Teneisha

Previous school: Fowey River Academy 

Courses studied: A Level Biology, Chemistry, Psychology and AS Physics

Extra activities: Medics' Academy, Student Ambassador

Progression: Medicine - Aston University 

My time at Callywith really helped to make my decision about where to study. It gave me the advice and resources to be able to pick the universities that were best suited to me. The Medics Academy at Callywith really helped my application and the support that I received from my Biology Lecturer Babs, who runs the Medics’ Academy and the students from Plymouth and Exeter Medical School, were vital in me gaining my place at university.

I am really enjoying my experience at university, it definitely felt like a big change to begin with and it took some time to adjust to, but I think going to a college rather than a sixth-form helped me to transition faster.

As I am now in my second year at uni, I got to experience almost a full year of on campus teaching before moving online. The shift to online teaching was quite difficult but I realised that it's important to still take the time to talk to people when it can be easy to get bogged down in the workload. My friends and I started video calling each other whilst we work so that we had some company and could break it up a bit. It also has caused me to make much more use of the different resources available to me.

For me, I love to study sciences as it gives me understanding of things that are constantly occurring around us. My studies at college directly translate into my higher education, the concepts covered at college are constantly reviewed and built on through my degree, getting the opportunity to see how science is applied in everyday life, has only deepened my appreciation for the subject.

I am not completely sure of what I hope to do in the future. At the minute I have particular interests in Emergency medicine, Paediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

I would recommend first looking at which universities entry requirements best suit you. After this, I found it really helpful to pick a few qualities that I really looked for in a university and this helped to pick the place that suited me best. If you can find a comparison tool for your course, this is really helpful. I used the medic portal Medical School Comparison Tool and having a brief direct comparison helped me to pick my final 4 unis. I would also say it's worth considering how far you want to travel and how often you want to be able to come home as I found this really affects people's enjoyment of uni.