Dd wants to study medicine

[HelloDaffodils]

My dd (13) is convinced that she wants to be a doctor. We have no medics in the family and I don't know how to support her dream of studying medicine. She is very academic and has always had great reports from school. She might still change her mind but she has talked about this since she was 10!

Is there anything she /we can do in the next couple of years to improve her chances of being accepted to medical school? She goes to a comp with good results.

What kind of volunteering could help her? Can you recommend and any books or magazines or other activities that could help her?

Thank you

Work experience/extra curricular activities are pretty much vital due to the course being so competitive to get a place on, so i'd advise that she starts thinking about things now that she may wish to proceed with once the covid situation allows.

At the moment she may be too young to be accepted as a volunteer for many things or to get paid work experience, but she may be able to participate in things like the Duke of Edinburgh awards soon.

If she can show initiative in other ways it would be beneficial, especially if it's doing something which shows her ability to work well with people and manage responsibility, team work etc. She may want to try and arrange something for charity, organise shoebox donations, or try to organise something through school such as mentoring younger students.

Hobbies with transferrable skills can also be beneficial.

This would be in addition to making sure she is taking the "correct" subjects for her GCSE and A-Level options of course.

Eventbrite is a great website for searching for online seminars, webinars and training sessions for various things. I participated in several to help strengthen my NHS application for example and was offered an unconditional place.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/

There are many such as "So you want to be a Doctor" and "Get into Medicine" which may be beneficial.

Many free options, some have a fee. But do search and see if there's anything that takes her interest. Often you'll get participation certificates, which will help strengthen her application.

Good luck!

Hi My DS is a 3rd year med student.
As your DD is young I would recommend joining local St John ambulance group.

I think he did this from around the same age.

Hi, great advice above. I would say that getting the right grades in the right subjects is still the most important thing and so at this stage I'd mainly use her ambition to encourage her to study hard and get the best results she can - that has the advantage as well that none of it will be 'wasted' effort if she changes her mind about medicine further down the line (not that voluntary work or work experience is wasted either but you know what I mean).

In terms of voluntary work and work experience, the main reasons to do this are (1) to get a realistic idea of what it's really like to be a doctor, it's certainly not all glamorous and how it seems on the telly, and certainly more of a lifestyle than a job, so the better idea candidates have of the realities at the outset the better and (2) to give her examples and areas where she can demonstrate her skills and suitability to be a doctor at interview. For the latter there are loads of different options, almost any voluntary work will help, ideas could include volunteering or a part-time job as a care home, work with children or adults with SN - things like riding for the disabled or holiday schemes for children with SN, st john's ambulance is good as someone else said. While she probably is a little young for this yet it is good you are thinking about it now and encouraging her to look into it, you do see a bit of an issue with 16-17 year olds wanting to come in to these charities and schemes for 2 weeks just to 'tick a box' for their work experience and given that these are vulnerable people you don't really want people who aren't committed in the longer term and are not there for the right reasons so it's good to start earlier rather than later.

For the more 'getting to know the profession' part obviously nothing beats face to face personal experience, and so shadowing doctors at the local hospital or your local GP surgery is very popular but can be really hard to arrange, partially because there are so many kids who want to do it and partially because for patient confidentiality and safety reasons it's not always appropriate to have young people following the doctors around all day. You can however find out what work experience schemes your local trust(s) run, look into some of the formal schemes which aim to help children from comprehensive schools or lower income families access appropriate work experience (google 'outreach programme for medicine', some universities run them), there's a lot out there also online, warts and all accounts from doctors and advice for people thinking of going into the profession. Again perhaps do a bit of vetting and consider what you want to show her/steer her towards as some of it perhaps is a bit graphic (e.g. Adam Kay's 'this is going to hurt' book and associated content is brilliant but perhaps not for a 13 year old and some say it presents an unduly negative picture so you wouldn't want to put her off totally!). If you are lucky enough to have any family or friend contacts in the medical or healthcare profession - doesn't have to be a doctor, maybe a nurse or allied health professional or even a manager or administrator, discuss with them, they may be able to point you in the right direction for some shadowing or work experience (although at my trust we're now not allowed to have work experience kids in clinical areas outside of the trust-organised scheme as historically it was an issue people wanting their own or family kids to get 'extra' compared to what the general public did and were arranging their own stuff for them e.g. coming in to observe procedures etc which felt a bit unfair on both patients and the other kids who weren't lucky enough to have a doctor/someone who works at the hospital as a parent!).

