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University shouldn't be all work

Posted 1st September 2026
by Ciaran

When I first went to medical school, I felt extremely out of place and had a sense of imposter syndrome. However, this was quickly dispelled when I met my new flatmates, who were fellow medical students.They were extremely supportive and caring to me . I quickly established an amazing friend group at university where we often go for fantastic hikes in the Peak District. 
 
I believe it is extremely important to have downtime and hobbies in university as otherwise it is extremely easy to get burnt out. I joined many societies including my favourite, the Wilderness Medicine society. Through this society, we have gone on weekends away to amazing places all around England and I even competed in the Northern Trials which is an event that enables students from medical schools in the north of England to compete in first aid scenarios in a fun and educational way. We even won the friendliest team award!  
 
In my first year I have really grown as a person. I have matured a lot and really come out of my shell. Although challenging at first, you learn to be very confident at talking to and working with new people which is a skill that will be very important in your working career. I also learnt much more about managing my finances as university can be very expensive however the JVenn bursary has helped support me with this. It helped me manage to be able to attend various medical events such as the Royal College of Pathologists summer school which was a very insightful and enriching experience and has enabled me to start building my medical portfolio right from the get-go. This is very important since medical specialisation is currently extremely competitive. 
 
Overall, my advice to any incoming students would be : Put yourself out there, Say yes as much as possible and create a healthy work life balance from the beginning. .  
 

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