Building Your Personal Statement - Part One

Hi Guys,

Ahhh I'm so sorry for the lateness of this post - I wish I had a proper explanation for it, but alas, I don't. I could blame the sequence of tests I had in the last two weeks of term, the endless family Christmas parties or indeed, the Harry Potter 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle, currently scattered on the floor of my bedroom that I am still yet to complete three days on, but the short answer is I was just lazy.

This post is arguably rather premature, because as you know, I'm only in year 12, and haven't actually written the all important personal statement yet. However, I've decided that I'm going to do this in two parts:

• Part One (this post) will cover ideas of things to put in your personal statement, as I thought that this is something that my lovely readers would benefit from hearing earlier, so you could start doing these things, to then write about when the time comes;
• Part two (is likely to come around September-ish) will cover tips on how to actually put those 4000 characters together. 

[Quick disclaimer: This is all information that I've been told, and are just tips that I think may be useful. It's in no way a comprehensive list as to how to get into medical school!]

Okay, here goes...

1. Work Experience - Yes, I know, I rabbit on about this a lot, but I've heard that it's perhaps the most valued thing that universities look for. No work experience = no proper insight into what medical/social careers are like = no assurance that the career is for you. Universities want students that are committed to their course, and there is simply no way of knowing if you don't know what the career is like. Crucially, however, there is no use in just mentioning what you've done, because they're not interested in that. They want to hear about what you've taken from these placements, and it's important to present yourself as being well informed. [Cheeky plug: check out my post on work experience for ideas of what you could do.]
2. Explain why you want to do this course - This is your opportunity to highlight how enthusiastic you are about studying medicine. It's important to link this to any work experience and perhaps your current studies, as well as showing your depth of knowledge about medicine. 
3. Extra curricular activities - Universities want to hear about your grade 7 piano, and county level cricket, because these activities build skills that aren't normally developed in the classroom. Make sure you draw particular attention to those team-working/communication/leadership skills that you've got from participating in these activities. 
4. Awards - These could be things like essay writing, sporting achievements, academic awards from school, NCS, duke of Edinburgh, music awards... The list goes on! These provides evidence for your hard work and passion for things that may not be academic too, which is particularly important for the long and difficult journey that is medicine, as well as presenting you as a well rounded person. 
5. Relevant courses - There are loads that you may have done - these certainly aren't essential, but provide evidence for your wider interest in your subject. For example, this may be a Headstart or Smallpeice course, or possibly even courses run by local hospitals. I recently attended  'A Day in the Life of a Doctor' course at my local hospital, and one of my friends attended one in plant sciences. Regardless of whether they're directly relevant to medicine (biology and chemistry courses are awesome too), these show your eagerness to learn beyond the syllabus, which is a very attractive trait in a candidate.

I hope this has been helpful! Please leave any of your own suggestions below :)

Thanks for reading xx

Time Management

Hi Guys, 

This month's post is going to be about time management - a crucial step in making sure you don't end up staying up until midnight, cramming for your biology test on the night before. I hope to share some of my techniques with you!

I have a confession to make... I'm a list making addict. I can't stress how much making a simple list of the tasks you'd like to achieve for the day improves your efficiency. Particularly on a day where you feel overloaded with a million and one things to complete, making note of these things helps to break down your workload, creating a list of smaller, much more achievable tasks, thus really helping to clear your mind before you begin your (hopefully productive) day.  It's useful to prioritise these in order of urgency/importance, but I also recommend tackling one or two smaller tasks first, as it helps you to set off to a good start. However, perhaps what I love most about this technique is how dangerously satisfying it is to flamboyantly tick off (or aggressively scribble out) one of these items... seriously the best feeling ever. 

