Maya - St George's, University of London, Medicine
Maya
Date attended Ashmole: 2008 - 2015
A Levels: Maths, Biology, Chemistry
University: St George’s, University of London
Course: Medicine
Graduating: 2020
What are you doing now?
I’m currently studying 3rd year medicine. This year involves a mix of placement and lectures. It’s been really cool to be on placement with real patients and actually be a part of patient care. I have just finished my GP placement in which I got to take a lot of histories and gave many vaccinations. I look forward to my next placement on a respiratory ward in a hospital.
What have you got involved with at university?
Unfortunately, I have not got involved with university as much as I would like to. This is because I also play football for Tottenham Hotspur Women’s 1st team. This, like medicine, is a big commitment and therefore I don’t have a lot of time to spare. This season Spurs Ladies have been promoted to the Women’s Super League 2, which is exciting! It has meant I have had the opportunity to play against some of the best players in the country – and sometimes even win against them!
What did you find most valuable about your experiences at Ashmole Academy? What skills did it help you to develop?
What I found valuable was that the teachers knew you; they took the time to know the person behind your academic results. This helped them to motivate each student specifically. They knew your capabilities and pushed you to achieve whatever it was you wanted to. The teachers had an ‘open door policy’ – they were there for anything you needed help with – even when it wasn’t about their subject. Ashmole helped me develop many skills that helped me get into university but most importantly, they had the belief in me throughout – even at points when I didn’t believe in myself; so belief and confidence was key!
What did you find most useful about the MedSoc programme?
MedSoc was really useful because the teacher in chargel was dedicated to finding the best ways to get every student into Medical School. There was help at every step of the journey. This took a lot of weight off our shoulders and made the whole process a lot less scary! I remember the practice MMIs that were organised at school, which was the most useful thing for me as it prepared me for the interviews and made me realise what I needed to do to be successful.
What advice would you give to someone planning to apply for a Medical degree?
I would say know why you’re doing it! It has to be something you want! Furthermore, don’t be scared in the interviews, a lot of them are just trying to get to know the person behind the grades. So just be yourself! To prepare for the interviews, on top of all the help school provides, my personal thing that helped me was that I used the ‘600 Medical Interview Questions’ book! Whoever I was with would open the book randomly at a question and I would answer and then checked my answer against the book. I wouldn’t say memorise the answers, but it does give you an idea as to what sort of answers you should give.
Anything else you would like to tell us about yourself.
I am very grateful for the opportunities I have had such as in medicine and football! I love both! I did not give up football and I can’t stress enough how happy I am with that decision. I was even honoured to win Women’s Player award at the Asian Football Awards 2017! So my final bit of advice is don’t give up on any of your passions!
