It sounds cliche but it was my love of science and my desire to help people directly that ignited my desire to study medicine. What better feeling is there to put a smile back on a patient's face? During my time at school I was a rather shy individual and would not have imagined what progress I could achieve in terms of my confidence, but more of that later.

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Work experience is an essential component of any good application to medicine. The problem is everyone and their dog will give you different information on how much you should do, where, with who and when (see our page regarding work experience for answers to these daunting questions). I decided I would try to split my work experience up into different health care roles in order to get an appreciation into all sectors of the health profession. I volunteered in a local care home, an experience which a thoroughly enjoyed. It was this experience which made me much more confident talking to unknown people (an essential aspect of being a doctor I know).

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I was a member of Med Soc, a society in which we examined the world of medicine. As a senior member of the society it was my responsibility to encourage and help younger potential medics giving them the skills and knowledge they would need to successfully apply to university to study medicine (so hopefully I can help you too).

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The study of medicine at university goes much further than just the attaining of clinical knowledge. It will help you to develop both personally and professionally. Don’t worry if you currently feel like you will be nervous speaking to patients (I’ll let you into a secret we all felt like that). Don’t let something minor get in the way of you achieving your goal of studying medicine. If you want to do it don’t let anyone hold you back.

 

I’m not going to lie to you though, it will not be easy getting into medicine. It will require hard work and determination. You will no doubt be upset if you get rejected from a university (I know I was). However, if you persevere there will be amazing outcomes for you. I believe anyone can become a doctor it’s just all about how much you want it. So good luck and I hope to see you on the wards in the future.