Work experience for medicine 2025 entry

Hi,
I currently have hands on experience working in an eye hospital aborad for a week, 2 days in a hospital which I'm still doing and i want to ask if working as a care assistant (different to HCA) will boost my application?

Hey! I’m a NHS registrar and have sat on interview panels for med school. It sounds like you’ve got an interesting mix of experiences so far that will have given you a good insight into life as a doctor and healthcare in general. I would argue that working or volunteering in a care or healthcare setting absolutely does add something to your application . Firstly, it shows a real commitment. Secondly, it gives you the chance to genuinely demonstrate some key attributes medical school admissions teams are looking for, e.g a caring nature, communication skills, time management and team working skills. When I applied I had a mix of hospital work experience and had also volunteered in a nursing home. It’s certainly possible to get into medical school without this, but it definitely will not harm your chances! Happy to discuss further if you have any specific questions, and good luck with the application!

Thank you so much for taking the time out to reply!! I do have some questions actually - did you apply through graduate entry too? If yes, what unis did you apply to, where did you get interviews and which one did you end up going to!?

No problem! I did undergraduate medicine at BSMS. I also applied to Liverpool, Bart’s and Peninsula. Offered Interviews and/or offers from all, but received an unconditional offer from BSMS (my top choice - it was my 2nd time applying, so had A levels in hand) before attending a couple of the interviews, so withdrew applications to those. I’ve subsequently worked at and taught med students at King’s and Imperial 😊

Hi,
I currently have hands on experience working in an eye hospital aborad for a week, 2 days in a hospital which I'm still doing and i want to ask if working as a care assistant (different to HCA) will boost my application?

Hey! I’m a NHS registrar and have sat on interview panels for med school. It sounds like you’ve got an interesting mix of experiences so far that will have given you a good insight into life as a doctor and healthcare in general. I would argue that working or volunteering in a care or healthcare setting absolutely does add something to your application . Firstly, it shows a real commitment. Secondly, it gives you the chance to genuinely demonstrate some key attributes medical school admissions teams are looking for, e.g a caring nature, communication skills, time management and team working skills. When I applied I had a mix of hospital work experience and had also volunteered in a nursing home. It’s certainly possible to get into medical school without this, but it definitely will not harm your chances! Happy to discuss further if you have any specific questions, and good luck with the application!

Hey, that’s great that you got those work experience placements. I’ve just finished my cycle (thank god) and got an offer from my top choice. What I would say is that more experiences don’t necesssirly boost your application, med admissions are well aware how some people struggle to get work experience so they don’t differentiate based on what experience someone has had. It is what you have learnt from it. However 99% of med schools don’t even read personal statements so focus on getting very high UCAT score and excellent predicted grades to gurantee yourself of getting an interview. Also have you done any volunteering work? I have and I think this made me look good when I mentioned it in my interviews

Good luck with your application!

Hey, that’s great that you got those work experience placements. I’ve just finished my cycle (thank god) and got an offer from my top choice. What I would say is that more experiences don’t necesssirly boost your application, med admissions are well aware how some people struggle to get work experience so they don’t differentiate based on what experience someone has had. It is what you have learnt from it. However 99% of med schools don’t even read personal statements so focus on getting very high UCAT score and excellent predicted grades to gurantee yourself of getting an interview. Also have you done any volunteering work? I have and I think this made me look good when I mentioned it in my interviews

Good luck with your application!

Thank you for letting me know, can you tell me what your experience has been like throughout training as an F1 to now? And what your plans are next ☺️

Cardiology!🫀

Wow that’s amazing. I want to go into a surgical specialty and was initially interested in neurosurgery but looking online and reading how competitive it is and how bad work life balance is has deterred me. Now interested in orthopaedic surgery but apparently that very competitive too

That sounds great! Don't worry too much about competitive vs not competitive, (I initially thought the same about cardiology, but someone has to get the job and there's no reason why that won't be you! I'm now so glad I didn't let that put me off, and am now training in the specialty I am passionate about) but do focus on what a) you find the most interesting / enjoyable and b) how that will fit in with what you want from life overall. Orthopaedics could be a great choice -I'd suggest getting stuck in early, getting involved in projects etc and seeing if this could be right for you. But keep an open mind, if you later decided to switch then no harm done, you will still be in a stronger position than if you had sat on the fence and will have picked up some important transferable skills, lessons, connections and interests along the way!

Also - huge congratulations on the offer!

Cardiology!🫀