Thinking ahead about medicine

[AlexaShutUp]

After a lot of thought, 15yo dd has decided that she would like to pursue a career in medicine. This has come as a bit of a surprise to me as she hated science in the earlier years of secondary school, but that all changed in year 9 when they started covering topics that she found more interesting, and she now absolutely loves it (especially chemistry/biology). She is now going into year 11.

I think she's really well suited to medicine as a career - exceptionally academic, very warm, caring and empathetic, brilliant social and communication skills, also quite high energy and very resilient under pressure, great time management skills etc. So that's all good.

She has been researching courses, and has her sights set on Cambridge as her top choice. She loves the city and loves the look of the course. I think she would really thrive in that environment. She is obviously researching other options as well, though, as she understands that it's a really competitive subject and that there is an element of luck involved alongside talent and hard work.

I studied at Cambridge myself, and have previously worked in another university, so I do have a reasonable idea about some aspects of admissions processes. However, I know nothing about medicine at all (I was always more interested in the arts and humanities), and I am clueless about how to help her with the subject specific side of things. We're therefore wondering what she can start doing now in order to boost her chances. She is at a state comprehensive school and will have to move elsewhere for 6th form, we don't yet know where. I'm very happy with her current school, but they don't have the expertise to advise on this.

From what dd has read, work experience seems to be quite important. She has been volunteering with young kids for the last year or so (pre-covid) but not in a caring capacity. She is keen to volunteer at our local children's hospice when she turns 16 (they won't accept younger volunteers). What other types of voluntary work/work experience should she be looking at?

Obviously, good grades at GCSE will also be important, but that's something that she would aspire to in any case, and I don't think she will struggle with this. She is currently predicted 9s across the board.
She is planning to do chemistry, biology and maths at A-level, and will probably start off with psychology as well, but may drop it if she feels it's too much (she is quite busy with extracurricular activities as well so may struggle to fit a fourth a-level in!). She knows that she would need to do the BMAT test (and possibly a different test for other universities) and I think she said that she had looked at some past papers online, but don't really know how she could best prepare for this.

What else could she potentially be doing to enable her to put in a strong application? Are there publications that she should be reading? Other things that she should be considering? She is really excited and motivated about the idea of doing medicine now, after a year or so of being really confused about which direction to take at a-level/university as she loves her other subjects as well. I'm keen to support her as much as I can, but don't really know what to advise. Any ideas?

TIA

For now, I would say she should just study hard and aim for excellent GCSEs. Also, she really needs to not fixate on one particular university. For medicine, you have to be very strategic about where you apply and it really does not affect your future career where you study.

In terms of work experience, unis know this can be hard to come by for teenagers and it is fine to wait till 6th form. My Dd volunteered for a couple of hours twice a month with a group of young adults with learning disabilities & local hospitals offered work shadowing days and a 10 week volunteering programme for teenagers applying for medicine or nursing. Care homes are another place to try. But you can be creative in your personal statement with whatever you have (I met a student on one open day who had just worked in a supermarket & had spun that).

Agree with the previous post - GCSEs are definitely the most important thing at this stage. They are very important for some Medical Schools for selection for interview.

Everything else can come at a later stage.
Work experience can be tricky and may remain especially hard due to COVID. But in time your DD could look at volunteering in a care home. Part time customer facing jobs are also viewed favourably.

When you visit sixth forms, assuming there are a few options, look at how many students they generally send to medical school as it can be an indicator of how familiar they are with the process and therefore how supportive they will be. Ask if they have a future medics club too.

There are lots of threads you can have a read through on here too that are so helpful. There is currently an active medicine 2021 and medicine 2020 thread.

Thanks Decorhate, I totally agree with regard to not fixating too much on one university and have had this conversation with dd. She understands, and knows that there are loads of other good options to choose from. I think it's the whole Cambridge experience that appeals to her, rather than any perceived career advantage. It's a very different experience from the university experience that you get in the university town where we live, for example. However, it certainly isn't the be all and end all, and it's more important that she gets on to a medicine course somewhere!

