Advice

Applying for medical school is like starting a new relationship. There’s the all-encompassing love, the enthusiasm, the feeling that finally life is slotting into place; and also the terror, the second-guessing yourself, the endless waiting for something dramatic to happen. Suddenly everything you do comes under the microscope – is this good enough to go on my personal statement? How can I spin this to my advantage? Do I know enough about this to mention it and then potentially discuss it at interview?

“Rising numbers of stressed students seek help” (BBC 2015)

“72% of respondents declared personal experience with mental health problems” (Student Minds 2011)

“13% of students have suicidal thoughts” (NUS 2013)

One of the most popular questions that secondary school students get asked is “what do you want to be?”. But the thing is, in a world where the types of jobs are endless, choosing is tough.

Some of your teachers may be giving the wrong advice about how to write personal statements for UK universities.

In some cases, teachers said that a personal statement did or did not increase the chances of the applicant getting accepted to university, while the admissions tutor responsible for those kinds of decisions took the opposite stance.

Using examples from the research, the following teachers’ tips are ones that you might want to take with a pinch of salt:

Frankfurt is undoubtedly a great place to study. Right in the heart of Germany, the city is a well-connected hub and easy to reach by car, train or plane. Public transport is well developed and distances are short. The city also boasts a vibrant cultural scene, many opportunities for internships and part-time jobs and a wealth of other amenities. Several polytechnics and one university offer a wide range of subjects in many disciplines. As a place, it seems ideal for any student. There is only one minor problem: the price tag that comes along with studying here. 

My first experience of the ENS Lyon was as an Erasmus student. I’d opted for Lyon over Paris in a bid to sidestep some of the inevitable year-abroad clichés. Neither the city nor the university disappointed; I left Lyon to finish my degree, wishing that I could stay.

Eunseo Kim, a chemical engineering student, on life at South Korea's small and prestigious university:

The best thing about POSTECH is an environment that is conducive to learning. We have small classes, and the low student-to-faculty ratio allows extensive opportunity for one-on-one contact with the professors during and after classes.

See the Times Higher Education World’s Best Small Universities 2016 table here.

Aude Untersee, a geosciences undergraduate at École Normale Supérieure, explains the benefits of a small university

I grew up in Tokyo, Japan and I am now studying at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) as a fifth-year student. My major interests are obstetrics, gynecology and emergency medicine. I will start working as an intern after I graduate in March 2017.

See the Times Higher Education World’s Best Small Universities 2016 table here.

Kalind Baraya is a senior year undergraduate student in the department of mechanical engineering at IIT Guwahati