Lara’s face showed pride mixed with gratitude when she came to the School’s Office and timidly said: “I’ve been accepted into Medical School!”
She had been dreaming to study Medicine since she started at Ealing Independent College in Year 9.
We immediately congratulated her with immense joy, then asked her to share her story with us.
Lara, we are so incredibly proud. Please tell us more about your Offer.
I have been accepted at St George Medical School. It is a conditional offer based on my final A-level results. I cannot express enough how happy I feel - I’m over the moon - as St George was at the top of my wish list of University destinations, and I’ve dreamed of attending Medical School since Y9.
How did you find the Interview Process? Could you let us know more about its modality?
It wasn’t a face-to-face interview. I was sent a few questions online at the start of the interview and I had two hours to record my answers. When the recording was ready I sent it off to the interviewers. In a sense, I really liked how the interview happened as I did not feel any pressure; I just had my own time to do my best with the questions I was presented with.
How did the College help you to prepare for the interview?
I actually felt very well prepared for the Interview. We had a meeting with Laura, the Vice Principal, every Tuesday at lunch time, where she really helped us prepare for all of our interviews and UCAS applications. She would “mock-interview” us, and sometimes repeat some trickier questions several times until we felt confident with our answers. In fact, one of the questions I was asked during the interview was one of those that I had prepared with Laura.
The morning of the official interview, Laura wanted to see me to have a session with her at 7.45 am before the lessons started; she gave me the last recommendations and made sure that I felt relaxed and ready.
That’s so great to hear. In a more broad sense, how do you think the College helped you prepare for this moment in the past couple of years, throughout your A-Level Course here?
The College helped me grow in so many different ways. I think my Personal Statement was so strong thanks to all the experience that I gained here at the College. For instance, in my personal Statement I proudly mentioned that last year I was the winner of the ISA Whitbread Memorial Prize Competition, which the College submitted my candidature for. I also completed an EPQ last year on how the pandemic impacted aviation medicine, and this helped to get me in the right mindset for university too.
What’s your dream job and your plans after Uni?
I would like to become a GP doctor and travel the world through the profession.
Are you now ready for your final push before the exams or are you feeling quite relaxed and confident?
The last Mock Exams I took in December were quite promising, but I am definitely going to work really hard from now until the exams. I need to obtain three As to confirm my offer at St George’s.
What advice would you give to other students in order for them to be successful and achieve what they have dreamed for?
I have a suggestion for all Year 12 students: It’s best to start focusing on your goals right from the start of Year 12. Everything we do during our A-Level journey counts towards the final results, especially the UCAT examinations, and the experiences we collect throughout Sixth Form will help enrich our personal statements for University applications.