How to get into medicine
The top 6 tips guarantee success in your application
When I was applying to medical school, I was much more privileged than most of my colleagues: I had two sisters who studied Medicine, a dad who was a consultant paediatrician and 2 teachers in my school dedicated to ensuring the success of my UCAS application. However, in reality, I’m very aware that the majority of students do not have such extensive opportunities or resources. As a result, I’ve written this entry to give you some simple tips that I learnt during my experience of applying to medical school.
1. Make sure you actually want to do Medicine
Ok, so it may seem obvious but deciding to do Medicine is one of the most important decisions you will make in your life and unlike other degrees, being a doctor is not just a job but more often than not it can influence every other aspect of your life.
Medicine is a great career and the potential to see the difference you make in people’s lives is enormous. However, it is also important to recognise that there are several drawbacks of the profession such as:
- The level of commitment, hard work and emotional resilience exceeds most other vocations. In the UK you are required to study for 5–6 years at a university level but that doesn’t mean the exams stop there. Medicine is an ever-changing discipline and therefore, you will be examined and prompted to reflect on your practice throughout your career.
- The job does not end at 5 pm. Most junior doctors will go home much later than their shift ends to guarantee their patients are looked after properly. This undoubtedly results in less time to socialise, destress and relax compared to their non-Medical peers.
- Doctors face an enormous level of responsibility. There are very few professions that can be thought of as life and death, but Medicine is probably one. Of course, not every patient you see may die but your interaction with them and how you treat them could seriously impact their quality of life in the future.
I haven’t written the above to discourage students from entering Medicine. Honestly, I think Medicine is an amazing career and I am thankful every day that I chose to study it. However, it is important for any prospective student to not be naïve about the challenges that you will face in Medicine. It is a difficult degree and if you are choosing to pursue it simply because of reasons such as parental pressure or because you think doctors earn a lot of money, then I would urge you to seriously consider whether this career is truly for you.
On a more positive note, the next 5 tips are much more relevant to those of you who are absolutely sure Medicine is for you…
2. Volunteer
Nearly all successful Medicine applicants have done some volunteering. A commitment to volunteering, especially if it has been on a long-term basis, helps convey to Medical schools that you desire to better your community and help those less fortunate than yourself. Moreover, these opportunities often help you to begin to develop skills that are integral to Medicine, such as teamwork, communication skills and empathy.
The best type of volunteering that you can do when applying for Medicine is at a nursing home or working with people with disabilities. These opportunities help to develop a variety of skills but also begin to give you an insight into the challenges that doctors face in the real world.
Obviously, due to the pandemic, the opportunities for students to volunteer in hospitals and care homes are much less than before. However, that does not mean that you shouldn’t try to volunteer remotely.
Check out websites such as:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/participation/get-involved/volunteering/
chdliving.co.uk/adopt-grandparent
3. Get Some Work Experience
Due to the COVID pandemic, the difficulties in gaining medical work experience will be taken into account by medical schools in the coming years. However, medical work experience is a great thing to be able to talk about at interview or in your personal statement as you can demonstrate an awareness of the profession and show what you have learnt about the qualities required of a doctor. You should definitely consider looking for online opportunities to do medical work experiences such as at the RCGP and BMA:
https://www.rcgp.org.uk/training-exams/discover-general-practice/observe-gp.aspx
Also, remember that your volunteering can often count as work experience. If you are volunteering with the elderly in a care home or with people with disabilities, you are experiencing first-hand the work that healthcare professionals do in the community.
Moreover, for students on gap years, I would advise you to consider applying for roles in the NHS workforce such as HCA roles, as these can also guide you in learning about the duties, responsibilities and qualities of healthcare professionals.
4. Learn About Medical Ethics
As a doctor, you will be faced with many ethical dilemmas: euthanasia, abortion, confidentiality etc. It is therefore important to know about the factors that doctors have to consider in these circumstances and the common practice.
Ethical situations rarely have a straightforward answer and therefore, it is important to be able to discuss the arguments both for and against your viewpoint, whilst considering alternative views. Medical ethics commonly features in interviews, where examiners will place you in a scenario and see how you react. Again, remember there is rarely a right answer in these scenarios, but you should structure your answers around the 4 pillars of medical ethics:
- Autonomy — the idea that the patient has the right to make decisions about their own health and wellbeing.
- Justice — the acknowledgement of the scarcity or resources in the healthcare system and therefore making decisions about where to distribute them appropriately
- Beneficence — The role of the doctor to do only good for their patients
- Non- maleficence — The belief that the doctor should never act to harm their patient.
You will come to find that these pillars often conflict with one another and therefore, they are a good basis to structure your answers around as it helps you to consider the different perspectives in any medical ethics debate.
I would advise any student applying to Medicine to research common ethical scenarios such as:
- Abortion (Although, you cannot actually be asked about this at interview)
- Euthanasia
- Confidentiality (especially surrounding STIs and whether partners of patients must be consulted)
5. Read!
Every student that applies to Medicine is expected to have some knowledge of the current developments in the profession.
Of course, the obvious event to be aware of is COVID 19 but simply knowing about the virus is not sufficient. You should seek to read about issues that the healthcare system is currently facing such as the expected 10 million people that will be on waiting lists for surgeries this year or the disproportionate number of BAME healthcare workers that are dying due to COVID or even the impact that Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests could have on the pandemic. It is important for you to be aware of how these issues impact modern-day Medicine and be able to form and discuss your own opinions on these problems.
For example, whilst some might argue that the BLM protests might increase the transmission of COVID 19 in the UK, you should also recognise that racism is a public health problem and an issue of great importance in the NHS. As healthcare professionals, it is your responsibility to keep up to date with the challenges our system faces and also to demonstrate some scientific curiosity by reading about the latest developments in research.
When I was applying to Medicine, I remember initially hating having to read research. I tried to read articles on PubMed and the Lancet but could not get my head around it. However, when I read less technical literature such as the Natural Scientist and the Student BMJ I found the information so much more accessible. Furthermore, I still think one of the best things I did was make BBC Health my homepage for Google. In truth, this sounds very geeky, but it really did help me keep on top of the latest developments, as every time I used Google I would at least have the chance to read the latest headlines and then decide whether I wanted to read further.
6. Extracurricular Activities
I actually believe extracurricular activities greatly strengthen your personal statement. Although, they should not make up the majority of your personal statement they actually help to illustrate that you’re someone who likes to contribute to your community (remember universities are not just looking for the student that will spend 40 hours in the library per week) and that you have begun to develop skills, such as teamwork, that are directly applicable to Medicine. Similarly, they can give you really useful experiences to draw on during interviews. For example, I remember in one of my MMIs (Multiple Mini Interviews) I was asked to ‘define resilience,’ for 7 minutes. Having to speak for 7 minutes at any time is difficult but on something so vague as resilience I found it nearly impossible. However, I found that I could use examples, such as my Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, to help illustrate my points around resilience.
Moreover, a common question that is often asked is:
‘Medicine is such a stressful degree; how do you imagine you will deal with these pressures?’
Your extracurriculars can be really helpful in answering this question. For instance, I have always found playing football a fantastic method of relaxing and removing myself from stressful situations. It doesn’t have to be football. It can be anything you particularly enjoy but the point is that extracurriculars are an excellent method to deal with the stress of Medicine.
Finally, don’t stress out! If you truly want to become a doctor with hard work and a bit of resilience you can definitely succeed. If you wish to have more advice on Medicine feel free to contact us at mdtutors@outlook.com.
