Non - academic achievements - med?

Also - I did bronze DofE but that was during GCSE.
I have some "work experience" aka volunteering at a care home and talking to old people for 2 weeks - no wait I also did some cleaning there too lol - I have 2 certificates from attending some safety lectures there, they were supposed to write me a reference but they never did and this was like 2 years ago so no point asking now.

I did a befriend the old person scheme for nearly a school year, but I don't have hard "evidence" for this and tbh it's just talking to old people again.

Ask your school DoE organiser to help you chase up the volunteering reference. Without it you won't get your badge.

And "talking to old people" is good... try to put a diary together with the dates and ask a teacher (or the scheme organiser) to sign it off for you.

By the way, your PS isn't a bullet point list of things you've done. It should reflect on the experiences and what you've learned from them.

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Hey

Start extra curricular stuff, just kidding sorta.. alrightie don't bring down your achievements, they're exactly that YOUR achievements so own them (imagine that in a sassy voice). If you feel like you need to focus on your exams, then dont worry about work experience for now.. 1 month isn't gonna hurt you but messing up your A-levels will.

When it comes to work experience for med something on-going is always gonna make you stand out, and it doesn't have to be an every day thing.. even if its once a week for an hour on a sunday, you can still say "I've been a volunteer at my local care home for 6 months " <-- Now you sound awesome.

Getting work experience like this is easier than it seems, don't rely on the internet, jump up early in the morning and knock on your local care homes door and ask if they need some help for a couple of hours every now and then.. they are likely to say yes (especially if you give a massive grin), if you're shy then you can always take a nice respectable looking adult with you.

Hospital work experience over the summer is nice one to get, check your local NHS trust, they usually do 2 week placement schemes shadowing doctors which is niceee and they give you a laminated certificate which is niceeeeeee

With work experience you are just trying to show them you're not just a book smart science whizz, they wanna see that you've taken the steps to show that you want it more than anything.. and that you can handle the type of job it is

Hope this helps

the volunteering at a care home wasn't part of DofE it was extra I did in year 10 or 11, I did brownies for DofE

yes I do realise that about the personal statement I just feel like they might be like "oh wait have you been doing this whole time whilst studies" and truth is my day to day extracurricular is quite self-indulgent.

It's a bit difficult to say what I've learned from the second care home experience, honestly the only thing I learned from it was patience (they have mild dementia) and small talk since my "small talk abilites" were absolutely horrendous before I did care-home experience, probably cause it's the most boring thing on earth... I feel like this isn't something I can put in my PS though? Double boring cause 1. small talk, 2. they had dementia so every convo was the first convo but repeated.

The first time I did care home experience I mostly spent time sorting out clean laundry (loling at this cause I actually really enjoy folding clothes, obviously don't wanna be a maid though was only fun for a bit), I helped some of the residents eat actually but not sure what this taught me: other than the fragility of life and that one day we're all gonna either die or be in a position where you can't even remember how to eat. The little conversation I did have at this care home was actually more entertaining than the second care home, one of the women I got close to I am pretty sure was deluded of some kind as in she was seeing things (obviously not naming where or her name either so confidentiality is kept) absolutely hilarious. I spent alot of time observing residents more than talking to them, and I could expand on this but it would be more philosophical and artistic commentary rather than medical (one of the residents though a toy dog was a real dog and was walking it up and down the hallway lmao). So I am really unsure on how to include these types of things in my personal statement. I do understand that however, care homes are there to support these people, I just hope that I am never subject to one in my life and my children will care for me.

thanks for your help though I was actually told to keep a diary, I wish I did but at the time I didn't know what to put it sounds so weird trying to write it. I do remember key experiences quite well despite being 2 years ago.

I was in the same situation as you when I was applying for medicine, and all the extracurricular stuff I had was dofe bronze, some clubs at school, and the piano (don't have any grades), and I got into medicine. Obviously the rest of your application counts as well, but what's important is what you learn from your activities and that you can talk about them at interviews

DofE

okay thank you :P
btw what grades did you get (esp UKCAT/BMAT) and where did you apply?



thanks for reading the post properly -.-

I got 755avg for the ukcat and i applied to scottish unis (edinburgh, glasgow, aberdeen, st andrews)

I got 755avg for the ukcat and i applied to scottish unis (edinburgh, glasgow, aberdeen, st andrews)