You can think of life as a long series of decision trees. In academic terms, the first major one you face is your GCSE subject choice, the next are your A-Level choices, then university/apprenticeship choices, then the career decisions that follow. It’s impossible (well… not impossible, but strongly advised against) to plan out your entire career from your teen years until retirement, but it’s good to have an idea of the direction you want to go in…

For many and most people, starting the university chapter of life means moving away from home and familiar settings. I can’t speak for everyone, but even if you’ve been desperate to escape from under the roof of your parents and explore more of the world independently, there will undoubtedly be one or two worries nestled in the back of your mind.

When applying to medical school, it’s important to ensure that you have enough content for your personal statement. Generally, this takes the form of work experience, life experiences, extracurriculars, part-time work, volunteering, and books/papers you’ve read (amongst other things).

Reading medicine-oriented books is a great way to form a strong narrative in your personal statement

At this point in the academic term, you’ve likely sent off your UCAS application that you spent months polishing, and you’ve probably started getting some offers from your chosen universities. Firstly, well done! Secondly, now the ball is in your court.

Each medical school interviews differently, with emphasis on certain qualities or asking you to discuss ethical dilemmas that you may not have even considered. The main overriding distinction people talk about is ‘Panel vs MMI’. A panel interview is very traditional, and each year more universities move away from it. Regardless of your interview format, however, you will be asked ‘Why Medicine?’…

Upon arrival at university, I thought I had my career all figured out: undergraduate STEM degree, further post-graduate studies and then…

I remember the first day of undergraduate, walking into a brightly lit lab tucked away in the basement of Imperial’s Centre for Translational and Experimental Medicine (ICTEM)…

Many of us can relate to the person in this photo… a textbook does make a good sleep mask after all! There are many reasons why we procrastinate, with not all of them being negative. In fact, procrastination can actually be good for you, or at least a useful signal…

The environment in which you study is important, but often neglected when devising a revision plan. It’s common sense that revising in a quiet library will be more conducive to learning than stacking textbooks on your knees whilst on the bus, the baby behind you interrupting your train of thought with a scream, and the potholes making your pages flop back and forth.

I can’t deny that this was definitely at the forefront of my mind as I’m sure it was for most people I know and have spoken to. It is perfectly normal to be a little nervous about making new friends, especially in a whole new environment. But let me tell you, it is an amazing experience and everyone is in the same boat.

Here are some tips and advice…

London is often viewed through rose-tinted glasses, widely regarded as one of the greatest cities in the world for science, culture, leisure, history and more. Many people hear “London” and feel that the grass is greener there, whereas for others it may conjure up the image of being packed onto a tube in the midday heat, a baby crying behind you as a man late for work hovers his malodorous sweat-patches a little too close to your face…

The answer to this is not coffee, despite how good the coffee in the photo above looks. Caffeine is often people’s (me included) go-to-thing when trying to focus and get in the zone to work, but chemical stimulation is not a sustainable way of overcoming the dreaded ‘Zoom fatigue’, a phrase which drains me of energy just by uttering it…

Medical school interviews can be daunting… especially if you don’t have much experience being interviewed. What can they ask you? How should you come across? Are there any specific red flags to avoid saying or doing? These are all common questions and anxieties now we’re entering interview season…

On the evening of the 26th of October, STEMaccess launched its first ‘How to UCAS’ session led by co-founders and tutors, Kyle and Rhodes.

The course covered in detail the university application process, how to find the right university and course, the ins and outs of personal statement writing…

We all know that exercise is good for us, both for our mental and physical health, but exercising regularly isn’t something that’s in everyone’s weekly routine. It often gets assigned a low tier of importance when prioritising a busy week, with people…

You’d think that after seven years of exam seasons, multiple assignments, and two degrees that I would have revision down to a T. However, every time I need to revise something, whether that be for an exam or presentation, I try to use new ways of absorbing and retaining information to keep myself interested…

I was never one of those people who wanted to be a doctor since they were 4 years old. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I just came to the decision a lot later. As late as my final year of Sixth Form…