Dear reader,
Welcome to the Cambridge Widening Access to Medicine Society monthly newsletter😊. With the end of exam season and the transition from spring to summer, we wanted to use this opportunity to talk a bit about what might be on your minds over the coming months. Medlife Access Day We will be holding our annual MedLife Access Day on the Saturday 14th August, aiming to provide an overview of the admissions process. This will include talks on the medicine course structure at Cambridge, Personal Statements, Interviews, BMAT preparation and Q&A sessions. More information on this event will be coming soon!
Food for Thought: an example interview question ‘What are the similarities and differences between the upper limb and lower limb in humans? How does this relate to their different functions?’ This might seem like a bizarre question that you have never thought about before - don’t worry, that would almost certainly be expected! This is an anatomy-related topic, which is a subject nobody studies at school, and so is designed purely to get you thinking. Start with the basics - what do arms and legs do for us on a daily basis? A suggested approach to this question is available on our website:
https://www.camwams.co.uk/post/compare-the-upper-and-lower-limb-interview-question! Behind the Headlines What is the Delta Variant? The Delta Variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that has caused this pandemic has certain mutations in its surface spike protein that allow for escape from pre-existing immunity; it is more transmissible and can more easily enter cells. This mutation most likely arose due to chance mutations, but became the dominant strain due to its increased fitness. This article below explains why it is more pathogenic and the impact this is having on hospital admissions. https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1513.full Myth-buster ‘All medical school applicants spend their summer holidays getting lots of work experience and preparing for exams.’ Applications for medical school are notoriously competitive, and it is very understandable that students are always worried that they are not doing enough to match the efforts of other applicants. However, these concerns can be exaggerated because the most prominent medicine applicants (e.g. online, on forums and at events) are often the ones who have sought out an extremely high number of opportunities. It is important to remember that this is not the norm, and that the vast majority of successful applicants will have shown the required qualities that medical schools look for: academic strength (which can be shown purely through your school work), an understanding of medicine as a career (which does not purely have to be obtained through work experience - see below), and a desire to pursue medicine as a result of these things. Some medical schools have previously been quite prescriptive about the amount of work experience that they require of applicants. Cambridge, however, has always taken a more holistic approach - admissions tutors like to see that applicants have attempted to find out about medicine as a career, but they are well aware that access to such experiences is not easy or equal for all students. Therefore, there are ways other than spending time in hospitals or GP surgeries that you can gain this knowledge of medical careers (see below!). Ability to gain experiences has of course also been complicated further by the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical schools are very aware of this and sympathetic in this regard. This statement is taken, as an example, from Nottingham’s selection process information: “Please note, we are not expecting any work experience to have taken place or be ongoing after March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Your application for 2022 entry will not be negatively affected if you’ve been unable to complete any work experience you had planned.” The GMC has produced a document on gaining relevant experience to study medicine in the time of COVID-19. This is a really helpful guide to what resources (often online) can be used as completely acceptable alternatives to in-person experience. Some highlights:
Brighton and Sussex Medical School has created a free virtual work experience course which explores several different medical specialities.
Royal College of General Practitioners have created Observe GP to provide insight into working in general practice.
CamWAMS events such as ‘A Day in the Life’, and our upcoming ‘Medlife’ conference are great at providing insight into both medical student and medical career life. Keep an eye out on our website for past resources and upcoming announcements!
Keeping a reflective diary. This can be a helpful thing to do for multiple reasons. First, it helps you remember all the things you’ve done, for when it comes to actually applying and writing your personal statement! Second, thinking about what you’ve experienced (e.g. from the resources above) will set you apart from people who have treated the experience purely as a tick-box exercise, and help formulate your thoughts if asked about your experience. Third, reflective practice is something that all doctors do throughout their career - therefore you are gaining insight and practice even whilst an applicant!
Hopefully this gives you a few ideas about how to go about gaining work experiences, and shows that it need not be a massive, daunting task to spend your whole summer worrying about. Thinking about those moving from Year 12 to 13 in particular, here are some things to consider for your summer holiday:
Relax - the summer holiday is exactly that, a holiday! The autumn of year 13 can be quite busy, especially for medicine applicants, so take plenty of time to recharge after year 12.
Admissions tests - check which admissions tests (UCAT, BMAT) the medical schools you are considering applying to require. Make sure you know registration deadlines and dates of exams so you don’t miss out! The CamWAMS Medlife conference in the summer will have a specific session on some suggested approaches for tackling the BMAT.
Work experience - using the links and resources above, perhaps plan a few things you will do and reflect on over the summer. Don’t attempt to cover everything and don’t let it take over the holiday!
Link of the Month A bit of a niche option for the link of the month is the fantastic website for A Level Chemistry - https://www.a-levelchemistry.co.uk/ . As a student I found it really useful as it had grouped chemistry questions and notes by topic which made it easier to revise for more challenging topics. I would fully recommend this website as it also has sections for older specifications which can have further questions.
Thanks for reading - we hope you have a great summer! Love, The CamWAMS Committee
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