21st May 2025
Record number of offers for Medics
Congratulations to the hard work of our Medical pathway students and the staff supporting them, resulting in 56 students receiving offers this year to study Medicine after BHASVIC. 73% of students who applied to Medicine received an offer, compared to 10% nationally, representing both the individual commitment and talent of our students, but also the benefit of the additional support we put in place for students interested in progressing into medical careers. We are also delighted that 5 students received offers to student Dentistry and 5 to study Veterinary Science.
The majority of our Medics, Vets and Dentistry students come from our Widening Participation cohort, incorporating students from a range of backgrounds that may be under represented at University, have experienced barriers to their learning, or could be the first in their family to apply to Higher Education. 5 students received offers to study Medicine at Cambridge this year and 6 to study at Imperial, all from our Widening Participation cohort.
Students are provided with information from open evening to enrolment to ensure that anyone with an interest in Medicine can engage with support from staff, alumni and external speakers as early as possible. Our Medical Society, MedSoc, offers a forum for students to meet, exchange ideas and advice throughout the year, and our second year Medics Tutorial pathway gives specialist advice in making the early applications necessary for Medicine. This year we have had a huge range of enrichment opportunities including lectures from Sir Chris Whitty and Professor Martin Elliott, talks on Medical Negligence, MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières) and a host of Alumni and university experts offer helpful advice.
This year also we launched our new taught course, Medics Plus, which runs in addition to the Medics Tutorial programme and helps students prepare for interviews. Students discuss medical ethics, the NHS and current issues drawing from a wealth of experience and expertise across our curriculum teams and external contacts.
Medical Futures Coordinator Stella Coleman reflected on the success of BHASVIC's programme: "One of the advantages of having such a large cohort apply for medicine is the support we receive from the local community. Thank you to Brighton and Sussex Medical School, all the local doctors at RSCH and PRH, the Samaritans and St John's Ambulance who have all run workshops for students in BHASVIC. The students have worked so hard to receive so many offers and we wish them all the very best for medical school."
All the students involved in the Medics groups have put in an enormous amount of work and commitment and should be proud of themselves, it is extremely common for students to be accepted onto Medical degrees at the second or third time of applying so we are confident those without offers will have opportunities to pursue their dreams in the future.