On a related note, I really like setting goals for the evening/day/week. There are a couple of important things regarding this: 

• It may only be one part of the final picture, for example: "This evening, I will finish revising lipids, for my test on biological molecules next week" 

• Make it achievable, but still effective in achieving your ultimate goal

• Be specific in what you want to complete: “I will do questions 1-9 today” as opposed to "I will do as much as I can of the my chemistry homework"

Another thing I really recommend is making a generic detailed weekly plan. By this, I mean an hour by hour plan of every day of an average week. Obviously other events, like parties, come up, and so you can't follow this all the time, but it really helps in highlighting how much productive time you actually have, and how much you're wasting. You'll probably find that miraculously, you do have time for half an hour's piano practise every day, if you just give your day a little more structure. You might also find that you have much more free time than you thought too, if you stick to this plan! In terms of finding a template, I just hand drew a time table from 7am to 11pm, but this one works well too: http://www.studenthandouts.com/01-Web-Pages/Lot-01/Weekly-Hourly-Planner.html. You may even want to make a more precise every week, including all your specific things to do for that week (although it's very time consuming)!

Something that I've recently discovered is that I actually work best late at night - probably due to the absence of my family and other distractions. I find that realising when you're working most productively genuinely revolutionises how you work.  I've started staying up later on weekends, and getting as much of my work done then as I can, so I can be slightly more relaxed and spend time with my family for the rest of the time. On the other hand, you may prefer getting up earlier and getting it done when you're rejuvenated after a good night's sleep, and then relaxing during the evenings. It's totally personal preference! 

Lastly, an oldie but a goodie: don’t leave it until the last minute. We all know this is literally is never a good idea, but somehow it still happens. Regardless of whether something’s due tomorrow or next month, it’s always good to get it done as soon as possible. One after the other, these things pile up, and as the due date grows closer, the stress comes flooding in – I’m sure we’ve all been there!

I hope this has helped some of you!

Thanks for reading :)

Work Experience

Hey guys!

Today’s post is going to be about work experience – perhaps the most critical part of your preparation for becoming a doctor, or indeed, any other healthcare career, like dentistry or veterinary medicine.

I’m sure many of you are aware of just how difficult it is nowadays for us to get clinical placements, but I was informed at Medlink that universities understand this, so don’t worry if you haven’t been able to get hold of many of this sort. There are other options! Arguably one of the most important skills needed in the healthcare field is communication. Therefore, any placement that involves talking to people, even those seemingly unrelated, like at supermarkets, would be valuable in developing these. However, more relevant options include:

·         GP Surgeries – This is usually a more accessible option compared to hospital placements, however, I would recommend trying surgeries other than your own. I was denied a placement at my own GP surgery on the basis of confidentiality, since many of the patients would be local to my area.

·         Hospitals – This is exceedingly difficult to get hold of, especially without connections. I was unable to get a placement at either of the major NHS hospitals in my area due to the fact I’m under 18. However, I have heard of some success stories in other cities, such as Nottingham and London. Unfortunately, these are usually only for local students, so in many cases, even if you are willing to travel, this may not be possible.

·          Dentists – This is a great place to get clinical work experience, even if you don’t want to do dentistry. Many surgeries are more than happy to have students, and it’s a great opportunity to consider another surgical healthcare field.

·         Voluntary work – This can be anywhere, from Scouts and GirlGuiding to charity shops and hospices. They’re always looking for people to help out for a good cause! This is a very rewarding opportunity to develop those communication skills, and give something back to your community. More often than not, voluntary work opens up the option of something more long term, for even just an hour a week. I’ve heard countless times that this is seen as being very valuable in showing commitment in applications.

·         Nursing/Care Homes – This is often done as voluntary work, but I thought this deserved a special mention. What makes this a particularly good option is the opportunity to interact with many elderly people that have illnesses, and learn about how this affects them personally. Again, your time at the care home will be greatly appreciated, especially  by the residents, who really value you making an effort to spend time with them.

·         Special Schools – Although I haven’t done a placement in this type of setting before, my friends have told me how valuable this was for them. They were taken aback by the inspiring determination with which the students led their lives, eager to not let their disabilities hold them back.

