College’s future doctors get expert support from professional medics

Second year students with a future in medicine have benefitted from a support event run by current and former doctors, including surgeons and GPs.

Six current students have upcoming interviews to secure places at a range of nationwide leading universities to study to become doctors, and five industry experts came into the College to help them with the process.

Medics are expected to pass a gauntlet of Multiple Mini Interviews, or MMIs, to gain their places, and the professionals ran a whole series of practice interviews reflecting the real process to assist in our students being completely prepared for the rigours that lie ahead.

Medicine is renowned for being one of, if not the most, competitive profession to enter into, and our six second years have done outstandingly well in their academic and extracurricular endeavours to have got to a stage to have been offered interviews at universities such as Imperial College London and the University of Liverpool.

Riley Badley-Smith, Bethel Barnieh, Luca Ford, Mohamad Jouma, Faye McLaughlin and Kesh Prasad are all the first generation of their families to enter into medicine, and some of the College’s wide-ranging careers programmes and expert support have played a large part in helping them into the position by raising aspirations.

One of the visiting doctors conducting the mock interviews was former Birkenhead Sixth Form College student, Emily Wagstaff.
Having left the College in 2016, Emily has now completed her studies and is a qualified doctor, having done phenomenally well in her A Levels during her time at the College. 

Coming to us from high school at Woodchurch High, Emily is also a first generation doctor, and said: “All of the students should be confident and proud of the situation that they have in front of them. They have got to the stage of being offered interviews, so their abilities are not in question.

“There is a feeling that people from varying background aren’t accepted into medicine, but that’s just not the case, so any nerves that students have about being out of place can be pushed aside. Also, there are programmes and funding available to help, so that’s definitely worth looking into.”

Emily explained: “When I came to the College, I had no idea about the processes involved or the help available to get to study medicine, but the support systems available here and the people here to help pointed me in the exactly right direction, and was a huge part in me getting to where I am. I benefitted so much from trips, from programmes and from support I simply would not have got anywhere else. They concentrated so much on the individual and their goals and aspirations, and they still do now.”