I can't find any in person medical work experience

hello,
I am a year 12 student studying biology, chemistry and maths and I want to study medicine in university. I have excellent grades and student portfolio, I did 5 months volunteering in a charity shop and I have done several online work experience programmes.

However, I cannot for the life of me find any in person work experience in any healthcare setting. I have applied for about 30 so far, sent close of 100 emails to different hospital sectors and GPs, even applied for care home volunteering. all I got back was crickets. not a single person has gotten back to me.
I come from a disadvantaged background and my family is not very well networked. It's so frustrating because all my other friends who managed to get work experience had parents who knew someone. one of my friends got a literal paid job at one! I am getting very stressed because this puts me at a clear disadvantage and i never imagined that I would face such a set back.

Any advice to get in person work experience? am up to anything that could help etc. work shadowing and volunteering

Reply 1

Kingston Sarah

Official Rep

Original post

by That111girl

hello,
I am a year 12 student studying biology, chemistry and maths and I want to study medicine in university. I have excellent grades and student portfolio, I did 5 months volunteering in a charity shop and I have done several online work experience programmes.
However, I cannot for the life of me find any in person work experience in any healthcare setting. I have applied for about 30 so far, sent close of 100 emails to different hospital sectors and GPs, even applied for care home volunteering. all I got back was crickets. not a single person has gotten back to me.
I come from a disadvantaged background and my family is not very well networked. It's so frustrating because all my other friends who managed to get work experience had parents who knew someone. one of my friends got a literal paid job at one! I am getting very stressed because this puts me at a clear disadvantage and i never imagined that I would face such a set back.
Any advice to get in person work experience? am up to anything that could help etc. work shadowing and volunteering

Hi,

Try applying to care homes and hospice, you’re more likely to get a response from them since they’re less busy than hospitals and gps in terms of work experience applications, it might also be more effective if you walk-in with your cv and personally speak to someone in charge or a manager. But also do not stress yourself too much, universities know that not every single student has an equal advantage and opportunity to find hospital-based work experience.
All the best

-Sarah (Kingston Rep)

Reply 2

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Original post

by That111girl

hello,
I am a year 12 student studying biology, chemistry and maths and I want to study medicine in university. I have excellent grades and student portfolio, I did 5 months volunteering in a charity shop and I have done several online work experience programmes.
However, I cannot for the life of me find any in person work experience in any healthcare setting. I have applied for about 30 so far, sent close of 100 emails to different hospital sectors and GPs, even applied for care home volunteering. all I got back was crickets. not a single person has gotten back to me.
I come from a disadvantaged background and my family is not very well networked. It's so frustrating because all my other friends who managed to get work experience had parents who knew someone. one of my friends got a literal paid job at one! I am getting very stressed because this puts me at a clear disadvantage and i never imagined that I would face such a set back.
Any advice to get in person work experience? am up to anything that could help etc. work shadowing and volunteering

Hi OP!

I completely understand how you're feeling as I come from a similar background and also struggled finding work experience.

Here are some avenues you can try:

•

Observe GP : They have a Widening Participation scheme for in person experiences.

•

Hospital Greeter Volunteer: I've seen adverts for such roles on indeed and on hospital webpages.

•

Focus on emailing university teaching hospitals , they will generally have a section on their website to apply for work experience.

•

Speak to your careers team at college to see if they have any local ties? My secondary school had contacts with a local pharmacy which helped to facilitate a short placement. Pharmacies are great because they will always need people to stock shelves 😅

•

With GP surgeries go in person and ask if you could shadow the HCA, Nurses or even PAs if the GPs are too busy.

•

Social Mobility Foundatio: I was part of this widening participation program and they match you to a mentor in yoru field (mine was a GP). This was during covid times so we couldn't arrange for work experience but historically this is something that can be done! Also the mentor will have professional links to help you as well.

All the best with your application! If theres anything else I can help with let me know 🙂

Best Wishes,
Jade
Year 3 MBChB
Student Ambassador

Reply 3

Bailey456

Original post

by That111girl

hello,
I am a year 12 student studying biology, chemistry and maths and I want to study medicine in university. I have excellent grades and student portfolio, I did 5 months volunteering in a charity shop and I have done several online work experience programmes.
However, I cannot for the life of me find any in person work experience in any healthcare setting. I have applied for about 30 so far, sent close of 100 emails to different hospital sectors and GPs, even applied for care home volunteering. all I got back was crickets. not a single person has gotten back to me.
I come from a disadvantaged background and my family is not very well networked. It's so frustrating because all my other friends who managed to get work experience had parents who knew someone. one of my friends got a literal paid job at one! I am getting very stressed because this puts me at a clear disadvantage and i never imagined that I would face such a set back.
Any advice to get in person work experience? am up to anything that could help etc. work shadowing and volunteering

Have you tried asking your local Doctors surgery in person. Because I know people who have do this and gotten a weeks work experience in the surgery.

Reply 4

ErasistratusV

You.don't.need.medical.work.experience. I cannot tell people this enough. Universities know it is hard to obtain. Find other ways of getting the insight you need. A friendly GP might just email you some insights. Ask them. Ask relatives about their health (if they are willing to do so), what makes a good or a bad doctor, have they had good experiences or bad experiences?

You should in fact try to find something different to do. It will give you far more scope to talk about in interview and mark you out against the rest of the herd.

Reply 5

exclusive-syring

I am not sure if that will be any help, but if you cant get work experience directly with a gp, then I would try looking even more into care settings, care homes, residential children’s homes etc. It might not be ideal, but any work experience is a good experience especially across different sectors and user groups.

I know emailing is the easiest but most settings are so busy, they might miss your email. I would go in person and ask for work experience/shadowing the staff, leave your contact details or even ask them for their email and email as well. Also, tell them you’re applying for medicine.

Also, if you have no luck with any of the care setting then you can also try getting a work experience in school with eg, with a school nurse (which is the easiest to get from my experience). Are there any special needs schools in your area?

Also, charities and services in the community!! Can you think of any in your area? Can you check your trusts or council website? Look for anything associated with mental health, women’s aid/mens shed. Not many people apply for work experience in these so it might be easier to get in. Once you get in, you can link anything to medicine and MTD. If you get to talk with the service users, they will also give you more insight into how they got there, gp referral, their health etc.

A work experience in different settings and age groups might sometimes even look better than single GP experience. If you know how to link it to medicine then you’re good! I can’t really think of anything else, but I hope it helps ☺️

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