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Throughout high school, I knew I had a passion for science. I was never satisfied with simply accepting facts; but instead, and on reflection most likely to the annoyance of my teachers trying to rattle through the GCSE specifications, I was more interested in the whys and hows. Now, of course, this doesn’t immediately narrow things down to Medicine, but at this point I knew I wanted to pursue science. In year 11, I embarked on a two week work experience placement at a local GP Practice, with the intentions of exploring the possibility of a career in medicine. If I had to isolate one single experience that confirmed my desire to study medicine, it was this. While the placement highlighted the immense challenges faced by doctors, in an underfunded and overstretched health service, I was inspired by their commitment, knowledge and passion for their work. It seemed clear that medicine, at least for me, would be the best discipline into which to extend by curiosity in science. Not only...

During my work experience at dental practices in the past, I soon realised the passion I had for studying the subject. I was intrigued by the dentist’s ability to improve peoples’ lives whether it was a short-term or a long-term relief. I liked how the dentist would interact with the patients in order to develop a professional relationship over time. I always knew that I wanted to enter a profession where I could work closely with people as well as being able to make a change and improve their self-confidence. Dentistry would be a profession to allow me to do this. I have always enjoyed carrying out hands-on tasks such as making objects and again, dentistry would be a course to help further that!

So far it has been a whirlwind of a semester at Sheffield University! I have enjoyed getting to know my colleagues in my year and adapting to living in a different city. I am fortunate to have had hands-on experience in human body dissections, where I have been able to see the...

School

At school, I did the International Baccalaureate instead of A levels, taking biology, chemistry, and geography at Higher Level, and maths, English, and Latin at Standard Level. I knew that at university, I wanted to study something related to science/geography, but was not sure what course that would be.  

My school ran a MedSoc for the sixth form and we met once a week. At these meetings, the older students would talk to us about their applications, and the work experience they’d done, and we had the opportunity to do presentations based on medical-related current affairs. After learning more about studying medicine at university, I was keen to get some work experience in various clinical and non-clinical settings.

Work experience

Initially, I found it very difficult to obtain work experience in a local GP practice, as many of them were unable to offer me a placement due to confidentiality reasons....

Music was always one of the things that I was drawn to because it felt special and magical. There wasn't an abundance of music in my early years at school, so every time we had a simple music lesson of group singing it felt like a reward for sitting through all the maths lessons. Maybe once a year, however, there was a classical duo who did a special hour-long assembly. They made silly jokes and stomped around in a way that captivated all our six year old attention – but they also showed us about these amazing instruments and played us fascinating music, and even played their own violins right there in our assembly hall. I obviously had known that musical instruments existed, but they had always seemed something complex and mysterious for grown-ups, and us children had to just sing or bang on saucepans. But now I was captivated, I had to get one!

As I continued to go through primary school I started to learn recorder and sing as much as I could (to the annoyance of pretty...