Anyone with admissions experience for Medical School who could offer assistance to a child in foster care?

[Copperblack]

My foster daughter is about to apply for Medical School ( got a great UCAT score) and we are struggling with her personal statement. She’s written what I consider a very formulaic statement that could have been written by anyone at her school, listing work experience, D of E etc but nothing really about herself. I think she should put something about growing up in cate and how it has devtt we loped get empathy and resilience, but she thinks this will count against her. All my previous children went for Arty courses and it’s been a very different process. Does anyone have any advice?

Is she in touch with the local Virtual School ? All LAC children should be. In my experience they are very keen for LAC and exLAC to go into tertiary education so should be able to offer good advice.

I've no experience in that field (i work on finance) but wanted to say good luck to your foster daughter and what you've suggested wouldn't put me off at all, quite the contrary. In addition I imagine she's had practice in being observant, independent and non-judgmental after what she's been through, also good assets for a medical student.

Perhaps, word count allowing, also mention how she has personal experience of the need for health and social services to work in tandem to support vulnerable people.

Definitely include it. It highlights an important aspect of her character and will stand out form all the other formulaic applications. It can be in the introduction, or at the end. In the body of the statement she must make sure she addresses these things:

1. What being a doctor actually means (not something wishy-washy about helping people. It's a difficult, time consuming, emotionally difficult career sometimes, she should show that she understands that.
2. Her academic engagement with her subjects especially chemistry and whatever her other sciences are. Something she's read, watched etc but offering more than just a list. "I read x and it made me think...." or "my opinion of y is....", so it shows she can think beyond simple comprehension.
3. Academic engagement with medicine - work experience and so on here is fine but again, reflect/engage with it. What did you learn and why?

DofE etc can be a sentence or two at the end, that's it.

Also, she should be applying sensibly. If her UCAT is great she should apply to medical schools that prioritise UCAT.

I'm a University counsellor in a school, so read and edit 150 personal statements a year (lucky me!) We have at least 20ish kids apply for medicine every year as well, so I do sort of know what I'm talking about!

I think that life experience of all sorts can be very useful to applications of all kinds. I used to talk up the skills that I gained during years of parenthood and relate them to the job.

Your foster DD's experience as a child who knows the care system will have given her an understanding of health and social services; and she could talk up how this will give her skills in empathising with those who have not followed the standard progression through life; r who might be disadvantaged.

More importantly it will make her application stand out and might pique the interest of the selectors who are confronted with hundreds of clone-style applications.

Could you contact a local private school / a school with a good record of getting kids into Oxbridge for help? If she's state her school could do it as private schools are under pressure to help.

Other options
-Target Oxbridge
-Project Access
-YouTube is really really valuable to read samples. Matt Williams at Oxford (even if she's not applying to Oxbridge the video is incredible) has posted a video on the Jesus College YouTube account which is a step by step guide to a great PS ( but in an individual way, so no formula.)

IMO it's so important her voice is in the PS, not formulaic words or the words of someone else. She needs to tell her academic story in a compelling way, folding in all her experience etc. Universities are looking for the academic side but a few lines on her care story would be great. Link it into how this has shaped her worldview etc. For medicine, the competition is fierce. Hope this helps? And congratulations for the UCAT!

I worked in a very under-privileged area and used to help students write their UCAS applications. I also wrote their references. We always said in the references that the school had a very low % getting 5 GCSEs and hardly anyone going on to study A levels. It's very unfair for children to be treated as equal candidates when one person's experiences are so shit compared to another's. I'd make sure whoever is writing her reference is aware of her background (insofar as you can do that.)

If I were her I'd write a paragraph about her early years - the number of schools attended, how long she's been in care, the lack of help in the home, etc, but focus on what she wants for her future and what she's doing to achieve that. She's done incredibly well to get that far - it's really tough for children in care.

No advice but the very best of luck to her. For what it's worth I would mention it.

Completely agree with @Ulelia. They don't care about hobbies (except - allegedly - sewing if you plab on becoming a surgeon. Some medical applicants at DS's school started a sewing club!)

They care how engaged she is with her academic work and what her provisional plans are in the field of medicine. Better to show extra-curricular interest in a related subject than waste precious wordcount on mentioning DofE. Saying she attended X lecture/read Y book (not on syllabus) and gained Z from it shows how she processes information.

I also agree mentioning her experience with the Care Service as it will have given her valuable insights.

I’d mention her care experience not least because they need to consider the applications from care experienced young people so, for example, if her grades were borderline they would take into account her additional challenges in engaging with education due to being in care.

Ex med school admissions bid here. Although it's been 10 years so I'm out of the game.

My number one tip. Call up some med school admissions teams and ask what they look for in a personal statement. Also ask to speak with their widening participation person, as there might be extra support available.for applicants I'm foster care.

The school I worked for did not care what was in the statement. All shortlisting for interviews was done purely on UKCAT and predicted grades.

Bod, not bid!

Dundee is one which requires v high UKCAT and also welcomes applications from “disadvantaged” students.

Thanks everyone - some great information here. I really appreciate it.

Just start a paragraph with ‘as a child who has grown up within the care system, my experiences (both positive and negative) allow me to relate with people from advantaged and disadvantaged sections of society. I feel strongly that everyone should be give an equal opportunity to access physical and mental health education and provision.
In her own words of course!

I have previously worked in university admissions (not medicine). I would be very surprised if the contextual information around her early years alongside her obviously good achievements doesn’t actually boost her chances of getting a place. Universities in general have additional support available to care leavers, and will also have widening participation schemes that she should be able to make full use of. It should be a case of looking at the university website and working out who to contact but I would aim to speak directly with them.

I’d mention it. Universities very much want to be seen as more inclusive places these days, and being a LAC going to med school is an impressive achievement not to be taken lightly. I work with LAC and would be chuffed to bits. Has she got a youth worker or virtual schools worker - they might have some sort of link to a program that offers support with applications. Worth asking.

The sutton Trust do an access to medicine scheme which supports kids who are under-represented, including Care Leavers. Have a check of their website and there is also a charity called Causeway that work in this area focusing on personal statements. But the advice above to show how she would be a good medical student via academic engagement with her subject is the right advice. She should also contact the Care Leaving team at the universities she is interested in and see if they have any support available. Being a care leaver shoul d be highlighted via UCAS but she could also highlight how she thinks it will make her a better doctor.

Hi - A few people have mentioned Virtual schools. Ours deals primarily with under 16s. They do have tick box meetings for 16-18 but there is no funding or resources and very little experience/expertise in universities - the LA do throw money at young people who get to Uni but very little in the way of support.

No advice but just wanted to wish her the very best of luck, she sounds like she's doing amazingly well.

She should mention it, it’s how she does it that will be key and that will depend upon her. Ideas could be:

How her own experiences have made her more aware of eg socioeconomic determinants of health and how that would influence her practice as a doctor?
Or her own experience of healthcare as a LACYP? Eg utility of an annual review health assessment?
Or experiences as a user of health services and what she has learnt about how health professionals can engage with young people?

Ultimately she needs to stand out from the crowd, linking her life experiences to her desire to study medicine, above the “helping people” will be a good way to do this but she needs to feel comfortable with it.

Perhaps look at www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/studying-medicine/becoming-a-doctor/widening-participation-in-medicine for advice?

Might also be worth contacting www.thegirlsnetwork.org.uk/ and seeing if they have a mentor who is a doctor who could offer support?

No advice but just to say best of luck to your foster daughter and you sound like a wonderful foster carer.

Sent you a pm