Disability Recognition Month: Studying Medicine with a chronic disability

My name is Dana, I am a 4th year medical student… This is the typical opening sentence for clinical skills sessions, whenever there are interactions with patients or other healthcare professionals during placements, and last but not least, during the feared OSCEs. I would like to add today to that opening sentence: My name is …

A day in the life of a medical student

– 6.30am – Time to start the day. It’s an early start because I’m on placement today at a GP surgery. I make some breakfast and get ready to head out. – 7.20am – I get the bus to the GP surgery at West Bridgford. I’ve also done placements at Queen’s Medical Centre and King’s …

A foundation for life, not just a degree

I was stumped. I wanted to study at higher education (HE) but knew nothing about university lifestyle apart from the rather active nightlife, and dissertations being the bane of every students’ existence. Hardly mind-blowing stuff. So, it’s no wonder when a guy from an under-achieving comprehensive school in South London said, ‘I want to read …

Transition to Higher Education (Tips from a mature medical student)

What if I told you it was possible to study a classical subject, not be sheepish about your journey into university, study a subject you love and have a decent social life? Well, it is! I’m 23, in my 1st year of medical school, had a booming career before university and had lived on 3 …

Summer Days: How to spend your holiday before Results Day

“Biology students, your time has finished, please put your pens down”. For me, these words were sweeter than any I’d heard in the past month, one consisting mainly of industrial tea consumption, mountain ranges of past papers forming across my bedroom floor and bedtimes that made waking up feeling like crawling out of my coffin. …

Regional GP work experience scheme

A total of 20 aspiring doctors took part in a Health Education England-funded GP work experience scheme targeted at year 12 students across Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire. The aim of this initiative is to improve access to medicine for students from less advantaged backgrounds in the East Midlands. Eligibility to this scheme was designed to align with the …

Graduate Entry Medicine (Part 1)

Suravi Chatterjee-Woolman spent a big chunk of her career in corporate bioscience, and then decided to re-train as a doctor. She is now in her penultimate year of The University of Nottingham’s Graduate Entry Medicine course. Her interests & pursuits can fill up far too many pages to be useful! She, however loves to tweet …

Summer school opportunities

Hello, I’m Ella and I am a third year medical student. Applying for medical school is notoriously competitive and involves being very proactive in your extra-curricular activities. During the summer before applying to university, like many other prospective applicants, I spent as much time as possible trying to gain work experience which I could include …

Widening participation in the news

Hi, it’s Rob again. For my final post as president of WAMS I thought I would reflect a bit on the report published this week by the Medical Schools Council on the back of their Selecting for Excellence audit. They have been looking for examples from around the country for novel approaches to widening access …

Writing your personal statement

Hi I’m Cat, and I’m one of the medical students here at the University of Nottingham where I have just finished my second year. I’m sure many of you are starting to write your personal statements ready for applying in autumn, so here are a few pointers! Getting started Creating the perfect personal statement is …