Is there a doctor in the house?

Woodhouse Medicine Academy students Jeylen and Yasmin

 

This year, 38 of our hard working students have secured another bumper crop of offers, from the best universities in the country, to study medicine.

 

Head of our medicine academy and chemistry teacher Ms Paterson said “The students worked really hard and made use of all the opportunities offered by the medicine academy. They achieved brilliantly and the majority of students have managed to secure more than one offer. I am very proud of them”.

 

Many GCSE students who are hopeful of a career in medicine opt to study at Woodhouse. Not just for our excellent science facilities, but also for our medicine academy - an organised and extensive program of events, trips, lectures, workshops and practice interviews, that prepares students for their medicine applications and their careers.

 

Two of our current medicine academy students, Jeylen and Yasmin, told us about their experience at Woodhouse...

 

Jeylen - "I decided to apply to Woodhouse not just for its great reputation, but because it offered the opportunity to meet like-minded, focused and intellectually inquisitive people. Here there are many opportunities, such as medicine, Oxbridge and law academy, to strengthen your application to such competitive courses, which is really unlike anywhere else!

 

My favourite thing about Medicine Academy is being able to meet other students applying to medical school. We were all very supportive of each other throughout the very competitive application process, which is helpful since it’s quite a stressful period going through the UCAT, BMAT and interviews. We were able to discuss and share different volunteering experiences, which was great. It helped to deepen my understanding about the demands of the career."

 

Yasmin - "A lot of activities surrounded practising sections of the medical school university interviews, such as role-playing. For this, we would work on practising situations that you may find yourself in, in the day-to-day life of being a doctor. These were often the more uncommon situations that you probably would not want to confront yourself with, like having to wash people's feet or uncomfortable conversations that students my age may have not been in before, like facing an individual with difficult family matters.

 

We would also put together presentations; these would increase both our knowledge of medicine and enhance our communicative skills, they would often be about pressing and current medical issues. Before COVID, we were given the opportunity of having guest speakers in, such as GPs and the leaders of volunteer programmes that we could apply to - these talks were interesting and gave true insight into what it was like to actually work in a healthcare environment."

 

Jeylen - "Throughout my application to UCAS, I had loads of support from Woodhouse every step of the way. Whilst writing my personal statement, Woodhouse put me in touch with current medical school students, which really helped me cater my statement to the specific needs of a career in medicine. I also had interview help from many teachers, which helped to boost my confidence when answering questions in front of a panel of senior doctors."

 

Yasmin - "Woodhouse was immensely helpful with my application and supported me every step of the way, despite being under the constrictions of lockdown. In particular, my science teachers and Ms Paterson really helped, advising me on things they thought that were good and things that needed to be changed to make the next step forward. I also found that they were very helpful when the application got difficult because, as most people know, medicine can sometimes be a very daunting application process. So, when I needed that extra bit of reassurance, my teachers were always there."

 

Jeylen - "Obviously, the pandemic has made life harder for everyone, but Woodhouse coped very well with remote learning. I had my normal timetabled lessons every day on Teams, as well as teachers being available during working hours to support us with any worries or to clarify any subject related questions."

 

Yasmin - "During lockdown I felt that my subjects were really well delivered. At Woodhouse, the teachers are always putting in their uttermost effort to make sure students are never at any sort of disadvantage and this really showed during the difficulty of lockdown. The teachers quickly adapted to the totally new software, and it felt almost as if the lessons were normal, except for the fact that everyone was at home and the majority of teacher backgrounds on Microsoft Teams were fake classrooms, but other than that, the level of teaching and the continuous updates from both the teachers and the principal at the time, Mr Rubinstein, really made me, and I think I can speak for most of my colleagues, feel reassured in that we were not missing out."

 

Jeylen came to Woodhouse from Winchmore School and is studying A level biology, chemistry and English literature

 

Jeylen - "I have received offers from Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry (part of Queen Mary University of London) and St George’s Hospital Medical School (University of London) for MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery).

 

I’ve wanted to go to Barts since I decided in Year 11 that I was going to pursue medicine, so I am very happy to say it’s my firm choice! After university, I hope to become a junior doctor on the front line. There I’ll be able to experience many different areas, and decide which area of medicine/surgery to specialise in. I have always known that I have wanted to help and work with people in an environment where I will always be learning. Combined with my passion for science, problem solving and meeting new people, medicine for me is a great opportunity to give back to the world.

 

I will very much miss how supportive, kind and approachable all of the staff and students are at Woodhouse. The friendly atmosphere here is like no other! And I’ll definitely miss my studies in English literature. Although I am passionate about the sciences, I particularly enjoyed my literature course - as I am a poetry lover."

 

 

Yasmin came to Woodhouse from Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School and is studying A level biology, chemistry and psychology.

 

Yasmin - "I applied to study Medicine outside London as I wanted to study away. I applied to the University of Cardiff, the University of Liverpool, the University of Lincoln, the University of Nottingham, and Keele University. I had offers for three of them and another for a non-medicine degree. I decided on the University of Liverpool to do medicine.

 

My passion for medicine sparked at age 11, after undertaking a project on IVF and genetically inherited diseases. I had always had a love for science and how the world around me worked, and at this young age, I became highly intrigued by how a person's physical and mental health could be already predetermined before birth. Over the years, my curiosity grew, and I read scientific articles, such as those on dilated cardiomyopathy and neurological disorders like epilepsy.

 

However, it was a significant event in my life that confirmed my decision for a medical career, and this was when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Despite being profoundly challenging, the experience increased my resilience and ability to cope under pressure. The experience made me realise that I didn't want to be the person on the side-lines, I wanted to be on the frontline, making that very important change in people's lives by taking control of care and helping them to get better, by using what I was best at - science.

 

In all honesty, I am not a hundred percent sure what I hope to do after university. The amazing thing about medicine is that you have such a diverse number of pathways to go down once you have finished. Although, at the moment, my top three routes are either, psychiatry, paediatrics, or surgery.

 

Woodhouse for me was really a new slate - an opportunity to start afresh. It was attractive to me as a place to do my A levels as everyone was in the same boat, no one knew anyone else, so it was a chance to make new friends. However, I think, like for many other students, the level of independence you get at Woodhouse is the main reason I wanted to go. Personally, I work better when I am given the freedom to make my own decisions and choices and govern my own individual learning; so, Woodhouse was great in the way that I knew that’s what I was going to be doing.

 

I also feel that the maturity that you gain from the experience of attending Woodhouse, and the amazing teachers and teaching that comes with it, has really bridged the gap for me between the outside world and tasks that perhaps would have been more difficult for me had I stayed at a secondary school sixth form, like getting a job. I hope that this will really make it easier to take that even more daunting step of going to university.

 

I had such a good time at Woodhouse, and I am not lying when I say that it really was a shame that COVID cut it short. There is a major list of things that I'll miss, but if I had to summarise, it would definitely be my friends, my teachers and the coffee machine in the canteen."

 

 

Our students received offers to study medicine, surgery and dentistry from a wide selection of universities including:

 

Imperial College London

Queen Mary University of London

King's College London

St George's University of London

Birkbeck University of London

UCL (University College London)

Hull York Medical School

Brighton and Sussex Medical School

Kent and Medway Medical School

The University of Edinburgh

University of Exeter

University of St Andrews

University of Birmingham

University of Liverpool

University of East Anglia UEA

University of Nottingham

University of Leicester

University of Southampton

University of Surrey

University of Bradford

Cardiff University

Newcastle University

Keele University