·         Pharmacies/Dispensaries – This is particularly interesting for those of you with an interest in biochemistry or pharmacology too, as I do. As someone who works at a pharmacy, I find it intriguing to discover what does what, and why you’d choose one blood pressure tablet over another, and so on. It’s also a great opportunity to work in a multidisciplinary team including sales assistants, health care assistants, dispensers and pharmacists. It’s surprising what handy knowledge you can just pick up by listening in on a two minute consultation about a baby’s cough.

·         A placement abroad - This is a fantastic opportunity to discover how healthcare provision varies around the world. There are many organisations that will organise the majority of things for you: GapMedics and Projects Abroad are two examples of these. However, there are loads of options and they can be quite expensive, so do your research!

I thought I’d briefly mention what I’ve done, in case anyone has any questions that I can help with:

·         2 GP Surgery Placements

·         1 week at a private hospital

·         A Saturday job at a pharmacy

·         Weekly volunteering with a brownies unit

·         Weekly primary school mentoring

·         A few weeks with a preschool

·         A placement with a dentist

To come:

·         A placement at a care home in December

·         A placement at a hospital in India next summer

Words of Advice:

·         Take notes. Whether this is the occasional scribble during the day, or writing down what you learnt while reflecting on your time at the setting on your bus rides home, this is vital if you want to remember what you’ve done. This is useful when it comes to writing applications, so you can say more than “I did a week of work experience at the dentists”, and actually say what you’ve taken from it.

·         When it comes to asking around for work experience, make sure you’re talking to the right people. When I was applying for a placement at a care home, I was inadvertently repeatedly hassling a cleaner for it over the phone. She was unaware of the fact that they offered work experience, and insisted that I was old enough to apply for a permanent job there instead… I wasn’t!

·         When you’ve got a placement, make sure you enquire about dress codes in advance.  These vary significantly from place to place – I was told that jeans and a smart top were sufficient at one of the GP surgeries, whereas the dentist surgery told me that a white blouse and black smart work trousers were necessary. For the latter, I didn’t actually own a pair of trousers, so it meant a shopping trip was needed – this isn’t always possible if you only find out the dress code the previous night.

·         This one might be obvious, but be thankful, polite and curious throughout your placement. This will enable you to get the most of your time there, and also, for want of a better phrase: make them like you. This is important because they might say something particularly lovely about you in a reference, which can then be used by your school teachers in your UCAS reference.

·         Don’t just talk to your supervisor about whatever they're showing you at that point in time, but also, if you have the opportunity particularly during breaks, talk to them about how they find their job too – they might have some information for you from a different perspective.

·         START PLANNING EARLY!! Can’t stress this one enough. Start enquiring about placements at least a few months before you intend to do them, and be flexible about what you’ll do. If a setting can only have you for two days, still take them! Make sure you’re extra alert and get the most from them. Make sure you plan your summer, particularly those at the end of year 11 and 12, and write down potential weeks on the calendar so things don’t get in the way.

·         Most importantly: Keep trying. You will get turned down from places, but try elsewhere! Send generic emails to various settings, ring them up, go visit them and talk to them face to face – just keep chasing it, without nagging or being rude. These are busy people, and they often forget – this doesn’t mean they won’t take you though!

I hope today's post has helped some of you. Good luck!

Thanks for reading :)

Welcome to my Blog!

Hi there! I'm a year 12 student, in the UK, hoping to make it to medical school in 2017, and sharing my journey along the way with you guys. I hope to write posts on topics including the following:

• GCSEs - How to do the best you can, subject choices, grades...
• Personal Statements - What to include, where to start, things you can do to boost it...
• Work Experience - How to get placements, ideas on what to do, how to get the most from it...
• A levels - Subject choices (again), requirements... 
• Choosing a university course- Things to consider, requirements (again), open days...
• BMAT/UKCAT - What they are, how I'm preparing...

And hopefully more. Please feel free to comment any questions or suggestions.

Thanks for reading!