{"id":7348,"date":"2026-01-27T10:00:59","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T10:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/?p=7348"},"modified":"2026-01-28T16:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T16:41:11","slug":"student-story-a-culture-of-mutual-support-and-encouragement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/student-story-a-culture-of-mutual-support-and-encouragement\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Stories: “A culture of mutual support and encouragement”"},"content":{"rendered":"

First-year MBChB (ScotCOM)<\/a> student\u00a0Akondu\u00a0Iyoko\u00a0shares\u00a0his\u00a0experience of starting\u00a0his\u00a0medical degree at St\u202fAndrews.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
First-year MBChB (ScotCOM) student Akondu Iyoko.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u202f<\/span>Why St Andrews?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Growing up in a large city like Leeds, I knew I needed a drastic change. I needed something more tight-knit and community focused, which made St Andrews a perfect choice. I learned\u00a0so many things about the\u00a0University before I got here\u00a0\u2013\u00a0from\u00a0it’s\u00a0weird and wonderful traditions<\/a> like academic families and the\u00a0Pier\u00a0Walk, to the\u00a0numerous\u00a0opportunities to get involved in activities outside the lecture hall. With all of that, I knew\u00a0I’d\u00a0enjoy studying here.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, the course itself really enticed me.\u00a0I was particularly excited by\u00a0the opportunity\u00a0to engage in\u00a0hands-on anatomy\u00a0studies and early clinical placements,\u00a0and during my clinical years,\u00a0there’ll\u00a0be a large focus on community medicine, which aligns with my interest in public health. This, coupled with the support you get from the\u00a0University\u00a0\u2013\u00a0\u00a0not\u00a0just in making career-defining decisions, but in managing everyday life as a medical student\u00a0\u2013\u00a0meant St Andrews was the best\u00a0place for me.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First Impressions<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In spite of\u00a0the pressures that come with studying\u00a0medicine, I was surprised at how close we are as medical students. Older years are always willing to give advice, and as\u00a0first\u00a0years who have only known each other for\u00a0three\u00a0months, it feels like\u00a0we’re\u00a0all in this together, which has helped me settle into life as a medical student.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Finding opportunities to get involved in things outside my immediate studies has also been easier than I thought.\u00a0Participating\u00a0in all sorts, from the Music\u00a0Society to the Matcha\u00a0Society, and still having time to engage in career advancing seminars with Students for Global Health and the Scottish Public Health Society, really makes me look forward to\u00a0what’s\u00a0to come!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Life in St Andrews<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting to explore the streets of the town centre has been\u00a0really great, but\u00a0it is\u00a0outside of the centre\u00a0\u2013\u00a0the beaches, the pier, the Fife Coastal\u00a0Path\u00a0\u2013\u00a0where\u00a0I’ve\u00a0grown to love living here. Furthermore, with study spaces and the medical school itself being within walking distance, acclimatising to life at St Andrews was not as hard as I thought it was going to be.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The call to medicine<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00a0wasn’t\u00a0a straightforward choice for\u00a0me, but\u00a0being able to combine my passion for\u00a0equitable\u00a0healthcare with my love for science and problem-solving, made the\u00a0decision\u00a0a little bit easier, and I have no regrets.\u00a0I’ve\u00a0thoroughly enjoyed the content so far and how it\u00a0has been taught, and a lot of new topic areas have really caught my eye, like embryology and histology.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Being able to learn about anatomical structures\u00a0through\u00a0generously\u00a0donated bodies\u00a0has certainly been the biggest privilege of being a medical student at St Andrews.\u00a0I’m\u00a0really looking forward to the next semester where we learn about the musculoskeletal system via dissection, which will be\u00a0a very good\u00a0opportunity tie\u00a0together\u00a0a lot of the knowledge gained in the first semester.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Advice for future students<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe the most important thing to if\u00a0you’re\u00a0interested in medicine is to do your research. Fully understand and digest what\u00a0you’re\u00a0getting yourself into by reading books, browsing\u00a0websites\u00a0and talking to people who have\u00a0walked\u00a0the same path. With that knowledge,\u00a0you can come to an informed decision\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0right for you.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Otherwise, here are some other tips I recommend you follow:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Use study techniques that\u00a0you’re\u00a0comfortable with.<\/span><\/b>\u202fNot everyone uses flashcards! If they work for you,\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0great, but if not,\u00a0don’t\u00a0feel pressured into changing what already does.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. Make friends with non-medics.<\/span><\/b>\u202fSometimes\u00a0you’re\u00a0not going to want to talk about medicine, but if\u00a0you’re\u00a0around medics, I promise\u00a0it’ll\u00a0always come up. So, get involved in things outside the medical school building altogether, and that way\u00a0you’ll\u00a0make the most of your time at St Andrews.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. It’s\u00a0okay to feel burned out.<\/span><\/b>\u202fIn fact,\u00a0you’re\u00a0bound to at some point. But there\u00a0are\u00a0so many people around you who have either done this before, or are doing it with you right now, so you\u00a0aren’t\u00a0alone. Acknowledging this will help you make it to the other side.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Would I recommend St Andrews?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        Absolutely. Within the course there\u00a0isn’t\u00a0that sense of harmful competition that brings people down, but rather a culture of mutual support and encouragement. People understand and respect the fact that you want to balance your studies with your personal life, and living in this beautiful town with these people will allow for an unforgettable university experience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        First-year MBChB (ScotCOM) student\u00a0Akondu\u00a0Iyoko\u00a0shares\u00a0his\u00a0experience of starting\u00a0his\u00a0medical degree at St\u202fAndrews.\u00a0 \u202fWhy St Andrews?\u00a0 Growing up in a large city like Leeds, I knew I needed a drastic change. I needed something more tight-knit and community focused, which made St Andrews a perfect choice. I learned\u00a0so many things about the\u00a0University before I got here\u00a0\u2013\u00a0from\u00a0it’s\u00a0weird and wonderful traditions…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5585,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1342],"tags":[1431,1076,1143],"class_list":["post-7348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-university-of-st-andrews","tag-student-stories","tag-students","tag-undergraduate"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-13 02:01:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5585"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}