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Help! Not allowed to do final expo of duke of edinburgh??

Hey!
I was doing bronze duke of edinburgh (volunteering, skills and physical completed) and I did my training expedition but I couldnt come to the final expedition and now the price zoomed up from £6 to £150. Obviously now my parents aren't willing to pay for it which reaaally annoys me cos my bro did silver and they paid £300 for him!! I'm really worried because I want to do medicine and the only extra curricular i can think of varies from two schools so if i went to college A i would do: badminton/racket sport, robo club and mediclink
Or if i went to college B I would do only do a sport(not sure what else they have) but they offer so many things for volunteering...

Would it be enough if I just talked about my volunteering and skills(studying arabic) instead of paying the £150?

What do you guys think? :frown:

(edited 8 years ago)

Bump

Everyone does the Duke of Edinburgh award so it won't really help you stand out. For a medicine application you want to show that you have the required skills and an understanding of what being a doctor entails.

Reply 3

fc93

I agree with alleycat. So many people do DofE now that it doesn't necessarily make you stand out, so I wouldn't worry about it, especially if it's going to cost £150.

When my friends applied for medicine, the ones who got offers were the ones who had some care experience that wasn't just following a doctor, eg: health care assistant, volunteering in a care home etc - something hands on that shows you are genuinely caring and interested.

Try not to worry and good luck! :smile:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 4

Talon

You could try asking a local youth group like the Army or Air cadets to see if they have room for one more on an upcoming expedition. The prices will be much lower than the independent places offering expeditions.

Reply 5

geniequeen48

Original post by fc93

Interesting, do you know what extra curricular they did do though?

Reply 6

fc93

Original post by geniequeen48

Interesting, do you know what extra curricular they did do though?

It was pretty varied to be honest. Some were on sports teams, other did cadets/Scout leaders but most of them did some kind of care work as well or volunteering in a school/care home.

My boyfriend graduated from grad medicine at Imperial last year. He worked as a Health Care Assistant for a year and was in some societies at uni. He didn't do any sports or DofE and got two offers.

Ultimately they will want to see why your extra curriculars will make you a good doctor. They will value people skills and communication skills, working in a team etc. Maybe you could do something like elderly befriending where you visit people in the community or in their homes? (It's run by charities like Age UK or Google local charities.) Combined with some clinical work experience, that will show you are a committed, people person as well as just being enthusiastic.

Hope this helps. :smile:

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(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 7

Muttley79

Original post by geniequeen48

We don't even suggest that students mention Bronze D of E - it's much better to put down simething you've organised yourself.

Get some volunteering in a care home or holiday club - much more relevant for medicine.