I greatly admire you as Cambridge is no walk in the park and I can only imagine what studying medicine involves. It is something I would love to do but being completely wheelchair dependent I don't think I would be allowed to do it. I was removed from a nursing programme solely due to my disability. I wasn't able to safely carry out manual handling training. I have opted for biomedical sciences, which I will do with the Open University in October as I am now high risk of seizures and don't feel safe to attend my university anymore. I don't feel sad, life has this way of telling us what path we are supposed to take. I feel you will do well, and I hope you enjoy what break you will get before your third year of medicine x
Hi! I’m so sorry things worked out that way. I am very, very grateful for the privilege to be able to study at this university and to have these “struggles”, which are most definitely not struggles compared to so many others’ in the world. Thank you for your well wishes and I wish you good luck for studying Biomedical Sciences! Let me know how it goes :) x
hi arushi, congrats on finishing 2nd year! i really want to apply to cambridge to study med this october, and was wondering whether you would be able to give me any advice on approaching any parts of my application (ps, supercurriculars, interview etc.)
Hi! That’s so exciting! Of course, the Uni of Cambridge website provides a lot of information so you can check that out as well. I’ve ended up writing spam of information, but if you need any more advice, drop me a message on my instagram!(arushi.k_art) I guess, firstly I would say maximise this time you have in the summer (along with UCAT preparation and A level learning) to LEARN, whether that’s about the medical career, or looking at online webinars or lectures, books on topics that interest you. Taking initiative to explore more knowledge will help you both figure out how medicine works or what your passions might be, but it also is great as evidence for your interest in Medicine in your personal statement. With the personal statement, your aim should be to have one that is more heavily focused on academics, super curricular work as mentioned and on work experience. It’s definitely helpful to infuse bits of extracurricular things that build you as a person, but this can be done instead by dropping info throughout rather than as a full paragraph. Also, of course, try your best to make all parts of your application as strong as possible, including the admissions test since Cambridge has a more holistic approach to decisions on applications. With the interview, make sure you’ve covered all bases, including your current A level knowledge, any extra learning or anything you may have mentioned in your personal statement, and the general medical and ethics knowledge important for all medicine interviews. Nobody really knows exactly which types of questions they can ask you - could be just scientific or a mixture of all types of questions, so stay prepared. In the end though, they’ll always try to push you with solving questions based on more and more difficult content you won’t have been exposed to. The important thing is to stay calm, speak through whatever you’re thinking and start from whatever you already know about the questions they ask. They’ll guide you through the rest if you need help! Just enjoy the experience, believe in yourself and do your best - nothing more you can do!
I greatly admire you as Cambridge is no walk in the park and I can only imagine what studying medicine involves. It is something I would love to do but being completely wheelchair dependent I don't think I would be allowed to do it. I was removed from a nursing programme solely due to my disability. I wasn't able to safely carry out manual handling training. I have opted for biomedical sciences, which I will do with the Open University in October as I am now high risk of seizures and don't feel safe to attend my university anymore. I don't feel sad, life has this way of telling us what path we are supposed to take. I feel you will do well, and I hope you enjoy what break you will get before your third year of medicine x
Hi! I’m so sorry things worked out that way. I am very, very grateful for the privilege to be able to study at this university and to have these “struggles”, which are most definitely not struggles compared to so many others’ in the world. Thank you for your well wishes and I wish you good luck for studying Biomedical Sciences! Let me know how it goes :) x
hi arushi, congrats on finishing 2nd year! i really want to apply to cambridge to study med this october, and was wondering whether you would be able to give me any advice on approaching any parts of my application (ps, supercurriculars, interview etc.)
Hi! That’s so exciting! Of course, the Uni of Cambridge website provides a lot of information so you can check that out as well. I’ve ended up writing spam of information, but if you need any more advice, drop me a message on my instagram!(arushi.k_art)
I guess, firstly I would say maximise this time you have in the summer (along with UCAT preparation and A level learning) to LEARN, whether that’s about the medical career, or looking at online webinars or lectures, books on topics that interest you. Taking initiative to explore more knowledge will help you both figure out how medicine works or what your passions might be, but it also is great as evidence for your interest in Medicine in your personal statement.
With the personal statement, your aim should be to have one that is more heavily focused on academics, super curricular work as mentioned and on work experience. It’s definitely helpful to infuse bits of extracurricular things that build you as a person, but this can be done instead by dropping info throughout rather than as a full paragraph. Also, of course, try your best to make all parts of your application as strong as possible, including the admissions test since Cambridge has a more holistic approach to decisions on applications.
With the interview, make sure you’ve covered all bases, including your current A level knowledge, any extra learning or anything you may have mentioned in your personal statement, and the general medical and ethics knowledge important for all medicine interviews. Nobody really knows exactly which types of questions they can ask you - could be just scientific or a mixture of all types of questions, so stay prepared.
In the end though, they’ll always try to push you with solving questions based on more and more difficult content you won’t have been exposed to. The important thing is to stay calm, speak through whatever you’re thinking and start from whatever you already know about the questions they ask. They’ll guide you through the rest if you need help! Just enjoy the experience, believe in yourself and do your best - nothing more you can do!
thank you so much!