Getting into medical school via the Access to Medicine route

Leo Smith, 2nd Year Southampton University medical student (Graduate Entry Programme), former Access to Medicine student at the college of West Anglia

It's a massive decision to make - giving up paid employment in order to follow your medical ambitions - especially aged 27 as friends settle down into mortgaged and married life. Harder still, when you decide that your 'best bet' is to move out of London to 'The Sticks'!

The Access to Medicine course run by the College of West Anglia in Kings Lynn, is the oldest, and probably the best respected of such courses. A year-long residential programme, it will take the science novice to a standard where they can cope with first-year medicine, and it is accepted in lieu of A-Levels by most of the medical schools. However, it is not for the faint-hearted, and the attrition rate is fairly severe over the course of the first term. You need to be dedicated and bright enough to cope with the rigours of organic chemistry, fluid dynamics and the Krebs cycle, for example.

The teaching is excellent though, and a lot of support is given in the UCAS application process. If you do make the grade, and most of the students remaining at the end of the year do, then you are pretty much guaranteed a place at medical school. In my year, of the 45 graduating students, only 1 person failed and 4 others had been unsuccessful earlier in the year in obtaining offers.

Living in Kings Lynn is pleasant enough too. The pace of life is of course slower, but the countryside surrounding the town is beautiful, the town itself quaint, and there are three cheesy clubs and a theatre which has hosted the genius of Chas n' Dave. What more do you need in your 'Golden Ticket' year?! The college even arranges accommodation for you in private houses shared with other people on the course, which creates a keen sense of camaraderie from Day 1.

Returning to study takes some getting used to. I found that I have had to relearn the skills I lost after my first degree, and acquire some more. Indeed, I have had to morph from being an 'artist' (my first degree being in English Literature), to being a 'scientist', although I would regret it if the transformation were to become complete. Nowhere is the coexistence of the artistic and scientific persona more appropriate than in medicine, and I would even go so far as to argue that the most approachable and empathic doctors are forged in this mould. The arts illuminate the whole gamut of human experience - the hopes, fears, joys and heartaches that are so often present in the hospital environment. Therefore those from unconventional backgrounds are positively encouraged to take on medicine as a career.

My point really is that it is never too late to become a doctor, that medicine really is a 'mature-friendly' degree. Sure, it requires some sacrifice (especially financial) and a willingness to take a step back in order to take two steps forward, but ultimately I will graduate with more self-esteem, better job prospects, better earning potential, and the satisfaction of a worthwhile career. As I fast approach 30, and with three years left of my degree, I can honestly say that the massive decision I made over two years ago, was the best of my life.