Being the youngest member of my family, my
journey to university was especially difficult, since no one in my family had
attended before, meaning that I struggled to understand the process and
couldn’t learn from my siblings.
Because I came from a typical British Kashmiri
background, many of my teachers didn’t believe in me or encourage the idea of
pursuing a career in medicine. I remember odd meetings I had with the career
advisor at college, who’d often tell me it was unrealistic for me to apply for medicine, since those who typically did so came from specific backgrounds and were of the elite.
Where they sought to discourage me, I was further
motivated to prove to them that I had the passion and drive to succeed as a
doctor.
I originally applied to study medicine, like
most students did, at the beginning of Year 13 and was fortunate to have two
offers. Unfortunately, when results day came, I hadn’t met my offers and was
subsequently rejected by both universities.
I then took a gap year and decided
to reapply after resitting my A levels, after which I received an offer from
Bristol Medical School as well as one to study Biochemistry at the University
of Nottingham as a backup. I was once again unfortunate not to meet the
conditional offer for Bristol, but I took up the option to study Biochemistry
instead. Once I had started my course, I began to search for Graduate Entry
Medicine (GEM) courses and what I needed to do to ensure that, this time, I
would get into studying medicine.
It was at this point that I came across medicine
at the University of Plymouth, where I realised I could apply to study. After
contacting admissions about their widening participation, I found that I was
eligible to apply under the GEM criteria and that this would be the best option
for me.
After receiving an unconditional offer, I dropped out of Nottingham and moved to Plymouth to study medicine.