Advice from alumni: Julia Graef
Julia Graef graduated from EF Academy Oxford in 2015 and is in her second year of the Medicine program at Imperial. In this Q&A, Julia reflects on the exciting work ahead of her and dives into the details of applying to a medicine program in the UK. Read on to find out the difference between the BMAT and UKCAT, how her teachers helped her prepare and why she was interested in attending Imperial:
Age: 19
Home country: Germany
Languages: German and English
EF Academy campus: Oxford
Program: IB Diploma
Grad year: 2015
Favorite club: Yearbook
Favorite subject: Biology (I really like the content) and Economics (because it was taught really well)
University: Studying Medicine at Imperial
Why did you decide to study abroad?
Honestly, because I was a bit bored in Germany, I was looking for something new and something different. I knew I wanted to study medicine for quite a while before applying to EF, and I thought that to be able to study medicine in the UK going to high school here was a must.
What is your favorite EF Academy memory?
When we finished the second year, after the IB exams. All of the A-Level students were still there as well, so we had a complete weekend when we all went out and celebrated. It was lovely to be with everybody because we knew we weren’t likely to all be together for a while as we were all going to study in different cities and countries. That weekend created some of the best memories.
What did you find exciting and challenging about the IB program?
The sheer volume of the content – you have six subjects plus the core requirements and sometimes you have to handle so many different responsibilities, assignments and tests at the same time. A-Level students don’t have to struggle with that and often have more free time while IB students really have to plan and schedule their time and I found that to be quite challenging. But having six subjects also means you are allowed to explore differing content. If I’d had to narrow down my subjects even before going to university, I would have missed out on a lot of good experiences, like a great German literature and an economics course.
What advice do you have for current students?
– Make sure you plan ahead in terms of studying because cramming isn’t going to work. If you plan ahead it will help you a lot.
– For university, feel free to explore a bit more, especially with your extra-curricular activities. There are so many opportunities, societies and different people, so make sure you try new clubs and find some hobbies you never knew you’d enjoy
How did you realize you wanted to study medicine?
I’ve always really liked the contrast between pure science and patient contact that you have in medicine. That means I get to learn a lot about disease and physiology while also learning working on my patient communication and procedural skills. But I think I really figured that medicine could be my profession when volunteering with the Red Cross in Germany, where I actually got to interact with patients.
How did you choose your university and your program?
I had been toying with the idea of studying in London for a long while, so Imperial and UCL were my dream universities. When I had to choose between the two, I picked Imperial because they do some much relevant medical research, and I’m sure its good world ranking also contributed.
Tell me about what you had to prepare or do for the medicine program?
Applications to medical school, like Oxbridge applications, need to be sent in in September, not December/January like most other applications, so your personal statement and predicted grades have to be prepared quite early. I wrote my personal statement in the summer before applying to university. For medical applications, there is a narrow time frame and they want to see that you have some work experience. So as soon as you know you want to study medicine, find an opportunity to get hands-on experience. Some universities require a minimum amount of work experience – some schools, like Liverpool, are stricter about this and others, like Imperial, more relaxed and value quality over quantity. There are also tests that you have to take in the November of the year you’re applying for medical school, – the BMAT or UKCAT, depending in which university you apply for. I did two months of solid preparation for the BMAT. I think the UKCAT is more science-based and the BMAT is more skill-set based (reasoning, ethics, philosophy). Make sure you know what is required.
I couldn’t take the test itself at EF Academy because the school needs to be a registered test center – but my teachers helped me prepare. One teacher even sat down with me twice a week for two months so they could teach me the physics that would be on the test (shout-out to Amy!). There were also a lot of past papers that I completed, which my teachers then reviewed and gave me feedback on. For the ethics part of the BMAT, an essay, I wrote a hundred examples and handed that to my teacher who kept on giving me tips and helping me, just to put into context the amount of work people put into these tests.
I think I would say the BMAT was the hardest part of the application – it’s a hard test and if you don’t make the cut-off, most universities won’t even consider your application.
If you pass the BMAT cut-off and the university decides they like you, you’re invited for an interview. That’s a lot of pressure as well, especially for someone who doesn’t speak English as their first language. Before my first interview I did a lot of practical preparation: a panel of teachers who’d interview me. It was fairly uncomfortable but such good practice. The format and level of formality of the interview differs across every university. In my academic year, there were only two people – myself and another girl – who applied to any medicine programs, but even between the two of us interview types differed greatly. I had traditional interviews, where you sit across the table from a panel and they ask you questions while she had Multiple Mini Interviews, where you solve different tasks at different stations.
Did you do any internships that have benefitted your studies or your career plan?
I knew I wanted to study medicine for about four years before I started university so I had a lot of holidays that I could use to gain work experience. I did a General Practitioner (GP) placement, hospital placement, where I basically worked as a nurse for a month, and I also worked with the Red Cross, which was volunteer work and something I had been doing for a couple of years. It is good to get a variety of experiences, not only hospital-based placements.
I was lucky to get all these placements, but if you aren’t and only get one placement, make sure that you use your time wisely and reflect, which is great for your personal statement later on.
The hospital placement helped me prepare the most not only because of its long duration, but also because I was allowed to work independently. After a while, the nurses who were teaching me let me have patient contact and do stuff like measuring blood pressures or repositioning patients. It was very helpful in showing me what the job of a nurse AND a doctor is actually about.
I don’t think anyone in their second year of medical school knows what they are going to specialize in– but I do know that I am very interested in emergency medicine. That’s what I have had the most exposure to, but it’s not necessarily what I’m going to end up doing. In second and first year of medical school, it’s hard to say what specialties you’re interested in because you haven’t had much experience on different hospital wards. You don’t chose a specialty until you finish medical school and complete two years of foundation training.
In the UK, you do six years of med school, two foundations years where you learn the basics of being a doctor in a hospital and a varying number of core training years where you specialize. So what you decide to do after the foundation years will determine how much longer you will need to study to become a consultant. Often Imperial med school students know what direction they would like to go into around about the final (sixth) year, or they at least know whether they want to become a GP or a hospital consultant. That’s because students do a lot of practical placements at Imperial and most other universities. While the first and most of the second year is lecture-based, our entire third and fifth years are spent working in the hospital – usually it would be the fourth and fifth years at other schools, but Imperial likes to mix things up. The fourth year at Imperial is a “bachelor’s year” so you get to choose what Bachelor of Science degree you want to complete but that has nothing to do with your specialization at all, it’s more of a general interest thing. You spend a year being taught or doing an active research program. For most bachelor’s programs, it’s a bit of both.
What is one thing you learned at EF Academy that prepared you for university? For your career? For your personal life?
Definitely scheduling my time and being independent and responsible for my own studies. That was a big, big lesson because in Germany the teachers tell you exactly what you have to learn and when to complete your work. But the IB program is a lot more independent. Teachers go through the content but in the end it’s up to you to decide when you revise for certain subjects. It was a gentle intro to university because here, no one tells you when to study, sleep, eat or relax. A lot of my friends at university, who didn’t do the IB program or study abroad, struggle with this because they haven’t learned how to schedule their time yet.
What is the accomplishment you are proudest of?
I have to go with getting into medical school – it’s so hard to get into university in the UK. And such a long process too, I can’t imagine what I would have done if I hadn’t gotten in after all the work I put into applying.
What is your dream for your future?
Being a doctor and being able to treat patients. Two years ago, I would have told you that I’d like to stay in the UK after completing my degree, but with an impending Brexit I’m not so sure anymore. I’ll likely still complete my foundation years here, but after that, who knows?