My Circuitous Journey into Medicine

By Matthew Todd

3rd year- clinical phase graduate-entry medical student (BMBS)

University of Nottingham

“Getting into medical school is the hardest thing youʼll ever have to do…ˮ, is the familiar phrase repeated by almost everyone considering a future in the ever-evolving field of medicine. Iʼll be the first to admit that I once convinced myself this was true, however, it is with a heavy heart that I now say to everyone reading this: that line is better suited for the script of the next medical drama on Netflix!

It is a scary prospect, realising that the career whose entry pathway is so heavily barriered, continues to demand higher expectations with each stage you progress, but as with most things, everyone finds a way to adapt – I know I did. *To provide a bit of context to this slightly dramatic introduction, let me elaborate on my journey into medical school and the importance of resilience and time*

My path into medicine was slightly more unconventional compared to most who qualify here in the UK. I grew up in New Zealand, and like all aspiring medics around the world, focused on my university applications to begin my journey towards medicine. I was accepted into the first-year premed programme at the University of Auckland, where unfortunately my start to tertiary education was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. That year was a year of adjustments and to be honest, just trying to adapt to the many challenges of moving away from home to a new city, with new people and an incredibly difficult and busy course. Unfortunately, at the end of year I was unsuccessful in my application to the MBChB programme and had to return to the drawing board with no real plan for the year ahead. I was fortunate that I could continue my Bachelor of Biomedical Science degree studying neuroscience and physiology, however, I still knew that medicine was the end goal.

Before I knew it, I was starting my final year of my undergrad, and the medical admissions cycle was fast approaching. There are no accelerated graduate-entry courses available in New Zealand, so I expanded my applications to consider courses across the ditch in Australia, which led to my first exposure to the dreaded GAMSAT. After a rather intense 6-week period of cramming practice papers in and amongst my university assignments, I sat my first attempt of the exam in March 2022, with another attempt in September 2022. I did fairly well in both exams, however, due to the extremely rigorous application requirements from the Australian programmes, I was unsuccessful in obtaining a place after interview.

Amid the chaotic admissions cycle, undergrad finals and summative research projects, I was encouraged by family to consider the UK as an option for medical training. I am extremely fortunate to have extended family over here and decided to apply on a whim through the UCAS portal to the few places I researched; Nottingham, St Georgeʼs, Edinburgh and KCL. After an almost immediate rejection from KCL and Edinburgh, I would be lying if I said my confidence wasnʼt knocked. It was after this where I then forgot about things on the medicine front for a while. Fortunately, I was encouraged by my undergraduate supervisors to apply for the postgraduate research honours programme in the faculty to act as a bridging year while I figured out what to do next. Until this point I had almost no interest in scientific research, which naturally took a turn when I ended up having one of the best years of my academic journey so far. This research year sparked questions I never thought I would be asking myself, while also teaching me some invaluable research and study skills which I have used more times than I can count since starting medical school.

Many people will convince themselves medicine is a career too far out of reach because they didnʼt get the required A-levels or that they have ‘missed the boatʼ on applying to medical school from college; I am a firm believer, this couldnʼt be further from the truth. I hope my story has helped demonstrate this and can encourage those who are considering the post-graduate route that anything is possible!