Good to know that work experience can be fairly broad, thank you for the suggestions. She has done care home visits through school, and really enjoyed interacting with the residents, so that might be a good avenue to explore.

Thank you LaLaFlottes. She has quite high standards for herself and is very motivated with her GCSEs, so hopefully that will continue. She has worked really hard through lockdown.

She has been wondering about getting a part time job in a cafe, so it's good to know that even that kind of experience would be useful. I think she would also like volunteering in a care home. She is very kind to our elderly neighbour who has dementia, and really worries about her/looks out for her.

Sensible advice regarding sixth form options, definitely a question worth asking. I'll also look out for the other threads on here.

I’m not sure how important a history of getting pupils into medical school is - ds’s 6th form did not have that expertise, they gave her some books and arranged a mock interview for her but that was it. I did lots of research myself about how the various unis assess who to call for interview but after that it was really up to Dd to study for the BMAT & UKCAT.

I completely understand about falling in love with somewhere like Cambridge - for my Dd it was Oxford (she did a summer school there at the end of Y12). Without going into the ins & outs of it, she ended up going somewhere else. She was disappointed at first but acknowledges now that it probably turned out for the best and that she prefers the course structure where she is.

Glad that she is happy with how things turned out in the end, Decorhate. 🙂

@AlexaShutUp Can I suggest you lurk on the Medicine 2020 and Medicine 2021 threads. You will pick up a wealth of information that way about what lies ahead. There isn't a Medicine 2022 thread yet, as far as i am aware, and certainly not a Medicine 2023 (which is presumably the relevant one for your DD), but it gives you a flavour. I started doing this once my DS set his heart upon medicine, which he did at a very similar age. He thought he wanted to do architecture until he did work experience at the end of Year 10, and decided actually it wasn't for him, and went back to what he had told people age six (and then abandoned), "I want to be a doctor", and his heart has been set on medicine ever since.

I don't know if it will be possible with Covid, but my DS arranged work experience at a hospital for the summer after his Year 11, and is very glad that he did, because although he was hoping to do some more this summer, along with sitting the UCAT, at least he had some from last year, even if these year's was all cancelled.
He also read a tonne of medicine related books over the summer post year 11, which I think psychologically put him a bit ahead, although it is really not necessary, most medical applicants are not nearly this organised, it just his particular personality to be thinking ahead and quite focussed. And while he thought he would need these books for his personal statement, they give you so little room, and he had so much to say, that he struggled to squeeze more than a brief reference to two of these books into it. But as others have said, good GCSEs at this stage are the key thing to focus on, it has made it so much easier to apply (he will be putting in his form in October) because he got good GCSEs. And do note, it is not just good GCSEs in the sciences and maths, a number of the universities look at English Language, and some of them, like Birmingham, look at English Literature (and Oxford looks at all of them)

AlexaShutUp DS1 read Medicine at Oxford and graduated not long ago. He had an incredibly good time during his six years there.
I was also clueless about the process but he did all the looking into med school stuff himself, only went to a single open day (Oxford - with his school), didn't do any volunteering but did have a job in a cafe from Y9 and did also apply for a couple of work experience stints at our nearest large hospital (open to all through an application process).
I think just giving background support is more than adequate; there's no need for further involvement as a parent. Your DD sounds as though she's on track academically in terms of making a competitive application to Cambridge. DS had A in all twelve GCSEs and was predicted (and achieved) A in all his A levels. Grades aren't everything though, but the other things you mention about your DD's character are exactly what's required and so it sounds as though she just needs to keep on doing what she's doing, tbh.

Start researching the work experience placements available at local hospitals, the age students must be and when they open for application. Most will fill up really quick so being aware of them is key.

Also worth flagging to school this is an aspiration - they may have trips to hospitals or involvement in outreach programmes but these will be limited numbers. If they know students are interested they can be prioritised.