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Things to do after GCSE as an aspiring medic

I am in year 11 and recently decided I wanted to pursue medicine at uni. But, I am not sure about my extracurriculars and supercurriculars as I see other aspiring medics do so many activities from a young age.

These are the extracurriculars I have done so far:
1) volunteering at the local library and hosting a craft session for kids (in Years 10 + 11)
2) Currently on the prom committee (in Year 11)
3) volunteering at my local gurdwara (since I was a kid )
4) teaching myself the guitar (from year 9)
5) Currently attending medsoc at my school (year 11)
6) Doing the Duke of Edinburgh's Award up to Silver (I am planning to do the Gold in year 12 with my school)
7) Purple belt in kickboxing (I was a purple belt in year 7 but stopped because of an injury but then COVID happened. I am planning on starting again after GCSE to get my black belt.)
8) Bronze award in biology challenge (year 9 )
9) Gold award and best in the school award for UK Intermediate Maths challenge (year 11)
10) I have also currently entered 3 STEM-related competitions.

I feel like these are not enough and not that attractive to medical schools.

Things I am planning to do from after my GCSEs to the point where I must complete my application:
1) applied for Imperial College London Year 11 Summer STEM challenge
2) Volunteering at a charity shop
3) Join Medic Mentors virtual society and get a place in the community
4) Securing a place at Sutton Trust summer school and Nuffield research placement
5) Completing the Gold Award for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award
6) Join St John's ambulance cadet programme
7) Ace my A Levels (Biology, chemistry + maths )
8) Get my black belt in kickboxing
9) volunteering at a hospital or local care home
10) entering many STEM-related competition
11) Medical Experience at at least 3 Hospitals
12) starting a website where I fundraise for different charities (this is more of a personal project on my bucket list )
13) and finally, reading about medicine and different topics in medicine.

If you are a medical student, I would like to know if these activities are okay and what did you as a pre-medical student. Also, if you know of any summer opportunities for year 11, please let me know. Thank you. :smile:
(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 1

Hey there, thanks for posting a question in the Medicine forum. :biggrin:

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The "Which Medical School Should I Apply To?" Uberthread
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Medicine A-Level subjects queries
Work Experience and Voluntary Work

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Official Undergraduate Medicine 2023 Entry
Graduate Entry Medicine 2023 Entry
Medicine 2023 entry for resit / retake / gap year applicants
A100 Medicine for International Students 2023 Entry
Medicine Interview discussion 2023 Entry
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Index of Individual Medical School Applicants' threads 2023 Entry

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Useful Articles:
GCSE Requirements for Medicine
Everything you need to know about the BMAT
Work Experience as a Graduate or Mature student
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Reply 2

hey i am a year 11 who wanted to be fully prepared and make use of my summer too! your activities are absolutely impressive I would say, you did so much more that me haha. Just want to ask if you would like start the web to fundraise for different charities together after our GCSEs? cus that is such an interesting idea lol (btw i am interested in both dent and med atm, can't decide)
Original post by theofficialkaur
I am in year 11 and recently decided I wanted to pursue medicine at uni. But, I am not sure about my extracurriculars and supercurriculars as I see other aspiring medics do so many activities from a young age.
These are the extracurriculars I have done so far:
1) volunteering at the local library and hosting a craft session for kids (in Years 10 + 11)
2) Currently on the prom committee (in Year 11)
3) volunteering at my local gurdwara (since I was a kid )
4) teaching myself the guitar (from year 9)
5) Currently attending medsoc at my school (year 11)
6) Doing the Duke of Edinburgh's Award up to Silver (I am planning to do the Gold in year 12 with my school)
7) Purple belt in kickboxing (I was a purple belt in year 7 but stopped because of an injury but then COVID happened. I am planning on starting again after GCSE to get my black belt.)
8) Bronze award in biology challenge (year 9 )
9) Gold award and best in the school award for UK Intermediate Maths challenge (year 11)
10) I have also currently entered 3 STEM-related competitions.
I feel like these are not enough and not that attractive to medical schools.
Things I am planning to do from after my GCSEs to the point where I must complete my application:
1) applied for Imperial College London Year 11 Summer STEM challenge
2) Volunteering at a charity shop
3) Join Medic Mentors virtual society and get a place in the community
4) Securing a place at Sutton Trust summer school and Nuffield research placement
5) Completing the Gold Award for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award
6) Join St John's ambulance cadet programme
7) Ace my A Levels (Biology, chemistry + maths )
8) Get my black belt in kickboxing
9) volunteering at a hospital or local care home
10) entering many STEM-related competition
11) Medical Experience at at least 3 Hospitals
12) starting a website where I fundraise for different charities (this is more of a personal project on my bucket list )
13) and finally, reading about medicine and different topics in medicine.
If you are a medical student, I would like to know if these activities are okay and what did you as a pre-medical student. Also, if you know of any summer opportunities for year 11, please let me know. Thank you. :smile:

Hi there,

These sound brilliant! I know that at sunderland they tend to prefer that you have organised the experience yourself rather than doing it through school. So anything that you can organise yourself is good as it shows you have the organisation skills etc to do that.
Personally before medical school I had some caring experience, I also worked in JD sports which was really good experience of the general public and how to communicate with them. I would recommend as many public facing opportunities as you can, these are often the most desirable for universities.

