Lissa

I’ve just finished an amazing (even if a bit unpredictable!) first year at the University of Southampton studying Graduate Entry Medicine, having graduated from University College London (UCL) with an MSci in Medicinal Chemistry in 2018. 

I was always interested by medicine, and TGS encouraged me enormously to explore it as a career, signposting me to workshops and open days, advising me on volunteer placements and shadowing opportunities, and tirelessly helping with writing my personal statement. Even during my gap year, after I’d left TGS and experienced a change of heart, my former teachers supported me with a second application process to Chemistry at UCL. 

Choosing Chemistry instead was based on enjoyment inspired during my A Level studies and the support I’d received to turn Chemistry from the subject I found hardest to that I loved most. The department’s consistent and diligent encouragement ensured I got the A Level results I needed and gave me the options to choose different paths later on. 

I left TGS with 7 A*s and 2 As at GCSE, A in Maths at AS Level, and A*A*A at A Level (Biology, Chemistry and French respectively). Not only did I leave with very fond memories of sports, music, languages and incredible trips; I left TGS with enormous gratitude to my teachers for the tools they’d given me to have fantastic options and opportunities later in life, and a confidence to take those opportunities. The encouragement I received at school to try new things and constantly strive to meet my potential meant I took the plunge to work as a healthcare assistant for a year in a busy London hospital, apply again for Medicine and get onto the (very rewarding) path to where I want to be!