Medical Admissions Tests!

Book your UKCAT and/or BMAT before it's too late, if you're applying for Medicine next year!

UKCAT = London Medical Schools

http://www.ukcat.ac.uk/

BMAT = Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL and Univeristy of Bristol

http://www.admissionstests.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/adt/bmat

Good luck! =)

Experience it!

Just a quick note on work experience.

Work experience and voluntary work are very important for your University application and later, the interview. The Medical School is expecting you to know what you're getting yourself into.

Where?

So, working in places like: a nursing home for the elderly, in palliative care, hospices, youth centres for special needs children, GP surgery, pharmacy/chemist, hospital (in UK or abroad) and there are many more examples.

It's about quality not quantity. It may be that your friend has over 10 different experiences, doing a week or a few days at each placement and not having learnt much from them. However, you on the other hand, have 2 years worth of experience at an elderly care home where you befriend an elderly lady with dementia, a years experience at a hospice for children, have done 2 months at your local GP practice and are able to reflect a lot more than your friend.

The key word here is REFLECT. If you are able to do this effectively, noone can stop you from acing med school and becoming a super-duper Doc! =D I recommend keeping a work experience diary and writing about every little experience you've had and any events or workshops you've been to such as debates, museums, suturing etc. Don't just describe and list what you've done, write about what you've learnt and what skills you've gained. Write about how this experience has made you a more competent medical student. Remind yourself about any difficulties you've had and how you have or will overcome them.

When should you start?

Asap! Start as early as during ur GSCEs or after. It would be nice if you could organise some experience in a hospital abroad, but only if you can't get hold of it here. If you do go abroad, learn about their health system and compare it to the NHS (great to talk about at your interview!).

Remember it's never too late!

Some experience is better than nothing. If doing Medicine was something that occured to you a few months before you started to fill in your UCAS application (or the like), think about what made you change your decision. Was it a few weeks at a Dentists clinic that you thought Dentistry was not for you? Or was it working at a pharmacy, when you realised your desire to diagnose a patient as well as prescribe them medications?

What about other things like paid work or hobbies?

You've got to prove to the Univerisity of your choice that you are a dedicated, hard working and organised student with a lot to offer them! So telling them about how you are able to juggle paid work, leisure activities (such as sport) and your education is like icing on cake! If all you're doing is studying, you've got to drop some books and get involved with more extra-curricular activities!

Even REFLECTING on the skills you have learnt or challenges you have overcome at work and/or in playing sports (or joining the choir etc) is appreciated.

For example: meeting deadlines at work, being head student and working with others to organise events, learning how to work as a team in football, improving your communication skills whilst handing out leaflets in the streets and the list goes on! Just think about ALL the things you've done over the past few years and what opportunities you've got waiting for you right now!

If you have any questions on how to write a personal statement or have already written one and would like me to have a look, do let me know. =)