I hope this helps, and it sounds you are well on your way to a fantastic application!

Ellen
Y4 Medical Student
Uni of Sunderland
Digital Ambassador

Reply 4

Original post by mika626
hey i am a year 11 who wanted to be fully prepared and make use of my summer too! your activities are absolutely impressive I would say, you did so much more that me haha. Just want to ask if you would like start the web to fundraise for different charities together after our GCSEs? cus that is such an interesting idea lol (btw i am interested in both dent and med atm, can't decide)

heyy me too!! I also have barely any extracurriculars the most important one I probs have is work experience at a pharmacy and that's about it lol, but if you're still up for it I don't mind fundraising for different charities after GCSEs just lmk!
Original post by theofficialkaur
I am in year 11 and recently decided I wanted to pursue medicine at uni. But, I am not sure about my extracurriculars and supercurriculars as I see other aspiring medics do so many activities from a young age.
These are the extracurriculars I have done so far:
1) volunteering at the local library and hosting a craft session for kids (in Years 10 + 11)
2) Currently on the prom committee (in Year 11)
3) volunteering at my local gurdwara (since I was a kid )
4) teaching myself the guitar (from year 9)
5) Currently attending medsoc at my school (year 11)
6) Doing the Duke of Edinburgh's Award up to Silver (I am planning to do the Gold in year 12 with my school)
7) Purple belt in kickboxing (I was a purple belt in year 7 but stopped because of an injury but then COVID happened. I am planning on starting again after GCSE to get my black belt.)
8) Bronze award in biology challenge (year 9 )
9) Gold award and best in the school award for UK Intermediate Maths challenge (year 11)
10) I have also currently entered 3 STEM-related competitions.
I feel like these are not enough and not that attractive to medical schools.
Things I am planning to do from after my GCSEs to the point where I must complete my application:
1) applied for Imperial College London Year 11 Summer STEM challenge
2) Volunteering at a charity shop
3) Join Medic Mentors virtual society and get a place in the community
4) Securing a place at Sutton Trust summer school and Nuffield research placement
5) Completing the Gold Award for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award
6) Join St John's ambulance cadet programme
7) Ace my A Levels (Biology, chemistry + maths )
8) Get my black belt in kickboxing
9) volunteering at a hospital or local care home
10) entering many STEM-related competition
11) Medical Experience at at least 3 Hospitals
12) starting a website where I fundraise for different charities (this is more of a personal project on my bucket list )
13) and finally, reading about medicine and different topics in medicine.
If you are a medical student, I would like to know if these activities are okay and what did you as a pre-medical student. Also, if you know of any summer opportunities for year 11, please let me know. Thank you. :smile:

Hi there, I’m a year 12 hoping to apply to medicine, and these are already very good!

I would recommend definitely getting some in person work experience. Even if just for a day (mine was for a day in cardiology) and maybe some lab work experience (I’m doing some in a diabetes research lab).

I would definitely recommend Medic Mentor virtual medical society! Also check out the medic mentor wider reading society! I did a few debates with them and that is definitely something good to put on CV! You can also write and contribute to their magazine.

Also, make sure you’re not doing too many stuff. Doing only a few stem competitions will be enough. Even if you didn’t win you can say you took part. You don’t want too many stuff to make you too busy and mean you can no longer ace a levels.

Reply 6

You have had quite a lot going on.

Reply 7

do you know how to apply for a in-person work experience? cos i seem to have looked all over the NHS website and i can't find anything at all! any help would be appreciated

Reply 8

Original post by donna_m01
do you know how to apply for a in-person work experience? cos i seem to have looked all over the NHS website and i can't find anything at all! any help would be appreciated

Look at your health boards website, they may have something there. They should at least have some sort of outreach email for volunteering or work experience that you can try.

Reply 9

Original post by donna_m01
do you know how to apply for a in-person work experience? cos i seem to have looked all over the NHS website and i can't find anything at all! any help would be appreciated

Email local GP practices or NHS hospitals or just give them a call, for my hospital work experience how I got it was when I attended a hospital appt with my
Younger brother I just asked one of the consultants there if I could do some work experience with you and he said yeah sure, and I did a full week of work experience in a hospital shadowing various surgeons on ward rounds and In theatre

Reply 10

Original post by Anonymous_7871
Email local GP practices or NHS hospitals or just give them a call, for my hospital work experience how I got it was when I attended a hospital appt with my
Younger brother I just asked one of the consultants there if I could do some work experience with you and he said yeah sure, and I did a full week of work experience in a hospital shadowing various surgeons on ward rounds and In theatre

ooo thanks sm, ill check it out after GCSEs are done :smile:)

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