PUBLISHED 05 July 2021
The Medical Society has been running throughout this academic year, organised and led by Yr 10 students Anna D and Kate S. They have put together a highly informative and comprehensive programme delivered to students in school who are interested in following a medical career. On Friday to finish off this year’s programme they had invited an Old Arnoldian to talk to the group. Myself and the Medical Society would like to thank both Anna and Kate for all they have done to support other pupils by researching, putting together resources, and bringing in guest speakers to deliver what can only be described as an outstanding student-led initiative, well done. Miss DeMiranda.
Ayushi Yr 10 student wrote the following report about the meeting:
In Medical Society, Mr Dinesh Alexander very kindly took time out for us to talk about the path to medical school and beyond. He talked about the different phases, from applying to medical school all the way to getting higher speciality training. We learned in-depth what each phase consists of, which gave us a good idea about not only how medical school works but also of the different specialities within medicine.
Mr Dinesh Alexander started by explaining the five different phases related to medicine. These include UCAS applications and choosing a medical university, then medical school (5 to 6 years); after university, students will undergo foundation years (2 years), then core speciality training (2 years) or GP training (3 years), and finally higher speciality training (5 years for medical and 6 years for surgical).
We learned that when applying to a medical university, most universities want chemistry as an A level and biology is very useful but not absolutely necessary. Extracurricular activities play huge importance both in school and at universities since it helps to relieve stress and also looks very good on a CV application. These may include sports, music, volunteering, and CCF. Mr Dinesh outlined that a personal statement should show what skills you learned when volunteering and doing work experience; personal statements should be about self-reflection.
When choosing a medical school, it is essential to keep in mind which type of styles you would like to learn from. It could be problem-based learning where students are given medical cases to resolve and learn from, guided by group work with a tutor as well as self-directed learning. Universities that follow this type of learning may include Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Sheffield, and Birmingham. On the other hand, it may be traditional learning; this style of teaching places emphasis on lectures, seminars, and practicals. Some of the medical schools that provide traditional learning are Oxford, Cambridge, and Imperial.
In medical school, two years are dedicated to pre-clinical learning such as anatomy and dissection, physiology, and pharmacology. There is also an opportunity to do an intercalated degree for a year, in a degree related to medicine. The student will gain points for future applications, however, there will be extra debts and it is one more year of not working. Then there would be clinical learning for three years which may be hospital-based or at a GP.
Being a doctor has many benefits. For one, it can work anywhere in the world because each country needs doctors and healthcare workers thus there is job security. It is also very rewarding and there is good pay. However, the best advantage is that each doctor or nurse or any health care staff has the ability to care for people, every day of their work. This not only strengthens the community we live in but additionally, it provides help to the people who need it.
Overall, we learned a lot of information in this one session of Medical Society, but it was an excellent overview of what is to come in the future, should we wish to take on the career of medicine.
I and the whole of Medical Society are very thankful to Mr Dinesh Alexander for giving us such a wonderful insight as to what the degree of medicine entails.