the things you need to do as you prepare to start your medical training at St Andrews.

ScotGEM Launchpad Checklist 2024

The 2025/26 ScotGEM Student Contract will be available by the end of July. The 2024/25 version can be viewed on the School Handbook Please familiarise yourself with the contacts before arrival – however do not sign the contract yet – you will be asked to do this when you are here.

Students should be familiar with the School of Medicine Handbook. There is a section of the handbook, which relates specifically to ScotGEM (MBChB).

Click for web based handbook

You will complete an online Disclosure Scotland ‘Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme’ application form with a member of professional services staff.  As soon as your offer becomes unconditional firm (when you have met any and all of your conditions of offer), you should email 3 forms of supporting ID to medpvg@st-andrews.ac.uk. If your offer is already unconditional firm, please send this information to us as soon as possible. You will be given an individual appointment time for a meeting on Microsoft Teams, please check your emails regularly throughout the summer for further information.

Please familiarise yourself with the online guidance which advises you on the information you will require to complete the online application as you only have 7 days to complete this after your meeting. If you are already a scheme member, find out if you are a member for both adults and/or children and also your Scheme membership number as you will need this information at your appointment.

If you are already a PVG scheme member please send us a copy of your most recent certificate along with your IDs. If you do not provide a copy of your PVG certificate your application will be put through as a new scheme member.

The Occupational Health Questionnaire will be emailed to you by the Admissions Team once your offer becomes Unconditional Firm. It should be completed and returned directly to the NHS Tayside address on the Questionnaire as soon as possible.

If an appointment is required following review of your completed PPQ, you will be notified by email. Please ensure you supply your personal email address and not an institutional one (please check your spam boxes regularly as sometimes NHS emails end up there). SMS text messages will be sent as reminders 24 hours prior to an appointment.

Accommodation should be arranged before you arrive. For St Andrews visit the University’s new entrants and orientation web page and follow the accommodation link. Accommodation applications should be submitted by 30th June 2025. As you will be aware ScotGEM semester is longer than standard semesters therefore it is important to let accommodation services know you would like accommodation for a longer term. There is no guarantee that all ScotGEM students will be allocated accommodation that they can stay in until the end of the final semester, therefore please check the end date on your accommodation contract. Please note all standard catered UG residences close during the Christmas vacation period. Any student who applies for and accepts this type of residence will have to vacate during this period. All students in these residences can apply for Christmas vacation accommodation but if they do not apply, they will not be allocated anything due to limited numbers of rooms. Any ScotGEM student who is offered accommodation for 2025/26 in a standard catered will have to submit an application for Christmas Vacation accommodation in early November 2025. Accommodation may also be available through the University of Dundee. ScotGEM applicants who wish to be considered for student residences at the University of Dundee may contact residences@dundee.ac.uk to request an application invitation to be sent to them. See the University of Dundee website for more information  https://www.dundee.ac.uk/accommodation/.

The New Undergraduate Students page contains important information for students who are matriculating (registering) at the University of St Andrews for the first time as entrants to the ScotGEM Programme.

Be aware that there are a number of admin tasks to do before you come to St Andrews. You will find a helpful list on the New Undergraduate Students page. https://whttps://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/new-students/ug/scotgem/ww.st-andrews.ac.uk/newstudents/.

Welcome to ScotGEM! You already have lots of pre-existing ideas about Medicine because Medicine is about people and you have been living with them, observing them, thinking about them in one way or another all your life.

Many of you will have had contact with medical professionals, doctors, nurses or other members of the allied health professionals. Something about these interactions has made you aspire to join the medical profession. Professionalism is something we are all striving towards. It is easy to recognise professionalism when we see it in action but much more challenging to define the term.

Your first ScotGEM task: What does professionalism mean to me?

There are two parts to this task.

Part 1: What does professionalism mean to me?
Access your pre-existing knowledge and experiences and use this to form the basis of your written response to the question; “What does professionalism mean to me?” There is no requirement for references. The expected length is 300 words (+/- 10%). Please do not send it in to us before you arrive but note that this will be the very first item you are asked to upload to your professional portfolio.

We don’t want you to:
Conduct a literature search.
We don’t even want you to use google.
We especially don’t want you to worry about this task.

We do want you to:
Spend about an hour on the task.
Write from your personal viewpoint you may all have different ideas (we hope so!) but they will all be valid.

Part 2: Identify THREE keywords
We would like you to identify THREE keywords that for you, epitomise professionalism. We ask that you share them with us via this form before you arrive.

Once your offer becomes unconditional firm, please complete the Scrub Size Form to enable clinical skills staff to order your scrubs before the start of the academic year.  Scrub size dimensions are shown below (the suppliers recommend that female wearers take a size smaller than their usual size).

Tunic

Trousers

Read the NHS Tayside Student Handcare Advice sheet.

Then complete the Skin Surveillance Declaration before 19th August.