Student Stories: “I wanted to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps as a surgeon”
First-year BSc (Hons) Medicine student Layla Ferguson shares her experience of starting her medical degree at St Andrews.
My name is Layla, and I am a first-year medical student on the A100 Medicine BSc (Hons) course at St Andrews. I started university straight after I finished my A-levels, and I chose to study medicine at St Andrews because of the programme’s prestigious reputation, the opportunity to study at a partner schools, and the chance to live in such a stunning town.
St Andrews is an extremely well-regarded university known for its amazing medicine course. The programme offers knowledgeable staff, extensive research opportunities, and anatomy teaching through full-body dissection, an opportunity unavailable at most other schools. The A100 Medicine BSc (Hons) course also provides an exciting opportunity to attend a partner school for the final three years of my studies. This really appealed to me, as whilst I love the small-town community of St Andrews, I also appreciate having the chance to study and gain clinical experience in a bigger city.
I wanted to study medicine from a young age, eager to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps as a surgeon. My interest in the sciences grew in the leadup to my GSCEs, leading me to seek out work experience in hospitals and care homes. As these experiences confirmed my ambition to become a doctor, I now strongly encourage sixth-form students looking to go into medicine to complete as much work experience as possible. In the future, I would like to become a cardiac surgeon; however, my interests could very well change over the course of the programme. So, for now, I am just exploring the different parts of medicine by joining lots of different medical societies, another huge part of life at St Andrews School of Medicine.
Overall, my experience here has been so much fun, if overwhelming at the same time. I have met so many lovely people on my course, in my flat, and at various social events. I have been to lots of academic family events (you’ll find out about these when you get here), pub trips, and movie nights.
While most new medical students do find learning to balance life and work difficult, I think that as long as you intentionally allocate work time during the day and stick to your plan, you will have plenty of time to socialise and pursue other interests. Try to remember how important it is to relax and take a break, even when studying medicine.
Ultimately, I would definitely recommend studying medicine at St Andrews. If you are passionate about the subject and appreciate a strong sense of community, you will have a blast here!