My experience so far as a medical student at the University of Leeds

Dee, from Myanmar, completed A-levels in Maths, Biology, Physics and Chemistry at Kings Oxford before winning a place to study Medicine at the University of Leeds.

We recently met up with him on campus to find out more about life as a medical student, and his time at Kings.

Hi Dee, thank you for talking to us! How has the course been so far? Is it what you expected?

I think it is, yeah. I would say it's exactly what I expected it to be. The workload is pretty huge! It's not that it's hard, but you really have to be on track - you can fall behind pretty easily.

What part of it are you enjoying most at the moment?

Probably placements are my favorite thing at university because I get to interact with patients. I mean, that's literally what I came to study Medicine for, which is to see patients and to be in a hospital environment. And being on placements gives me that.

Did you always know that Medicine was your path?

Yeah, I was about 15 was when I really got interested in Medicine. Before then, I wasn't really crazy passionate about it, but when I turned 15, that was when I really developed my passion for Medicine.

What kind of things did you do at Kings to help prepare you for medical school?

Obviously I had to do my A-levels, but to apply for Medicine in the UK, you have to do an admissions test called the UCAT. Kings was very helpful in preparing me for the UCAT too. Also for Medicine, you have to do interviews - Kings was also very helpful with my interview prep.

So, these are the Multiple Mini Interviews?

Yeah, different unis do different interviews. Oxbridge, they are more traditional, so I had to do one traditional version for Cambridge and another traditional interview for Sheffield. Okay. But the other two that I did (UCL and Leeds) were MMIs.

Your full degree is going to be five years, is that right?

Five years, yes. So medicine in the UK, so there's five-year courses and six-year courses. Six years because you do an intercalation year. and then you get another degree. So you have the MBChB and then another degree that you want to pursue. But I could also choose to do six years if I decide to intercalate after my third year.

Is there a specific area of Medicine that you're interested in or you think you might pursue in your career?

I think it's a bit too early for me to say what I'll be specialising in - I think I'll have to try a lot more things. I'll actually have to see it to understand what I want to do.

Are there many other international students on your course here?

I would say about over 10. Most of them are from Hong Kong. I haven't met a Burmese international but most of them are from Hong Kong.

What about university life in general? Is that what you expected?

I think it's a lot more fun than I expected! Yeah. I live in a wonderful flat. My flatmates are so amazing. I've actually really, really enjoyed my past four months at least. I never thought I would be having as much fun if I'm being honest with you.

What stand out is the best memories for you from your time at Kings?

I think Kings has given me a lot of memories. I had the best time with my friends and also the teachers are wonderful. They're very helpful and just nice people. I have to say I think the best part about Kings is the staff because they really put in the effort to arrange activities that we actually want to do. I also saw that myself when I was a staff member during the summer. I saw how much effort they put in to make the students have a great time.

Are you still in touch with many of your fellow students?

Yeah, actually I'm in touch with almost all my Kings friends. I've become really close friends with most of them. We still keep in touch.

Do you have any advice specifically for students who are thinking about following a medical path?

I think applying for medicine in the UK can be a bit over complicated for international students. And the main advice I would like to give is to take every stage of the process step by step and not do everything at once.

During your A-levels you have to enter the UCAT, and how I did it was when I did my UCAT, I focused only on UCAT. And when it came to interview prep I forgot everything about my A-levels and just did interview prep. I think if you prioritise them like that, you get better results.

Do you have a message for your teachers and people at kings you know?

Yes! Thank you so much to all the teachers and staff at Kings ,you really made my two years memorable and I'll never forget you guys.

Find out more about preparing for medical school with Kings