Over 25 doctors from Musgrove Park Hospital recently visited Richard Huish College to host a special evening designed for young people who have made applications to study medicine at university. Among the visiting Musgrove staff were two former Huish students, Dr Amber Leach and Dr Inês Sequeira.
Organised by Dr Emma Wesley, Dr Christina Owen, Dr Arabella Watkins and Dr Amber Leach, 14 Huish students attended the event in addition to visiting students from Bridgwater and Taunton College, King’s College, Queen’s College, Taunton School and Wellington School. The evening involved a carousel of activities aimed at preparing attendees for the rigorous admissions process involved with entry to medical school. 
Dr Gamunu Ratnayake, Consultant Anaesthetist at Musgrove Park Hospital and former employee of King’s College London’s Admission Department, gave a presentation on key advice before students broke out into groups to ask a variety of Musgrove staff more detailed questions.
The students also got to practice their skills in a formal interview that replicated many universities’ admissions processes. Following their interview, students received feedback about how they performed and advice on what improvements they could make for their real interviews.
Those applying to medicine are now often required to complete Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI); this involves being given a different scenario or task and just minutes of preparation time before performing and then moving directly on to the next challenge – all in quick succession. Although this can be intense, students at this event demonstrated fantastic poise under pressure in the reconstructed environment.
Richard Jones, Progression and Learning Centre Manager at Huish, said: “What a pleasure to welcome such enthusiastic medics to our college. The students went away feeling very well-prepared for their forthcoming interviews. We couldn’t be more thankful to the staff at Musgrove for making the event happen and helping to support the next generation of medics. It was also so inspiring to see some of our returning students.”
The Huish Medical Careers Academy, which supports those making applications to competitive vocational degree programmes of Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Science, is a specialist branch of the wider Academic EnRICH provision that Huish offers to all students.
In addition to specialist events like this, Medical EnRICH includes guidance on the UCAT admissions test, debates on medical ethics, seminars from visiting speakers, recommendations on wider reading, confidence building in using medical terminology and advice on e-mentoring, progression opportunities and work experience schemes, plus much more.
More information can be found about Huish’s Academic EnRICH at https://www.huish.ac.uk/student-information/enrichment/academic/ or by attending Huish’s next open event on April 30, 2025.
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