As a mum of a 3rd year medic (waves at @Lovecatsanddogs ) from a comp with no medics in the family, my best advice would be to get the grades. Good GCSEs will help more than an impressive looking CV. Mainly because most Unis don't read the PS these days, or just use for interview. A few do need work experience and volunteering but the reason to do these is more to find out if it's the career for you. Most work experience is not available until 16 (unless you know someone). However there are a couple of good on line ones now, suitable for year 10 onwards.
Best advice ? Get a part time job when old enough. Unis like these as show commitment, customer service, patience, time management. Care homes employ from 16. Mine worked at Waitrose. Most hospitals and GPS have experience schemes for their local students so worth investigating now so know what's available.
But grades are what count. It's a hurdle race. Get good GCSEs (you do not need all 9s !!), get good UCAT/BMAT (entrance exams written by v mean people), get good predicted grades, apply strategically to increase chances of interview, ace interview, get offer, get A level grades. Start Uni. Preferably not in a pandemic !!!

St Christopher's hospice run a summer programme for teens, they complete a module for the Heath care certificate.
I think they ran something online this year.
It's a great programme

A lot of med students get the care certificates and then work bank shifts in hospitals, hospices, care homes etc for experience and money while they learn.

V true. Mine has been working as an HCA in hospital after working as one in a care home. Earned money while learning skills.

Thank you for the amazing and generous advice everyone! There is a lot of food for thought for us and different volunteering options to consider. Also great to be reminded that great GCSEs are the key focal point. Will look into local SJA and the St Christopher's hospice summer courses. We'll make sure to look out for suitable events on Eventbrite too. Thank you so much!

Hobbies with transferrable skills can also be beneficial. @hunsnet what sort of hobbies might have transferable skills in your experience?

Liverpool University has very useful information on what students can do to submit a good application. So do Bristol and I’m sure others do too. It’s really worth checking out, say 10, university medical schools to see what the common consensus is about work experience and useful activities. Then make a plan.

Any hobby where you work as a team, (sport, ensemble/orchestra) or meet the public is useful. Attending something regularly like Rangers is good and even debating where you listen and respond to a point of view. Anything to help with confidence and ability to talk coherently. If really helps with interviews.,

@HelloDaffodils

Thank you for the amazing and generous advice everyone! There is a lot of food for thought for us and different volunteering options to consider. Also great to be reminded that great GCSEs are the key focal point. Will look into local SJA and the St Christopher's hospice summer courses. We'll make sure to look out for suitable events on Eventbrite too. Thank you so much!

Hobbies with transferrable skills can also be beneficial. @hunsnet what sort of hobbies might have transferable skills in your experience?

Anything where there's a strong teamwork element, working with others, effective communication, commitment. Lots of Medics when I was at uni seemed to play Hockey!

I think you can find a transferable skill or two in most things though to be honest, so the most important thing is that it's something she enjoys. The interest and passion will shine through if/when asked about it.

Place marking this as I also have a 13 year old interested in medicine. He already has various prospectuses from different uni's. He is choosing his options this too

For any prospective medic kids of parents who themselves didn't go to Uni:

www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/studying-medicine/becoming-a-doctor/widening-participation-in-medicine

I really wouldn’t be worrying about volunteering at 13, but be aware of the need in a couple of years. My best advice at this stage, is to definitely choose triple science at options time, with a view to doing both biology and chemistry at A level. She might be told she doesn’t need triple science, probably true, but it will make the challenging jump to A level less steep.
Also, get involved with stuff at school. Take any opportunities to do extra activities, and especially ones with responsibilities.
And keep an open mind to the many many other rewarding and enjoyable careers available.

I think at 13 it's not necessary to target medicine-specific activities. Better to use this time to develop a wide range of soft skills while maintaining an excellent academic record.

It has been my experience that many (most?) of the students who go on to study medicine are irritatingly good at many disciplines including music, drama, sport, debating etc. I'm not saying that the universities are necessarily selecting on that basis, but extracurricular achievements would back up any claims that a student is intelligent, focused and able to take on a bigger workload.